Community Brag Posts

I could not find ready made cushions for this project so I purchased outdoor fabric in the green and 2" high density foam at Fabricland which we doubled to make 4" thick cushions. The throw pillows I bought at Walmart. I will probably buy more foam and fabric and make cushions for the back as well. I find the throw pillows aren't quite large enough to protect your back from the wood.

Last week we hosted a reception for our son’s wedding.  We built 8 benches and 2 banquet tables over the course of 3 weekends.

The banquet tables are 30” x 8’ and are constructed from 2x4, 2x2 and ½” plywood, with some angle brackets at each leg for extra strength.  We used the 2x2 for the tabletop apron/frame, attached leg assemblies made from 2x4 with some 1x3 furring strips for stringers, and topped the tables with ½” plywood.  Hubby and I put these together in an afternoon.  The tables were left unfinished because they were covered completely with tablecloths. 

The benches are 42” long, 14” wide and 18” high.  These were built from 1x3 furring strips for the bench top/frames and 2x4 for the legs.  The bench tops were assembled first, then we attached the 2x4 legs to the frames at the corners, with a 5^th leg in the center for stability.   This was a fun “mom & daughter” project for me and the bride, and we got the 8 benches built in one weekend and the finishing done the next.

The bench legs are painted (1 coat primer and 1 coat paint + primer).  The seats are topped with a clever combination of batting, fleece fabric and tulle ribbon ties, to create an upholstered look.  The fleece fabric will be re-purposed into some pillows and a memory quilt.

The head table is our ‘almost farmhouse’ table with 2 of the modified Harriet chairs for the bride and groom.

The newlyweds plan on re-using some of the benches for the dining set in their new place.  We’ll also be disassembling the banquet tables and re-using the wood to make them some more furniture, including a dining table to go with.

The wedding and reception was small and intimate and turned out beautifully.  We were thrilled to put this together for our son and his wonderful bride!

i was having a BBQ for my boyfriend's 27th birthday and we didn't have anything to sit on outside other than those fold up chairs that you take to tailgates. We went to look at buying some furniture from Lowes and we were pretty shocked at the prices. Since I had my mind set on having something other than a lawn chair for people to sit on when they came over, I figured I would give this blog a once over to see what it had. I am so glad that I did! I was able to make this loveseat in three days, and it is bigger, more comfortable, sturdier, and $500 cheaper than the same piece of furniture that I had picked out at Lowes. ( I realize this project could totally be done faster but I am a full time student along with a full time job,,, I did what I could. Plus a storm rolled through and knocked my power out ) I love my new patio bench and can't wait to build the matching chairs and perhaps a small table.

This is the first major piece I have built and the first thing from plans from the site. Want to thank everyone that contributes plans, brags, suggestions, etc. Amazing resource. My wife thought it looked good without the doors (thank goodness!), I think she did a great job finishing and decorating. She has three more projects lined up already! Looking forward to it.

I liked this dresser. I modified the plan to suit my needs and added some features to bring it up to my tastes. I dovetailed the drawers and used Blum soft close 18" under mount slides. The drawers were costly and time consuming but I am very happy with the form and function. I added some height and depth.

I also used some different construction methods. I built the legs first then three individual face frames that were attached individually, instead of adding one piece at a time.

This was a great project, I wish I haven't painted it but using brown maple is really best suited for paint.

Added some decorative detail with roping and accents to apron pieces and back. Then painted and glazed the whole piece. Adjusted seat height but not overall height. Built it for our awesome neighbors.

This is my favorite build so far! It took me a little longer than it should because I’m still learning and I second guess myself more than I should. I also made the mirror flush with the frame and glued it in the back.

Based on the original rustic-x-coffee-table. Modified the length, width and height dimensions to fit our needs. To accommodate our desired widths, we mixed 2x4 and 2x6 boards. Followed the theme for a side table as well.

The cross braces used 1/2 depth mirrored dados in each full brace instead of 1 full and 2 cut pieces (this was done using a series of partial depth cuts with a sliding-compound miter...I don't own a table saw...yet).

Finishing was done using steel wool + vinegar, followed by satin poly. We wanted to have more protection and a little more "warmth" than a wax coat. Two coats of poly thinned by 1:1 mineral spirits was used to keep coats light with minimal build up. A light sanding to bring down grain-lift was done after the first coat. This allowed some of the fine wood texture to come through that would be lost with a typical 3-4 full strength poly coats.

I started with Ana's raised garden beds, but due to limited funds, opted to cut down the size of the beds to be able to use a smaller amount of lumber.

I also used 2x4's screwed together instead of 4x4 posts for the legs.

My husband used your plans to make this for our pet chicken that we hatched in a homemade incubator.  I painted it though!!! 

A simple mudroom hutch for my small entry way. Come on in take of your shoes, hang up your coat, and put away your hat. Make yourself tahome. This was inspired by the Yellow mudroom hutch I found on this site.

Table was a fairly straight forward build. The only thing I'd do differently if I were to make another one is to paint the base pieces before assembling. Once the base is together its hard to get in between the angled supports. I ended up having to use my paint sprayer to paint the base because brushing it on was just not working for me. I ended up buying the round top piece from the Blue big box store and it was around $11 so that put the cost of this table over the price quoted in the plans.

I had so much fun building this bed. I was able to bring home the wood and have it all built in one evening. It took the most time sanding. Once the entire bed was sanded smooth and stamp marks from the mill removed, I started the weathering process. I tried a spray bottle and wasted so much of the material. It ran and streaked. Once I figured it out, I took a foam brush and applied the aging liquid. It worked beautifully and came out perfectly even with the rough start.