Community Brag Posts

This was my fifth project and it went pretty well. I ended up having to trim a little off the top of the door after I had it assembled because I wasn't paying attention to detail and built it to fit the back opening. It was pretty simple to size it down, though. I finished it off with some leftover black paint that I used for the top of my workbench last summer. Super happy with the way it turned out!

I recently spotted a little gem in the garage - a little space in between the garage doors. It was perfect for building a modular system of small French cleat box shelves. I made them all using scrap wood. I even had extra scrap wood to make a battery charging station in another narrow gap on the wall. You can read all the details about my latest storage adventure on my blog:

http://www.justmeasuringup.com/blog/using-commonly-lost-garage-spaces-for-storage

I'm on high alert for more areas like this that get overlooked easily, and am just waiting for more inspiration to strike!

Lydia wanted a wooden arch for her wedding with the x legs. So we ordered a pattern for an arch from woodcraftplans.com and modified the legs to include the x design. We used pine lumber in 2x8, 2x4 and 1x2. The lumber was routed with the cove edge to smooth the corners. We cut the 2x8 with the jigsaw to make the two pieces for the arch then glued and screwed them together, then used filler to conceal the seams. Then we clamped the front and back together and sanded forever to get them to match. Then routed the edges again to make them pretty. The legs and x's are 2x4's cut to fit and they ended up being the easiest part to work with. The battens are 1x2's that we ripped from 1x4's and routed with the cove edge. I stained it with Minwax Red Oak 215 by brushing it on and wiping it off. The legs where together during staining but the top wasn't, I wanted to stain and polyurethane each batten and crosspiece before it was attached. We polyurethaned it 2 coats then put it together and put the last coat on. We used Ace Brand Gloss polyurethane. It shines like glass. It can be taken apart and transported in three pieces, the leg pieces and the top are bolted together with carriage bolts. This was a very heavy/ bulky project and you need a helper when building this. I think its intermediate because of the difficulty cutting the arch pieces out of the bigger boards with the jigsaw. My husband ,my sister, my brother-in-law and I worked on this for about a week and it turned out beautifully!

This site as ever so helpful and vital to the completion of these chairs. Honestly,this project was the first time I had taken stock lumber and constructed something from it. I am handy by my own account,but never attempted anything like this before. Great site. If not for Ana white and this website,I'd have 2 less chairs. It is very rewarding building something from scratch. I'm sure this was the 1st of many projects and ideas I will get from this site. A+++. Thank you very much.

Built entirely of reclaimed pallet wood & shipping crate

I liked the design of the barnyard dinner table and needed a table on the patio for family get togethers. I modified the table plans to seat 10 and made it bar height. I also finished the top vs planks. Came out great.

This was built based on the "Reclaimed-Wood Look Headboard" post. The directions are under the queen size post and the cut list was under the king size one. The cut/supply list was absolutely dead on. Once I built it however, I realized that it needed more support if I expected it to last more than a few years. I reinforced the back and added vertical bracing and chair leg supports to prevent side to side movement. This was done with scraps from the original cuts. Since it was built with finish nails and glue, enough movement and I knew it would eventually start popping boards. I also decided to wall mount it so that it will last that much longer. Don't skimp on the directions. Pick only 100% square, non-bowed boards. Glue down everything. Triple-check for flush and don't even think about making cuts without a chop saw. If you don't have one, have the hardware store cut it. One less-than-square board or wrong degree cut will make the whole project fail. I did heavy distressing on it by hitting it with chains, an ax, a hoe, and a board with nails driven into it. I also threw screwdrivers, allen wrenches, pipes and anything else heavy I could find at it. I used a leather poking tool to make mock cracks. I used a small torx screwdriver to drive the finish nails in deeper and didn't worry about filling the holes since it added to the distressed look. I then took a hand torch and burned several areas to draw out the wood grain and deepen the aged look. Finally I sanded it with a 220 grit paper, put 6 coats of Watco Danish Oil Dark Walnut on it and varnished it with Formby's Low Gloss Tung Oil. All the finish was applied hand-rubbed with a rag. A brush will leave streaks - hand rub is the only way to achieve that antique look. It turned out much better than I even expected and matches our mango wood bedroom furniture perfectly. Total cost was about $170 and build time was roughly 30 hours, however, the initial build was done in just 3 hours. All other time was distressing and finishing.

I had a girls night in and we each made out our art using the nesting family tree sign. I put together the cedar fencing signs per Ana's instructions and we all brought supplies we had in the garage and we painted away! Thank you so much!

I build just one piece for my wife and she love it and ask me for build another one so I just build it and add a triangle table more for surprise her,The ""X'' design I take of this website and the legs and dimension and style is my own design 3 corner 45 with the router and and Front drawer is decorative (fake)

Made these two in about 3 hours. Instead of wood glue I used construction adhesive. Now to sand and stain then add cushions.

I made this probably over a year ago but I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures. I had just recently learned to weld and wanted to try some projects that were floating around in my head. Welding is so versatile and not as hard as you think. It's like hot gluing but sparkier. That said, please take a class at your local community college if you want to try it. Yes, it can be a little dangerous, just like swimming without lessons first.

I was inspired by Ana's project plan, but obviously got sidetracked with the design. This happens a lot as I'm working... my husband actually nicknamed me "sidetrack", but I digress... again.

This dog kennel was meant to be in our living room for a long time so I thought it would be fun to have something that looks like it's furniture. I love the look of old distressed wood/iron industrial furniture, so the wood was distressed before staining and finishing. I used stove polish on the metal before waxing to give it a dark, aged look.

The grate on top (acts as a skylight) came from a conference my husband attended years ago. It's been sitting in our backyard rusting and I thought it would make a neat feature on the top. It cleaned up pretty good!

I attached the tilt out portion using a Kreg jig and eventually removed the brace (it wasn't necessary and removing the brace gave it a cleaner look.

I used 2 x 2 as a trim around the outside which also allowed me to hide the hinge.

Other than that -- followed the build pretty closely. I used a cable on either side to stop the tilt out from falling to the floor (which allows me to leave it open as well.

This was my first project and it was a battle to figure out how to install the hinges and I did not love my jig saw work with the plan feet so I bought and installed furniture replacement feet which turned out much nicer (IMO).

Good luck!

My husbannd has built a handful of things using Ana's plans, but this was my first time doing everything on my own (aside from asking where to find the wood filler in our messy garage).  It was super easy to cut and put together and turned out perfectly for my girls nights stand/book shelf.

I made these with your plans first time I ever made anything. Your plans are amazing.

A bunkie board needs to be added to the shopping list. I used one from a bunk bed that I used to have as well as some metal slats that I used to support the bunkie board. I would imagine you could use boards as well. Also, I would add that 2" screws would be helpful. There were times when 2 1/2 were too long and 1 1/2 were not long enough. It's a very sturdy bed. Definitely recommend using lots of wood glue for reinforcements. I also added L-shaped brackets under the 2x6's to add support.

We didn't want a platform bed but liked the looks of this bed. We used a 2x10 for the vertical frame. The 'rail' around the top of that is a 1x4. We sunk the supports slightly to hide most of the box spring. I also wrapped the box spring so that it matches our bedroom and isn't so apparent. The legs we did were two 2x4s as we couldn't find a 4x4 in pine. We did two twin beds to support the twin box springs and did a 'footboard' that brings them together. They wouldn't have fit through doorways otherwise. It turned out very well. The headboard is somewhat our own creation.

This was my first real project and I am happy with how it turned out.