Community Brag Posts

Table was a little tricky for me and the wood kept splitting and the legs didn't seem very sturdy. The wood I have isn't the straightest so that gave me some trouble. Changed the dimensions of the table to 24" x 36" and used a lodge pole pine board so the top is a solid piece instead of the 1x8's keep the junk from collecting between the slats. The chair was pretty easy to build and my kids just love it. Thinking I will paint the table and chairs a high gloss white so it is scrub able and look good in our house.

We needed a couple of sturdy step stools for the bathrooms. My boys are not tall enough to reach the sink for hand washing and teeth brushing. Wally wanted $8 for a plastic thing. So I headed to the big orange store and bought a few 2X4's. $12 for both stools, plus the paint and screws which I already had.

I used the plans from the Skipper's Stool for some of my cuts. But I used 3-2X4 pieces for the top and shortened the legs to 10 inches. I was going to put on the side stretchers but it was super sturdy with the pocket holes and 2.5 inch pocket hole screws. So I left them off. A few coats of paint and they are good to go. Two of my boys can stand on one so that makes them a hit.

The plan had excellent bones, though I modified the top to hold a sink for rinsing and cleaning.  It is now painted "San Antonio Rose", and resides happily in the backyard.

Okay, I hope you like this... it was the second and third thing I ever built!!! The table is made from 2 doors hinged together with accent hinges screwed on top. In the middle there are locks (hook and latch) for design. The frame is oak. measures 81X 56 and fits a good 10 people around.

The bench is an old cherry tree slab that someone I know did not want. its about 72 inches long and it is slighly curved. I ushed a shilac and kept the same color....  I just sanded it down.

5 kids, 1 bathroom, lots of waiting.
Not long ago I built the "waiting bench" and while it looks great, the space needed another little touch.

So I painted a sign saying, "Il Bagno", that's a prettier way to say "the bathroom" (in italiano).

My husband and I built this after the Rustic X coffee table won us over. The end table building plan is awesome, straight-forward, easy to follow. What we have learned from building the coffee table was that it is much easier to finish the frame and then mark the 2x2 against the bars for exact cut. We tried following the cut list, but turned out if the other cuts are slightly off, or the table is not squared, or the wood is not straight, then there may be a slight gap. So marking the 2x2 against the built frame was a much easier option for us. Of note, the end table is pretty big. So if you have a smaller living room, you may want to size down accordingly.

Tripled the dimensions, filled with mums for the fall. Now pine boughs and fairy lights! Love!

I built this toy chest out of some beautiful oak. I used brad nails to tack on a sign I painted with his name. That can be removed later with little damage to the chest.

This was a kitchen for friends daughters birthday. I used my nail gun on this, made it so much easier:)

Finished project for Mikey's bed.

Full timelapse and thoughts in the imgur album.

We used Ana's farmhouse table plans. Everyone compliments us on it; even thought that we purchased it at Restoration Hardware.

This is the first wood working project I took on. My husband thought I should start with, like a birdhouse or something, but I'm a "go big or go home" kind of person (plus I hate birds), so I thought a seven piece sectional was the way to go. After a few lessons from him on the miter saw, I got the clear to work on the project solo. (My husband builds a lot of our furniture but I insisted I wanted to do this 100% myself...and he surprisingly agreed).

The first section took a really long time for me to do (maybe 4 hours), but considering I've never even so much as drilled a hole for a screw, I considered it a success. After that (and after I decided to go out and buy a Kreg Jig - best invention ever - and ditch the "knock off" I tried to buy/use), it was pretty smooth sailing from then on out. Aside from being time consuming, I was surprised at how easy the plans were to follow. Ana it truly amazing for publishing these.

From start to finish, it probably took me a month to complete (and THANK GOD we bought a paint sprayer in anticipation for painting the outside of our house, or I think it would've taken at least another week to finish). But that's also because I stupidly decided to sew all of the cushions/pillows myself. I just couldn't justify ordering pre-made ones for seven individual pieces (the price quote I was getting for that and what I wanted was close to $1,000 in itself).

Overall, I'm VERY excited/please with how it turned out. I priced out the West Elm sectional of this size and it would've cost us about six times what it cost us to build from scratch. I can't wait to take on the next project (after a much needed break...)

I LOVE this bench. It's simple and rustic, yet absolutely beautiful. I modified the plans slightly to exclude the long support board along the bottom of the bench and found that the bench is still very sturdy and stable. I love that this bench is a relatively easy and quick to complete project, with such a gorgeous end product!

This is the 5-board bench and project #2 mirror from Ana's "The Handbuilt Home" book. The bench was shortened to fit the space that I wanted it for.