Community Brag Posts

We have been stalking ana-white.com for awhile and making a few projects here and there. we made the $10 ledges to fit over our entertainment center. When we found the plan for the cedar planters we thought they would be a great little storage area for all of the little junk around the house. We made 6 of these planters out of 3 cedar planks and modified them to fit on the $10 ledges (which are actually made with a 1x6 to allow for more things to be able to fit) so they wound up more rectangular than square.

Sorry for the crappy I-phone pics!

Here's a dog bed that my boys and I built about a year ago (our very first build). Pretty basic but our pups love it! 

I built this for my niece and she loves it. I followed the plans with very few tweaks, but used custom pink stain as an accent.

I changed a few things on mine. I wanted the mantle to be deeper in case we want to put a natural gas fireplace insert in it in the future so I used 1x8's for the sides I also used the remaining 48" or so 1x12 for the base and used 1x3's to trim it in to make it a bit wider. I did something similar to the top I trimmed it with 1x3's using pocket hole screws. As for the mirror, my wife had an old mirror that she wanted me to use and it was actually an after thought but it fit in there perfectly! I just used 1x3s to trim it in the front and used smaller scrap pieces and screws to wedge the mirror in the mantle in case we want to use it for something else if we install the gas insert. That's about it I used traditional cherry 1 coat and 3 coats of polyurethane I had to pull up the base board trim and cut it to get it flush against the wall. My wife was upset that I made her wait to decorated it with picture frames and porcelain birds. The polyurethane hadn't cured yet and I didn't want marks on it after spending so much time on it.
Thanks! She loves it!

My grandfather built the base for this table decades ago. I never got to know him because I was very young when he passed. I told my mom that I loved this table and she gave it to me under the condition that we split it into two pieces. I get the base and she gets the top. That way I can build 2 tables from this and we can both keep the memory.

I made a new table top from Brazilian Mahogany and painted the base that was made from pine. Soon I will be making a new base to attach to the old table top and send it to my mother.

Minwax Antique Oil Finish is awesome. I have trouble with finishing and this worked like a dream. No stain was used.

I wanted a large chest to store toys, books or blankets. I wanted it to be cheap to build and be rustic. This project turned out perfectly! I used 2" and 4"-wide furring strips and rope for the hinges and handles. I used 1/4" plywood for the bottom and made a groove with the router for it to slide into while assembling. I helped 16 girls make these who had no previous experience and they loved it!

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 needed a garden shed (for potting supplies) and a dog house, but I wanted it to look good. I started with Ana's plans, but screwed up a cut and was too lazy to go to the store, so I modified the plan a bit - also we didn't want a lot of venting off the roof.

OUR MODIFICATIONS:
NO BACK WALL - I did not build a back wall, as we pushed it all the way up to the house. (You need to check your codes for this if it's allowed. The way I'm integrating mine w/o breaking the exterior waterproofing of the house and it's unconditioned made mine OK)

DOG HOUSE- I cut away a hole for our dog between the battens. And as you can see - he loves it. He's got his Coolaroo dog bed inside. We also added a 'ceiling' to the lower dog house half, that divides the gardening storage from dog house. The large shelf inside that acts as a dog house ceiling, and above are my un-used pots, hand tools etc. (no worries no chemicals with the puppy)

PAINTED EXTERIOR- I painted it red to match the house, and will also be putting garden pavers in front of the doors.

ROOF- We did put an underlayment down on the roof before the asphalt shingles.

LESSON LEARNED- If your dog is a Mama's boy like mine, he may try to climb a ladder to remove you from a roof which he has determined is not OK for you to be up there.

*One concern is - most sidewalks slope away from the house, so we had to shim the sill plate so front of the shed doesn't lean outward causing the doors to pull open constantly. As you can see from the photo I still need to flash at the roof where we cut back our houses' battens.

COST- We live in CA - and this project was more expensive than anticipated, our lumber/roof shingle costs were around $270 alone, and keep in mind we didn't build a back panel. I have very little scrap left over too. When I was nearly done the hinges were an additional $15 a piece, $10 for the latch. And we had the primer and paint in the garage. Underlayment for roof, I already had in the garage too.

TIM-: I started this project on a weekend, but it ended up taking longer; probably because I didn't block out the weekend just for this project. I spread it over the course of a month, so hours wise it probably wasn't as bad as it felt... You do need two people though, and that's where I ran into some trouble, I kept trying to work on it when my husband wasn't home. Probably 24hrs, 3 easy going days. Could probably be done in a weekend if you were dedicated and didn't get distracted (or screw up a cut like I did, which sent me to the drawing board to fix my mistake)

I was looking for a wooden parking garage plan for my little guy, but couldn't find one! I looked a bunch of the dollhouse plans for inspiration and found a wooden toy garage online that I based my plans on. I still need to add the ramps and a few more parking spots, but my son loves it! It has an elevator (need to refine it) and helicopter landing zone!

This was a fun project, my first attempt at something like this. It took me several weeks of only working on it with whatever spare time I could find. Hopefully, it will serve my families home dining needs for years to come!

Second project...I've got the bug! Outdoor bench!

I used the classic bunk bed plans and resized them to fit a toddler mattress and to keep the height about four inches shorter. My kids love them and we are very happy with the result. I'm glad to share the measurements with anyone who is interested. This was a first project for me, but I had a much more experienced friend helping. If you're interested in plans you can find my explanation here https://warburtonshome.blogspot.com/2017/10/toddler-bunk-beds-diy.html

From start to completion, it was exactly two weeks.  One of those weeks, I was sick and didn't get a chance to do much.  I believe we picked the hottest days to work on this project, so we were taking more breaks than actually working.