Community Brag Posts

The bench measures 54" wide x 21" deep.  We slightly modified the Rogue Engineer plans at the customers request to allow it to sit flush against the wall. 

Just finished up my Murphy Bed project. Hope you like.

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!

This is the cooler stand presented by Jenny from Birdsandsaoap. Very easy to build and always ends up with someone asking to buy it or have you make them one.

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)

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

I used both the $1 dollar cedar planter plan and the square planter with finals to come up with this design.

It's made from 1x6's and 2x2's. The finished box is about 16" x 16" on the top. They were pretty easy to put together. If you want more info check out my blog post.

We (my husband and I) were in desperate need of a better work space, and this was perfect.

As a complete beginner in wood working (unless you count a year of woodshop over a decade ago), I decided that building a cart for the miter saw I just bought would be a great first project. So what did I do with that brand new miter saw? I left it in the box and made all of the cuts with a circular saw. Not sure what I was thinking there...

I mostly followed the excellent plan provided here but used wooden arms to prop up the wings in order to save on cost. I got the idea from the folding sling chair plan. It took quite a few screw ups and adjustments of the lower support bar before getting one of the wings level but I got it eventually.

Update 8/20/13: The miter saw has been a joy to use with the cart and the big flip up wings provide a ton of really convenient work space in addition to stabilizing 8 ft boards for cutting. I added a sliding drawer and some utility hooks for additional storage.