Community Brag Posts

We needed a surround for the TV and really wanted to have a fireplace underneath. I took the Shanty Hutch/Sideboard plans and made some modifications. Took about 2 weeks to complete.

After discovering Ana White over a year ago, we knew that we wanted to build ourselves a dining room table. It was just a matter of finding the right plan for our house and family. The Narrow Farmhouse table was just perfect! We shortened the length to 6' to fit into our combined living dining area. I would love to have the 8' version some day, maybe when we have 2 separate eating areas?!

A note on our wood choices, I would try hard to use pine in lieu of whitewood for ALL the table components. The pine did a much better job with the stain and poly then the whitewood. As I have seen the one other time I tried to work with whitewood, it's CRAZY soft and I suppose I'm just not a big fan. I would take the trade off of more sanding with pine to insane finish silliness, any day!

Is this kitchen island with its beautiful marble top:-) I really hate my kitchen because it is so ridiculously from the 80's and small... but it's a rental so it's not forever. The only counter space I had to cook is right there to the right of the sink by the coffee maker. I started building this the night Ana put the plans up. A friend of mine just remodeled her bathroom; and gave me the top since it was just sitting in her garage. I had to modify the plans only slightly to accommodate the top. It's 3 inches wider than the plans and I beefed up the top frame with 2x2's to support the 29 pound slab of stone. I spent less than $20 on the project because I had leftover wood from another project and a whole bunch of 2 x 4's from a project that got trumped for this one:-) I also ripped a piece of plywood to 11 1/4 to use as the sides and added edge banding on the back. I used paste wax for the very first time instead of polyurethane and I'm not sure how I like it yet.

This is a fun a straight-forward project.  I built it for our littlest one's first birthday as both a doll stroller and a walk-behind push toy.  I used select pine for the stroller, a 1" oak dowel for the handle and some pre-made wheels / rounds.  Wheels were from Michaels (I think) and the rest was from Lowes.

I want to find a way to better secure the wheels, but the plans' method works pretty well.  The axle caps can sometimes fall off so I just check them for tightness every so often.

Best of all, Greta approves.

Instead of using galvanized pipes, to save money we opted for ready made closer rod & hardware from Lowe’s and added additional 2x4 pieces perpendicular to the shelf supports and screwed the closet rods into those. 

It was an unused corner of the playroom and I decided to put it to use with a computer station with an area for the kids. The desk top is stain grain ply, stained a satin dark walnut. Body is paint grade ply, painted white. On the walls I used whiteboard/dry-erase paint over a magnetic base so the kids can draw on the walls and hang pics with magnets, and added a cork board to the right. Built the cabinet for the computer and printer using same wood with a sliding shelf. This turned out to be one of the best things I've done in the house, the kids do their homework here and we use the desk all day long! A really cheap project that has very few parts. With paint, wood, stain and hardware its a $150 weekend project. I didn't use any plan here from this site but I've taken a lot of inspiration and tips!

This stool was made as a b-day present for my nephew Ryder (hence the play on words "free Ryder") . His dad, an avid motorcycle enthusiast, is deployed w/ the army in Afghanistan so I went w/ a patriotic motorcycle theme. Ryder just turned 2 so he is about to start the adventure of potty training si I figured this would be perfect for that and double as bath toy storage. To keep the wood from getting damaged by the humidity of the bathroom, I used pressure treated plywood and further protected it w/ tompsons wood waterproofer. I also drilled 3 rows of drainage holes in the bottom so water wouldn't be sitting in there.

So Worth It!

This project was possibly beyond my expertise however persistance, reading and asking for help worked. This table was a 5 month project with a start, a quit, a re-buy and finally a full steam forward to the finish line. 

Although difficult, I learned so much during this build-how to use a biscuit joiner (then reverted back to my Kreg Jig), how to clamp pieces so that they remain even, how to properly finish a table, how important measuring and squaring are, etc...

I have a large sectional so I had to revise the size of this table. Ours is a 3' x 5' table. The most difficult part of building where we live is finding good lumber. There were 3 different types of wood used on the project but thankfully I was able to stain to match. 

Off to start my next project-our son's headboard. Should be a piece of cake. I'll let you know and it WILL be sooner than 5 months! Happy Building! Karla

I built this bookcase for a friends son for Christmas. She sent me a sketch of what she wanted and I drew up the plans in sketch up. I built it out of plywood and capped plywood with poplar strips. I made the Cedar shingles out of Cedar shims that I cut down to 2 inches, I used corrugated metal for door panels to give garage look.

We to make a Loft turn into a closed room for my grandson. We used the Sweet Pea Plan and made it a boy bed. We enclosed the back of the bed. the top bunk is a play area for him and my grand daughter. He loves it. Thanks for the Website.

I built this table out of really rough old lumber from our family farm.  Lots of sanding and a real rustic look.  Thanks for the plans!  I love it!

Christmas project for the back.  Built it from cedar from big box store.

I wanted 3 shelves so I took apart the entire pallet (44 x 44) Sanded and spray painted two coats. Only advice is next time I will make sure the pallet is in better condition. Less time sanding. My 4 year old daughter loves her new reading area!

Me: Hey can we get a new TV?

Wife: No, there is nothing wrong with ours.

Me: Darn, ok. Hey what if I build this cool frame around it?

Wife: <3 <3 <3 OK! <3 <3 <3

Me: Win.

So this is a project from quite a while back, one of my first builds that got me hooked on woodworking actually. I made a few modifications (obviously) since our TV was super thin it just wasn't going to work the way I wanted. I decided to go with more of a tapered look instead. It was my first experience with the "antiquing" technique, after lots of trial and error I ended up getting the look we were going for. It was overall a fun and fairly easy build, with a few learning moments along the way. The only time any of these projects seem "complicated," is when you over think everything, like I do :)

Love the easy to follow plans!!! Make sure you have room when building....this a Big bench.

Rob V.  

This was my second project. My eleven year old son and I had great fun building it together.