Community Brag Posts

After I built my work bench I was ready to get started with my first real projets from the site. My wife requested that I make this pedestal first so that she could get a little more organized. I would say total there was about 8 hours of cutting and building and then another hour of painting. I did make one modification to this project and that was to add extra trim to the bottom and top of this pedestal. With everything included (wood, trim, paint, screws) this probably costs me right around $115. Much less than two of the standard medal pedestals that don't add much as far as aesthetics to the laundry room.

Im sure this wont be the only one of these I make! Thanks for the awesome plans!

I used replacement screen door wheels and 1" by 1/4" Aluminum bar to make the hardware. 

I built these doors for a very good friend of mine who actually helped me get started turning my new love for building (after finding Ana's site) into a way for our family to make some extra money.

It took me a little while to wrap my brain around building something without using my Kreg Jig. I used a router table set up with some raised panels bits and put the whole thing together with glue and nails! Wonderful experience!

For the finish, I used a vinegar solution to give the cedar wood an old barn look. I think the final result turned out great and the final step was a clear coat sprayed on out of a rattle can.

I took the plans from the Fancy X Console table and made all but the end "X's". I painted the legs and trim with a vanilla white, and stained the top and shelves with a golden pecan. Turned out great and looked amazing in the house of the woman I made it for......AKA my mother.

I really appreciated the build article.  I customized the sizes and used plywood for the bottom shelves.  I oxidized but painted with milk paint then sanded to distress.  I also only painted one coat to still see some grain.  I top coated with water based poly.

I saw this and built it for our oldest grandson . He is 8. My wife and I have built 6 different beds for our grandchildren ages 2 - 8 plus numerous other projects for their parents . Having a lot of fun with woodworking and this website.

I built this table for my friend who is moving away in a couple days :( She's going to use it as a coffee bar in her new home. Visit my blog link for the complete play-by-play!

Threw this together in a couple hours with scrap wood that I had from an Ana White project I did over spring break. Had to buy some hooks and the hanging brackets and that was it. Very simple! Not sure how I'm going to finish it. I don't have time for the finishing right now anyways so I'm going to use it as is and finish it later!

A huge thanks to Ana, her inspirational blog, and her clear and easy-to-follow plans for convincing me that I could take on and complete this project. I had lots of fun doing it!

The seesaw is like a dinosaur: the extinct relic of the playground, still held in awe by kids the world over. No longer available to the public in its original form, the original seesaw is the perfect DIY project. My older daughter had been asking for one for a couple of years, and after finding the plans on Ana White’s website I was able to build one cheaply for about $50 in wood and screws. This was the perfect weekend project, and I was able to use up some leftover paint and fabric to create this nice addition to our yard.

Check out my blog post about this seesaw here:
http://sandiegocountypropertymanagement.com/diy-kids-seesaw/

I wanted to build a structure for the kids to play in, but not include a playhouse. I used the playhouse deck design and made it slightly smaller (6 feet by 8 feet). The "roof" is removable to provide shade when it's sunny. It's just PVC and a tarp - pretty simple, but it does the job. I used treated posts and untreated lumber for the rest of it. I painted everything in my garage before assembling it. Once all of the wood at been painted, but came together pretty quickly!

I followed the basic Industrial Cart plans, but made it 36" high instead of 24"ish. We wanted a countertop type of space for tea/coffee and a shelf big enough for cereal boxes.

Lessons learned: Treatign (sanding/staining/sealing) the wood takes the most time, and regular wood fill is ugly - next time I will try to find transparent fill or leave the suface uneven.

I was asked to build a bench for our high school softball team room and used these plans to build the support. I was planning on building it exactly as it was in the plans, but a kind soul donated some poplar plywood mdf for the top, making it a smoother and more polished finish. I added some accent trim along the wall. Finished it off with school color (navy blue) on the legs and a clear satin lacquer finish on the bench. Love how it turned out!

Part of the Benchright collection. This was easy to make and it turned out so much prettier than I imagined. I love it!

I found an ad in the Craig's List free section advertising two pallets on a first come, first serve basis behind the new pizza place near our apartment. I talked my dh into going a checking it out and there was one left when we got there. These pallets were HUGE! Nine feet long! It hung a good 3 feet over the end of the tailgate on my husband's truck! The manager of the pizza place wandered out while we were loading up and told us that their new pizza ovens had been delivered on the pallets. Cool story to tell our son about his bookshelves!

We got the pallet home after a quick stop at Lowe's for a crow bar. Dh taught me how to use a crow bar to remove the excess wood used to stablize the pizza oven on the pallet during shipment. I also learned that they use an insane amount of nails to put these things together! After pulling off about 40 pounds of useless scrap wood (literally, 40 pounds, these suckers were HEAVY!) I used some of our own scrap boards from other projects to make the shelves. We live in an apartment complex. People wandering by all day asked what I was doing. Even dh didn't understand exactly what I was trying to do but he went along with it and helped when I needed extra hands.

After getting it all put together, I used some left over poly-and-stain-in-one that we had left over. I got most of it stained with that but then I ran out. I haven't gotten around yet to getting some more. That will be the only cost associated with this project, the rest was free. Oh and the letters used for my son's name on the shelves. I blurred it out in the picture but I used dollar store vinyl letters to put his name on the shelf.

We anchored the shelf to the wall, it's stable and sturdy but I never doubt the ingenuity of a small child and even with the 40 pounds of wood we removed from this sucker, it is still H-E-A-V-Y!!!! Since it's going in a toddler's room I figured better safe than sorry. I went to Lowe's and asked for earthquake straps and I was told that we don't get earthquakes around here so they don't carry them.... I had to explain to her that earthquake straps also keep small children from toppling heavy furniture and she said they might have something in the childproofing area. They did have furniture straps as they called them in the childproofing area. Note to self: we no longer live in an earthquake prone area, people look at you like you've lost your mind if you want to strap your furniture down in case of earthquakes or curious small children.