Community Brag Posts

this is modified slightly from the original plan to accomodate some basic electronics for the TV

Outdoor cedar bench
3/4 x 11 1/2”

This is a project we built this weekend. My husband and I desperately needed some sophisticated storage space in the living room that is kid friendly, so we accepted the challenge. We together built a coffee table with trundle storage inspired by a plan on ana-white. We are truly inspired by her designs and plans help a LOT! Check out our work!

Farmhouse style table, 4 2x10 with 2X6 border. All Doweled and glued. Seems most plans are with square "breadboard" ends, i thought this style was a bit cleaner with no raw ends. 4X4 legs with 4X4 cross stretchers. Table ended up 4'X8' matching bench to follow.

You really need a dowel-jig, Kreg-jig, and bar clamps to do this project. You can also use a biscuit cutter instead of dowel jig, but I think it lines up better with dowels.

Close up shot shows swirl marks from 80 grit sandpaper used on an orbital sander... Even using 180 grit final sand it left them there, actually a nice distress look.

Plans were perfect. This was my first build.

When I saw the plans for this bench I knew I had to make it. I had been looking for something to put on my porch, but hadn't found anything I liked.
I, or should I say, my husband had all the tools just sitting in the garage.

It was a great starter project. I definitely felt the learning curve. Thank goodness for wood filler and paint!

The moment I saw these plans I knew it would be the perfect Christmas gift for my daughter. We followed the plans fairly exactly, only using knobs instead of a notch in the drawer and adding some small furniture slides on the bottom. I had some left over fabric from the linens I sewed for my daughter's room and used these to create a mattress cover, pillow, and small quilt. She loves it. The drawer underneath is great for extra doll clothes, bottles, diapers, etc.

This bed was my biggest project so far and it was very time consuming. I love it though, and it looks great in my son's room!

After my wife commented how much our son enjoyed playing with a pretend kitchen during play group, I began thinking about building one of our own. Searching online I found all of the amazing work that had been posted here and drew inspiration from all of the examples already shared.

Yesterday was the grand unveiling and I'm happy to report it was well received. Our son had to be dragged away from it for his bath and bed after hours of opening and closing all of the door and restacking his dishes. Thanks to all of you for the great ideas and the confidence to build on my own!

PS: The Kreg jig is the greatest DIY invention of all time.

My primitive mitre plastic template didn't allow me to get a 60 degree angle so I went with the very simply upright thingies instead! The vinegar, wire wool and tea oxidisation worked a treat and was far easier to apply than stain.

U-shaped breakfast nook custom built for client.

For the bones - I just laid the 2x4's out like studs all the way around.  Odd corner in back R, 106 degrees, made for some fun mitreing on molding and plywood.

For the decorative finish, used single-piece paneling, not the wainscoting sheet-panels, to give a fuller look.

I wanted to make my girlfriend a gift for her birthday and came across this shelf. It turned out wonderful and I can't wait to make one for myself now!

I needed a dresser to match the two farmhouse sidetables I built for the room and this design fit the bill. I really had to take the time to figure out where to place the pocket holes. Finishing is my least favorite part of the process, but I'm glad to have really taken my time. This was a really challenging project and I'm so pleased with the end product. By far, my favorite build yet!

Built from the Wide Cabin Dresser w/ metal slides plans.  I used soft-close ball bearing drawer slides instead of the European style ones suggested.  The other departure from the plans: I liked the way the three separate boards in the open (bottom) row looked in the Pottery Barn model, hence used that instead of the flat board shown in the plans (and many of the other brag posts).

I don't know how people manage to get this done in a single digit number of hours.  It took me a single digit number of hours just to get the drawers right and I would still say they're not 100% perfect.  Having said this, I rated this project "intermediate" since I'm sure people with more wood-working experience than me (this was my first) would avoid some careless mistakes that I made and which required a few redo's here and there.

In our basement we have an 8 inch oak ledge on the outside walls. I love the oak finished ledge, but it makes it hard to place furniture up against it. The furniture is either shorter or taller than the ledge and looks awkward. So, I built several storage pieces to fit our area and ledge. I modified a couple of different plans to create our toy storage area. It's so useful and looks great.