Community Brag Posts

Wide cabin dresser from pine, charcoal grey wood stain, soft-close drawer slides, and turquoise hardware.

This was a true joy to build. I plan on making at least three to four more of these. Couple tips I learned though: I used pocket hole screw where I could to prevent drilling so many holes that would need to be filled: Ft board, Rear boards, and a couple others. Also I routed the edge of the very front board where the child's legs will be dangling from, as well as the inside/outside edges of the arm rests. Smoother the better I thought with little kids. Lastly, I painted all the boards and then put it together as recommended. However, I would go through the plans and only paint the surfaces that you know will either touch and will be difficult to get to or sides that won't be drilled out; unless you don't plan on filling the holes and painting over them. It will save you paint and time if you plan out what sides of what boards you'll paint first than doing them all at once.

A honey do project to increase our countertop space in our kitchen, for family gatherings. The cherry wood stove cover was created with wood I had milled from our property.

I know that Ana says not to do this as your first project but I couldn't help myself! We needed shoe storage BAD!! This project was not bad but did take my husband and I about 3 weeks to build. It had nothing to do with the difficulty just scheduling conflicts. We needed somewhere to house all of my husbands shoes and something that would not take up much space because the only spot we had to put it in our bedroom was between the bathroom door and my husbands closet door. We used Ana's plan for the shoe dresser but did had to modify it to fit the 44" spot we had to work with. The 1x8's that we used were only 7 1/4 instead of 7 1/2 but my husbands size 12 shoes fit without a problem! I can't wait to start our next project! Thanks Ana!

I followed the spice rack plans but put this right inside my wall and added a face frame. I love the detail in the carved wood!

This was my 4th build, and only took a few weekends to do, working on it a few hours at a time each day. Pretty easy, though I didn't include the X braces on the sides due to miscutting them (just got the angles backwards). I used Minwax Provincial and Minwax polyurethane. Excuse the mess in the photos.

I took the design of the planter and stretched it to accomodate an "Earthbox" (which is 29 x 13.5x 11 inches) to see if I could boost the results of my little garden. Both planters were made the same size so that if I'd like, next season ,I can use two Earthboxes.

The bench was built to keep out bunnies, our Husky, give us a place to put down the bowl when picking from the garden and lastly to give Georgia a place to climb up and get a better view or help. It is made using some treated 2x6's for legs aand support and untreated 2x4's for the actual benchtop.

I'll add a protective finish (and missing trim on both ends) to the bench part later this week when I have some toddler free time at home :)

This was my first big project...I wanted to get rid of the store-bought bedroom set that overwhelmed our small room, but I still needed to keep all of the storage space it provided. I started small with the Farmhouse Nightstand, then moved to a double size nightstand. I couldn't stop once I got rolling! The most challenging was the dresser, but I have no complaints! It was a wonderful challenge. Lastly, I made a queen platform storage bed - it has open cubbies underneath with baskets for drawers. I couldn't be happier or prouder of how this came out, our bedroom looks 10 times bigger! I've always been a do it yourself kind of gal - but I surprised myself with this one!

The tables were quick to build, they can both be done in a day. The dresser was a weekend project as was the bed. The finishing has to be done over several days. I'd say this could be done over a week if you have the time. I did this over 3 weekends and finishing in the evenings after work.

I thought I'd wait and take these glorious after photos once I was done - but nevermind that idea.  Here are some pictures of progress, start to finish.  I still plan to build some shoe cubbies for the towers so that my wife has a little more shoe-room.

We have a 5th bedroom directly off the master with a double door entrance where the 5th bedroom's closet would have been.  The room had been an office for the previous owner and my wife decided it would be a perfect closet for her.  I followed the plans quite closely for the towers.  I wish I had considered my 8+ foot ceilings and just built the towers taller because 1) storing stuff on top will look messy, and 2) The hanger rods aren't spaced quite well enough for longer clothing.  Because of this, I had to build her another hanger on the other side of the wall, which increased the complexity of the project (corner shelves, more wood, more staining, more finishing, etc).  In the end, I think it turned out great.  I will walk through the process very quickly.

• Bought premium birch plywood, had them cut it down in the store.  They did a good job.  If I were doing it again, I would buy Aspen or Pine in precut boards, and I estimated it would have cost less than $100 more with a much higher quality and more workability, especially considering I stained instead of painted.
• Built Towers - used my kreg pocket hole jig a TON on this project.  For boards across the top, I put the pocket holes on top, where they will be out of site.  For bottoms, I was able to use finishing brads to nail down my boards to the frame.
• Stained wood.  I used an oil stain.  After letting it dry 24hours+, I used finishing wax to turn make the plywood very smooth.  I painted on the wax real heavy and then buffed with an electric polishing wheel.  *tip* no matter what you are thinking, stain your wood before cutting and assembling.  It will save you hours.
• Built 2x4 bases for the frame of the system.  I used my bases as a template for cutting back the carpet.  I then fastened the bases into the wall studs and sub flooring.
• Installed towers, played with spacing until it felt right and then fastened them into the walls and into the base.
• Cut wood down to size for the top and bottom pieces and installed and nailed down.
• Cut down scraps into strips to support the corner shelves and nailed them into the wall.
• Cut down scraps into corner shelves.  I used 2 pieces of wood for each shelf and added supports on the underside so that they can bear decent weight.  I should have just done more pocket holes.  It would have been stronger and cleaner.
• Installed mini crown molding along top border.  Installed 1/4 inch trim on all facing edges (rather than mess with laminating strips). Installed baseboard trip to cover frame and clean up border of frame and carpet.
• Built drawers using scrap plywood from the project (via the drawer plans on this site).  I didn't mess around, just cut my wood down to the right size and brad nailed the heck out of it.  They are very sturdy.  A thinner bottom and back would have decreased their weight, but I don't see any issues the way they are built.  I opted for the 1/2 inch gap around the border of the drawers.

That is pretty much it.  I think I have about $500-600 in it. Probably 60-70 hours.  If I did it all over again, I could do it better and faster and on the same budget.  As noted in the plans, SQUARE is the most important thing.  I had to fix all the tower shelves once I had them mounted to the wall because they just were not level/square enough.  

Modified two building plans into one farmhouse style table. Two of Ana’s benches as well.

Made this based on the Oliva's Doll Crib plans with changes to the shape of the top of the ends (to better match my daughter's crib), taller end pieces (about 2 inches), and a shelf under the drawer. To keep the drawer from falling out, I built the crib as usual, then turned the crib upside down, and screwed two rubber stoppers to the front of the underside of the crib bottom. I then put the drawer in place, placed the bottom shelf, and then screwd it in through the bottom (which is on top right now because the whole thing is upside down). I also put in some spacers so that the drawer doesn't get stuck, squished between the bottom of the crib and the shelf.

I was shopping for a porch swing for my 1924 Four Square home and I couldn't find any to my liking...I stumbled across this web site on Shanty2Chic's Blog via Pinterest....and I am thrilled by what I have found!

Attached is a photo of the swing I built. I need to finish sanding, filling in the holes and then paint it. I will post a pic of the hanging on my front porch once the weather breaks.

The only deviation in the plan design is that I made the back 2x4 50' long so I could attach eye bolts to support the back. If you have scrap lumber, it would have cost me hardly anything.

Think spring!!

Super easy project. My space is smaller so I modified to 6ft instead of the 8ft used in the plana. I plan to make the white board crates to finish the project. 

I built a simple, yet very classy table using table legs from Bear Hollow Supply. All you need is a table top, which in my case I used a nice looking wood slab. Then you just attach the legs and you're done. It's a very simply process and the final results is a great looking table.

Compass rose dimensions: 22×22 (90 degree cross) tilt 45 degrees 16×16 (90 degree cross) then connect lines with a ruler, start with the 16" lines connect from outer point to 2" from center of the 22" crossed lines, once that star is complete make lines from point of the 22" lines to 2 1/2" down side of star adjacent to that point (hint: it's much easier to look at a picture of a compass rose while trying to sketch it). Cut sizes should turn out to be: 8- 9"×7"×2 1/2" triangles and 8- 8"×7"×2" triangles (hint: we had best results using a table saw to make all the cuts)...

This was super easy to build and I love the way it turned out. I painted mine to add some color to my kitchen and did a concrete countertop.

Building this Jewelry Cabinet was really fun and easier than I expected. I made one to give away as a birthday gift, could not resist making another to keep. I don't really have that much jewelry, I just think its gorgeous! I loved the look of the original posted project, that I wanted to duplicate it just as it was.