Community Brag Posts

Farmhouse Table 

Few Modifications, Tools use Miter Sae, Table Saw and Planer 

Check My Work At https://www.facebook.com/Custom-Patio-Retreats-1764656797122875/

We based this bed on plans we found on the Ana White website, but after final assembly we decided it was just a tad too low. Eventually we got around to adding the legs, which were made with left over pieces (from the bed project) of 2x6, cut to 11in.  We've been very pleased with the appearance, stability, and height of the bed this way. Now to wait for some nice weather to take out to the garage and stain/finish! If we would build it again, we would increase the width by an inch or two because the plans we followed "as-is" ended up being the exact dimensions of our mattress. Thankfully a foam mattress will squish into it and we won't have to rebuild for the extra inch. Overall pleased with our new bed. 

This is my husband's second project. He actually made 2 this weekend, one for my son and the other for my nephew. He lowered the bottom shelf to allow more room for books. He used a cherry stain. We love how it turned out-functional and nice to look at. I would say about 2 1/2 -3 hours to complete the project.

I built this with leftover ceramic tiles and using the pedestal table plans. I built it at the same height as our bar. The stools are from the vinatage bar stool plans and are modified with the rustic X as bracing for the legs, upholstery and are at a seat height of 25" rather than the 30". 

This easel was my 2nd Ana White project.

I decided to use an old picture frame to surround the chalkboard portion of the easel. I picked it up at an antique shop for under $5.

The wood was left unfinished, mostly because I ran out of time (I still haven't sanded the putty spots!). But now, I actually prefer it that way because it blends better with our furnishings. The legs of the easel are hinged so that it can fold up when not in use (I added removable pins on the tray support to make this happen).

This easel has been used every day - It has been such a great addition!

Thanks Ana for the great plans!

In the plans of selling our home and move from Indiana to Washington, I visited  Ana's website I was able to build this easy, simple attractive outdoor furniture to give a little "Curb Appeal" Besides the couchs, I made a corner table. The cushions are made for chairs and the pillows are cheap pillows with new covers that my wife made. Sad thing about this is I hate to leave. I will just have to make another set some day?

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.

Necklace Armoire - a mother's day gift for Mom. I made this to go with the Fancy Jewelry box that I did for her for Christmas. Based on the Wall Jewelry Cabinet plan. This piece is made to stand like a narrow tower, and it opens up like a book. There are hooks inside, on both sides. I placed the hinges on the left, because Mom is left-handed. Dimensions are 6 1/2" wide, 14 1/2" tall, and 6 1/2" deep. Top & bottom are 1x6, box and door sides are 1x3, and door front and back are 1/4" birch plywood. The inside is lined with felt. The wood, stain and paint were already on hand, I just needed the felt and hardware. The build was very easy. The finishing took longest because it has both stain and paint, with added felt and hardware. On the right side I used some hooks re-purposed from an old jewelry box, and on the left side are 3/4" brass shoulder hooks from Lowes. Hooks are attached to some 3/8" craft board, which was stained and glued in place. I got to use my newest tool (23 gage headless pin nailer) for attaching the trim (very neat - it really was just a pin-size hole to fill). The front closes with a brass hook and eye. I sure hope she likes it! :) Happy Mother's Day!

This was my very first woodworking project. It didn't end up perfect, but I learned a lot by making it, and it is still a quite nice dining table.

The minor modifications I made of the plan: I used 1x4-s as a frame for the table top, flush with the top. (The 2x2-s are next to it inside.) I made the lower supports out of 4x4-s (except that they didn't have 4x4-s at the store here so it's really 2 2x4-s put together). I have a few 2x4-s connecting the 2x8 and 2x6-'s in the base, to make it a bit more stable (not sure I really needed these but anyway), and I also ended up putting a few 2x4-s in the core of the base, again to make it a bit more robust. I routed the 1x4-s on the table frame, and also the table legs with a 45 degree bit (using a router is really fun! And really easy).

I used pine for the base and red oak for the table top -- mostly because I have oak cabinets in the kitchen. After sanding to 150 grit, I stained the oak first with Minwax Oriental Ginger (I would have used a dye if I had had one but this worked fine), and then two coats of GF antique oak. The Minwax gave a nice warm orange undertone while the GF highlighted the grain. It has 6 coats of GF high performance water based poly on it, sanded and wet sanded with very fine grit (up to 2000) so it's pretty smooth. It looks like many people use grain filler with oak, but I like the grain so I didn't. The base is painted white with whatever semigloss white paint I happened to have at hand.

Lessons learnt: 1) always, always measure twice, and always, always make sure that everything is square. 2) Don't build a table base from a board that's not absolutely straight. 3) Make sure to have enough screws and that the screws are of the right kind. 4) If you use a 45 degree router bit, you need to sand that 45 degree part much finer than the other parts of the table top, otherwise the grain will stick out and make it very rough. 5) Don't wet sand oak -- the poly dust white residue gets into the grain and it's impossible to remove. 

I can't find ceder fencing here where we live so I just used a 1x6 I already had. I sealed it with Rustolem's Spar outdoor polyurethane in semi-gloss.

My 6 year old daughter planted the little basil plant seeds a couple weeks ago and we are giving this to one of her teachers this week as an end of year present.

I tried hand painting the herb garden part but it looked really bad so I sanded it down and added the little chalkboard vinyl stickers instead.

I used mostly stuff I had on hand to make the box... I used sissel rope for the handles since I had some. The only cost was for the stickers, terracotta pots and the seeds

I designed this desk from another desk I built. With this one, I wanted the overall foot-print smaller but still something that was able to organize all our office stuff and be able to close everything to keep it clutter-free. We have a small apartment, and although this desk is about the size of an up-right piano, it works perfectly into our living space!

I made it out of raw hardwood (Ash) and because I knew just the wood alone would make this desk heavy/bulky to move I made the top hutch removable. It's held in place by wood pegs (dominos). All the shelves are adjustable and the drawers are full-extension (something I've never had - wahoo)! The drop-down door is help up by 2 pull-out boards on each side (my first desk had chains). I spend a lot of money on this desk because I knew it was a chance in a lifetime to make and wanted it to be perfect and something that would last generations.

I built the main carcass off of plans/measurements I designed, but then all the insides, drawers, shelves, doors, etc where made as I built (because just a millimeter difference in building changes everything)!

If you want more pictures/descriptions of the building process I wrote about it in a 4-part series on my blog.