Community Brag Posts

I thought I'd start building again with some decor that didn't need to be perfect. I needed something to spruce up my garage, something my son couldn't break while shooting baskets - this seemed perfect! I didn't have all of the scraps I needed so I did have to buy a few boards, but my friend wants me to make her one now and she'll supply the pallet. Since I planned to use it outside and wanted it to look weathered, I used semi-transparent deck stain, watered-down flat white paint and hit it with a sanding block, hammer, rasp, bottle caps - anything to scratch it up a bit. Then covered it with satin polycrylic (because that's what I had around the house).

My daughter and I made this for a Father's Day gift, along with a bike rack, to get my husband's bike "shop" in better order.

Made this storage bed but altered it some.  Still a queen size bed, changed the depth of the side boxes to accomate a suitcase so we could get luggage out of the way.  Built this for our cabin in Maine.

Waste tilt out, wine fridge, and storage shelf.

We were looking for a bunk bed system with stairs instead of a ladder. We had previously used a bunk bed on our vacation and our daughter was having trouble going down, she kept missing the ladder rungs. We searched online for beds with stairs but they were all too expensive. Then my husband found this site and we both looked through all the different plans. There are so many great plans for little girls beds, but in the end we decided with this one. It was the easiest for us to alter by adding the bottom bunk. We also liked this bed because we thought it the safest for our youngest who would be trying to climb. This is our first ever project built. We had tons of fun building this together and then letting our 4 yr old help us with the painting. We basically started with nothing in building this bed. We bought all the stuff except for the saw, sander and drill, which we borrowed. To add the bottom bunk, we made the distance at the bottom 6 inches, and then followed the pattern of separation for the railings that was used for the top. But it was only the bottom 2x6 and one round of the 2x4s for the railing. Since it was the bottom it didn't need to go as high as the top, just enough so our youngest won't roll in between the mattress and wall.

We had a 28 inch nook in the mud room/bathroom that was the collect all for our shoes, hats, boots, scarves, and pup accessories. Had seen shoe cabinets at ikea but with the space being small it needed a "custom" build. Ana had the perfect solution!! We took basic plan and reduced length to 28 inches and top width to 12 inches. I wanted a larger top surface to place baskets. We took the 2 drawer and added a 3rd for increased storage space. Drawers were also made deeper to fit with the wider top piece. Also added a 4 thick chunky legs (4x4) to help support and stabilize dresser. Those were set in a bit to accommodate the molding along baseboard. Added faux drawer fronts using 1/4 inch ply wood. We put the magnets on but made drawers hard to open so we kept magnet but removed the plate. An old leather belt was recycled for the back strips to prevent drawers from flopping down.

Found this on Pinterest and FELL IN LOVE! I have 2 kids that are inseperable, ages 3 & 4, a boy & a girl. I had been toying with ideas for them about bunk beds or maybe some PVC forts. But when I found this, it was like everything in one. Let me also start off by saying, although I am artistic I have never used a single tool or built ANYTHING in my life. EVER.

The beds were surprisingly easy to build and are incredibly sturdy & strong. I followed the plan exactly except for the platforms. I made my daughter's huge. (The plan calls for 22", I made hers 50") My son's I made smaller b/c that wall is shorter & there wasn't enough space. So his is only 16" but it's still plenty of room to climb up & get into bed. They use her platform as a stage to perform on or a small play area.

I'm going to glue down padding to cover both platforms and all the stairs b/c my kids are small but rough & tumble and I can already see the hospital bills. But the bed is EXCELLENT! Surprised to see no one else has posted a brag for it!

Make this immediately! The priming, painting & building for each only took one day. ONE DAY! I painted the room, the trim, and made both beds over the holiday weekend (Labor Day, Friday-Monday). My kids are now the envy of every child (and adult) that we know LOL!

I made this cabinet for my 9 year old daughter. My daughter enjoyed filling the shelves with her things and the door with her ear rings. The shelves are made from 1x3's. I added 4 small hinges and 1 magnetic closure. The stain used is purple (daughter's choice). This was a fun build that took 2 days start to finish.

This was a perfect build for my brother's farmhouse style home. The build itself wasn't too difficult but getting to doors to slide properly was definitely challenging. We had originally spray painted the hardware oil rubbed bronze but found the it kept rubbing off when we slid the doors so we ended sanding everything back down to the original color.

We also bought multiple pulleys based on the tutorial we found but they really didn't work great. We finally found these 1.5 inch pulleys (http://store.riggingcentral.com/15-in-2-in-25-in-3-in-35-in-sheaves-p36…) and used (2) 5/16 bolt nuts inside the pulley to center the cleaves pins and secure. 

I followed the instructions to a T.
This is a very simple build and makes a great bed. My daughter loves it and I love the look.
I didn't screw down the 1x2 supports because I was having trouble with the wood splitting. It's worked out fine this way, I just need to rearrange a little bit when I change the bedding on her mattress.
If you have a kid who likes to climb or jump on their bed a lot, be sure to use a lot of screws to connect the bed frame to the foot board.

Really fun project. I plan on making a side table and 2 chairs with this plan as well.

It's decorated now, but looks amazing without as well. The build plan was easy, definitely need to have some knowledge about woodworking. Just have fun and be creative.

I used the basic 2x4 potting bench and made it a bit wider to have room for the sink. Had to make slight modifications -- put a 2x4 in the back to help support the half shelf on top. Found the sink at the restore for $15 have have been waiting to do this. Ana's plan was easy to follow and modify for my needs. Spent 88$ on lumber, nails, 15$ for the sink, plus about 40 $ for additional hardware for the sink. This sets beside my deck. I love it. Now I can was my hands outside and can't wait to rinse my veggies off when they produce.

I wanted an inexpensive but wonderful gift for a special co-worker who is having her first baby after many years of trying and painful medical treatments. I loved this PB inspired trestle table and thought the plans looked like something I could handle. Paired with the four-dollar chairs, I felt this would be a winner. I had a few burps along the way with the table project....there's a paint stick glued to the bottom of one of the legs as a shim....have no idea how that leg ended up shorter. There's also a countersink drill bit inside the table somewhere, broke right off in there! My biggest challenge with the table was the stain. I have never used the all-in-one stain before and have to say, it is a tough product to work with. It is hard to do with a brush. I brushed on my first coat and wasn't happy at all. Sanding away mistakes is an ordeal because the poly in the product hardens everything up so quickly. I really had trouble here and am still not happy with how the stain turned out....I wish I had applied the first coat with a cloth, as I did all the other coats because there is so much more control than with a brush. If I use this product again (which I probably will), I would only apply with a cloth. The chairs were a breeze, however, you may notice that my back legs are on the wrong spot....that was a mistake I made with the first chair. Since I used glue before screwing, I couldn't undo it. So I just made the second chair the same way....no big deal, but they are NOT stackable this way. I tried to use firring strips, but they were splitting like crazy, so I just used them for the seat slats and used regualar boards for the rest. The other thing I did differently was that I didn't countersink my screws on the seat boards. I painted my pocket hole screws black and let them show. This way, if my friend ever wants to change the color of the chairs, she can easily unscrew them, paint the chair and screw them back on. This was a fun and "just challenging enough" project. The table was my second build and the chairs are my third. Each project has taught me a ton!

We just finished the side street bunk beds! We got all our wood from Menards, our favorite store! My husband build the bunk bed and I finished it. I sanded it all with 180 and 220 grit sand paper. Sanding probably took the most time, I was covered! I filled all the screw holes with wood glue and saw dust. These areas ended up looking like knots when stained so I was very pleased. Our wood was rough (now super smooth), it had a lot of character, so the screw holes blend right in. After sanding it, I applied the wood conditioner and 2 coats of Varathane premium dark walnut wood stain. I then applied one coat of Varathane fast drying, heavy use formula, clear, semi gloss Polyurethane. I did a light sanding on everything using 400 grit and then applied one more coat of Polyurethane. For the wood conditioner, stain and polyurethane I applied it with a foam brush and wiped it off a staining pad. It went on very even, definitely recommend using both! I ahve used expensive brushes before and the cheap .50 cent brushes worked so much better! We waited to attach the ladder and guard rails till it was up in my son's room, which made staining it a lot easier. I even stained the boards that hold the mattresses. My son is a very tall, almost 4 year old and the angle ladder is perfect. He was very excited to get it up in his room this weekend!

Also in the finished photo are two navy blue Simple Bookshelves and the Flat Wall Bookholder also finished in dark walnut!

Photo's: I posted a photo of after the first coat of stain and after the second coat. I was nervous the second coat was too dark (accidentally forgot to keep stirring the can) but after I applied the polyurethane the chalky look disappeared. Only had to use one quart can of both the stain and Polyurethane for the finish.