Community Brag Posts

From the Fire Station Loft bed, this was modified to accomodate a full bed underneath; essentially making it a bunk bed.  The bed underneath is an Ikea Fjellse. The footboard was made to look like a fire engine backing into the fire station.

I built this outdoor sofa out of Blackwood. I tweaked Ana's plan to include a backrest and a support in the front, as my planks are only 23mm thick.

Built this as a garden shed so I had to modify the front into a small 26 inch door.

My shed size was 5 x 4 as I had limted space.

My roof is angled at 10 degrees.

I used my new Kreg jig for the door that was fun!

Frame is from 2 x 3's.

The total cost for me was under $70 as I salvaged the cedar, 1 x 4's, roof felt, and shingles.

Paint for the trim was a $5.00 oops.

I am more than pleased with the outcome.

I built the potting table first before this.

So this was my second item to build and I really enjoyed it.

Can't remember much more about how I built it as I started it a while back.

This site is really amazing.

These chairs are fairly easy to make. The side boards were the hardest part.

Potting bench with a few modifications to fit our space.

Bill N

I used the armless chair plan, and altered the one armed plans to make two chaises. Then I increased the size slightly to accommodate the 25x25 pillows I bought. This took about 12 hours with one person working. I am super proud of it! Finished today, and will eventually stain after the wood has dried out a little. Thank you, Ana, for making straightforward plans that gave me the confidence to do my first woodworking project!

Andrea in Michigan

I built these chairs last summer, they came out amazing! Everybody loves them! Thank you Ana. I also built the sofa for my sun room. Pictures to come.

I'm a high school teacher and like flexible seating. I needed something that is very sturdy and can take a beating from teenagers. I used Ana's "2x4 Outdoor Sofa" plan, made it longer, added some extra braces, and here it is! My new classroom couch.

My daughter needed a loft bed to give her more floor and storage space in her bedroom. I modified the original plans to fit her twin XL bed, which is 5 inches longer than a regular bed. I also added an extra 2x6 across the back two posts for extra support.

Cutting and assembly was relatively easy; I glued every joint and used pocket holes per the instructions. I sanded using 80, 120 and 220 grit. The finish is a Minwax "parchment" water-based stain, with 3 coats of Polycrylic. All pocket holes were pre-drilled prior to finishing.

I assembled the platform and footboard in the garage and brought it into the house as a single unit; same with the headboard. I brought in the rails separately. To assemble, I marked 1 1/4 inches from the outside post edges, and used wood scraps/clamps to align and hold the rails while securing them with pocket hole screws.

My daughter's mattress is very high; it rises only about an inch below the top of the top rail. So I build a bed-length shelf which also had the added benefit of providing a little more height/protection against her rolling out of bed in the middle of the night (see pics).

In all, I was surprised at how long this took me. Probably because I'm a novice and this was only my 2nd project. The totals are:
- Cut and assembly: 14 hours
- Sanding: 25 hours
- Finishing: 2 days

After finishing, I left all pieces in the garage for 5 days to air-out before bringing into the house.

Total cost the lumber was $125, 1 qt stain @ $13, 1/2 gal Polycrylic @ $50 per gal, and $20 hardware for a total of just over $200.

A fun project to make ending with a functional product to boot!  I went all out making sure that each truck/shelf would coordinate with each grandson's theme/decor in their bedrooms.  Chase, who will turn one next month, has a super heroes/comics theme for his room.  Therefore, I selected Captain America as the star of the big rig shelf.  Red, white & blue paints, some wooden shapes and some creativity and Captain America was ready for Mr. Smiles.