Community Brag Posts

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.

If you're looking for an easy built that will INSTANTLY add more seating for your outdoor space, look no further! This was such an easy build and is one of my favorites so far. All it took was 2X4 boards, which are dirt cheap. 

www.withlovefromgablog.blogspot.com

I built this book shelf for my daughter.

I made both the top and the bottom shelves an angled.
I used a finishing nail punch to emboss the name.

I mixed 3 different color stains to match the other furniture.

Used 2" caster wheels from Home Depot.

Built in cabinet based on the bar door cabinet project. Reclaimed bar wood used for the doors and trim. Custom made steel hardware. 

I built it for this specific space,so I ended up shortening the length of it but also made it wider from front to back. The original plans would have run into into the door that's to the right. My old coffee table sat here, so I went off those dimensions.

What I learned:
If you do decide to tweak the plan, be sure to take into consideration that a 2x4 isn't actually 4 inches wide. The same goes for 2x6's (the bottom two shelves are made of 2x6 wood).

I made this sewing table using Ana Whites Sewing table for small spaces plan. I used 3/4" fir plywood.
I did however make changes to use continuous hinges (aka piano hinges) and upgraded the legs to 2x2's. I used folding leg brackets from Lee Valley Tools found here: http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/page.aspx?p=40035&cat=3,41306,41309

It's finished with a dark walnut stain, and three coats of water based varathane. All told this project took about a week. I had the pieces cut for me by the lumberyard, but they still required sanding before assembly. Then assembly took another afternoon. Staining & finishing took the longest, probably 3 days, since I could only work on it in the late afternoon - evening.

Approximate Costs:
$30.00 Hinges, screws, & 2x2's for legs, paint brush
$20.00 Stain & Finish (some savings here as I had some leftover from another project)
$30.00 Folding leg brackets
$50.00 Lumber Costs (this can vary wildly depending on your wood selection)

Took 2.5 hrs to cut, fasten and sand, and approximately 24-48 hrs to paint, stain and poly.

This has been a very rewarding project. Now I have people comissioning work!

Thanks for the plans

Entertainment center with Bluray/DVD storage in the doors. Based on the Cynthia media stand by Pottery Barn. I drew it up to my personal preferences using Draftsight (free 2d cad software). Used 3/4" oak for everything except for a few trim boards. It came out great, we are very proud to call it our own.

I recently resigned from my job to stay home with my kids. This gave me time to begin a long desired hobby! Thanks to this website and the awesome, easy to follow plans, I have been able to start practicing with some very practical pieces. I have been looking for extra tall stools for over five years, since moving to our current home, and have not been able to find any I'm willing to buy. They have to be special ordered and are ridiculously priced for the chintzy pieces they are. I had fun making these ones and they look gorgeous in my home.

It took me several days to complete all three, but for a more experienced person it would take much less time. I used the Kreg Jig for all holes possible. And with each stool I learned something, and each one was completed in less time than the last.

THANK YOU ANA!

Built a small table for the living room out of a reclaimed pallet. 

I'd say all together i spent about 5 days working on this... but i did it all by myself and i'm a newbie! I used studs i found at home depot. My tulip legs were $8 dollars a pop and I bought a drill/kregjig and sanding paper because I've never built anything before. I hand sanded the whole thing!!!! This was my first build... but it did break once: For the center support i used two 2 1/2" screws and screwed it from the outside and the screws just ripped through the wood. but i replaced it.. put in new screws and attached little 1x2 pieces under both ends and i plan to adding 2 legs in the center. You an see in the photos i attached where the old screws were, and how i solved the problem under the bed by adding the like 1x2 pieces. I've had it for 2 weeks completed now.. and although the center support gave out once... it's been good and solid since! I hope this was help to anyone considering making this bed! P.S. just buy a sander... hand sanding is painful and boring!

This was my first project like this from website, the instructions were clear and easy to follow. I did this over a weekend all total it took 10 to 15 hours with the bulk of that going to priming and painting the wood.

The table is a little small (as is mentioned in the instructions). If I was going to make it again I might try 6 foot boards for the benches and top. I made a couple of modifications, one intentional and one unintentional. The intentional changes was bolting the frame together with carriage bolts. Others had mentioned that it was wobbly and I'm a bigger guy and didn't want to take a chance. The unintentional change is that it's an inch shorter than it should be. I was cutting the first pieces and thought it said 27 when it said 28. That wasn't a big deal as I shortened the other piece by an inch.

I'm very happy with how they turned out except that one of my benches isn't completely square. The top of the bench and table is square but somewhere in all my drilling and bolting together its off a little bit. I need to take it apart to determine where I am off and fix it.

I mentioned that it was $100 to build, it was $40 for the wood and $60 for all the other little stuff, screws, paint, primer, bolts, etc. Of course I have enough left from most of that to complete another bench or two if I just get the wood.

I just completed my second faux ship lap wall - it gives a more cabin-y feel to the room and goes right over the drywall!

This project was pretty dang easy. My husband and I whipped this out one weekend and were pleasantly surprised with the outcome. It now sits in our dining room and we LOVE it!! We used Rust-o-leum's Kona stain and it could not have been more perfect of a color. We used a brush to apply in sections and wiped it off immediately. Before staining we beat it with chains, hammers, screws, etc. And we also scraped it up and gouged it out with screw drivers, crowbars, and any other items we could find. Be sure and sand it down really well. We finished it off with a matte finish polyurethane. Thanks for the designs! We are on to table number 2 now! Jordi