Community Brag Posts

I designed this bed that we built with inspiration from Ana's camp loft bed plans, but without stairs and second bed underneath.

We couldn't find untreated 4x4's for the legs so my husband glued two 2X4's together. In the end you can hardly tell that they aren't one piece.

Using the easy to follow instructions by Ana, I was able to create this wonderful addition to my front porch.

Taken from inspiration from the original Clubhouse Bed and from the "Treehouse Bed" in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog, my daughter's "Surf Shack" bed was created. Total cost for supplies (mainly lumber) ~$300. Pottery Barn's version: $1,500. Yikes!

Wicker turtles from Pottery Barn Kids (size: SMALL). Fishing Net from Oriental Trading Co.

I followed your plans pretty closely. My daughters love it (2 and 3 years old)! We hope to get lots of years of use out of it, it is so solidly built!

Since wood is the traditional 5th wedding anniversary gift, I thought this table would be perfect.

From the pallet style coat rack plans we saw from Ana and what she did for Ryobi Nation.  Real simple to follow.  I just change measurements to fit my space and other modificaitons because I didn't have quite enough 2x lumber.  I saw the railroad spike hook idea on Pinterest and had a metal worker down my road cut them and thread them for me.  I am very happy with it.  I found a water-based stain (I HATE the clean up for oil based stuff) in a color called Aged Leather.

I made this chair from plans in Ana's book. Obviousy I modified the back to make the skull.

Super easy to make. I used all pallet wood for this project so the only cost was the screws.

This was built using Ana's media console plan with slight modifications. I decided to forego the drawers for simples shelves, like so many on the brag posts did. I also added shelves in each of the cabinets for extra storage. And, I added some scrap 2x2s for vertical trim on the cabinets. I opted for knobs instead of handles, because I thought it looked better and they were recycled from another project of mine.

I painted black, since that's my thing and it's seemingly safe, but distressed with my sander and used a q-tip to stain the "weathered" parts. For whatever reason, I let my husband select the stain and he chose the Minwax Classic Gray. This is a gorgeous stain, but do not use it on black as a distress stain. This color takes a bit of manipulation, as it doesn't take on certain pieces of wood as it does others (Ana does a tutorial on this color--watch it and you'll see what I mean). From there, if you get any excess on the black paint, it looks a sloppy mess--I had to wipe it down with a wet cloth as best I could, repaint it, sand it, and restain with Rustoleum Summer Oak (I personally prefer all Rustoleum products to Minwax, but that's my preference).

Also, I wish I had used higher-quality wood and/or spent more time finding better cut pieces. I used pine, and some of the pieces (especially the 2x2s) were very wonky.

This was my first "big" project and it took a really long time because I made a ton of mistakes. But, it's wood, and mistakes can be corrected. Just like life, mistakes are learning experiences--some more costly than others. While this isn't the most beautiful piece of furniture, it was a great learning experience, and that's why this console is so valuable to me.

I made these stools to use with my counter-height dining table.  The only modification I made to the original plans were I did not use the diagonal support and I used 2x6s to make the seat for the stool.

I saw this project on this site and thought it would be a great item to build and to store my kids art supplies. The 8 cubbies are perfect for glue sticks, pens, crayons, and scissors.

This was my first real build and it was a lot of fun. My girlfriend helped me out from time to time even though it was brutally cold in my un-heated, uninsulated, detatched garage.

We used a sagey green for the paint and 2 coats of gloss poly on the top. Added holes in the back with a hole saw for wires and cables. I stacked the false fronts and drilled them for the knobs all at the same time for consistency.

All in for about $210 including $40 in knobs, but I did make the drawers out of some scrap I had laying around.

The pocket hole joinery makes this pretty easy, but I'd highly recommend a table saw for consistent cuts and deminsions. Also, definitely use lay out lines and double check for squareness before driving the screws during assembly. Take your time, and enjoy the process. It starts to look very much "diy" in that not good "ummmmmm..." kind of way before the end where it all comes together.

 Added an L section to the Fancy Desk to increase usable space  So far it still stands strong for me.  Thanks Ana

Built this for my daughter this past Christmas, she was 15mo then and not too enthusiastic about being in the tower. Now at nearly 20mo she demands her "towah" when it's time to "wash a hans" and she doesn't mind being plopped in it while we do things in the kitchen (as long as its not for TOO long...) We're looking forward to many years of use out of the tower, thanks for the plans! This was my first project with the Kreg pocket screw jig, really liked it and wished I'd had it for some of my past projects.