Community Brag Posts

I spent lots of time looking at all the photos posted on this site of people's amazing renditions of "Grace's Play Kitchen." I was so inspired by everyone's creativity! I found an old wooden play stove at a flea market and decided to make a matching sink. I took Ana's plans to the carpenter at the wood shop on the military base where I am stationed and asked if he could help me build a matching piece. We spent about 4 hours one Saturday building the sink. The carpenter had so much fun helping me, he suggested I build a matching refrigerator. So that was created in another couple hours the following Saturday. I did as much of the building as I could, but definitely had some help from the carpenter as I'm a novice. (Thanks, John!) I made the curtain and matching towels, but found the apron and chef's hat on Etsy. (Thanks, "SweetApronzNCupcakes"!). The play kitchen is in my kitchen, so my two year old daughter can pretend play while I'm working on meal preparation. Thanks again, Ana and all the creative folks who contributed ideas! I foresee many hours of play enjoyed by this play kitchen, and hope it can be passed on to future generations!

I've been working on these bathroom vanities for a family building a home. These are made of gorgeous Greenheart lumber. I have only worked with pine and spruce up to this point, but this wood is truly stunning. It has been quite the adjustment to work with, and I've broken my share of bits and screws :)

All of these together took me about a week to complete. Had I been working with a softer wood it would have taken no time hardly, but the hardwood....that's a whole other ballgame to me!

They will be adding 2'' thick concrete counter-tops on these when they get installed. I love the simplicity of their look!

Lesson learned....... Drilling straight holes is critical.

8 foot long photo ledge inspired by $10 ledges project plan, http://ana-white.com/2010/10/ten-dollar-ledges.html

I used a 1x4, 1x3, and a 1x2 and added some crown molding to the bottom for a little something extra.

I was so excited to see this plan and knew what to do with the wood I had recently acquired when an old home was being destroyed near my house.
Love the site and the projects are too much fun!

I painted mine black and distressed it. Stained the top and distressed parts with MinWax American Walnut poly stain. Hardware from Van Dykes Restores. Used piano spring loaded lid supports for lid.

Took awhile but had others projects going.

I made this for my daughter for Christmas last year. Well, actually Santa did, or at least that's what she tells people. I had one of the big companies cut the lumber for me, but a few boards were cut incorrectly. I live about 25 minutes from a local hardware store and needed to have them re-cut. Luckily for me, my father-in-law is handy and he brought out his circular saw and helped me even out my boards. Then, for Christmas I got a gift too - a table saw.

WOW this was our first build. We had some money to get started so went and bought new miter saw and sander, kreg jig, basically everything we needed to build it. Tools aside we spend only about $100 on the lumber to build the coffee table and 2 side tables.

Eric cut notches in the X instead of using 2 separate pieces for the other side, so they fit together like a puzzle piece. it was a learning experience of trial and error, but he got better and better each time.

For the finish i used the tutorial of dissolving steel wool in vinegar and then added a coat of strong coffee which made an ugly green-gray color. I happened to have picked up a can of "autumn" wood stain that when applied made the color pop and look amazing. (thank goodness because i was so frustrated and wanted to give up) when we do this again (cuz i just sold the set we made) i will be better at sanding everything nice and smooth, and do staining/painting of the Xs and the top separately before putting everything together.

I dont recommend the steel wool and vinegar stain, it smelled terrible and was hard to apply because it was watery and ran a lot plus you cant see the color develop for a long time so its hard to see what was wet and what wasn't. yuk. The Minwax "gray" stain they just released would most likely work a lot better. those small can of stains for $6 are big enough for all 3 pieces we built so really i don't think i saved money buying the steel wool and vinegar.

Anyway this was way fun! Cant wait to build again :)

I pretty much just followed the plans.  It turned out a bit more colourful that I expected but I've already sold it so I guess its okay.  I'm going to make another one with a bit more toned down colours.  I also created a matching night stand.  I didn't follow any plan.  Just used the ideas from the bed build.

King Bed made with wood shims. Matching nightstands and mirror

I tackled the Farmhouse Table over a long weekend while my boyfriend was away - he was surprised needless to say!
I have not attempted any woodwork projects since grade 8, but this was alot of fun - I did not find it very difficult and loove using power tools :)
I made the matching bench, however I guess I did not stir the bottom of the can well enough and my bench is now red :/ soo I am going to either stain it dark or paint it white and use it as a mudroom seat!

*I also made mine shorter - 7ft long to fit in our dining room and adjusted the bench to fit.

I made this bed for my daughter's Koalas (they are about the same size as the American Girl dolls).

Clara table with chalkboard top.

Modified the bed so that is was not as tall as the original project plan. We also changed the molding on the top to a 2x4 with a angle cut and then a 1x4 on top. The bed can only be positioned one way in the room and we didn't want to cover the window with a real high head board. Thank you Ana! You rock!!

Kentwood night stand and matching headboard!

This project went pretty smooth. I built the sink box out of 1x6 and 1x8. Total cost (if I got the right stuff the first time) would have been about $120. Most of that is in the faucet (a $25 laundry faucet from Home Depot), pulls (about $4.50 each), knobs ($3 each), and hinges. I also purchased the wooden discs for the stove at Michael's for about $1 each. I used common pine and sanded it smooth before painting, which saved a lot of money over the more polished pine products. I used stainless steel spray paint for the fridge and stove door, and leftover paint for the rest of the sink and stove. I glued all joints and used my finish nailer rather than a Kreg Jig. I had a hard time finding hinges that will work, so keep that in mind. I ended up buying some of the European hinges that were surface mounted on the inside, and they work well. One suggestion - if you're planning on mounting these next to each other remember not to allow any overhang on the countertop. The plans call for a slight overhang, and I had to do some messy cuts after I had the cabinets assembled to correct that. I ended up attaching the cabinets together for added stability. Overall this was a surprisingly simple project. I'm considering building another cabinet like the sink/stove without any doors just for some countertop space and additional storage.

This is the second time i made these tables.  The first time was for my son and his fiance to match the farmhouse bed that i made for them but i did not do the inset drawers.  Tried but couldn't get them to sit right.  My niece liked them and didn't have any tables to go along with the bed her new huband's grandfather had built.  I love the inset drawer look so i tried again.  The first one i had no problem with but the second one had to make the drawer box over a couple of times.  I did differ the pattern a bit and used 2" top instead of 1 inch simply because i had some leftovers.  I also used drawer slides instead of wood slides.