Community Brag Posts

I do a lot of family gatherings and my daughter gave me a huge white cooler to accommodate all our different beverages. It's great to have, but its basic appearance didn't add much to the "party" atmosphere!

 My son-in-law has a small mill and after a recent visit he had sent me home with a trunk load of beautiful cedar. At that time I had no idea what I'd do with it. But, after seeing so many rustic coolers I decided that would be a perfect project to build with my cedar.

I built this before the cute blue ice chest was posted by Birds and Soap, but that would be a great plan to follow! 

My cooler had handles that were molded into the body of the chest, so the shape was a bit awkward to work with-especially considering that I'm really short on math skills! But, with a bit of trial and lots of error I made it work. I worked on it over several days, but if I'd buckled down and worked continuously I might have finished it in one day.

I love how it turned out, and after the 1st family gathering I had orders for 4 more (smaller) cooler chests!

I was looking for a plan to build a miter saw cart but also wanted to include my table saw.
I was leery about making a permanent station for the miter saw in case in needed to move the saw for an inside trim job so I made the miter portion of workstation portable.

This was my first attempt at building a big project! I invested in a table saw a couple months ago since I sell handmade signs, but all I had tried to make were the signs and some very simple projects. I had been wanting a big farmhouse table for the longest time, but was so intimidated by such a big project! 

I finally got up the nerve and tackled it over the course of a weekend, and made the whole table by myself! I decided to buy a pocket hole Kreg Jig, which made the project go pretty smoothly. Ana's plan was easy to follow and I followed it to a T, other than using 2x6s instead of 2x8s for the tabletop, 2-2x4s instead of 4x4s for the legs, and extending the length a bit (my table is about 8.5 feet long!) It took me longer than it should have, I'm sure, but even as a beginner I finished the table from start to finish in a weekend. 

The finish is my favorite stain color, a half-and-half mix of Mixwax Weathered Oak and Espresso, topped with a coat of Varathane Triple Coat Matte Poly.

I built a matching bench the next day because I couldn't resist! I did accidentally put the end pocket holes on the wrong side of the end aprons, so they're facing outward (oops!) but I still love how the table turned out! I posted more photos of the process and finished product on my blog if you'd like to see more! 

My First Project

I made the back slats taller on the second chair (salmon colored one) so I could just lay my head back. They were so easy and I can't believe I did this myself! We made the baby chair with the scraps and our grandbabies love it!

Modified the Camp Loft bed with Stairs plans slightly so that the dresser would fit under the bed without banging your head for access.  The heght is taller creating the need for railings to be added to the platform.  Conversion to bunk beds was considered so all bottom boards save the front rail were installed.  If bunk beds are needed, just add the 2x6 front rail.  The mortise slot is already cut.  Went with mortise and tenon joints instead of pocket screws.  Cubby storage area created under the platform accessed from left side.

I wanted to share my most recent build with you.

With only weeks before my son is due I finished his changing table/dresser.

I am still new to this whole woodworking adventure and this was my largest project yet. (Completed project was around $95)

This dresser had a ton of ‘firsts’ for me and along with that I probably made nearly every mistake you can.

My firsts on this thing were:

-pocket holes
-sliding dovetails (to attach the drawer fronts)
-hand-cut dovetails (rear corners of the drawers)
-drawers with glides
-hinged doors
-table top fasteners
-distressing a paintjob

It was built knowing that my wife wanted it painted , hence the mismatched wood used(see pre-paint pics below). The nursery is designed around a rustic theme (see wall shelf unit in the first pic).
I will also be adding a hanging wall clock made from weathered pallet wood in the coming weeks.

I think one of the most challenging things for this project might have been the use of Home Depot lumber.
We were on a major budget so I purchased the cheapest wood in the sizes I needed. This meant combing throught the stacks to find acceptable pieces.
I do not own a jointer or planer, so in order to flatten and correct thickness issues with the wood I resorted to good ‘ol hand planes.
Time consuming, yes. But also very satisfying.

So I bought a tv for our bedroom rather spur of the moment last year and when I decided I didn't to wall mount it I needed a console for the tv to sit. This was going to be my 3rd build and I had recently made the Mini Farmhouse Bedside table. I modified the Mini bedside plans to make the console a larger two drawer style. I also increased the height by about 2" to put the tv at a better viewing angle. I didn't know that there was a similar plan in Ana's book at the time, as it probably would have been easier to just follow that. Oh well.

(again, I don't know why the image is showing up in the wrong direction)... While redoing my son's room, he needed a new dresser. His room is very small and we new we needed to be able to put it inside the closet. We couldn't find dressers that would fit the correct dimensions, but didn't think we had the ability (yet) to make a quality dresser for him. My kids don't like using dressers correctly anyway, so we thought this might be a great solution for him. Right now he is using the bottom area as a place for his shoes and small boxes for his underwear and socks. (We had thought about making one of the spaces into a shelf, but ended up not doing it, so I hadn't bought enough baskets).

I loved the original design but wanted to learn new skills and use hardwood.

I used a combination of pocket holes, biscuits to align the plates and the frames, and figure 8 fasteners to attach the top.

At a VERY low pace (~1-2 hours every day), and many mistakes, it took me about two months to complete this project. If I had to do it again, it would probably take me two-three weeks at the same pace.

Overall, I learned a lot and am very pleased with the final results.

This was my first building project! The bed is built almost entirely out of found wood. I modified the Hailey Platform Bed plans to suit the dimensions of the wood I had, and my very small work space.

I did most of the building in my living room and my apartment's miniature courtyard, which is much narrower than a bed. Because of this, the bed had to be able to be disassembled until after it was stained. The modified plans use brackets on the corners - even these were found! Most of the wood came from discarded pieces of other beds, found in the yearly big garbage collection. The centre support strut can also be disassembled, and is attached with a joist bracket.

I think the actual assembly and finishing of the bed could be done in a day, even for a beginner like me, but I spent many hours sanding the old finishes off of my found wood so I would have a uniform finish.

Finally happened upon a walnut slab to rejuvenate the top of my coffee table. I loved the wrought iron base, so I wanted to keep it, but the tabletop height needed increased to protect beverages from labrador tail attacks.

I cropped the existing wood top to serve for the base piece, sanded it down and stained it to blend in with the walnut. Four 2.75" wide walnut strips were used to create cubby spaces under the top slab for remotes, controllers, and keyboards.

The top slab was pretty rough, so it required heavy sanding to take finish evenly. I started with 80, 120, 220, and finished with 400, using mineral spirits to raise and knock down the grain. Finished with four coats of Waterlox original.