Community Brag Posts

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.

Tried to replicate the Double Pedestal table that has no plans provided. I had to modify a bit to the specifications i wanted. Table top bowed up a bit at the ends after i glued it up and when i tried to attach it to the base, it pulled one side of the base up. To fix this, i added a couple of cross beams at the top of the base, to stablilize the base a bit.

I finished with a minwax gel stain, i forget the color. It was a bit too dark for my liking, so when it dried, i took a cabinet scraper (or card scraper) and scraped off some of the finish. Pretty pleased with how it turned out. then i added 3 coats of lacquer. 

This was a really fun project and super easy to make. I shaved just an inch of my sides for my bottom to fit better. My fence boards were 3rds. 

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

This End Table matches the shelf from a few weeks ago which is my attempt of matching the $55 Fancy Desk from Ana White.  As with the shelf, the design is simple, easy to make and is relatively low cost (under $25).   

Made from pallet wood.

Painted and stencilled.

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.

Pretty straightforward build, fun to use and build!
 

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.

I made this a little bit taller and left off the doors since what we really needed was more bookshelf space. I'm very happy with the way it turned out!

This was a really fun project! We increased the leg height to 16" to work better for our Great Dane. Also, there's a typo in the "to buy" list. It says you should buy 1X2 @30.5" but they really mean a 1X3 since they refer to a 1X3 the rest of the time. It still works with a 1X2, but we used 3 pocket drilled holes instead of the 5 they suggested. 

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.

I built this Benchmark Storage or Media Tower as I was looking for some thing to put beside our fire place.  I wanted to build some thing that would be about the same height as our fire place so it stands 40 1/4" tall.  Also, this month was a the contest to build things from scrap lumber so I took 2 x's that I had laying aorund and cut them down to 1 1/4", then glued together and planed down to make butcher block for the door and top.  The sides were actually built from 1 x 6.  I also ended up purchasing a Kreg shelving jig so that I could change the shelving.  A tool that I highly recommend if you are going to build alot of these projects with shelving.  One down and one to go! 

This one was fun to build. I feel in love with it when I saw it. I used weather grey stain from rustoleum and I love how it turned out.

doll house book case with a Hot Pink Roof, also trimmed/painted the doors and window frames. Marking this as a week long project as I was only able to work on it in the evenings, however I believe this could be tackled in a weekend