Community Brag Posts

I love how this bookshelf turned out! I made the bottom part 6" taller so I can fit my shredder in there. I'm using this in my office/guest room so I can have office type stuff, but have it all contained in one place, so it doesn't take over the whole room. Ana's instructions were great! There are slight issues but they are so minor it still turned out great! Overall I am very happy with how this turned out. :)

I wanted to make this project for my son-in-law for Christmas and use up wood I already had in the garage.  I also thought using 2x4's was a bit chuncky for the size of the coolbox, so while I used the idea, I did not really use the plans and made up my own.  I only used screws to attach the wood for the two shelves, all the other joints were cut and glue joints and at one point I felt I was making a jigsaw puzzle! 

Other changes I made were:

No water drain tap - The drain in the cool box is set slightly above the base of the coolbox.  I loved the idea of a tap for the external look of the finished project but for a practical purpose, it is very fiddly to install and you would still have to emply the bottom of the coolbox with a cloth as the water would not completely drain from the box.  I did not remove the handles and made the wooden box slightly bigger, just big enough to raise the handle and remove the coolbox for emptying and cleaning.

Decorative Bottle Caps -  Instead of putting these on the front, I designed the lid so that it could be covered with a layer of bottlecaps and grout (having first glued the caps on).  The provided a surface for putting hot food on should you want to use it as a 'hotpad' (although you would not be able to open it if you did) - but mostly, I thought they would be less likely to fall off, it povides a rain/weather barrier, and futher insulates the box. So the lid in my version is framed with wood, then has a layer of insulation, a layer of 3/4" wood, then the bottle caps/grout.

Bottle Cap Catcher -  I added a bottle opener to the side opposite the shelf and attached below it a 1/2 circle terricotta planter which comes with a hole in the bottom to catch bottle caps.

The whole thing was painted in 3 different layers of Anne Sloan chalk paint, waxed and sanded to give it the distressed look.

I have a list of the wood used (with sizes) if anyone wants it.  I plan to write the plans up better, but for now this is what I have.   

Our new 2x6 outdoor sofa looks great, We liked the look of the 2x6s better then the 2x4s, and we added a taller back to support the cushions better, plus we gave the back a 12 slant for more comfort. Cushions are from Lowe's, 3 fit perfect.

very easy to put together!! Thanks Ana

I used the plan more as inspiration. Most of the boards are from an old barn and had to be planed down. The cabinet holds 30 bottles. I also found some old hardware on a couple of drawers that were in the barn. 

Took a little longer than I anticipated.  By far the hardest part was finding straight boards at Home Depot.  Used Cedar 4x4s for the post to avoid treated wood.  Had to make a few adjustments for our king mattress, but well worth it.   Bed and platform came in right at $300 for the wood, screws, paint, etc.  Thanks for the plans!

This is a very easy way to create a sand or water table for your kids and it only takes a few hours from start to finish. A few pieces of wood, some screws and tub to hold the sand or water and your set. Enjoy!

Loved the extra long buffet cabinet but did not need it, however I did need a television stand.  Here is my inspired project.

Removed the center drawers and added a glass door, adjusted the dimensions to 60x16x20... and this is what I've created.

Thank you for the inspiration!

Great plans. Made a height adjustment to fit better in the space. I'm pretty new to the game but this was a great project to work with the Kreg Jig. Make sure if you are going to use the Kreg Jig to attach the table top, drill your pocket holes on the under side of the frame BEFORE you install your middle shelf... I made that mistake and had to live with counter sinking 2 1/2 screws from the top. For the door hardward: Home Depot had awning pulleys that allowed you to take the pin out for easy extraction, make sure to find some that have little spacers in the middle so you can keep the wheel from locking up. 

Really excited to keep on building!

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.

I fell in love with this table as soon as I saw it! I made another farhouse table last year (first table I'd ever built) and liked it okay but I had made a lot of mistakes. The old table is now my work table in the garage- which is great because I needed a bigger work surface anyway! I tried to make my table just like Ana's version but I used regular latex flat paint over the stain instead of milk paint (couldn't find the type she used). I was impatient and didn't want to order it and wait for it to be shipped. I was kinda hoping it would flake/crack a little but it didn't. Oh well, I still really like how the legs turned out. I stained them (and the top) with a 50/50 mixture of Minwax stain in dark walnut and classic gray. I used three coats of Minwax fast drying poly on the table top and just rubbed the legs/base with a furniture wax to give them a little bit of a smooth sheen. I also distressed them a little bit. I like how the dark stain kinda bled through the paint. It really helped to add to the antique effect. I wish I had taken more pictures throughout the building process but I was so focused on the job that I just didn't think about it! Anyway, I just love this table! It was really fun to build and the turned legs take it to the next level! 

I loved building this bench!!  I was able to use only 6 2x4's which cut down the cost a little bit :)  For the stain I used Semi-Transparent Chocolate from HD and Wedgewood in a Solid Stain color from HD as well.  Building the bench itself was really easy but the X's do take some extra work.  I found that using a yard stick vs. a tape measure made the world of difference.  I also nailed the X's in vs. using the kreg jig. 

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.