Community Brag Posts

My fiance and I built this for my seven year old daughter's Christmas present. I have built several pieces of furniture before but this was our first major building project and I'm proud to say we made a great team!

We didn't make any major changes to the plan, we just chose to leave the wheels off the bottom and we added two boards across the back of the attic rooms so we would have something to attach the back too. We were lucky enough that this project coincided with my dad have his roof replaced and he had spare shingles, so her doll house has real asphalt shingles! They were actually a lot easier to add than I expected, we simply scored the back of the shingles with a knife and then they cleanly broke apart. We used a staple gun to attach the shingles we would be able to layer so you couldn't see the staples, but for those where the staples would have shown we used a hot glue gun.

The only issue we had was moving it around without my daughter noticing because it's so big! My fiance and I actually scratched up a door frame trying to sneak it under the tree after she went to sleep because it's so large (totally my fault, apparently I need to work out more). Other than that everything went smooth and it was fun to build and so exciting to watch my daughter freak out over Christmas morning!!!

Adjusted the plans to 7' length to fit room size. 

Heavy modification to the original plan to accommodate extra drawers and trim. Finished with Min-Wax custom mixed color or Gunstock and English Chestnut.

Put this together after Christmas. Not too difficult of a project. Decided not to put casters on to save a little money. Can always add them later if needed. I think if I created it again I'd make more space for the rolls of wrapping paper and smaller space for the trays. We have a lot of wrapping paper.

This planter was so easy to build! super cute, fun, spring project.

We had shortened our kitchen windows in our above garbage apartment remodel and had 1x2 framing wood left. I did not want to put this wood to waste, so I made two identical end tables in a similar style as the Ikea Besta Burs desk plan, but without drawers. These were the first two pieces of standing furniture that I built for our apartment and was technically free for me to build. The end tables are truly small, being only 8" wide, 2' long, and about 18" high, which is a great size to place beside our low modular sofas. The top is made of 1/2"x8"x4' plywood leftover from a floating shelving project (worth about $2.50). I cut the plank in half and glued the halves to make it thicker. These end tables are strong enough to function also as little benches for me and my daughter. :)

Thanks for the inspiration!  This was my first full blown creation and my wife loves it.  Cannot wait to do more!

This is my Son's crib that I built about a year ago.  I have the plans for them but I need to get on my desktop to get the plans.  But it's built to be a convertable crib like the expensive cribs you can buy.  If i remember correctly I had less that $150 in material.  With all the sanding and it being the first time I had made one I had about 100 hours into it. 

This is my first wood working project, ever. I think it was a little ambitious but I was inspired by the design and the simplicity of the directions. I was actually trembling when I used the circular saw for the first time. But now that the project is finished, I am inspired to do more. I have a list of other things I want to make.

Hello There! 

This was my attempt at the Family Tree Nesting Birds sign that Ana made. I ended up painting everything instead of doing the foam for the leaves, but I just love how it turned out! I used old pallet wood instead of new lumber and gave it a really good sanding before staining and painting.

Gave it to my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas, and it was a huge hit!

Thanks Ana!

I used the Ana White Farmhouse Table plans.  I made the matching bench with a backrest.  For the top of the table and the bench seat I used a royal plum stain.  I'm female, 54 years old and I do woodworking "Like A Girl".   Enjoy

My daughter needed a simple desk for her room. I had leftover purebond plywood from another project and a bunch of 2x4 scraps from the Reuse Hawaii store. This made for an inexpensive desk. I based my desk off the simple trestle desk but made changes as needed to accommodate my materials. I used the plywood as the desk top and added some 3/4 flat trim around the edge. I used a 2x4 instead of a 2x6 to attach the legs to the table.

This was a quick project and my daughter loves the fun color!

I made this desk for my sister ( it is 3 metres long - sorry I am an Aussie dont know what that is in inches).

I glued 3 metre radiata pine together, planed, sanded, stained and varnished with polyurethane.

I made 4 sawhorses and then joined two of them together to make shelves.

Very happy with the result

My boys had been begging me for bunk beds, but they were all so expensive! These were easy to make. I made these while my husband was away for military training. There are a lot of comments stating that you need more wood. And you do. The shopping list doesn't account for the 64" side rails. I ended up buying 11 of the 1x4 boards and that took care of everything with minimal left over. Lets see....what else...oh! When you are bolting the beds together, make sure you put a screw where there is another rail to catch it. The screws listed are long enough to go through the posts.. I had a lot of fun making these beds. My boys love it. I love this site and will be looking for more projects to get into!

     These were built to demo the Sunday Trinket Box plan using 3 different wood types – 1/2" thick craft board, 1x scrap wood, and cedar 1x.  On the 2 that I made with 1x boards, I used some ¼” hardwood plywood scrap for the inner lids, which kept the top nice and light and worked very well.  I think I prefer this for the inner lid when working with the 1x material and would recommend that for the build.  My craft room work table looked like a mad scientist’s laboratory with all the cans and tubes of finishes I’ve been trying out, and projects at different levels of completion.  

     The craft board box is finished with 1 coat of Rustoleum Stain + Poly in Walnut (the kind in the tube, I had picked this up at Michaels to try it out), and 3 coats of gloss polycrylic.  The radiata pine craft board took this stain really well, even without wood conditioner.   The inner lid for this one is the same ½” craft board used for the box.   The pull for this one is a rectangle of cedar, with a light coat of Varathane stain + poly in Walnut, and a coat of gloss poly.   Cost:  Wood:  $8.47 for craft boards, Finish:  $0 (used finishes already on hand).

     The scrap wood box is finished with 3 coats of Clark & Kensington semi-gloss in Crushed Peanut, a stencil design added on the front in gold craft paint, and a DIY pull made from a ¾” wide “slice” of the ½” thick craft board, topped with a scrap of ¼“ x 1 ½” poplar craft board, super-glued and pin-nailed together, and finished with 2 coats of gold craft paint and 2 coats of gloss polycrylic.   The pull is attached with crystal clear super-glue.  Cost:  $0 for wood (scrap), $0 for finishes (left over), $4.99 for the stencil (which I am re-using) and $4.99 for a pkg of 4 stencil sponge brushes (also re-using these).

     The cedar 1x box is finished with 3 coats of gloss poly. The knob is another DIY – a ‘slice’ of the 1x cedar, topped with some ¼” aromatic cedar, glued and pin nailed together.  This received 1 coat of Rustoleum Walnut Stain + Poly on the top part and 2 coats on the bottom part, topcoated with 2 coats of gloss poly, and was super glued to the top.  The inner lid for this one is a piece of ¼” plywood, glued and clamped in place.  The front design re-uses the stencil, in the same Rustoleum Walnut as the pull.   Cost:  Wood: about $5 worth of a cedar 1x8 (cut down to size on the table saw).  Finish: $0 since the finishes were already on hand. 

    These were a super easy and quick build – I built and sanded all three in an afternoon.  I’m sure the finishing could all be done in a day too, but I spread mine out a few minutes here and there as I had time to work on them, while changing my mind several times on the pulls and embellishments.  These were all given as gifts.

This was just the right table design for our history home built in 1880! Love the plans and easy to build!

I saw this serving tray on Ana's site and it looked like I could build it with the wood and materials I had laying around in the garage. Other folks had made some nice versions of the tray also, and it looked like something we could use around the home.
I was right on all accounts, except I had to spend about $1.50 for the 3/4" dowel.

The overall dimensions are 27" x 131/2". Tray dimensions are 21" x 12"

The frame is attached to the tray with countersunk 1.5" wood screws and buttons covering the holes. I added the brass round-head screws to each corner to give it an industrial look. Glue was used only on the dowel handles and the buttons. Otherwise no glue.

I also distressed the top edges a bit to give it a used look. With time it will get is own look but this is a star

I changed the plans a little bit to add on the extra shelf on top as well as making the shelves an inch narrower than the plans. The project was actually pretty easy and really only took me about a days worth of work.