Community Brag Posts

Made from Peruvian Walnut. Finish was wet sanded with danish oil, dewaxed shellac and then satin spray lacquer. - Deb S.

When I couldn't find the exact right size wood that I needed, I grabbed a piece of bamboo from my wood pile. When I ripped it in 2 pieces, there was this cool edge that resembled inlaid wood. I avoided staining it because it would have "muddied" the edge. I applied a transparent glaze on it, which kept the edge look intact. I had never worked with bamboo before -- I love it, as it required little sanding and took the finish beautifully.

This was so fun to build! Finished with Steelwool & vinegar.

I started with your Hall Tree plan and added some upper storage.  The only trick there was to make two of the lower storage units and I turned one upside down to create the upper storage.  The extra space makes for double the storage.  Instead of using the pine for a back wall I substituted Wanescoting on the back and side walls.  I added 1-1/2' base moulding and a 1" moulding to finish off the seat edge and the top of the Cabinet. Also had to put moulding on the sides of the Wanescoting tofinish off the exposed edge.  I applied Rustoleums Cabinet Finishing kit to the bare wood.  This is a 3 step process and is similar to antiquing with a polycrylic finish.  The finish took as long as the build process but was well worth the time.  Finally I added the coat hooks that are black with brushed copper highlights.  I picked up some stamped rustic stars on-line for $3.50 for a set of 5 and painted them black and applied them with a hot melt glue gun.  Feedback from the family and our friends has been great and they all love the finished project.   

Cabin coffee table made with 2x6,4x4, and 2x4. Used Kreg pocket hole jig. Very heavy and durable.

Gary Stanzak

This is the first project my husband let me use the chop saw on.* I used some old 1x6's (3/4 in x 1 1/2 in) leftover from a chicken coop he built that had been on the floor and already had some nail holes in them - I figured that was was pretty close to pallet wood. He turned this from a beginner project into an intermediate because he made me measure and cut each side and end to custom fit the bottom of the box as as all my "pallet wood" boards were warped (does that make sense?) So make your life easier and use new boards! With his help it took about 25 minutes per box to cut and assemble. Putting a finish on was a little tricky because the wood just wasn't okay with some leftover iron acetate I had, so I just used Ana's black tea trick and they turned out perfect in about five minutes. My husband says this is an excellent first project for a beginner because a lot of furniture you build is simply A BOX, just bigger. We also built the laundry basket dressers the next day because I'd learned the concept of building a box! and I am having a great time learning to build. Really wish I'd taken wood shop in high school. Good thing my husband did.

* We built the laundry basket dressers and I dutifully assisted in the building of the Rustic X console table and I am so excited to post pictures, I just need to get some better ones!

Awesome plan for kids play room!

Slightly modified XL rustic table for 10-12 people.

Made from re-purposed fencing slats, shims & copper tubing . The handle doubles as the bottle opener. I like that the piece will improve over time as the handle oxidizes. The Holiday Spirit now comes in packs of six.

More at:
www.facebook.com/chuckedwood

Built this for my wife for Christmas. It was super easy and she loves it! 

We had a pallet all summer that we wanted to something cool with. When I saw these plans I knew this was it. We had everything except what I placed in it. Total cost $17. Love it! - Erin and Dwight S.

Not going to lie, as this was mine and my husband's first time building we did run across a few challenges BUT, nothing that we weren't able to figure out and correct. It came together beautifully and I can't wait til we purchase our first home in January so that I can figure out what color to stain it!

FYI- the angles were difficult to get perfect especially since we were using a makeshift work bench (ie: a pallet and the sidewalk) and a circular saw - we were also rather unfamiliar with some of the terminology used in the directions

I'd been looking for plans to build a bed, since I wans't finding anything even remotely affordable that I liked in the stores, especially anything solid wood.  I live in a renovated 4-square farmhouse, so the farmhouse bed plans seemed like an obvious choice.  I absolutely loved the style, but I wanted to modify it a little.  The original plans closely replicate the PB bed it is a knock off of, but I wanted a taller footboard that would come up above the mattress.  I cut the footboard panels to 23" instead of 15", and the footboard posts to 35" instead of 21".  

I scored on a gallon of oops paint at HD for $9, so total for this project was about $150 including the finish materials, $130 for just the lumber and hardware.  This included adding an extra 1x8 to accomodate for the taller panels on the footboard.  I did get 6' 1x4s instead of 8', which brought the cost and the material waste down some.  Overall, my scrap pile was pretty tiny when I was done.  It took me about a week to complete this project, but I worked slowly and a lot of time was spent watching paint/stain/urethane dry.  It probably could have been done in a weekend if I was diligent.  

Should I ever need to move this bed, I purchased knock down bed rail fasteners here and cut my 2x10 rails to 80", then mounted them to the posts with the fasteners 60" apart.  I used 2x2s cut to 80" for "cleats" on the inside of each rail, glued and screwed about every 4" with 2.5" screws.  Then I cut five 2x4 slats to 60" to sit on the cleats.  

I measured from the floor to the top of the cleats and cut three "feet" from the 2x4 scrap to screw to the center of three of the slats to add center support (not shown in CAD drawing), as many mattress warranties require this.  This sounds confusing, but I just used leftover chunks of 2x4 from the slats to make a "T" with three of the slats - top, middle, and bottom - so these slats rest on both the cleats and the floor.  I have a split queen foundation, so I was worried about sagging.  So far so good, feels super sturdy!  The knock down fasteners are very secure, and there isn't a single wobble or squeak to be heard.  

To get a good finish, I used a good wood filler.  I think it was a JB brand wood repair product that was like a two part epoxy.  I didn't just fill the screw holes, I filled any gaps and uneven places where joints didn't meet 100% exactly, like where the 4x4s meet the 2x4s.  I didn't skimp on the sanding, either, even though I hate doing it, and even sanded lightly with 220 between coats of paint.  The stain over the paint was totally experimental, but I loved the way it came out.  

I'm super happy with the end result, but the taller footboard puts the bottom of my box spring around 13.5" off the floor - which gives me room to store stuff under there, but also makes for a very tall bed.  Obviously you can adjust how high you want to hang the rails, I just wanted the bottom of the rails to line up with the bottom of the footboard panel, so it ended up tall.

Everyone who has seen this bed, or at least a picture of it, is absolutely in love with it.  It's a showstopper in my bedroom, for sure.  

Used the Farmhouse King Bed plans to make this and made a few adjustments to make it fit my matress.

Thank you so much for sharing your tutorials, I find you projects easy to follow and have made some but we just got our 1st puppy in a while since our last past away a few years ago, her name is Maggie and she is a golden doodle, and she is adorable and only 12 weeks old. We needed something to put her in when we go to work so I took your double design and made it work for us. 60” wide with a single door in middle, plan on having a bed to left and eating to right and I left it open like your plans for a pan or mat for accident s as I’m sure will happen. I took the bars and spaced them 3” apart but 2 areas by the door are about 3.5” and she can slip through still need to add a few more bars so she don’t but again thanks love your projects

The standard play kitchen. The pine planks used were not a consistent 12 inches. I would recommend using plywood. Finished with hardware from IKEA ( blue handles) and lowes (flowers and hinges).