Community Brag Posts

beach hut bed

Submitted by knb on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 21:05

Please forgive me for this for being a bit long....but i am excited!
Our daughter picked this beach hut bed to be her new bed that she would be getting for her 3rd birthday. Her older sister has a loft bed and was always climbing up so we liked the idea of it being lower for her. I had saved some pics from other sites and then showed them to her, she didnt want the girly house one's :( no she wanted the one i had actually saved for her brother. lol...
Anyway then i went hunting and could not believe my luck when i came across this site with this bed and plans!
My husband...ye of little faith didnt think we could do it but was willing to follow my lead and have a go!
This was our 1st ever time for builing ANYTHING!
And what a undertaking, however it all came together very smoothly and we are both so very proud of what we have been able to achieve.
Things we did a little different...
We altered the ladder on an angle to make it easier for her to climb (alas also for her 20mth old brother as well), also made the ladder upright supports x3 instead of x2, so the ladder now supports both our weights.(see pic) We made little window sills on each of the windows, added a book shelf inside as she is an avid 'reader' screwed in a light from you will know where. :) On the other 'open doorway' side which is against the wall we screwed on 2 x cross beams using 1x2 pine just for our own sakes to know that she cant fall from that side. We also added some dowell fixed with some saddle clips to hang the material from across the open section.
She has been using this bed for 2 weeks now with no problem.
You have made our daughter a very happy little girl,and parents (she is having day sleeps again now:)) because without your site we would not have known where to start. Thankyou very much.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
AU $300 - $400
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
To finish I sanded the whole thing, rounding of corners where needed, ie: ladder, window sills, cross bracings, etc. Then prime 1 coat and 2 coats of chosen colour, which is Dulux, Antique White USA. We used a semi as we didnt want a shiny finish.
I would recommend to anybody going to build this bed is to undercoat/prime all side lining wood before nailing into place as painting in between ALL THOSE GAPS took ALONG time!
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Cindy from Indiana (not verified)

Wed, 09/21/2011 - 09:27

Great job on your first build! We're in the process of picking a first bed for our daughter and this one is definitely in the running. It looks great!

Cindy from Indiana

knb

Wed, 09/21/2011 - 21:39

Thankyou for your lovely comments. We are so very proud of how it turned out. Even better than we thought. Every time i look at it i think "wow, did we really do that" And yes it was our very 1st build. We now think that if we have done this as a 1st build then we can pretty much do anything....lol...and my to do list is filling up fast.

Marisol

Thu, 09/22/2011 - 10:26

AMAZING!!!
I have been eyeing these plans for a very long time, unfortunately my kids are too small for this bed, I contemplated on making it for outside, as part of a tree house of some sort, but never got around to it. You did such an amazing job, I am truly jealous and hope one day I can have this at my house! Love it!!!!

knb

Fri, 09/30/2011 - 05:11

Thankyou for your kind comments, little Madison is still loving her bed, sitting up in there during the day playing with her dolls and reading her books, and yes still having a day sleep...loving it....we are in the middle of a teenager loft bed with a mini robe walk-in underneath for one of our other daughters. Not as cute as this but will post pics when done. :)

reno queen (not verified)

Sun, 10/02/2011 - 04:33

What a nice job, i am jealous. Looking at the job you have done and you say it's your first job is unreal. Looking at your children please send me your husband and i will look after him. lol you are one lucky gal

Janelle (not verified)

Tue, 10/04/2011 - 03:35

Yes i agree with reno queen. Send me your hubby i will pay more haha.Where do i find one like that ? They don't make them anymore haha .What a nice job. This is the best i have seen so far. Would you build and send to New Zealand? How much? i am willing to pay freight etc. Regards Janelle

mandy framme (not verified)

Sat, 10/08/2011 - 02:56

Great job and yes i second that, send him to me ,if he is the one in the pic he is rugged .lol top job

knb

Thu, 10/13/2011 - 15:25

Yes ladies that is my husband in the pic and yes our children are simply gorgous....As far as builing this bed for you Janelle, customs would not allow it because of the wood. We sometimes race jet boats in NZ and the boats can not have 1 speck of mud, dirt or any natural by product on it anywhere. Yes they can spray it with chemicals but would you really want your child sleeping in it then?? So sorry about that. It really wasnt to hard, my hubby just followed my lead (re:I told him what to do! lol) at the time we only had very basic tools, and we managed great. It was more the hours it took, but also having said that we could only work after kids were in bed or weekends.

Guest (not verified)

Wed, 11/30/2011 - 10:41

How seriously cute is that! I love it!

Guest (not verified)

Sun, 02/26/2012 - 18:11

Hi my husband and I are about ready to start building. Our daughter is turning 6 in a few months- and saw someone made this 3 year old. We have 8 ft ceilings - but we are adding a slide out the one side (for fun) and would like to make the height of the loft bed a bit higher - anyone do that ?
How will plan change much?

Guest (not verified)

Sun, 02/26/2012 - 18:11

Hi my husband and I are about ready to start building. Our daughter is turning 6 in a few months- and saw someone made this 3 year old. We have 8 ft ceilings - but we are adding a slide out the one side (for fun) and would like to make the height of the loft bed a bit higher - anyone do that ?
How will plan change much?

Lola459

Thu, 04/26/2012 - 13:11

Hello. I have printed out the plans for this beach hut and I plan on starting this weekend. This will be my first build. Something in the plans doesn't make sense to me. In Step 2, it shows the floor supports for each side of the hut being 20" long, but then in Step 3, it shows the length of the pieces for the windows as only 18" long. Wouldn't they need to be the same width?

Yayyyyyyy it's soooooo cute!!!!

This was my first in not just painting but actually building what I was about to craft!!!! I messed up a few times but had a blast and have already started my next build :)

Estimated Cost
50 dollars
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Ebony with a lacquer in it
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Comments

Great plans!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/14/2019 - 18:59

All pine stock from Home Depot. I had to mill some ofvthec2 x 6s to get straight edges for the top. Dark walnut stain. 3 coats varathane. Came out great! Thanks for the plans Ana!

Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Varathane water based
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Entryway Hall Tree

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 01/11/2023 - 04:01

I modified the plans for the farmhouse hall tree to build this for our entryway. The farmhouse hall tree was a perfect base plan for this project! We went from a mess of jammed in jackets and piles of shoes to a clean and organized entrance! Thank you so much for providing the original plans! We love this!

Built from Plan(s)

Comments

Kids Adirondack Chair

Submitted by Radcrafter on Tue, 09/27/2011 - 14:46

The Kids Adirondack Chair. I love these little chairs! Simple and easy to build. This one was a birthday present for my niece's daughter. Read more about this project on my blog.. Thanks Ana!!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
under $20
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Behr Deck Stain in semi-transparent Sand Beige
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

So Easy...love the ladder shelf.

Submitted by treegranny on Thu, 10/03/2013 - 09:30

Easy to follow, we made in a weekend. We tweeked our dimensions a bit but otherwise pretty straight forward. We ended up staining half and leaving other half natural then put a varnish over the entire shelf. Turned out pretty neat with the two tones.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
used leftover lumber we had around the shop
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Min wax mahogany stain and gloss varnish over natural pine
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Tractor Seat stool

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 12/24/2015 - 08:55

I picked up a piano stool screw from Lee Valley tools

Estimated Cost
$120
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Minwax special walnut
Clear laquer - sprayed
Recommended Skill Level
Advanced

Potting Bench Built With Cedar

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 02/19/2019 - 12:11

I decided to build my potting bench out of all cedar. I added some extra reinforcements, especially under the table top and shelf, since cedar isn't the strongest wood around. But I love the look!

Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Toddler sized picnic table

Submitted by Nan on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 19:38

This was a fun cute project to start with. My husband assembled it (though I wanted to do it he didn't let me). I used spray paint. Though I wish I had made it with a bit sturdier wood or maybe used wider sizes. but overall this turned out well and the kids LOVE IT! thanks Ana!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
An Hour or Two (0-2 Hours)
Finish Used
I used an outdoor spray paint.
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Farmhouse Storage bed

Submitted by 1bwalls on Sun, 12/27/2015 - 12:37

I built this in a full size.  Took some time to adjust all the measurements.  I used cheap lumber since I was painting it and it cost a little over $350.  Then I spent another $75 because I screwed up measurements.  :). This was only the 3rd thing I ever built, so I think I did alright.  The plans were great!  Watched several videos on YouTube about squaring drawers and that helped.

Estimated Cost
$425
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Media console

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 02/26/2019 - 15:40

Built this from the exact plans given. Very easy to build and learned a lot. Built whenever I had time after work 

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Ebony stain with satin spray lacquer. Bear premium ultra pure white matte
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Solar Outhouse - By Deb

Your outhouse design was modified for a snowmobile club project as the building needs to be towed across a lake to a site next to a warming shelter.  An LED light with a timer switch and solar battery charger were installed to provide light in a remote area of Lake of the Woods.

A steel hitch and skids with hyfax were added to the design.

Thank you for providing a design that allowed us to make modifications for winter outdoor recreation accommodations.

Built from Plan(s)

Factory Cart Coffee Table Stenciled version

Submitted by rustywmn on Sat, 10/08/2011 - 16:13

We modified our plan by use a router on the edges and stenciling the top. We used pine. We left our wheels the original industrial metal .
**This is one sturdy table and easily serves as an ottoman with large groups .

Estimated Cost
100.00
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Used a Minwax Oak wood finish and polyurethane .
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Outdoor Sectional

This was my first project ever! I was very happy with the way it came out! I just did a little adjusting to get it the size I wanted =) Cushions for a decent price was very hard to find, I ended up going to walmart and I actually really like them.

It took me a while to complete as I have a little one (turned a yr the wknd I finished) and only worked at night and during naps!

Estimated Cost
Apprx. 150$
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
The picture it just of it primed =)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Recycling Bin Cabinet

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/07/2019 - 15:14

I just started building "stuff" a few years ago and love Ann's plans. I have built several of your dining and coffee tables. This cabinet was a bit challenging and took me a while. I have had built drawers before but they turned out OK. I really like the top I create from some scrap 1 x 4's. Thanks for the great projects.

Estimated Cost
$100
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
white paint, walnut stain, red oak paint.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Simple Drawer Dividers by Hannah McCormick

Simple and great way to get drawers organized, by Hannah

Comments

OceanCactus

Tue, 01/31/2023 - 05:40

Hi Ana! Your work and dedication to your art are amazing! I had a quick question regarding the channels. I looked up "C channel" to order at my hardware store but there seems to be a curve at the bottom where the wood panel would sit. I also saw a "U channel" that's square and looks more like the one you posted in your video. Could you guide me as to which one would be best? Thanks!

Board and Batten Bathroom

My first project with raw wood and power tools! All I have is a circular saw and electric sander, but it went really well. It took about 3 days because I couldn't work straight through (silly life and all it's appointments!). Thanks for laying out all the prep work with your instructions, Ana!! My next project is a cubby shelf for towels.

Estimated Cost
$76
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Satin Finish Latex paint by Valspar. Upper wall color is Valspar High Noon in Flat Enamel finish.
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Comments

loniwolfe

Tue, 10/11/2011 - 21:38

That looks really great! I was just thinking about doing this in our bathroom, thank you for posting this! Now I'm definitely doing this! Great great job!

Tryde Coffee Table

Submitted by Krifenbery on Thu, 10/10/2013 - 10:46

This was a fun easy to do project that can be done in a day.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$50
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Sanded with 80, 120, 220 grit sandpaper.
Applied pre-stain with foam brush. Allowed to dry 1 hr.
Applied gray wash stain with foam brush, wiped off stain with lint free rags BEFORE stain dried. Allowed to dry 2 hrs.
Applied two coats of polyurethane with synthetic bristle brush. Allowed to dry 2 hrs between coats.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner