Community Brag Posts

My husband was thrilled to build us a new bed - it meant he got to buy a Kreg Jig. Of course, he refused to buy plain ol' pine off the shelf at the Big Box stores and just HAD to buy the solid red oak from our local lumber yard. (So much for keeping the costs low. Oh well.) It's stunning and I love it. If it weren't for Ana's plans for this, we'd be settling for some hunk of junk off Craigslist or, worse, one of those furniture chains. For still roughly half the cost of something out of a store, this is a far superior bed frame and will last forever.
My hubby's no stranger to using power tools, but this still took him a few weekends due to life and letting the stain/finish set. He still has to attach the quarter-round, which he broke out the router to customize himself, but I was super impatient and told him to finish the base and put the trim on later. I'll try to remember to update this when that happens.
He also found the Queen Anne style legs off http://www.osbornewood.com/

I built this A-Frame Chicken Coop using the Ana White plans. It turned out adorable, strong, and I am very pleased. Final cost was $250, and it took me 4 days (in real time, as a mom of 3). One Saturday at Lowes shopping, one Sunday afternoon cutting, and two days of assembly. Then a 5th for painting. Give or take a dozen extra runs to the hardware store! My brother-in-law helped cut the angles on his miter saw, and my uncle helped with assembly. I kinda doubt this could be done for $100 - maybe if you have a bunch of scrap materials and spare paint. We even have 7 or 8 hens in there! I only intended 3 to live in it, but my uncle added the extras and they all get along happily. I found the roof cap at Home Depot (didn't find at Lowes).

I would also like to point out that I was very afraid to do carpentry - I was afraid to even buy the lumber. But I asked for a lot of help from a lot of Lowe's and Home Depot people, and resisted the naysayers, and just got brave and did it. And it came out beautifully! If you are new to using power tools, get someone to assist, and you would need help anyway with holding things up while another drills.

I poured a 3 1/2" concrete pad first then bolted the completed shed to it.
Shed was easy enough to make, the plans were well done. Spent about 25 total hours on shed, including staining. Hinges were very expensive ($20 a pair with latches), spent about $400 NOT INCLUDING gravel, sand, & concrete for the pad or clamps. 

I told our daughter I would build her this bed for her birthday. She is still choosing what colors to paint it. Overall cost was $217 using white pine. She is's in love with this bed.  started it Saturday morning and had it all put together by Sunday afternoon. I changed up the guard rail. Instead of screwing it in,  I added a second set of 1×3s on the back side, so it is easy to slide on and off to make the bed. 

This is my first Ana-White build and I love it so much! I used a 100 year old door for the back and antique knobs for the hooks. I plan on making a farm house table next :)

Farmhouse table and benches

An afternoon project that went great. Kids love it.

This jewelry box is a gift for a friend at work who is retiring.   It is a variation of the Easy Jewelry Box, with the following modifications:

Hinged lift-up top with mirror

Overlay drawer fronts from ¼” craft wood (Gold stencil on top false drawer front, and drawer boxes are 1/8” shorter than the shelf from front to back, to ensure the fronts sit flat against the box front and drawer back doesn't touch the box back at all)

The bottom is 2 pieces thick, to allow space for the drawer overhang and attaching the bottom moulding.

Solid wood back (instead of plywood)

Top and bottom edged with mini stop moulding to make the overhangs, and added feet made from lattice

Removable drawer divider tray and 2 heights of removable dividers for the top, made from dentil, lattice and screen bead mouldings

I really took my time on this build to get everything just right with the build and the finish.   Probably spent about 6 hours spread out over the last few weekends. 

My 2nd project at my daughters' request, their favorite song being "Yellow Submarine".