Community Brag Posts

The project went relatively well. Had to readjust in order to fit our king. I used 2x4s and 2x4 joist hangers to support the mattres. 

My first real project, can't wait to do another one.

Hi Ana. Been a fan of yours. My name is Ed. Wood working is my hobby. And its always nice to look at your plans, and put my own spin on it. My wife wanted a planter for our deck. So I tweaked your plans and made them a little bigger. I Also built her a herb garden too. With these new planters; it should put a stop to the rabbits eating everything.

Thanks for your inspiration.

The need for a proper workbench in my garage/shop is a must, but. So is space! I already have a fold down workbench I’ve made with ¾ inch pipe & a door, but. I just need something that can handle all my tools. So, I stumbled upon these plans from the Family Handyman & couldn’t find a reason why this wouldn’t work in my shop. It has room for storage, can easily accommodate my tools & most importantly fold up to store. Easy to build too! Make sure you read all the plans first as some of the materials could be pricey, but well worth it. Technically it’s taken 2 months to build this bench, as I operate on a firefighter/teacher’s budget & during the holiday season no doubt. I ordered all the shelf standards & brackets through Amazon, $210.00 for those alone, but they hold so much weight to support your tools I figure it’s worth it. The rest materials (wood, screws) were purchased at Home Depot for around $150.00. The plans called for ¾ inch ply & it was $45.00 per sheet. However they did have a smaller thickness for $22.00 per sheet & was only a 1/32 inch thinner. I plan on topping all my surfaces with some ¼ inch tempered hardboard later on so I knew it would work. That also left me adjusting my screw size to mount my brackets. Due to the reduction in thickness of the plywood all my #8-1 inch screws needed to be adjusted to ¾ inch so to not screw through the ply. I also hit the molding isle to nab some pieces to use as furring strips to use under the shelves before attaching the brackets. This way I can sand each strip to match before mounting to make sure it lined up flat with the center top. One more thing; where it says “drill 1/8 inch hole in brackets make sure you use 1/8 inch pop rivets. I barrowed a pop rivet gun & was handed some rivets as well. Popped two & they had to be trashed because the rivet size turned out to be 5/32. So I stepped up in drill bit size & it all worked out. As I said, I’ll be topping it with some ¼ inch hardboard. I also plan to run it’s own electrical with an outlet on each post. I hope you all enjoy & this can help!

Using Ana's 10 dollar raised garden planter box idea, I made my own using the cedar fence boards and then used 2 x 3 x 8 studs for the L corner supports and mid center support along with top rail. This photo is the first 3, I will have a total of 6 boxes. Will post more as I progress.

Expecting our second child, my wife and I decided to do away with our guest bedroom and combine it with our office. The only problem was our queen bed took up way too much space and it didn't get enough use to justify the sacrifice. We looked at the wall bed options available for purchase and decided they were way too blah and very expensive. I then found the "A MURPHY BED YOU CAN BUILD, AND AFFORD TO BUILD" post on Ana's website (thanks for the inspiration)! 

 Using cheap pine boards, plywood, door hinges, vinyl upholstery and stain I constructed the wall bed you see here. It really wasn't that difficult but facing it took the most time. To give the boards a more rustic look I used a utility knife to shave off the edges/corners and stained them with the Minwax American Walnut water based stain and the Minwax White Wash Pickling. When this started we thought we were going to have to settle for something unattractive and less than desirable. Seeing it in our office now, we love our new bed and actually think it makes the room look much better!  I didn't keep track of costs, but it couldn't have been more than $150.

New to raising chickens, but eager to jump right in to it.
We bought a pre-made coop for the main home for our new chicks and it's very nice, not something I could do myself since I'm not yet at that level, but I saw this chicken tractor and thought it would come in handy for what I have in mind so I made up my mind to build it.
The lumber, chicken wire, staples, and wheels are all store bought new and came to about $75. The materials we had on hand were the screws, hinges, plastic coated metal shelving (used in the nesting area, I thought that would make it easy to clean), paint, and the corner piece of vinyl siding for the roof cap (hubby's brilliant idea, and I painted it green with spray paint for vinyl).
I did not try to build it quickly, I don't really know how much time it took me, but if I had to guess I'd guess total time would amount to about 3 afternoons, by myself.
I wanted to leave the top on the one side open with the option to slap on the other boards if/when the need arises. I have the other t1-11 panels that can sit right in those areas because I stapled the chicken wire in a way that would allow it.
I also added a flip up panel as seen in the pictures for access. I didn't want a small door that I would have a hard time getting to things in there. I'm so glad I added this feature, it sure gives plenty of room for me to maintain the food and water dispensers as well as get in there and catch the little chickies :)
I wanted it green to blend into the wooded background in our backyard. I didn't want to take any beauty away from the cedar greenhouse and fencing we added last year, and this tractor would be moved from time to time and I felt this green that we had on hand was perfect to help it blend in rather than stand out.
This thing is heavy! I have a hard time moving it around and usually need my husband to move it so I won't hurt myself. I am considering some options... I don't like the rope I have on it to pull it, any suggestions would be appreciated.
As with the other items I've made with Ana's plans, this was fun and pretty easy to make. I love this site! Soon I will take on my next project, I've bought and gathered the materials, I'm anxious to get started :)
Thank you for looking :)

Taken from the Modern Outdoor chair project and added a back. Then decided that I love the andorak style chair arms and thus the Andrmodern chair was born.. 

I was in love with the RH Merida set because of its clean lines and modern style. Also, the plan seemed simple enough that I could re-create it without a pattern. The only thing that I did not like about it is the lack of arms. I really like to have a place to put my arm or my beverage :) - so I added arms to the design.

I made this coop twice as wide like Ana suggested since I have 4 chickens and wanted to make sure there was some extra wiggle room in case “chicken math” got the best of us. I made a nesting box to mount on the outside. I also used plywood for the sides like Ana did in the video. I installed a Run Chicken automatic door that opens at sunrise and closes at sunset. I added some hasps and clasps to make sure all my doors would close tightly. I put hardware cloth across the top before installing the roof panels. I stapled and buried hardware cloth around the perimeter for predator protection. I also spray painted the hardware cloth flat black so that it would be easier for us to see inside the coop. I stained the rest of the wood with Varathane Semi-Transparent stain, color “Carbon Gray.” I also added some roosts and cedar shingle siding for some extra protection during our New England winters at to match our house. Working 2-4 hours a day, off and on, with a bum shoulder and weak hands, this took me about a week! Thanks for the great plan, Ana!