Community Brag Posts

We recently created a Dr. Seuss themed reading nook on our upper level. We have one large book shelf near it, but have also wanted a way to display children's books. These ledge shelves make the books easy to access while also creating a beautiful piece artwork at the top of our stairs. Now, instead of have a long blank wall in the hallway between doors on the little landing we have a beautiful library. I have loved how they have turned out and wanted to share with others!

My husband and I built a house doing all the work that we could. When we started the project, I told the men in my life they were going to build the kitchen cabinets. They were pretty adamant they weren't.  I started visiting with experienced cabinet makers. One kept repeating, "It's just a box. It's not that hard to build a box."  With that encouragement, I found Ana's website and set about learning woodworking. First I built a step stool for my grandson, next I built some shelves for the shop, then I built this vanity. After I finally got it finished, I called an experienced woodworker to build my kitchen cabinets. Ha! I will say though, when the appraiser came out, he commented on what a nice vanity it was! Thank you, Ana, for opening up a new world to me!!

I was super inspired by the "iTable" which I am also going to build... but combined the idea with an idea I saw in a fancy home decorating magazine (a jigsaw puzzle stool).... took a lot of fiddling to come up with a 'universal puzzle piece' but in the end it worked out!

I converted the plans to king size and used oak for the headboard and the platform edge on the bed. The oak added to the cost as it is almost 10x the cost as construction lumber.
I made the headboard frame with pocket holes and attached it to the plywood with screws from behind. I also used pocket screws to assemble the bed frame.

Chairs for grandkids. They picked it their colors. 

Made the large porch swing and changed length to fit into porch space. Used rope to hang for more rustic look.
Note - next time will possibly used 2x6 for arm rest to allow for drink holder hole and possibly on framing instead of 2x4s. DIL and new grandson love it.

I enjoy making birdhouses and log cabin style is my favorite. I make the logs by setting my saw to rip 3/4 pine at 3/4 so I have 3/4 square strips. I then decide the size of my birdhouse and cut the logs accordingly. I also "wittle" on them a little to make it look more authentic. I simply then just stack, glue and nail one row at a time. You can use 1/4 poplar for the roof but I ripped pine at 1/16 and cut shakes with my utility knife and glue them on one at a time (there are 104 on this roof).

Built in closet to replace builder grade wire wracking.  Closet is approximately 11 feet by 5 feet.  consists of two shoe racks with 7 shelves each.  6 large drawers and 4 small drawers.  Two hanger sections with storage  above them.  End wall has hanger for longer items and storage above and a cabinet with shelves.

Yet to finish the floor.

Came across your shiplap fireplace and tweaked it a little, not bad for a 64 year old female right? Didn't take a weekend though more like a month but worth it. Thanks for the inspiration.

We saw this cubby bench and thought it could work for us... but there's 5 of us.

So we redrew the plans to add two more cubbies.

I also like the idea of being able to hide everything, so we put doors on.

The issue I had was cutting 1x12 material with the chop saw. Cutting with the circular saw (even with a guide) can sometimes leave you with an "almost" square edge. Even with a 12" saw you can not make the cuts on a 1x12. You need a sliding saw for that.

One option is to cut the boards over sized by 1/4 in and then use the table saw to get a square edge with the miter gauge or rip fence.

I only worried about this due to putting doors on the cubbies. It's your using baskets you don't have to be so exact.

I had my seed starters sitting on a TV stand by my sunny window, which was as ugly as it gets (see before photo...). So, I built this little console for my gardening stuff to sit on while my seedlings are growing. It turned out being the perfect size for what I'm using it for. I only modified it slightly, by adding end pieces to the top (just subtracted 6'' from the length of the top pieces and measured the width of the top to decide the length of the end pieces. I also used pocket holes to attach my bottom shelf pieces and the top shelf pieces, instead of nails. I've never done a 2 tone piece (I love the look of stained wood) so I was nervous about painting over the wood...but I'm really really happy with how it turned out! It was easy to make, and mine was done in an afternoon. Thanks Ana!!

My kitchen drawer wasn't as deep as the one in the tutorial, so I had to use 1x2 hobby poplar instead of 1x3's.  I can't wait to do more drawers!  It's been more than 6 months, and the drawer is still neat and organized.

Wood X Bench with Storage

I did it! My hubby cut all the wood for me because the saw still scares me, but I assembled it!

My husband built this for one of the recruiters in his station for his retirement from the Army after 20 yrs of service.