Community Brag Posts

We made these beds for my daughters, who were ready to pass on the bunkbeds to their little sisters. We have 4 girls in one room, so use of space is crucial! I originally wanted the hutch as well, but as you can see in the picture, we had to work around a wall cut out, so we modified the corner unit to have a larger shelf area to fit the space. We also left the sides open to be able to slide containers in to store out of season clothes and blankets, though the ends have a backing.

I've finished my swing but my porch don't have enough clearance so I built A frame stand for it.

Your beautiful Fancy X farmhouse table. We wanted to seat 8. Used your plan with the top idea from Hint of Home. We used cedar tongue and groove for the top. We are so pleased with it! Now for chairs!

First table built by us. I think it turned out pretty good! Custom built to avoid baseboard heater. 

Our guest room finally has a headboard! I put together this queen size headboard using what I had learned building my daughter's headboard (and consulting the plans for the Reclaimed Wood Headboard) using the remainder of the plywood sheet from her headboard project, 2x3s for the legs, a 2x4 to join the legs (and connect to the metal bed frame), furring strips, and a 1x3 to top it off.

Our plywood had been cut to fit our car, so the first vertical furring strip was placed to hide the seam where I joined the two pieces back together. Then we evenly placed them from center as just looked right to us.

We had a great time seeing this come together as we didn't follow a specific plan, but were able to be a bit more creative inspired by various plans.

Fabulous home gym by Nailgun Nelly!

*Incorporated and modified the grand waterfall console plan

This is my first try at building furniture. I've built larger things in the past like decks and a fort for my nephews, but never furniture. Even though I used the plans to build the main box, I did change up the bottom and added some new stuff. I added wheels to the bottom my wife could easily move it around her classroom. I didn't want to put a square base on it because I thought it might hit her ankles when she was standing close to it. So I sort-of notched it out to give an opening for her feet and I used some scraps to create a short shelf at the bottom. I also added more trim that the plans call for. I cut strips of the pine plywood for the base molding and topped it with quarter round. I used corner trim for the front corners, the self inside and the bottom notched shelf. I also used screen trim for the back of it. I think it came out nice and I've very pleased with it. I used 2 coats of Minwax PolyShades American Chestnut on it.

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.

Simple desk made from maple veneer paint grade plywood.  It's very sturdy and looks great.  The last photo shows a matching dresser that I made as well.  So far I've made two of these identical desks and another with 3 large drawers underneath to one side.  You don't have to have alot of fancy tools and expensive wood to make great looking, sturdy, and functional furniture.  As always, sketchup plans available!

The cover is a tonneau cover for a pickup truck. It's for a 6.5' truck bed so if you notice, I had to ad a 2x4 and one more picket on top to accommodate the extra length. 

The cover would add a ridiculous amount of money to the project but it was repurposed.  I found it on a truck that was in an accident and going to the scrap yard. I think it it came out great and my grandson loves it.

John

This was my first build and I learned A LOT and watched A LOT of youtube diy videos. The main take-away from this project is not to build in the freezing cold if the finished project is for inside. I finished this project in below freezing temperatures and I noticed that the wood expanded (increasing slightly the gap between the finished boards on the top) when it was brought inside.

I built this from the original farmhouse table plans with no kreg jig although I did buy and use a pocket kreg jig to make the extensions. The main modifications were using 4x4s such as were used in the Country Living magazine spread that inspired this build and also making modifications to allow the addition of 15" extensions at each end of the table's bread boards.

My first challenge was figuring out how to build with the 4x4 legs instead of the 2 2x4s screwed together. In order to accomplish this i had to use a chisel to create the corner lip that the table top frame would sit on. I added photos of this so I hope it will help someone. Chiseling these 4 corners (one on each post) only took an hour or two and was so worth it for the look of the 4x4s. Just measure carefully and work carefully with a sharp chisel. I actually removed half the wood by sawing off the corner at a 45 degree angle. Remember when cutting your boards for the table ends that a 4x4 has different dimensions than 2 2x4s screwed together. Compensate for this in your cuts.

Another challenge was hiding the screws on the table legs and table top. I was leaving the finish natural so didn't want to use wood fill. I accomplished this by getting a countersink bit and then buying wooden dowels the same diameter. For these screw holes, after finishing screwing, I put a dab of wood glue in the countersink hole, inserted the dowel as far as it would go, used a fine hand saw to cut off the dowel flush with the table and then used a hammer to make sure the dowel was in tight and flush.

I had trouble figuring out how to attach the table top frame to the table legs with the long screws from the plans so I included a picture of this step. Its really easy but I was not able to use three screws as the plan calls for. I used two instead and it has been very solid. I used the long screws as proscribed.

Finally, I wanted to build extensions (2 2x8 boards kreg jigged together) so I could increase seating up to a max. of 12 persons, so I needed to cut out 2x2 gaps on the table ends. I also included a picture of these in place. To make room for the 2 2x2s that extend under the bread boards and table top to brace the extensions, I left out one of the 2x2 cross beams at each end of the underside of the table (the boards that the table top boards screw into).

I hope this is helpful to you!