Community Brag Posts

Scrapbooking Table!

Submitted by seesaw on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 18:21

This is my favorite piece we have in our home. We added a wood edging around the desk top to give it a nice finished look. We had a hard time locating the right size drawer slides and ended up buying a lot of them online, so if anyone needs a set of drawer slides, please let me know lol.

Estimated Cost
$120
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
An antique white
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Double Chair Bench

Very nice bench.  I have now made three.  This one is grey washed red cedar.  

Estimated Cost
170.00
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Grey Washed Flat Exterior paint, mixed 50/50 with water. Varathane Satin finish. Practice on scrap wood wiping on/off the grey paint to get the desired look. Polyurethane has a yellow hue, the varathane is crystal clear.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Octagonal Table

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 10/29/2021 - 05:47

The easiest way to build the best octagonal table, Thanks for Your detail plans, and Greetings from Puerto Rico

Comments

Brenan's Simple Bed

We are SO proud of our first build! It was such a fun project and it built our confidence so much to do this. We didn't want to permanently screw our side rails into the head board and foot board so we took another user's advice and bought some steel bed rail fasteners from rockler.com. They worked like a dream and will make our upcoming moves much easier. Our bed is very heavy and sturdy and I know it will last our son for years. We ended up spending about $70 just for the lumber. The paint was $25 plus we spent some more on primer, screws, and nails. It was an investment and will save us some money on our future projects. =)

Ana - thank you SO much for these plans! They saved us so much money and we just love the way it turned out! Thanks for all of your hard work on this site! 
Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$100 - $150
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
One layer of white primer (wish I'd used a grey primer) and 3 coats of Behr's Nightwatch.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Simple Modern Outdoor Sectional

This was our first project and i gotta say, I love doing this! There are so many ideas on this website!
This was super easy, my husband and I had trouble with some of it because it wasnt fitting right, but we just tweaked it and it turned out perfect!
I had been looking online for an outdoor sectional for months, and the price was too high for us to spend. Our final total was only 238 dollars all together. Store (and bad quality at that) furniture would have cost us over 500. So, I am VERY pleased.
I got the cushions on craigslist. Listed at 8 dollars a cushion. They were still in the wrapping! We have one extra cushion that we plan on making an ottoman soon.

Estimated Cost
240
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Ultimate Wagon

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/21/2022 - 13:04

I used recycled oak to build wagons for four kids that year. My son Dakota, his cousins Colt and JoJo. the last one I gave to a boy with cerebral palsy who was being raised by his father and they lost everything to a fire just before Christmas. That is him in the wagon

Comments

Tall Farmhouse Queen

Submitted by chbowman on Fri, 07/15/2011 - 19:41

This bed is our first build. We added 4 inches to the height of posts on headboard and footboard. We also used brackets rather than screwing directly into footboard to make the bed easier to move if we ever need to.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$175
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Two coats of Bin primer followed by two coats of Behr Premium Plus Ultra Heavy Cream.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Brandon R. (not verified)

Sun, 07/15/2012 - 01:43

I just finished building this same bed and I'm looking for
an easy way to mount it together invade I new to move it. Where did you find brackets for the head and foot board? Could you post a picture of them?

Thanks,

Brandon

Mrs Johnson (not verified)

Mon, 10/01/2012 - 00:42

How tall is the bed from the ground to the bottom of the side rail? I'm wanting 14" so I don't need a box spring {we're both tall so I don't want to feel like I'm on the ground}

Camp loft bed

Submitted by dmather82 on Sun, 08/25/2013 - 18:15

My first build... Not perfect but it has led me down a new path... Thank you soooo much Ana! More to come and a plan of my own in the works!

Estimated Cost
$100
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Semi gloss white paint
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Sandbox with built-in seats

I modified this a tad from the original plans to suit my needs. I will eventually be adding a platform with attached slide and swing set.

Plans were easy to follow. My store didn't have 1x8's so I stacked 1x4's and used my Kreg jig to join them together and then I added extra bracing.

I had seen this on Pinterest a couple years ago and thought it was the coolest thing! Io excited I was able to build it myself!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
About $40
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
None yet. I will stain and seal everything when I get the entire play set finished.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Easy Vintage Step Stool - Red Alder

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 12/31/2015 - 15:55

I built this stool for my son of three years.  The wood is from Red Alder trees that blew down on my farm a few years ago.  I milled the logs with a friend and, while alder can behave badly, I always love working with the wood.  The end upright in the image was quite cupped and it cracked when I screwed it down - but it's still rigid and solid.  The wood takes an oil finish beautifully!  Chose to drill and plug the screws, instead of using pocket screws.  Gives it a nice rustic look, and is easy to recoat when a touchup is required.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Polyurethane and Boiled Linseed Oil Blend
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Garage shelving unit

We made this peace 12 feet long, the hardest part was to find straight boards at home depot and adjust the feet because of an uneven garage floor. It was my first big project and hubby helped so I can't take all the credits :)

Estimated Cost
$126
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Unfinished
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Pull-out Cabinet Drawers

Submitted by woodchuck on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 08:32

Inspired by Ana's Pull-out Cabinet Drawer Organizer I made pull-out drawers for all of my lower cabinets and for my pantry cabinet. My pantry cabinet is 22" deep which makes it very easy to eventually come across soup that expired four years ago, or to find three bags of sugar when I thought I was out. The pull-out drawers make it so easy to access and organize everything in the cabinets. Absolutely love them! In the organizing spirit I also made spice racks for the cabinet doors and hangers for measuring cups/spoons. The hardest part for me was installing the drawer slides - they have to line up perfectly!

Finish Used
Minwax Early American, General Finishes Satin Arm-R-Seal. I used Minwax Wood Conditioner before staining to avoid splotches.
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Comments

Kate (not verified)

Tue, 01/03/2012 - 10:10

Looks great! I've been thinking of doing the same thing myself, I just need to get motivated and convince myself that I won't be "destroying" my kitchen cabinets if I screw in a few drawer slides.

Dolores (not verified)

Tue, 01/03/2012 - 13:58

Not only will you not be destroying them - you will be amazed at the increased organization and convenience! Putting away/getting out dishes and pans is so much easier and organizing the pantry is awesome!

claydowling

Tue, 01/03/2012 - 14:20

Just one bit of advice for future projects, concerning drawer construction. It's better to have the sides come out to the front, rather than stop at the drawer front, and run the screws/pins through the side and into the front.

Another option, if you own a router, table saw or rabbet plane, is to cut a rabbet into the fronts and pin or screw through there, so you still show a solid front, but have the security of pinning through the sides.

Cindy from Indiana (not verified)

Tue, 01/03/2012 - 17:02

Great job on organizing! It looks really nice - I'm adding these to my to-do list (which is now a mile long LOL).

dawnkasotia

Wed, 01/11/2012 - 09:22

I have a large pantry cabinet like the one in the photo and I have a cabinet with a foldable door like yours. I've been wanting cabinet drawers for a while. Your photos give me inspiration and motivation to start building.

Teresa Walker

Fri, 01/20/2012 - 22:24

I am so going to do this. But, I need some kind of a plan to go by. None of the links take me to any plans. If anyone knows the link, please post them.
Thanks

claydowling

Sat, 01/21/2012 - 05:00

Teresa, there's no way to make useful plans for this, because your cabinets are most likely a different size than the original builder's cabinets. That doesn't mean you can't build these though.

The hanging hook racks are trivial. Cut a strip slightly less than the width of the opening in the cabinet face frame, attach hooks as desired, and then attack to the doors, making sure to mount them level and inside the opening.

Drawers are slightly more involved, but not much. Buy the drawer slides first, because they will determine how much clearance you need. Typical clearance is 1/2" on each side, for a total of 1", but there's no solid rule.

Once you have the slides, build a set of boxes as deep as your cabinets and as wide, minus the necessary clearance. There are plenty of different ways to build drawers. Any good furniture construction book will discuss ways to do it. There is even a whole book on the topic.

You'll mount the slides and then put the drawers in. Kreg makes a nice jig you can use to mount the drawer glides. You can order the jig and the glides from Rockler.

Teresa Walker

Sun, 01/22/2012 - 20:15

Thanks for the advice. I have just purchased the Kreg master kit and can hardly wait to get started on this. Although hubby has told me first I had to build him a set of corner shelves for his collection. This will be my first project with drawers so I am a bit apprehensive, but still going to try.
I do have one more question though. My cabinet drawers seem to not have alot of support. You can push down on the center and it gives. Should I take those out and reinforce them before I start?
Thanks to everyone here, as there always seems to be someone willing to help out, and also thanks to Ana for this site.

claydowling

Mon, 01/23/2012 - 04:37

A lot of commercial drawer bottoms are made out of very cheap material. You can make better bottoms out of hardboard or luan, and if the drawers are going to be holding heavier items like pans, you can build bottoms out of 1/4" plywood.

It's very hard to change the bottoms out of an existing drawer. For a strong drawer bottom, it needs to ride in a groove on the sides and front. If the existing bottoms ride in grooves on the three sides, you can probably pull the securing nail out of the back and replace the existing bottom, if you have replacement material that will fit in the existing groove. Otherwise, you'll need to build a new drawer with grooves sized for the bottoms you have.

woodchuck

Mon, 01/23/2012 - 21:09

Teresa -
I don't know why the link above doesn't work, but if you will go to Ana's home page and do a search for Wood Pullout Cabinet Drawer Organizer, that is the basic plan that I used, just changing the measurements to fit my cabinets. They were very easy to make, the hardest part being sure to get the drawer slides even on both the drawer and the cabinet, but that just takes patience and adjusting. Good luck with it - you can do it!

woodchuck

Tue, 01/24/2012 - 09:30

@Sarah - I saw where you had a question about the price of making the cabinet drawers. I have seen them priced anywhere from $35 a drawer on up. Most of mine are made of 1x4's and the pricing is as follows. A 1x4x8 at my local lumber yard is $3.29 and that will make one drawer. A sheet of 4x8 1/4" luan is $11.49 and that will make bottoms for 8 drawers. A 2x2x8 is less than $2.00 and that will make rails for the slides for 2 drawers, so that would be about $6.00 for one drawer plus $6.00 for the slides, total of $12.00. On the drawers for my pots and pans or anything heavy I used 3/8" plywood which would be slightly higher. Hope this helps!
Dolores

gale

Sat, 08/10/2013 - 13:34

We're having a modular built and it will have a pantry 18" wide without sliding shelves. I think I want to add at least a few sliding shelves for it like you did here. thanks for the inspiration!

My first Chunky Build

This is my first build and im really proud of it. We needed a new platform bed to fit our new matress! Yeah! a queen size bed! I discovered ana's blog and i got really inspired by all the projects in the blog! For the construction, i used birch for the showing parts, pine for side rails and center support and spruce for the slats. Actually, i haved cut de sides and builded the legs then i oiled evething before assembling. I used my Kreg Jig r3 to join the sides and i used a corner metal bracket to join the legs to the sides! Everything is attached from the inside, so no filler needed! I also decided to use 1x6 for the legs to get a taller bed. If you want your matress lower in the frame use 2x4 instead of 2x6 for the center support. Adjust de side rails to fit with the 2x4. Can't wait to build something new! FYI: I know my english is bad but its not my first language!Im french canadian!

Estimated Cost
250$ finishing oil included
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Deftoil Danish oil finish color fruitwood
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Mimi's mantle, revised

I searched hundreds of faux mantles online for just the right one to build! I ended up coming back to the very first one that inspired me...Mimi's! I revised it to make it deeper by using 1x8's for the depth. I used 1x6's for the inside box depth so that I would have some space behind for extension cords, etc. I also decided to insert wood ledges above the box (on the inside) so that I could put Christmas lights in for a soft glow, which I love. After building the top trim as shown in the plan, I decided that I wanted to "beef up" the mantle portion so I screwed 1x3's along the front and sides of the mantle top. I love how it turned out! I even ended up building a duplicate one for a friend that saw it and loved it! I am pretty new to woodworking and have 4 kids, so it took me much longer than it should have, but it was well worth it!

Estimated Cost
$60, plus Annie Sloan paint and wax
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
I beat up the mantle top to give it a well-loved look. Then I did Minwax Dark walnut over the entire piece, then sealed it with one coat of poly. I then used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White over the base. I distressed the edges and corners before sealing with Annie Sloan clear wax. I used 4 coats of poly on the mantle top (after 2 coats of stain), just to be cautious! In retrospect, I should have bought an actual wood sealer, perhaps, before painting over the stain? I had to use 2 1/2 coats of Annie Sloan and I'm told that it usually takes one coat, sometimes two. In the end, I am extremely happy with the outcome, though!
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Seasonal And Holiday

Mission style entry table

Submitted by Brad Wills on Mon, 01/06/2014 - 16:21

Built for my sisters house. I pulled a pic of a mission style table from the internet and then matched the details to her existing hutch. Color match took some work!

Just a tip for Florida folks. If it is humid and raining...stop and wait for another day to stain and poly. Trust me.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
75.00
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Varathane Red Oak mixed with Colonial Maple. Topped with 3 or 4 coats of varathane poly in semi gloss.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Kendal Extra Wide Dresser with Dovetails

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 02/29/2020 - 12:47

My daughter recently threw out a lot of her things because she wanted to have a grown up room and not a kids room. So she asked if I could make her furniture and wanted a dresser as her first piece. So I couldn't say no!

This was my second project from this web site and my first dresser. Boy was it tough, but I loved every minute of it! Even though the plans were marked Advanced, I made it even more so by trying out dovetailing for all the drawers. By hand. With just a Japanese pull saw and chisels. That added about 10 hours onto the total build, but it was for my daughter, so it was worth it!

This is how it turned out.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
Roughly $200
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
White Paint (3 coats) and Classic Black PolyShades wood stain and polyurethane by Minwax. Because the wood stain has polyurethane in it, it can get really messy really fast! If you get it on you, soap won't help for clean up. Try olive oil.
Recommended Skill Level
Advanced

Rustic Banquette Bench with Storage

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 11/04/2023 - 14:16

I needed some extra storage space and have always wanted a storage bench in this corner of my dining room. It took me a week to build from start to finish. I’ve never done any woodworking before, so this plan was good for me, as it was easy to follow with the color coding. The only thing that was “off plan” were the X’s on the face of the bench. I had some leftover 1x1 trim, from a handyman project a few years back, that I was happy to use up. It fit perfectly and I had just enough for all X’s. My biggest challenge with this project were the lids. They have a very minor bow, so one of the corners isn’t flush. But, it’s not enough to bother me or need to re-do the lid. All-in-all, I’m super happy with this banquette and may have caught the woodworking bug!

Corner beds

Submitted by CLDavis on Sat, 03/15/2014 - 12:52

Thanks for the plans! The beds turned out great. I just made everything about 6 inches higher for more storage space.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Mini farmhouse bedside table

Submitted by hummbaby on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 17:03

After years of hand me down nights stands and using everything from milk crates to tv trays, it was definitely time to build something to be proud of. My wife decided mustard was her color of choice. I think when she chose this design, we planned on modifying the Farmhouse Bedside table to make it smaller and then Ana came out with the mini version. Pretty easy all around. I added a stopper block to back inside end of the drawer to keep the drawer from falling out when opened too far. It can be twisted to allow the drawer to come all the way out.

Estimated Cost
$75?
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Mustard yellow paint
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner