Community Brag Posts

I needed new bar stools for our new bar that we designed and built in our basement family/entertaining room. Regardless of where I was looking, these things are silly expensive. I also wanted a little more of a country/rustic look that would suit my husband and my likes. I used the Vintage Bar Stool plans but my husband isn't a small guy and we have friends that aren't classified under the small frame category either, I needed more structure. After thinking about it for a few days, I liked the rustic X look and used that from so many plans. I also am all about comfort and the padded upholstered seats was a must. Can't wait for my next project. BTW. The cabinets behind the bar also came from here I simply modified for what we needed. We get compliments on it all of the time. Love this website, thank you so much for making simple to read instructions for things I actually want to do. 

Twin beds, nightstands, play table and chairs all inspired by Ana White plans. I did a lot of improvising as I went along.

This was a Christmas gift for my granddaughter's and my second project. 

My sister made the curtain, the personalized flower pillows and the bench cushion.

My daughter painted the flower art.

To build my Rustic X coffee table I went about it as cheap as I could. I found all of my wood either through crap piles at lumber yards or from free wood piles on craigslist. The interesting part was trying to find the pieces for the top which I had to improvise with the two 2x3 pieces in the middle of the four 2x6's also instead of using the two 1x42x12 pieces for the bottom shelf I could not find what was asked for so I used a few 1x4's which worked out great. The only other change I made to the plans was to change how the X's attached to the main frame. The original plans wanted the X's to butt up against the sides while I cut them to be flush with the top and bottom of the frame.
The only things that I purchased were the bracers, steel wool and vinegar and tea for the stain, and the screws. The only tools I own are a measuring tape and a pencil, luckily I have a friend with a full woodshop who helped me out. I followed the instructions on http://thefriendlyhome.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-oxidize-wood.html to make the stain. I left a wad of steel wool in white vinegar (about 2/3 of a pasta sauce jar full) for about 5 weeks. After all the cuts had been made and the table put together I sanded it by hand and then stained it. After the stain had dried I waxed the surface with Minwax paste finishing wax. I would love to enjoy my table but for lack of room in my 160 foot dorm room I've had to leave it in a friends apartment for now.

Built from Garden Bench plans. Pretty much exactly as written. I modified the arms a bit. 

The seat is a little deep, but it's really great to sit out and watch the ducks by the pond. It's really heavy, so I needed help from the hubs to move it down there. On the other hand I don't worry about it floating away during occasional high water through the flood way. 

It's used almost every day!

The plans provided for the table and bench were excellent. I also had help from people in the local Lowes lumber department who talked me in to using cedar. They also recommended using lag screws where possible so (for the table) I ended up using lag screws in some places where the pocket screws were recommended. 

Thank you for the idea for the rustic x end table. My wife is extremely happy with her new end table. Happy wife = happy life!!! I constructed the end table of 2x4 douglas fir rough sawn material I salvaged from a project where we removed a trellis from the house. My son helped me remove all of the nails and we let the wood dry out from the rain. I cut the 2x4 to the lengths described in the directions (I had to modify the x braces in length), sanded the wood and applied natural finish stain. We also added 3 coats of polyurethane to the table top to give it a nice finish and hopefully help with wear and tear over the years.

Built using the Wood Mail Holder w/ Key Hooks plan. Primed and painted the slot fronts with chalkboard paint before attaching. Stained the front lath pieces (frames around the chalkboard) before attaching. Stained with Minwax Dark Walnut. Hooks from Lowe's. 

Rustic X Coffee Table. Stain is wet in the photo, so a bit glossier than I'm anticipating. Kept diagonal "X" cross-beams whole and staggered to create more depth in the look of the structure. One coat Minwax "Ipswitch Pine." Changed mind and went with 2-3 more of Minwax "Driftwood." Would have been more grey, less red had I gone with "Driftwood" from the start.

Building this was pretty fun. I've never done the type of carpentry where you would notch out a piece of wood before. I've seen it done, but never done it myself.  I altered the size of this build and omitted the center divider piece as I just felt that with a 5' length, it was un-necessary and obstructed the view. Plus I wanted to use baskets underneath to have hidden storage. I also added a shelf for the TV components.

I made this Becca Trunk for my daughter for Christmas.  I wanted it bigger so I made it 48" wide.  I also lined it with cedar.  It turned out pretty darn good!!

Used cedar wood so I applied a few costs of oil based polyurethane to compensate for the softness of the wood.

Custom shoe bench I built for a friend.  See post on blog for more detail: 

http://www.tools4moms.com/2012/06/build-corner-shoe-bench.html

Ana, we saw your plans for the barn door cabinet that was pinned in pinterest and absolutely loved it and felt we had to build it but we had to completely modify  the plans to have it custom fit our bathroom. It was a trial and error experience never having built anything before. Thank you for giving us the idea.

Build the open toy box using pocket holes for a smooth, secure and easy build.

my daughter needed a new bedroom set... i refused to spend thousands of dollars on a new dresser and a bed. with a little hard work and help from Ana's plans... i was able to put these together and they turned out AWESOME!