Community Brag Posts

Instead of building a free-standing, 4-poster Pergola, I attached one side directly to the house. There are various Pergola design types and shapes. Simply Google for "pergola" images and decide which design you like best, or combine design ideas together (as I did).

Couple things to consider:
A: Is your Pergola more for decorative purposes or actual shade?
My design was more for actual shade (but with a decorative design), which is why I added the 1in x 12in x 12ft Pine boards between the cross beams at the very end (last picture). If your design is more for decorative purposes, you can space out your support beams and cross beams wider (using less wood and money).

You can also choose to use 2x4s as your support beams with 2x2 cross beams on top (essentially furring strips) either close together or spaced farther apart. This would also reduce the overall cost of your Pergola and make it much lighter as well. I chose to use all 2x6s for both support beams and cross beams.

B: What path does the sun follow across the sky over your Pergola?
If the sun passes directly over your Pergola and you want a lot of shade, you'll obviously need to consider this in your design (i.e., more cross beams that are close together).

C: Do you want your support beams and cross beams to inter-lock (by cutting square notches and assembling them like linking logs), or simply stacked on top of each other? (Again, Googling for Pergola images will help you see the differences in designs.)

I chose to interlock all of my beams by cutting notches and fitting them together. Obviously more time consuming to measure each notch, cut, and chisel them but the stability of inter-locking beams should hold up a little better in the strong winds of Las Vegas.

HOW TO (abbreviated)

Overall Pergola Dimensions: 10ft Height, 12x12ft

Tip: Paint or stain all your wood prior to assembly. Much easier. You can always touch-up scuffs and scrapes after it's built.

1. 2x6x12 installed directly onto the house (thru the stucco into the studs) using 3/8in. x 5in. lag screws. (Tip: Seal the top edge of the 2x6x12 that's against the stucco so water doesn't run behind it and down into the lag screw holes.)
2. Install the 2x6 Double Shear Hangers (as many as you need for your design)
3. 4x4 post anchors secured directly into the cement patio using Tapcon 3/16 in. x 2-3/4 in.cement anchor screws.
4. 4x4x10ft posts screwed on top of the anchors. Ensure level on all sides (use a partner to help hold the posts).
5. Attach the front and side 2x6 beams to the 2 posts (again, use a partner to help hold posts while you're up on the ladder screwing your beams to the posts)
6. Attach the remaining 2x6 support beams.
7. Attach the 2x6 cross beams on top (whether you inter-lock them by cutting notches or simply resting them on top, be sure to toe-nail screw them in with 2in exterior screws).
8. Lay 1x12x12ft pine boards on top in between the cross beams and secure with 2in exterior wood screws.
9. Construct the post bases ("sleeves" or "leggings") which greatly adds to the look, as outlined in the "Weatherly Pergola" plans.
10. Touch-up paint / stain any areas you need.

I loved the plan for the cedar picket shed. It was tall enough to block my neighbor's view, so I shaved 20 inches off the height. It is the perfect size for a mower. We made a floor out of 12 inch blocks. The ground we have here packs very well, so I think it'll be good for a long time. We also have a lot of wind, but this thing isn't going anywhere!! It is solid. I also like the fact that it takes a stain right along with the fence and there is no painting involved! The hinges you recommended were great.

This was my very first woodworking project. It didn't end up perfect, but I learned a lot by making it, and it is still a quite nice dining table.

The minor modifications I made of the plan: I used 1x4-s as a frame for the table top, flush with the top. (The 2x2-s are next to it inside.) I made the lower supports out of 4x4-s (except that they didn't have 4x4-s at the store here so it's really 2 2x4-s put together). I have a few 2x4-s connecting the 2x8 and 2x6-'s in the base, to make it a bit more stable (not sure I really needed these but anyway), and I also ended up putting a few 2x4-s in the core of the base, again to make it a bit more robust. I routed the 1x4-s on the table frame, and also the table legs with a 45 degree bit (using a router is really fun! And really easy).

I used pine for the base and red oak for the table top -- mostly because I have oak cabinets in the kitchen. After sanding to 150 grit, I stained the oak first with Minwax Oriental Ginger (I would have used a dye if I had had one but this worked fine), and then two coats of GF antique oak. The Minwax gave a nice warm orange undertone while the GF highlighted the grain. It has 6 coats of GF high performance water based poly on it, sanded and wet sanded with very fine grit (up to 2000) so it's pretty smooth. It looks like many people use grain filler with oak, but I like the grain so I didn't. The base is painted white with whatever semigloss white paint I happened to have at hand.

Lessons learnt: 1) always, always measure twice, and always, always make sure that everything is square. 2) Don't build a table base from a board that's not absolutely straight. 3) Make sure to have enough screws and that the screws are of the right kind. 4) If you use a 45 degree router bit, you need to sand that 45 degree part much finer than the other parts of the table top, otherwise the grain will stick out and make it very rough. 5) Don't wet sand oak -- the poly dust white residue gets into the grain and it's impossible to remove. 

Was looking for something to do with an old Radio Flyer wagon.. Saw some great pics on Ana's site for garden ideas and thought this might have the right shape to make a water feature.. beats making a flower potter out of it. -And it does in fact work.. The original plan was to use a simple chrome hook-style faucet but found a great brass antique on ebay for under $10 which really set the tone for its look.

The inside of the wagon is double-coated with Rustoleum clear sealant, over-layed with a red top coat. The wheels and handle are original and the hanging bar across the front is from conduit. The wagon is attached to the stand only around the drain by 2 1/2"x 1/4" machine screws. The brass handle on the right end is so the wagon can be tilted to drain settling water. The drain is a standard 1 1/4" sink kit that connects to a compression coupler. Both the feeder and drain line have hose connections.

Modifications to the simple outdoor table plan thanks to Finn’s dad. 

Our daughter is fast approaching 2 years old and had learned the word "chair." She wanted her own, clearly.

In addition to being my first brag-worthy project, this is the last thing I built before I got my Kreg Jig, but even without, I'm quite satisfied with the end result, and it will support me sitting in it (at over 200 lb) so I did something right.

I ripped down some 1x8 to make the lumber required, so it's not exactly per the plan, but it's pretty close. I also made the back legs of out ripped 1x4 because I felt it looked nicer, and added the brace between the front legs only in order to maintain stackability. (For I will be making a few more of these.) My favorite personal modification is the accent heart in the back slat.

We are remodeling our 3 bedroom house into a 4 bedroom. In doing so, my youngest is getting the smaller room. We decided to go with a Murphy bed to allow more play time space. I do not particularly like the fact that this bed doesn’t sit off the ground but overall love the simplicity of making it. We turned it horizontal and just love the overall product. I can mot wait to make something else from this site!

Tams

So my sister in-law kept sending me tables on craigslist that were for sale. I didn't like anything I was seeing and to buy what I wanted I was looking at roughly $1000 so I found these plans and was like... YES! When I told the family I was doing this they were all pretty much like... "yeah sure, good luck"
I knew that I could do I just needed the plans which were here.

I pretty much stuck to the plans with a few exceptions. I made the table longer to accommodate the entire family on Friday Family Night...! It's a little over 10' long. Instead of 3 – 1x12x8 I went with 3 - 2x12x10. One because as I said earlier I wanted the table longer and two because I just felt that the 1x12 was too flimsy and I wanted something real solid. Because of that I ended up putting pocket holes on each side of all the 2x12 boards and I also put a 2x6 in the middle for additional support.

Everything was pretty much right on except for the base posts, for some reason they were about 2" too short which forced me to cut the upper parts of the X on the base a bit shorter as well. I ended up putting an additional 2 2x6 on top of the base to raise the table to the height I felt was necessary. If I did it over I would have just made my base post 2" higher and only used one additional 2x6 for the additional height.

I ended up staining it with a semi-transparent beige stain to give it a grayish look.

I gotta say everyone was like "holy crap...!" and thought it was beautiful. I gotta say it feels really good to build it yourself and especially when it comes out the way you want it.

thanks so much for the plans!!!

I purchased a twin girls captins bed for my daughter to grow into but she wasn't quite big enough for it yet so I had my husband convert it into a twin size crib!!!! Im in love with how it turned out. My husband Free hand a crown on a sheet of ply wood and cut it out. I used quilt batting and covered it with pink material and did the tips of crown in purple.

8’ by 12’ shed with extra 15” of height. Thanks for the plans!

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.

Custom cedar raised gardens installed for a deck railing

Urban Wood Solutions

Made this from a great Ana White plan Modified it to fit a small sink that will drain to a water bucket underneath it.