Community Brag Posts

This was my first build from your site! Farmhouse bench.
I was a little confused with the miter saw instructions "bevel cut at a 10 degree angle off center". I had to google to figure out what you meant. In the end the bench looks awsome and I feel very empowered with my tools.
(still need to stain the finished project, bought all the wood and built in 1 day)
Thank you Ana for sharing your plans!! I love your site and I love my Kreg Jig!
Vicki
(Canada)

After searching the town high and low for a 10" high wooden stool, I decided to make one. Ana had the perfect stool pattern to modify for our needs - A little shorter, a little wider.....et Voila!

It's the perfect height for little ones to reach the taps in the bathroom, as well as helping out in the kitchen from time to time. And, the cedar smells wonderful.

Finished height: 10"
Top measures: 11.25" x 16.5" (2 boards, cut 16.5" long + a space in the middle)
Footprint: 12.375" x 17.375"

I also lined up the rails (instead of staggering them), similar to the Harriet Higher Chair plans. The joint will be weaker, but I prefer the cleaner lines on such a short step stool.

Thanks Ana for the great plans!

With much needed seating in the mudroom, an unused space (nook) was used to build a mudroom bench and shelf. No plans were used. I basically looked on-line and mentally drew up an idea of how I wanted the final product to look.  

There were some setbacks such as not like the knock down textured walls (after partially painting the bench). I ended up covering the textured walls with hardboard and repainted.

A bench cushion was made for added comfort and style.

Complete tutorial for the bench is here and the bench cushion tutorial is here.

Thank you.

Julie

This was a fun project that I made for my wife. I saw a Crate & Barrel table with legs that alternated directions. The plans were easily adapted to match. I stained the standard pine boards with Minwax Prestain, Minwax Red Mahogany stain (2 coats) and sealed with a matte polyeurathane. The matte finish cut down any shine and should prevent any fingerprints from showing up, though witha 2-year and 6-year old this is inevitable. I may still add some small 3-4" triangular braces on the ends of the table at the legs to add stability, but it seems quite stable as it is. The bench is next on the list, but this will have to wait until after Thanksgiving.

Our large lap dog finally discovered he could easily get whatever he wanted out of the trash, so I built the tilt out bin to help keep him out of trouble. lol. I made it cabinet height so we could move the microwave off the counter, and added a drawer to the extra space to keep garbage bags and such in.

Needed custom size table that is versatile. Daughter can do homework, act as bar table, and work area. Chairs repainted and reupholstered. Screwed in multiple plug outlet to the side. First of many projects. Learned how to use Kreg Jig.

DIY Rustic Porch Swing

Since I used hardwood (red oak) I have to modify the plan and eliminate the sides of the shelves. Modifications and measurement is on the additional photo. Thanks again Ana, you're the best!

In order to make this island a little beafier I used 4x4 wood for the X as well as the the top and bottom braces. Top is made up of glued up 1x3 maple wood. It looked really good raw, but decided to stain it to give a more uniform look. I bought the rustic handles and the bottle opener on Amazon.com. I used lag bolts and washers for the finishing accents...similar to the pottery barn island. Painted them with Rustoleum oil bronzed paint and then dabbed it with a paper towel to give it a rougher finish to it and then sprayed the casters as well. This was a fun project and are getting a lot of use out of it. Thanks goes to Anna for the plans and inspiration for this island. Rich

With Father's Day rolling in, my sons and I needed a gift, stat! My husband thinks that Table Tennis is the quintessential father-son activity, so that was an obvious choice.
We needed something easy to make, easy to store, and budget friendly. With a 6, 4, and 2 year old helping out, I made a foldable mdf ping pong table that could easily be placed on our picnic table outside.
We had home depot cut the mdf in half, primed it, taped off some lines, spray painted it with chalkboard paint (bonus, you can keep score!), and screwed 4 small hinges to attach the 2 halves. We added a removable table tennis net, some paddles and balls, and have played nearly every day!

I copied the boat wood painting technique using the colors of my daughters room and it turned out wonderful. It really is as easy as it looks on the tutorial! You can see more of my stuff on anexceptionalife.com