Community Brag Posts

Thanks for a great plan! I've been procrastinating in posting, since I have plans to start blogging and wanted to link. Unfortunately, my blog remains a pipe dream as I still can't come up with a name.

The two long ledges were the ones I made (smaller ones are ancient.) These have helped me a great deal in my efforts to pull together/put my own stamp on the most awkwardly laid out and chopped up house imaginable! The 'in your face effect' created by my piling nearly every photo I own on them should be temporary - wall space will open up as other rooms get done. I do think they soften up the gigantic television (Ok, stop laughing. It was worse before.).

While the Ten Dollar Ledges were the inspiration for these, I didn't follow the instructions, since I have lots of leftover plywood and buying lumber when you live in the country and drive a VW Bug is not much fun. I'm very pleased with both the shelves and the garage space their creation opened up. There was a tradeoff, though, as it took me far longer than the hour or two each would have took had I used dimensional lumber. Four inch rip cuts are a pain! (especially since I was a bit too perfectionistic.) But I'm very happy with the results. Thanks again!

This was our first attempt at making a woodworking project but knew it had to be done to save our plants from our son digging in them. It took us all weekend (mostly because of the staining) but we completed the project in 2 days. We went a little bigger (made a 6 x 6 box) to give our son some room and allow for friends. I loved putting the project together and look forward to many years of use from this box. Thank you for such simple plans!

We needed something to put clothes in. A dresser wouldn't of been big enough, so I decided on the armoire. I shortened the height so I'd only had to buy 2 1x12's. Everything else is the same. The 1x12's were so warped I had a heck of time with the doors.
I'm not digging the distressing. I tried the Vaseline thing. Never again it was a mess. I'll just stick to sanding it down from now on.

We got some new furniture and realized that the TV stand we currently have just wasn't going to work. We found a media console at Restoration Hardware that we really liked (http://www.restorationhardware.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productI…). Well, we liked everything but the $1,300 price tag. With a couple sheets of 3/4 plywood, some 1x3's, 1x4's and 1x6's we built this for a fraction of the price. We even modified it so the two side doors have speaker mesh instead of solid panels so we can enjoy the sound without the eyesore of the speakers.

The stain is still drying so I don't have a final installed photo.

10 dollar ledge with small trim on the bottom (now cost 20 dollars total)

My mom was looking for a new outdoor table, and asked me to come up with something. I found the link for these plans (http://www.thedesignconfidential.com/2011/04/free-diy-furniture-plans-t…) to knock off Restoration Hardware's $4000 Provence Beam outdoor table. Overall I liked the plan, with the chunkier look of the 4x4's. But there were a lot of errors in the diagrams, and the finished height is 34" which is ridiculously tall for a table. So we took it apart and cut the legs back down to change the finished height to 30". We chose rough-cut cedar for it's look and outdoor properties, not wanting to use treated lumber for a dining table. We couldn't find 2x10's like the plan, so we substituted seven 2x6's just like Ana's plan, but left a 1/2" gap in between so water can drain and not pool on top and rot the wood. Also, since we were working with 4x4's for the legs, we chose heavy duty lag bolts instead of screws to join them together. I love the finished look they give. Overall it's a sturdy, yet lightweight table that my mom loves and has already used for entertaining!

Reader build

My husband made these for our God son's 1st birthday gift. He loves them so much. We can't wait to make these for our daughter's nursery as well. These are so easy & beautiful to make.

We just put in a pool and I needed something to hide a pair of outdoor speakers. I used Klipsh AW-525 speakers.

Basically I raised the bottom of the planter enough to fit the speaker under and had to add a few framing pieces to secure the speaker mount to. The mount attaches to a vertical board and the weight rests on a horizontal board. The wiring comes up from below.

The front panel uses vinyl mesh from Sailrite.com to hide the speaker but allow sound out. Imm planning to hang it with magnets if it doesn't distort sound too much.

We needed a coop for our son's chicken Penny as she was big enough to move outside. We wanted one that would hold at least 2 chickens as we plan on getting a second soon. We found the plans for the a frame chicken coop here and the next day my husband and 5 yr old son got to work. Took them about 3 hours from start to finish and it turned out great. He plans on spraying the whole thing with outside deck sealer to protect the wood and had some trim on the edges to protect the kids from getting scratched by the chicken wire.

This is my first EVER project, but I have already made several more!! I love this site and the new found confidence I have to make things for my home! Keep the plans coming!!!

this is my intro to woodworking by myself and i think the table turned out ok. ana's website sure helped allot.