Community Brag Posts

I saw the plans on Ana White website and and used them to put this together. I changed it slightly to fit my needs. I made this for my in-laws and it was a lot of fun to do. Hardest part was using blue tape on stain and paint.

I used the Rustic X Hall Tree plans and slightly modified them. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I used black pipe for the hooks as I have a lot of this style of decor in my home. The stain color is Dark Bourbon from Varathane. The back is luan with screen bead across the front to hide the cut panels (I have a Ford escape and had them cut the luan into panels). The back is secured with 1x2s so I had something to hold my 5/8 inch brad nails for the screen bead. I didn't use the X design; I can always add it later if necessary. The baskets are from Amazon sized 12x12x10. I also didn't add the 16 inch side pieces or the top piece. I used pocket holes on 95% or more of the piece.

I built these doors for a very good friend of mine who actually helped me get started turning my new love for building (after finding Ana's site) into a way for our family to make some extra money.

It took me a little while to wrap my brain around building something without using my Kreg Jig. I used a router table set up with some raised panels bits and put the whole thing together with glue and nails! Wonderful experience!

For the finish, I used a vinegar solution to give the cedar wood an old barn look. I think the final result turned out great and the final step was a clear coat sprayed on out of a rattle can.

My garage is in a different dimention now! Thank you Ana!

I had a bit of trouble with the length of the dowels but overall I am so happy with it.

This is my 10ft long picnic table (which is bar height) that we built for the patio. We needed better seating for parties and BBQ's. I will post the plans later! Also featured is the couch that we designed and built with the center table.

DIY Outdoor Wood Chairs

by Tara

Took be about 2.5 weeks to build this bed, working evenings and a couple full days on the weekend. I HIGHLY recommend getting a Kreg Jig. It made life so much easier.

To go from a queen to a king, simply add 16" to all of the width pieces. All of the length pieces will be the same for a queen and king.

I added one 2x2 support beam down the middle of the bed, with two 16 3/4 inch legs attached to it, for added support.  I screwed the slats into all 3 of the 2x2 support beams.

The drawers are the trickiest part. Make sure you follow the plan in order, waiting to install the drawers until after you have screwed the storage bins to the headboard and footboard.

I built this closet system based on the plans here.  So easy and so basic, just putting them all together to make a very nice looking closet setup.  I used 12 sheets of birch plywood, and premium select 1x2 pine.  All stained in Minwax Jacobean and satin clear througout with semi-gloss clear on the drawer fronts.

For the rods, I used chainlink top bars, which cost $6 for a 10' piece, and used #0000 steel wool to buff them out and then polished them.  For the 45 degree corners, I used 1" electrical conduit, and placed two 45 degree bend in each piece, and again steel wool and polished them as well. 

For the drawers, I used soft-close slides.  When using these, I highly recommend installing the rear brackets as well, as they make installation so much easier.  16 pairs of soft-close drawer slides with brackets cost $120 for all of them on Amazon.

For this project, I used 6 foot cedar fence posts and 8 foot cedar 2x4s. I used a pencil to space the boards and allow extra air flow. More space between boards is acceptable - even to the extent of dropping off one full board and putting an inch between each side rail.

Another option is to make your sides interlocking layers, one or two boards high - http://cedarstackingcompostbin.blogspot.com/

Since I am composting large amounts of leaves and grass clippings, mine is made in one piece. I don't turn my pile often - when I do, I can either lift the whole thing up or move the pile from side to side. I cut the 2x8x8 posts - cut a 3 foot length off of each end. Save the 2 foot center piece to brace the long sides. Affix your 1/2 (3 foot side) and full fence (6 foot side) boards to the 2x4, leaving the desired gap between each board. Affix each board with 2 weather proof screws - I used coated deck screws.

Attach the vertical posts to the inside of the cedar fence boards, including the short 2 foot boards that are just long enough to brace the long sides. I alternated the dog eared sides, so that each corner had one flat and one notched board.

I used 24 cedar fence posts and 16 feet of cedar 2x4. Note, I was able to do this all along. The trash cans acted as supports - no clamps or saw horses needed.

Wow! Did we ever pick a "small" project for our first build:) We had never built so much as a birdhouse and here we were building a playhouse. It was so much fun though and I'm glad that we did it. My daughter LOVES it and we are so pleased with how it turned out. We ran across a few problems due to our inexperience but nothing we couldn't overcome.

Outdoor pallet bar with sink I found in the garage. Just a dumping sink under cabinet,not hooked up to plumbing.