Community Brag Posts

We’ve owned this open gazebo for a few years and thought how nice it would be if it were enclosed, so i framed in the base using deck boards and wood siding, built a screen door and framed it. Added outdoor shades and furniture, and a TV of course. The blinds hold in the heat of the gas fire pit on chilly evenings. We live in MN and now we can enjoy our screen gazebo 3 seasons. Fred Vollbrecht

Used the simple nightstand from this site, and modified to add in the "X" on the sides. Finished in a Classic gray minwax to give reclaimed wood look.

Some 2x and 4x Wood Projects

Using the counter height planter plans from Janettx. Thanks!

Now storing 5 bikes in the shed instead of hanging from the ceiling in the garage.

We couldn't find a mid-height, double loft bed for our daughter that we liked that wasn't ridiculously expensive, so we decided to build one ourselves! I found some awesome plans on this website and played around with a few until I created exactly what we wanted. I mostly used the Full Size Farmhouse Bed plan but also used some aspects from the loft bed plan for the guardrails and the bottom rails. Then we went out and bought the wood and started building! This is really the first thing that I have ever built (my husband has never built anything either) and it turned out so well. I think it is gorgeous and I am so proud of it! This is my first brag post so forgive me if I am doing it wrong! Lots of instructions on how I built it below, so scroll down if you just want to see the pictures.

I used Google Sketch-Up to build the bed first and to tweak the plans. Below I will explain some of the changes that I made.

- I actually did not trim anything off of the ends of the head board or foot board as shown in the Full sized bed plans. I just built the bed to be as wide as 8 x 1x8s and adjusted the plan accordingly. I figured that if I had to climb up there to change the sheets, the extra room around the mattress would be appreciated. The 1x8s that I used were 7 1/4" wide.

- I bolted a 2x4 to the 4x4 posts right under the foot board and headboard panels for the side rail supports to sit on. I wanted it to be extra strong as the bed was going to be up high and I figured the bed would take a lot of abuse from the kids.

- The siderails were made from a 2x10 glued and screwed to a 2x4. The 2x4 sits on top of the 2x4s at the bottom of the headboard and footboard panels and is screwed into the 4x4 posts. The 2x10s are also screwed into the 4x4 posts.

- Since the mattress would be sitting up higher on the headboard and footboard than in the original plans, I added 3" to the length of the 1x8s used in the panels.

- I had planned to make a slatted base out of 1x4s to support the mattress so I also placed 2 x 2x4s on edge lengthwise down the middle of the bed to support the slats. Those 2x4s are also supported on top of the 2x4s at the bottom of the head and foot boards. The inexpensive 1x4s here are very rough on the one side which I did not want touching the mattress or for the kids to get splinters from while playing under the bed. The nice ones were super expensive at around $18 for a 14' board. It turned out to be less expensive and much less work to buy a queen sized slatted bed base from the big Blue and Yellow inexpensive furniture store here and trim the ends of the boards to length with my mitre saw. n even bigger bonus is that the wood is already finished and didn't require anything further than screwing it down to the supports.

- I made the height of the area under the bed 45" (just tall enough for DD to stand under for now) and adjusted the length of the 4x4 posts accordingly.

- I assembled the bed into different large pieces before bringing it inside. The headboard and footboard are 2 solid sections that cannot be taken apart. The side pieces are made to be able to come off if we ever need to move the bed.

- I couldn't find any really good instructions anywhere on how to build a ladder or to change ladder plans to suit our needs so I built it after the bed was built. I found it easier to envision this way and to figure out the angles. I build the ladder out of 2x3s.

I have the Google Sketch-Up plans for the bed (minus the ladder) if anyone is interested, but as I said before, I am not an experienced builder so I do not think I should post them here. Maybe someone can use them as a base to create their own plan with though. I found Sketch-up to be a very valuable tool as I actually "built" the bed virtually before ever touching the wood. It helped me figure out what order to put things together in and also allowed me to perfect my design before making any cuts. It still took many trips to and discussions with people at my local Orange store to figure out what kind of fasteners to use and where to use each type. I brought printouts of my plans so that they would be able to help me better.

A couple of finishing touches that I did:

- I sewed some pretty curtains and hung them from aircraft cable and eye hooks under the bed.

- The back of her dresser was exposed under the bed and did not look very nice so I created a magnetic wall by screwing some inexpensive metal sheets meant for ducts to the back of it. I have temporarily covered all of the exposed edges with pink patterned duct tape but plan to trim it out at some point.

Hope you like it!

I used the basic 2x4 potting bench and made it a bit wider to have room for the sink. Had to make slight modifications -- put a 2x4 in the back to help support the half shelf on top. Found the sink at the restore for $15 have have been waiting to do this. Ana's plan was easy to follow and modify for my needs. Spent 88$ on lumber, nails, 15$ for the sink, plus about 40 $ for additional hardware for the sink. This sets beside my deck. I love it. Now I can was my hands outside and can't wait to rinse my veggies off when they produce.

With another baby boy arriving in August, my one and three year olds are moving to a "big boy" room. My oldest decided he wanted a bunk bed and as they both are obsessed with tractors, when I saw the "John Deere Tractor Bunk Bed" plan, I was sold.

We would be needing a twin sized bunk bed though not a toddler. I used the classic bunk bed plans and simply modified them to suit our needs. I moved the ladder to the front, added a rail on the bottom bunk and added a small ladder to the side for my one year old to climb into the bottom bunk.

Once the the frame of the bed was complete, I added the tractor accessories. A couple of storage cubby shelves with fabric baskets for toy tractors which act as stairs up to the ladder and make the tractor bucket at the front. Also, the wheels which are made from joined 1x6s as I find plywood hard to sand and paint to the quality of finish I like. A cab & roof from 1x4s framed together. A side mirror that I decoupaged a picture of another tractor on. I used push lights for the headlights as well as a reading light above each bed (they're on timers so they'll turn themselves off). A steering wheel (play equipment access from toys r us). Also, I built and mounted by the head of both beds a "flat wall book holder" so they would have somewhere to store a few books.

My boys and I are fairly new to building so I spent a lot of time planning and measuring to ensure it would all come together in the end. It paid off because it all went smoothly (even with "help" from my boys). It's not perfect but they're very happy with the result. We also built a John Deere themed "Just my size closet" and even finished with over a month to spare before the new baby arrives! :)

Just want to say a quick thank you to Ana both for the amazing plans and also the inspiration to take on these projects. The time spent with my boys building as well as the resulting treasures are priceless and I would have never realized what we were capable of had I not stumbled upon your website and been so inspired by you and everything you've accomplished. Thank you!

I built this for my daughter after building a ladder shelf for my kids bathroom. It took more time to install and adjust the drawer slides and paint the project.