Community Brag Posts

Inspired by the Tall Secretary with mail slots but with my own twist/needs incorporated in it. Finished with pure white satin paint.

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!

Built this for my granddaughter for her day, I made this out of pecan no plywood top or bottom, just glued up pecan to make the panels, routed the side panels to give it the individual board look. I made it 16 inches deep from front to back instead of the 13 in these plans. It's also 2 higher cause I didn't want to attach the bottom directly to the bottom, it's inside with base, this picture is taken before I sprayed it with high gloss polyurethane.

This grill table took a weekend to build. The base is made of cedar and top is concrete. More information on how to build this table is available on my blog.

My variation of the multiple plans / pictures I have seen.
I will be making another one this season, with an additional variation in mind to make the time it takes to make the whole thing less.

12/16/14 UPDATE:  Posted a plan for this project, linked in this brag post

This is a variation of the Easy Jewelry Box plan. The completed measurement is 11” wide, 14 ½” high, and 7 ½” deep. This one has a center “tower” with 5 drawers 5 ½” wide, and a wide overhang on the top and bottom, which covers the 2 side doors that open out for hanging necklaces. The drawers are lined with embossed felt, and the drawer bottoms and insides of doors are covered with sticky-back felt. The 2 removable ring drawer inserts are some scraps of 1” foam, covered with scraps of the sticky-back felt, with slits cut into the foam with a utility knife (cut the slits into the felt first, attach it to the foam, then cut the slits into the foam). Cost breakdown: antique brass knobs: $28, sticky back & embossed felt: $14, hooks: $15, wood: $35, hinges: $7, paint: $5. (already on hand: finish nails, glue, sandpaper, left over stain & poly) . I worked on this a few hours a day over a long weekend, probably about 12 hours total. Finishing took most of this time, the build was actually only a couple of hours.

As a mom of 5 children, my entryway was always a mess. I decided that I was going to take things into my own hands and figure something out. I found Ana's site and I saw that Ana had this Entryway system and decided I was going to make it. So one day, I went to town and bought the material came home and started to build. I also decided, I wanted to dress the hutches up a bit, with bead board and a trim. I think that it turned out awesome. With 4 boys in the house I ended up using a heavy durable slide and cut my draws a little bit smaller. I added an entryway carpet with a rubber bottom on it in the drawers, to keep them cleaner. My children love them so much and it has helped us organize and keep the entryway cleaned.

After I built my nephew's AT & T Park bedroom, I had to figure out what to create for my 5 year old niece, Maggie. She loves drawing, so I settled on an "art studio," where she can work and display her art.

The bed was created using Ana's Camp Loft Bed Plans. I narrowed the stairs by 4 inches as one of the other posts had done. I also put shelves under the stairs like another post I read on this site.

I built a small drafting-type desk for underneath using my new Kreg Jig (Man, I love that thing!). I also made some curtains to pull shut in case Maggie wanted to escape from the world. Chairs, storage containers, flower light, and leaf above bed are from Ikea.

I bought some cheap picture frames, and put a bulletin board in one and a chalkboark in the other for above the bed, and the string hanging across the front of the bed is from Target. It actually has clips to hang artwork.

I painted the bed using Ana's antique finish with the Minwax pen. It came out fantastic.

Modified Anna’s easy woodshed. Added a roller barn door and hidden shelves for totes to store twigs.
Used up loads of stashed cedar boards and recycled lattice. We’re thrilled with how it turned out. Thank you so much!

Nesting Grill Station for Portable Grill