Community Brag Posts

I'm a high school teacher and like flexible seating. I needed something that is very sturdy and can take a beating from teenagers. I used Ana's "2x4 Outdoor Sofa" plan, made it longer, added some extra braces, and here it is! My new classroom couch.

First of all, thank you to the site for this plan. The headboard specs were spot on. I was interested in making a footboard as well, and you actually will end up with a few scrap pieces that will help you build the footboard (the 1x3's and 1x2's). My footboard ended up being about 23 1/4" high. For reference, the mattress in the photo is 10". I included a picture of the total boards you will need to buy to do the headboard, footboard, and side rails (I used 8 inch boards for the side rails, not 10 inch, but those could be interchanged). One thing to note is the plan calls for pocket hole screws but these are not necessary. I used 2" brad nails, 1 1/4" brad nails, and 2" screws (for the slats and the support rails on the slats. You could use 2 1/2 inch for the slats but the support rails need 2".). Not included in the picture I included is another 2x4x8 that I bought that I placed three scrap 4x4 posts that I had under the middle of the slats for extra support. I also bought steel bed rail fasteners ($11.30 from Amazon) to attach the side rails to the headboard and footboard. They worked great and the bed is extremely sturdy. Can't budge it at all. I used the common whitewood boards from Home Depot, which are all the correct width - the fur boards are cheaper but are not the correct width, you would need to adjust the plans if you were to use those. Overall I am very pleased with the bed. Please ignore the half dozen water bottles in the photo.

The cover is a tonneau cover for a pickup truck. It's for a 6.5' truck bed so if you notice, I had to ad a 2x4 and one more picket on top to accommodate the extra length. 

The cover would add a ridiculous amount of money to the project but it was repurposed.  I found it on a truck that was in an accident and going to the scrap yard. I think it it came out great and my grandson loves it.

John

My son needed more room in his bedroom...and to be rid of the very girly furniture he inherited when he moved into his "big boy-ish" bedroom. At 10 yrs old, it was high time he got a bed that wasn't pink-tinged, white washed pine with 4 posters and enough curlicues to choke a forest. He also needed a desk which I couldn't really fit in his room with the armoire and chest of drawers that came with the Queen sized bed.

So off to Ikea we went and I saw a black loft bed for $300, but it was really, really high which meant I would have to cut it down and it was not sturdy at all. I looked at PB and saw the $1800 bed. Um, no - that wasn't happening. So, off to Ana-White I went and I'm so happy I did!

I built the full sized version of these plans and, to keep costs down, used wood I had on hand. This meant I had to work a bit at the cuts, but it all worked out.

Mods:
1) I modified the railings to have the ladder at the end of the bed to keep away from the ceiling fan.

2) Because I put the ladder at the end of the bed, I got very nervous about having a soon-to-be teen climbing on to a ladder secured to a 1x10 that was only connected to the side railings with glue and screws. So I sandwiched extra 1x3s over the bottom rails and attached them to the top railing.

3) I was very nervous about making sure that the bed was adequately supported so I put a 2x4 down the center instead of the 1x2.

4) I went a wee-bit overboard screwing things together to the point where it's a bit embarrassing and now I have to paint over the screw heads.

5) I made the ladder treads with 2x4's, modifying the inside spacer board cut lengths.

Because I had quite a bit of lumber on hand, the bed only ended up costing me about $90.

For the bookcase, I did end up buying the 1x12s and the adjustable shelf railings. I made the book shelf the entire width of of the bed and split the two sections based on width of the 1x24 board I bought for the desk. I only put the backer board up half way so that the daylight could get underneath the bed and make it not so cave-like.

The book case cost me about $70.

The desk was the easiest...but most costly item. A 1x6x24, 4 table legs and the table leg mounts ran me about $80. The plexiglass top that I had cut for the top cost me about $80.

Time wise, this would have taken me a lot less time than the 4 months it took - but I worked on it as I could and when I could, by myself. I got some friends to help me bring it upstairs and put it back together, but it was mostly done when I could fit in some time.

My son LOVES this and it really does give him so much room!!! Thanks Ana - I really appreciate it!

Thank you Ana for the storage tote generator. Last night I spent an hour salvaging materials from my scraps and salvaged materials. Worked on it today and it’s all finished. Everything is stuff I had on hand. I have been storing a bed I made my son and I finally dismantled it. So even the screws were salvaged. Top was from a sheet that’s been behind the stairs in my shop since I moved in. It was so dirty and rough looking I was going to toss it. But it sanded up just fine. - Angie Williams

A new table for a new home for my son. Added hole and block for umbrella. Very satisfied with project and plans. Thanks Ana

We remodeled our house and now had a new 9x6 master closet to fill. During construction I saw this design on ana-white.com and liked the style, but wanted to customize the layout. I found an online closet designer and played around until I found something my wife and I liked. We ended up with a 9 foot long his/hers double hanging on the ends and a long hanging section in the middle. And on the other side 8 feet of shelving (leaving about a foot for other storage).

I bought the pipe as a 10 foot pipe to be cut and threaded (for free by the store). I did have to change the design a little because the store cannot thread pipe less than 14 inches. So I ended up replacing the short pipes and T's with 2x4s. That made it a little cheaper and I still like the end result.

We stained all the wood using Minwax "Early American". This probably accounts for most of the build time.

Then I put together the supports and brought them into the closet to add all the pipes and slats. I started with the wall for hanging. And later did the shelving.

Here's another forum with more pictures of this project:

http://woodworking.formeremortals.net/me-mo-community/#/discussion/866/…

This is the cooler stand presented by Jenny from Birdsandsaoap. Very easy to build and always ends up with someone asking to buy it or have you make them one.