Community Brag Posts

Hall Tree - Shiplap and Old Growth Fir

Loved doing this project. Used the Ana White plans with a few mods. Made the back removal so that I could easily transport. This was for my daughter's apartment that had no entry closet for her shoes and coats.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$200
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Benjamin Moore Ceiling Flat White and Wipe on Poly for the seat.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Charlie's Personalized Highchair

A few days before Thanksgiving, my mom told me she wished we had a restaurant style high chair for my daughter. The old one was so large and bulky, and was hard to reach food on the table. I knew just where to look for plans! I spent $6 on the lumber and used scraps for the seat and back. The chair is painted in three coats of lime green paint. We used my mom's Cricut to cut the vinyl letters and stuck them on the back. Then three coats of polyurethane for easy wiping and it was ready for straps! I picked up $3 worth of 1" webbing from Hobby Lobby along with a parachute snap clip. I used two small cabinet screws for each strap on the bottom to attach. I decided to loop the front strap over the 1x2 front bar to prevent any risk of splitting by drilling into that thin side. Instead both ends are screwed down on the bottom.

We absolutely love this new highchair! It perfectly fits under the table and Charlie has no trouble eating (and throwing) food now. And for $10, you just can't beat it! Solid wood, perfect color, personalized name. I really love DIY

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$10
Estimated Time Investment
An Hour or Two (0-2 Hours)
Finish Used
three coats of lime green latex paint, followed by three coats of polyurethane
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Console X

Submitted by linwoods on Tue, 09/09/2014 - 18:11

I modified the plan so that that I had a 48" table top and 4 legs only.  I didn't need such a long version in my entry.  The picture frame is from left over wood from the project.

Can anyone guess where I took the photograph in the frame?  Somewhere in the lower 48 states.

Thanks Ana for the design!!

Daren

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$100
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
I followed the rustic Yet Refined Wood Finish Pretty closely, except I let the special walnut sit a little longer.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Side board with hutch

Built from scratch looking at a photo someone sent me that cost $5200. I built for $500

Estimated Cost
500-550
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Special walnut and poly
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Farmhouse headboard

Submitted by benhuard on Thu, 11/29/2012 - 06:04

This was my first project. My wife wanted one, I made one. End of story. Now I'm hooked on woodworking and each time my wife says she wants something, the first thing out of my mouth is, "I can make that".

Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Truss table

My husband built this table for me as an 8th Anniversary present.  It came out absolutely beautiful! For the first time,  we can host  family and friends with plenty of room. I paired it with some chairs that we already owned. He will be building the matching bench soon.

He left out the 45 degree diagonals,  may add them later.  It is so sturdy, they are basically decorative. 

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$200
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Min wax golden pecan for top
Behrman Roman plaster paint, satin finish
Satin poly on top.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Scrap wood heart collage

Submitted by kristen on Sat, 12/01/2012 - 09:12

I have a hard time throwing out any scrap I have after I finish a project, so I had accumulated a fair amount of 3/4 and 1/2 plywood. I used up every last bit of it putting a scrap wood heart collage in my daughter's room! This is the perfect project for getting lots of practice making cuts on a miter saw for a beginner and hanging it is a breeze if you follow the steps I took in the blog post I wrote up about this.

Easy and free. Love those kinds of project :)

Estimated Cost
Free, if you use scraps
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
I used s small bottle of craft paint for the finish.
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Comments

Doll high chair

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 01/03/2017 - 05:33

A delight for our daughter. We added an extra rung to the back rest, and kept the seat pretty high for her small babies. Otherwise, we just followed the free plan. Thx!

Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Brookstone Desk

Changed the top of the desk size to 24” x 36” to fit my tiny space.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Ladybug Moped Rocker

Submitted by sbowes1 on Mon, 12/03/2012 - 21:24

There were some parts missing from the plans. I wrote out what I did to build this rocker on my website.

http://www.domesticated-engineer.com/1/post/2012/12/ladybug-moped-rocke…

Make sure to use hard wood! My rocker broke within the first hour. Wood glue fixed it but it gave me a good scare!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$15
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Paint and clear coat
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Robins egg blue console table

Submitted by lrsummers on Wed, 09/17/2014 - 13:51

Made this beautiful TV stand from the "Rustic X Console table plans". I shortened it to 2 ft high to fit the space for a TV. Love how it turned out!!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

AlexO

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 15:11

To you have any trouble with sagging without the 2x4 in the middle? Looks great like this!

Toddler Book Shelf

Submitted by mjs1143 on Fri, 01/06/2017 - 09:14

I needed a book display rack for my boys so I built this one from the plate rack plans and modified it to suit the size I needed. I actually used all scrap lumber from previous projects, so the cost was minimal.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$40 worth of leftovers maybe. 
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Grey Paint and Walnut Stain that matches a dresser in their room.
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Table & Chairs for Kindergarten Co-Op

Simple table and chairs for a kindergarten homeschooling co-op. Perfect size for 4-6yr olds. Sturdy enough for older kids as well. We used a stair tread for the seat tops instead of 1x3 to make it more solid and to minimize little fingers getting caught between slats also the bull nose on the stair tread makes a nice edge for little legs to rest against.

Estimated Cost
$140
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used

It is finished using two coats of Minwax PolyShades stain & polyurethane in classic oak with sanding using 320 grit sandpaper in between coats. Then a polish with steel wool #0000, beeswax and orange oil.

Dress Up Closet

Dress up closet made from craftiness Is Not Optional's Dress Up Storage plans.

Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

colleenwalsh

Sat, 09/20/2014 - 10:28

Very easy to make. Looks adorable in our play room. If I built this again, I would add a few inches to the height to accomodate some of the longer costumes.

Antiqued Hall Tree

Submitted by frflorio01 on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 08:03

Antiqued Hall tree

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
150 dollars
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Valspar Chalky finish paint, and Antiquing wax
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Side Tables

Submitted by TeamTJ on Sat, 09/19/2020 - 18:58

My wife and I made 2 of these for our living room. Plenty of mistakes, but we love them. Hardest part was the X.

Built from Plan(s)
Finish Used
White paint and dark gel stain

Comments

Apothecary Media Console

Submitted by thelipp on Tue, 12/11/2012 - 22:36

This is my first wood project. It was probably a bit ambitious for a first project, but what can I say other than Ana White inspires me.

It all started with buying that big ol' TV. We had a chunky armoire that wasn't going to work anymore and I really liked Ana's Apothecary Console and I REALLY liked kayleentheobald's take on the Console in the brag posts. My wife went out of town for the week and I had redhead_61 help me take the design and make it bigger to fit between our windows and be big enough for my son's bigger toys. I was going to be the good husband and surprise her with a finished product when she got back. So I went to work, every night after work with redhead_61 and got the carcass put together pretty fast and really the only thing we needed was the top and the doors. I decided to pack it all up in the back of the truck and ask my neighbor for help on the doors.

Now this is where the amount of time I put into the project got a little out of hand (BTW there is no button for "way more than a week" for estimated time investment). I told my neighbor that I wanted my faux drawers to look a lot more like an apothecary cabinet with smaller drawers, so we came up with a plan to make 6 panels per door all done tongue and groove using muntins and styles (like window panes) and do it without any screws or nails. If we knew what we were doing maybe we would have got the doors done in only a few days, but it took closer to a few weeks spread over a couple months due to work and other obligations.

Building the base is not that hard; just square everything up and use wood glue and screws. We added a little molding at the bottom for some aesthetic appeal.

The real time came in the finishing I described below. After I had spent several weekends building the thing I no longer wanted something I could just throw in the family room and put a TV on top; I wanted a real piece of furniture that would last forever. This is where my wife interjects, "well it better since you took over a year to finish it." I love you too, honey.

I wood filled, primed, sanded and repeated many times over until I had it just right. (BTW if you're going to use plywood, take the time and effort to find a place that sells good high quality stuff that is meant to build furniture not the construction grade crap I got from Home Depot - it'll only save you about 100 hours of wood filling, priming and sanding)

Finally, after 14 months (I didn't work on it constantly - being a lawyer and a dad kind of sucks up disposable time) I could haul my masterpiece into the house put the TV on top, sit back and admire the work. I can tell you it was worth every moment. Thank you Ana White for inspiring me to bite off more than I could chew. That said, I think my next project is going to be a shelf or something.

Estimated Cost
$500
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
THE BASE:

(1.) Get a pint of wood filler, apply generously (especially on cheap wood), and sand the crap out of it for that super smooth finish.

(2.) I got an oil-based primer and applied lightly for one coat - this let me see more imperfections. I applied more wood filler and sanded more. I probably did 3 coats of primer and sanding - but I'm a little anal and didn't want to see any wood grain.

(3.) For the paint I went to Sherwin-Williams and asked for an oil-based paint. We got talking about what it was for and he steered me to another product: ProClassic Interior Acrylic Latex Enamel. Said it was supposed to dry harder, smell better and clean up better than oil-based stuff (which is a plus because I have a 2 year old), plus it was on sale! It was a little hard to get used to since the paint would "rope up" if it was too thick. I added some Floteral and it evened out pretty well. And I can tell you after SEVERAL messy little hands getting on the console it cleans up great! BTW, the color I choose was "Dover White."

(4.) For the doors I really didn't want to mess with hand brushing it because of all the grooves in my construction. So I bought the cheapest HPLV spray gun I could find ($30) and primed it with several coats, with gentle sanding in between coats, and sprayed it with the Acrylic Latex Enamel. One thing I did learn was to filter the paint before putting it in the little canister. I just used the cheap paint filters 4 for $2 from Home Depot.

(5.) Also for the doors we decided to buy a collection of different but similar knobs on Etsy.

THE TOP:

(1.) After joining the four pieces of Douglas Fir it basically sat in the garage for 8 months. I routed the edges with a quarter-round bit and sanded it.

(2.) I then used Minwax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. Two coats, sand in between.

(3.) Because I had never stained anything before, I made sure I stained the underside first for practice. I used Minwax Wood Finish stain, color: Dark Walnut. I applied with a rag. I learned to do LONG strokes wiping on the finish and not to mess with it once it started to dry. Don't apply too much and it's ok if some spots are lighter than others, just let dry and then go back over just that lighter area. I felt that little mistakes made the piece have more authentic character anyway.

(4.) Once everything was dry I applied Minwax Wipe-On Poly, two light coats with a rag. You can certainly apply more liberally than I did but I didn't want a glass top finish, just something that made it smooth and easy to wipe off the dust. For the top I wanted the little nicks to show up with the natural wood grain.

(5.) As you can maybe tell from some of the pictures I screwed the top in from brackets on the base that I had made. It's nice to not have any screws shown on the top.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

spiceylg

Wed, 12/12/2012 - 05:11

This is absolutely impressive and for a first project?! Wowsa! Beautiful build and I love the attention to detail and those really cool knobs. Great job. Your wife should be so proud. You, too, lol!

spiceylg

Wed, 12/12/2012 - 05:11

This is absolutely impressive and for a first project?! Wowsa! Beautiful build and I love the attention to detail and those really cool knobs. Great job. Your wife should be so proud. You, too, lol!

Joni

Wed, 12/12/2012 - 08:33

I love the whole design....it fits perfectly in your space, the colors are perfect, and the detail is amazing. As someone who takes a long time to finish a project, I appreciate your 14-month timeline! It's awesome!
Thanks for all the detail on how you did it.

Laurie S (not verified)

Wed, 12/12/2012 - 11:51

If there was an award for best review, I think you'd get it LOL Great details in how you worked everything out and the end result is great.

Texas Themed Bench

Submitted by paigers01 on Mon, 01/09/2017 - 11:49

I modified this bench to incorporate a Texas theme. I traced a Texas shaped cutting board onto a 1x16 piece of edge-glued board, and then cut it out with my jigsaw.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$100
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Minwax English Chestnut
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments