Build It Archives - Page 19 of 54

How to Build a Modern Farmhouse Bench

How to Build a Modern Farmhouse Dining Bench

Hello everyone, I’m Shara from the DIY blog Woodshop Diaries. I am excited to be a new contributor on Pretty Handy Girl!! If you don’t already know me, it’s very nice to “meet” you! I’m a DIYer with a passion for woodworking and remodeling.

That being said, I’ve been super busy building in the shop lately and one of my latest (and favorite) projects was this modern farmhouse table. But of course, no farmhouse table is complete without at least one matching bench, right? Today I’m going to show you how to build a modern farmhouse bench. 🙂

Get your building music ready, and let’s get started.

Materials:

(2) 2″ x 8″ x 8′
(3) 2″ x 4″ x 8′
(1) 4″ x 4″ x 8′
2 ½” pocket hole screws
2 ½” wood screws
4″ wood screws
Wood Glue
Miter saw
Circular Saw
Drill
Jig Saw
Kreg Jig for pocket holes
Sander
Stain or Paint and Polycrylic

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut the Legs.

Cut four legs from the 4×4’s at 18″ long using a miter saw.

Step 2: Assemble the top

Using glue and clamps (or using 1 ½” pocket holes and 2 ½” pocket hole screws), attach the two 2″ x 8″ x 8′ boards together.

Once the glue is dry, trim down to your desired length using a circular saw and a straight edge (beware of the location of your screws if you used pocket screws).

Step 3: Cut corners for legs

Using a jig saw, mark 3 ½” squares on each corner and cut out. This is where the legs will go in the next step.

Once your corners are cut, drill 1 ½” pocket holes as shown below. Repeat for each corner.

Step 4: Attach the legs

Set a 4×4 leg into each corner. Make sure the leg tops are flush with the top of the bench. Secure the legs into the corners using 2 ½” pocket hole screws. You will add more support in the next step, so don’t worry if the legs feel a little flimsy. The screws simply hold the legs in place while you add the supports.

Step 5: Add bottom supports

Measure the distance between all your legs. Cut the 2″ x 4″ boards to fit between the legs. (Depending on how accurate your jig saw cuts are, one side may be slightly longer than the other.) The 2″ x 4″ support pieces must fit snug between the legs. Drill two pocket holes in both ends. Line up the supports approximately 1 ½” from the edge of the bench top. Attach the supports between the legs using 2 ½” pocket hole screws. Note: You will have to attach the short pieces first or you won’t be able to fit the drill in between the longer side pieces.

Pre-drill holes (to avoid splitting the wood) through the supports into the bench top. Use 4″ wood screws to secure the supports to the bench top.

Cut two more pieces of 2×4 to fit between the two long supports. Attach these small 2×4’s to the supports using 2½” wood screws driven in at an angle.

For added stability, drive a few more 4″ screws through these smaller supports into the bench top.

Step 6: Finish

Flip your bench over and give it a good sanding. Finish off with stain or paint of your choice. (I stained my bench with Minwax Early American and finished it with Minwax Polycrylic.)

This bench matches perfectly with the modern farmhouse table I recently built for a friend.

Conveniently, it looks handsome inside or outside your home.

What do you think? Want to build this Modern Farmhouse Bench for your home?

Be sure to visit me over at Woodshop Diaries and join in on all the shenanigans ;). Until next time, happy building!!

April 26, 2017/2 Comments/by Shara M

Reclaimed Wood Wall Hook & Vase

DIY Reclaimed Wall Hook & Vase | Pretty Handy Girl

Good Monday morning! I want you to imagine something for a moment. There you are rushing out the door to take the dog for a walk, but you spend 10 minutes looking for the leash. Or you’re late for an appointment, but where the heck did you put your keys? Arrghhhh. Frustrating right? I’m here to solve those problems and show you how to make a Reclaimed Wood Wall Hook & Vase. It’s a fairly simple DIY tutorial that I know you can handle. Plus, this is a great project to get you started if you’re still new to working with wood. Ready to get building?

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Scrap piece of reclaimed wood for back (approximately 1″ x 5½” x 20″)
Scrap wood for shelf (approximately 4″ x 3″)
Small bottle
Coat hook (with mounting screws)
Drill
Forstner bit and/or spade bit the diameter of your bottle
Clamp
Pencil
Gorilla Glue
Wet rag
Two wood screws 1 5/8″ – 2″ long
D-hook (with mounting screws)

Optional:

Instructions:

Start by cutting your wood to size. (I actually made two of these sconces that flank either side of our doorway.)

Clamp the little shelf to a work bench and drill a hole in the center. (For me this was a two step process because my Forstner bit didn’t cut the center area, so I drilled with the largest spade bit I owned first, then widened the hole to correct size with the forstner bit.)

Use a chisel to break out the excess wood.

Check the fit by inserting your bottle into the hole.

Lay out the location of the coat hook, shelf and vase and mark the location of each with a pencil.

Pre-drill two holes through the wood back piece where the shelf will sit.

Wet your shelf and the back piece, then add Gorilla glue. (The wet wood allows the glue to soak into the two wood surfaces to create a stronger bond.)

Clamp the shelf in place (offset the clamp to expose the pre-drilled holes.) Drive the wood screws through the back and into the shelf to secure it.

Attach the coat hook below the shelf using small wood screws provided with the hook.

To give the reclaimed wood a beautiful luster and finish, apply furniture wax to the wood. Wait 3-5 minutes for the wax to penetrate and then buff it off with a clean dry cloth.

Attach one D-hook to the top center of the back of the wall sconce. Add rubber bumpers to the bottom corners to avoid any rubbing or swaying on the wall.

Hang your Reclaimed Wood Wall Hook & Vase on the wall!

Fill the vase with fresh flowers. They are guaranteed to brighten your morning as you are rushing out the door!

And never search for your dog leash…

…or keys again!

What do you think? Could you build this reclaimed wood wall hook & vase yourself? Have faith in yourself, because I know you can!

Hope you have a less hectic week now!

April 24, 2017/6 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

Build It

DIY Wooden Raised Pet Feeder

Hello Pretty Handy Girl readers! It’s Brittany from by Brittany Goldwyn popping in today to share a pretty simple woodworking project for you: a raised pet feeder!

I made a pet feeder around this time last year. However—without thinking—I made it with spots for two bowls: one for each of our kitties. A few months ago, we noticed that Blanche wouldn’t eat her food until Henry had finished, but it was clear she was hungry because she’d scarf her food down when Henry was finally done. We got into the habit of taking one bowl out and putting it on the counter so that they could eat at the same time.

See? Food hog hogging all the food.

This solution was problematic for three reasons:

I don’t want to encourage them to get on the counters, even though they are cats and they are going to do whatever they want.
Blanche sometimes pushes her bowl off the counter by accident and spills her food everywhere.
They weren’t even using the double feeder for its intended purpose.

Back to the drawing board! I decided to replicate the tutorial for a smaller, single-bowl raised feeder for each of them. We’ll separate them and hope all goes well at feeding time.

Want to make one for your pet? Read on.

Note: This tutorial is based on a bowl with a circumference of 4 3/8. If your bowl is larger or smaller, you’ll need to adjust the measurement for your hole size accordingly.

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Tools:

Cut list:

(1) 8-inch piece of 1″ x 6″
(2) 1 ½ inch pieces of 1″ x 6″

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut your pieces according to the cut list above. Use a tape measure and pencil to mark the center point on the 8-inch piece of wood. Clamp the wood to your work surface.

Step 2: Use your drill and 4-inch hole saw attachment to drill a hole.

Step 3: Use medium-grit sandpaper to sand down any rough areas on the main piece and two leg pieces. You can also gently smooth over the edges to give the piece a sleek look.

The leg on the left below has been sanded, the one on the right has not. See the difference?

Step 4: Spread wood glue onto the top of each leg. Gently place the top down onto the legs.

Step 5: Apply pressure from above with clamps or something heavy you have on hand. The key is to apply even pressure as the wood glue dries. (I used a weight from the garage gym!) If some of your glue bleeds out, don’t worry. You can use medium-grit sandpaper to sand down those areas. If you don’t sand off the dried glue, the area will not take a wood stain.

Step 6: Your single bowl raised pet feeder is built! Stain and finish according to your preferences.

(My raised feeder was finished with Minwax wood stain in Espresso and two coats of Minwax polyurethane in semigloss. For tips on staining and finishing wood, see this post!)

Once the feeder has dried completely, pop your bowls in and fill them with food. These bowls fit perfectly because their circumference is slightly bigger than 4 inches, meaning they won’t fall through the 4-inch hole. Best of all, Blanche and Henry can happily eat at the same time. 🙂

I’ll see you next month on Pretty Handy Girl! In the meantime, if you love your pets, check out my DIY cat tree using real branches, my Ikea cat condo hack, and my Petcube camera review!

Also make sure to check out the industrial dog bowl feeder stand and the vintage coca cola bowl feeder tutorials on Pretty Handy Girl!

April 19, 2017/2 Comments/by Brittany Goldwyn

Build It, Video

How to Finish Raw Plywood Edges

Recently I’ve been working on building drawers for our pantry. The material I chose to use is finish grade plywood. Plywood is strong, but unfortunately it has a raw edge that isn’t the most attractive side of the wood. No problem, it can be covered. You could use wood putty to smooth the raw edges of the plywood, but you won’t get perfect results and it is only recommended if you are going to paint your plywood. Instead, I have a solution for you on How to Finish Raw Plywood Edges to give you a more professional look. In fact, some people may not be able to tell it was plywood to begin with!

This is an easy tutorial and requires no power tools (unless you consider an iron a power tool.) You will need to purchase veneer edging for this project. Don’t worry if your edging is wider than your lumber, we’ll fix that. Ready to learn How to Finish Raw Plywood Edges? Let’s get this project heated up.

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Instructions:

Pre-heat your iron on the cotton setting. Measure the length of your veneer edging on your plywood. (Do not cross your edging over any joints. Keep the veneer piece the same length as the cut wood.) Cut the excess off.

Rip off a piece of foil the length of the plywood or at least the length of your iron. Lay the edge veneer on top of the plywood edge. Lay the aluminum foil between the veneer edging and the iron. Press the iron to heat up the glue on the underside of the edging. Keep moving the iron so as not to scorch the wood. Usually 30 seconds is all you need to activate the glue.

After the entire edge veneer has been glued, use a flat edge on the trimming tool to burnish the veneer firmly onto the raw plywood edge. If any areas still aren’t glued, reheat and repeat the process on that spot.

Turn the trimmer tool and run it along the side of your plywood to trim off the excess edging. You may need to make a few passes to remove all the excess veneer.

Sand the edges smooth and remove any rough spots.

Check it out, you are done and your plywood looks like it was solid wood not plywood!

If you learn better watching a video, you’ll appreciate that I made a Facebook Live video to show you How to Finish Raw Plywood Edges:

Don’t forget to Follow Me on YouTube for more tutorial and tip videos. I’m always bringing you along as I work. 😉

Now that you know this trick, you can build anything using plywood and finish off those raw edges.

Until next time, enjoy fooling people with your clean finished edges on plywood. No one has to know that it’s not solid wood. 😉

April 14, 2017/10 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

Build It, Uncategorized

Two-Tiered Plant Stand using Scrap Wood

Easy two-tiered plant stand made from scrap wood

Hi, guys! Anika here again from Anika’s DIY Life. I have a scrap wood problem—if you do any amount of woodworking, I am sure you can relate. I hate throwing away even the smallest of pieces, but every time I build a piece of furniture my scrap pile explodes. Consequently, I used some of my scraps to create a two-tiered plant stand.

Recently, I completed my biggest build to date and my scrap wood pile has almost tripled! You can safely bet I am going to be making quite a few scrap wood projects for the next few months! But today I will show you how to make this two-tiered plant stand. It is super simple and makes a great beginner woodworking project.

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

1 – 1″x 6″ board @ 27″ long (front board)
2 – 1″x 6″ board @ 6″ long (shelves)
2 – 2″ x 2″ board @ 24″ long (legs)
Jig saw
Miter saw
Drill
Kreg Jig
Wood glue
1 ¼” pocket hole screws
#8 – 1 ¼” Spax screws
Wood filler
Brad nailer (optional)

Instruction:

Step 1 – Start by making the cuts. For the 2″ x 2″ boards, make a mark 2½” from the edge and draw a line from the opposite corner. Remove this triangle with your jigsaw.

Step 2 – On the 1″ x 6″ x 6″ boards, cut one end of each at a 30 degrees with your miter saw.

Step 3 -Before attaching the legs, find a spot that is thick enough to attach a screw. Attach the angled cut end of the legs to the 1″ x 6″ x 27″ front board using wood glue and 1 ¼” Spax screws. You can hold the legs tightly in place as you attach with screws or use a finish nail first to hold it in place.

Step 4 – Make two pocket holes in each 6″ shelf. The long end of the cut will be facing you as you drill the 3/4″ pocket holes.

Step 5 – Attach the shelves to the front board using 1 ¼” pocket hole screws. The first shelf should be 8″ from the top and the second shelf should attach 8″ from the first shelf.

Your shelf is built!

Fill the pocket holes with wood filler, sand, and finish with paint or stain. If you paint your shelf be sure to prime first.

Here is a secret: I don’t have a very green thumb and usually manage to kill all plants (even succulents) in the past! I do have a pothos plant that has survived for 10 years. This year I decided to work on my thumb green when I got an orchid plant as a gift. I thought I had killed it, but it is slowly coming back to life with a bit of care. I think I am ready for more plants, so I got these baby plants . . .

. . . I will keep you updated on their progress in the future!

That’s how to build a two-tiered plant stand from scrap wood. It barely put a dent in my scrap pile, but I have to come up with quite a few more projects to really get it under control. If you have a scrap wood problem too, you’ll appreciate that I have a whole bunch of projects using scrap wood. I even built a scrap wood organizer using scrap wood! Follow along on my blog so you don’t miss them!

Until next time!

~ Read More of Anika’s Tutorials ~

April 12, 2017/9 Comments/by Anika Gandhi