Category: Brand Ambassadors Projects

DIY: How to Build a Leaning Bathroom Shelf

Because bathrooms are comparatively so small, creating storage space in them can be a real challenge. One possibility you may not have considered is to build a leaning bathroom shelf above the toilet tank. We teamed up with Jamison Rantz of Rogue Engineer to develop a rustic ladder-style shelf using Simpson Strong-Tie® Outdoor Accents® structural wood screws and hex-head washers. Learn how easy it is to build this leaning bathroom shelf. Be sure to check out his video at the end of this post.
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DIY: How to Make Barn Door Window Coverings

 If you love the rustic flair barn doors can bring to a home but aren’t ready to replace an entryway we have the perfect DIY project for you. We challenged DIYer Jaime Costiglio to come up with a unique and easy way to use barn doors in your home. She came back with this fantastic concept of using barn doors as window coverings in a bedroom. Check out her project and designs below.
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How to Build a Candle Wall Sconce Using Pipe Grip Ties

Are you seeking an affordable, atmospheric lighting solution for your home? Elisha Albertsen from Pneumatic Addict teamed up with Simpson Strong-Tie to show you an easy way to build a DIY tealight candle wall sconce.

Inspiration can come from odd places. It may sound like an exaggeration, but I honestly get project ideas every single time I go to Home Depot. I’ve used hardware in some unique ways before, like turning an industrial light bulb cage into a Modern Tiki Torch.

Recently, I was walking past the Simpson Strong-Tie bay and spotted boxes of the PGT Pipe Grip Tie® connectors. These are normally used to secure metal fence pipes, but I thought of something a little more unorthodox. If PGT connectors can be used to hold cylindrical pipes, why couldn’t they hold round vases?
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Build An Easy DIY Bar Cart For Your Next Holiday Party

This week’s post featuring a Simpson inspired DIY bar cart was written by Jen Woodhouse from The House of Wood.

Hello! Jen Woodhouse here, happy to be back on the Building Strong blog, sharing my DIY bar cart just in time for the holidays!  Tis the season for entertaining and this bar cart with removable tray is the perfect addition to your festive holiday party.
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Chicken Coop Plans: How to Build a Modern Chicken Coop

This past spring, my wife, Jamie, decided to bring home six chickens. Then she pointed at me and said, “We’re going to need a chicken coop.” Well, six months later, the chickens were still sleeping in our old rabbit hutch at night and free-ranging around the yard during the day. One morning I went to let them out and saw all six of them tightly packed into a hutch designed for one rabbit, and I knew the time had come.

When I sat down to design these chicken coop plans, I knew that we wanted something awesome. We wanted to design a coop with clean, modern lines that had a simple yet great-looking exterior. This thing will be sitting in our yard all the time, so we knew just any old coop wouldn’t work. Jamie and I sat down to research chicken coop plans but nothing was exactly what we wanted. We didn’t want the standard look of boxes attached to boxes. We wanted everything housed in one single unit, under one roof.
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DIY: How to Build an H-Leg Table Bench

This past Thanksgiving, my wife Jamie and I built what we called an H-leg dining table because we needed a table that would seat 10 people. Since we knew we would want to use it outside when it warmed up, we built it out of cedar. However, we hadn’t got around to building the benches to go with it. Well, the time came where we really needed them, so we stopped procrastinating and got to work.

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DIY: How to Build a Round Outdoor Dining Table

This post is part of an occasional series featuring guest bloggers who are Simpson Strong-Tie brand ambassadors. These plans for a DIY Round Outdoor Dining Table are by Jaime Costiglio. 

When the weather cooperates, my family eats dinner outdoors, which can be nearly every evening in the warmer months. But we had an old flimsy metal table that only fit four chairs properly for our family of five.  We needed an outdoor dining table to fit our patio space. So in true DIY fashion, I built a table to accommodate not only my family but a few guests as well.

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DIY: How to Build an Indoor Playhouse

Why buy an expensive, generic, prebuilt playhouse for your kids when you can easily build one all by yourself? We’re excited to share this imaginative playhouse by Jen Woodhouse from The House of Wood. The plans for this playhouse are free and available for download. As soon as you see how adorable and simple this is, you’ll want one of your own.

Summer means barbecues, lemonade and all sorts of fun. It also means that the kids are out of school. When I was home for summer vacation, I used to build pillow forts and dream of having a playhouse. I lived in an apartment in Queens as a child, and there was no way my parents could make room for an actual playhouse. So my childhood dreams of a playhouse (and a pony) came to nothing.

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DIY: How to Build a Doghouse Gazebo

We know you love your pets and love to shower them with gifts. From playtime to snack time and nap time, the opportunities are endless. So what could be better than a custom-built doghouse? Just look at how proud Jen Woodhouse’s dog Watson is, relaxing in his new doghouse! Check out the House of Wood for free build plans for a DIY doghouse that we worked on with Jen Woodhouse  just for you.

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