Connecting Through Art: The Dinosaurs of Simpson Strong-Tie

One of the first things you notice when you visit our home office in Pleasanton, CA, is the art. Our late founder, Barclay Simpson, had a great appreciation for art. It’s one of the many legacies he left us. From the eight-foot metal sculpture of Michelangelo’s David — made completely from Simpson Strong-Tie products — that greets you at the main entrance, to the one-of-a-kind paintings, prints and sculptures scattered throughout the building, it’s quickly apparent that ours is not just another suburban office building.
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DIY: How to Build a Large Package Shelter

It’s the holiday season, so that means it’s package delivery season! Many reasons could impact your package delivery, including long driveways, dogs and weather. We’ve partnered with Rogue Engineer to come up with a solution for preserving your delivery person’s sanity while keeping packages safe from damage.
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DIY: How to Build a Leather Ottoman

One of the simplest ways to add stylish comfort to any room is with a leather cushioned ottoman. If you go to the store, you’ll end up paying more than $150 for a decent foot rest. That’s why we’re excited to partner with Jaime Costiglio to bring you this DIY leather ottoman. She used our A21 angles to make sure this ottoman will stand the test of time. See her plans below.

The coffee table does double duty as an ottoman when paired with a leather cushioned top. And since it’s an ottoman, you can put your feet up without anyone yelling at you to get your feet off the table. Let’s build this round leather ottoman and upholster the top so you can take full advantage.
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DIY: Building a Stylish AC Screen Cover

If you check out the DIY tag on our Building Strong blog, you’ll discover a diverse selection of indoor and outdoor furniture you can easily build at home. You’ll also find a growing list of projects that can help enhance and beautify your yard. Simpson Strong-Tie Brand Ambassador Jaime Costiglio was seeking a way to hide her AC unit without blocking access to it. Here’s how she did it.
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How to Build a DIY Potting Bench

Hi everyone! Jen Woodhouse here, excited to share my newest project: a DIY potting bench! Plants are one of my love languages, and I’m happy to say that my “vocabulary” is growing rapidly! It’s fall planting season, so this DIY potting bench is the perfect weekend project for all you plant lovers out there.
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How to Beautify an Old Porch Using Outdoor Accents

Over the last year we’ve shared dozens of examples of how to use the Simpson Strong-Tie® Outdoor Accents® line of decorative hardware for adding strength and style to your new do-it-yourself projects. Have you considered using Outdoor Accents to enhance existing structures or backyard furniture? We’ve been waiting for such a project to come along, so when Pneumatic Addict’s Elisha Albretsen told us she wanted to use Outdoor Accents to redo her porch, it was an easy sell. Over two days, the DIYer swapped out her ugly support straps for our sleek strap ties and washers. The end result is night and day. See how she did it below, and check out her blog for more projects.
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DIY: How to Build a Faux Barnwood Dining Table

The farmhouse table: it’s a classic that’s been around for ages, built out of necessity using the same rough lumber farmers used for their barns. Planed and constructed using hand tools, these primitive barnwood tables were the center of the home, where all of the meals were prepared and served. Fast forward hundreds of years and that classic farmhouse table is still going strong. Many farmhouse tables are now being built from reclaimed barnwood, which is a wonderful way to repurpose this old lumber. This trend has become so popular that old barnwood is now scarce and can be costly, as homeowners desire to use it in many furniture designs. In this post, DIYer and Simpson Strong-Tie Brand Ambassador Jaime Costiglio shows you how to create a beautiful faux barnwood table.
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How to Build a DIY Mobile Workbench

One of our most requested DIY projects is a mobile workbench with drawers — so when Jen Woodhouse proposed designing exactly that, we jumped at the opportunity to put it on our site. Jen built her mobile workbench using a combination of Simpson Strong-Tie® wafer-head screws and hex-head Strong-Drive® SD Connector screws.
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DIY: How to Build a Simple Rolling Planter

Looking for a simple way to dress up your patio? Elisha Albretsen from Pneumatic Addict has teamed up with Simpson Strong-Tie to bring you this simple DIY rolling planter using Outdoor Accents® decorative hardware.

Spring and summer arrive quickly in central Arizona. Currently, we’re enjoying –70° temperatures while bragging to our East Coast friends, but in a couple of months the rest of the country will be the ones laughing. Triple digits are right around the corner, so that means I’ve got to take advantage of the nice weather while I can.

The Southwest has famously long growing seasons. So that means I get a head start on all my outdoor projects. I’m still so enthralled with the glass-topped outdoor table I built last year that I decided to build it a friend. I built a handy, rolling planter and was able to incorporate more of the gorgeous black hardware from the Simpson Strong-Tie® Outdoor Accents® line.
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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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