Community Brag Posts

I followed the plan but made the sofa longer, the cushions were on clearance from Pottery Barn for $160 and the cushions are about 96 inches wide.
I used weather treated wood and did not want to spend more since its my first project. I used Behr exterior weatherproof transparent stain. I attached the seats back piece using a 2x2 attached on the bottom with screws and pocket hole screws are used to attach the 2x2 to both sides of the arm frame.
I love how it turned out. I was not expecting for it to come out this nice but I am really impressed.
I hope you guys like it too!

Total cost is around $240 including paint, wood, screws and the cushions.

I used these plans and modified the height to create functional countertop and shelving in my garage. I added a little face framing too. Thank you for the inspiration Ana!

This build was our first one. I completed all the cutting and putt together while my better half completed all the staining and weather treating.

I loved the plan of the cooler table, while looking at that one i saw a modified version that was longer and had 4x4 for legs...

i choose that design due to the weight of the table and figured 2x4s just wouldn't be sturdy enough for the extra length my girl friend wanted.

This project took a week to build.  Working during my boys' nap time and late nights, I was able to complete everything in about 7 days.  I used cedar, and sealed with Cabots Bleaching Oil.  The cost of wood for the beds and stairs and drawers came to about $700.  The extra cost came from the additional side rails on the top bunk and the stairs and drawers.  Still comes in about $500 less than if bought commercially.  The famiy loves the bed and as my kids are 2 and 3, I expect to get many years out of the bunk bed.  Side note:  I had to add quite a few brackets and angle joists to secure and minimize wobble due to the additional weight of the top bunk.  (2 2x4s from the 4x4 to the side of the cleat and side rail of the bottom bunk, on the back side only, made a world of difference)

My husband made these fabulous tall planters based on your plans and video. We painted them the same color as the trim on our home. We live in Florida so instead of filling the entire planter with potting soil my husband put screening about 1/4 from the top so the plants can drain easily, especially in the rainy season. He made the planters with pressure treated wood which is perfect in south Florida.

Thank you so much for providing us with such a beautiful idea for unique and custom planters. My husband had a great time with this project and the results are just fabulous.

We are remodeling our 3 bedroom house into a 4 bedroom. In doing so, my youngest is getting the smaller room. We decided to go with a Murphy bed to allow more play time space. I do not particularly like the fact that this bed doesn’t sit off the ground but overall love the simplicity of making it. We turned it horizontal and just love the overall product. I can mot wait to make something else from this site!

Tams

I have been wanting a bench for my counter for sooooo long! I loved the Big Ur bench and finally got up the nerve to adjust the plan to be a counter height bench.

Since I am so cheap, I like to collect wood from the free section on craigslist. And that is how this bench came about! I had these 4x4's (well actually they were a little small and had to adjust for that as well) And these great top boards, which were a little warped, I think it just adds a little character to the bench to not be totally perfect, like me! :) (that was a joke, I am FAR from perfect!)

I made it like the plan, and as you can see from the unfinished picture my little ones needed a stool to climb up on the bench. So I added some 1x2's to give them a ladder for climbing. I love how it turned out and the best part is that it fits at my table as well!

Now my husband thinks I should build a smaller one for the short side of the island. We have six kids and this bench only fits four....we'll see.....

Great fun Easy Project! I am in absolute love with this table and give it the rustic feel and look that we were going for. We tried to get the knottiest pine that we could find with also the different colors. We love that look of pine!

The next few months are going to be crazy! My fiancee and I will both be graduating in May. Our wedding will be be just over a month later in June. Sometime in the middle of all that craziness, we will be moving. I'll start a new job and she will be starting a graduate program.

With all this coming up, I had been looking forward to my last spring break as a college student to go "home" and relax by working on a couple Ana White projects that I had picked out. I ended up working from about 9 or 10 am to about 10 pm every day for 8 days to get everything finished! just sitting in the garage working and running back and forth to Lowes was so refreshing. The time flew by and I ended up with two great pieces that my fiancee and I will enjoy for a very ling time.

I spent a bit more than expected after ordering the cheapest ($20) kreg jig from Amazon and other small things like paint but the value for for what I created is still great!

Bedframe:

I love learning how to do new things but I had relatively little experience with wood before this project. I picked up a miter saw a year ago when it was on sale at Lowes and hadn't used it except for cutting laminate flooring so I was excited to be able to use it finally! I had a table saw that was picked up at a garage sale that hadn't been used either which came in handy! My uncle brought over some other tools that were indispensable like a belt sander and finish nailer.

Everything went pretty smooth. The only advice I have is to make sure that you measure EVERYTHING. For example, the slats used in the headboard and footboard need to be the correct width when glued together. Mine came out a little short due to the dimensions of the wood. It was an easy fix for me: use 1x4s on each end instead of 1x3s. I found that when I finished the main three pieces (footboard, frame, headboard), the frame was slightly too big to fit into the footboard and headboard. That's where the belt sander came in handy! Just be careful... the belt sander works FAST.

One change I made to the bedframe plan was that I added 3 inches to the legs. My fiancee and I are very tall so I thought this would be a good idea. I like how it came out but I will warn you... this bed is TALL. Especially with a mattress and box springs! One huge positive aspect of making the bed taller is that a 12" storage box fits perfectly under the bed (see picture). I didn't do this on purpose but it's going to be nice to have all that usable storage space!

My final note on the bedframe is that it is huge. I'm not looking forward to moving it (although I think it can be done). I used kiln dried wood from Lowes for everything which worked fine. The only pieces that are not dry are the two 2x10 side panels on the frame. These make the frame SUPER HEAVY. Just a warning.

Nightstands:

The nightstands were so much fun to make. I used the Kreg jig for everything on it and I highly recommend it. I would not even try to build these without a kreg jig. Besides, the Kreg jig is so awesome to use (I also highly recommend the Kreg screws and the Kreg brand clamp).

I used 2x3 instead of 2x2 for the legs (2x3 at lowes was like $1.50 in stud length compared to like $8 or something ridiculous for 2x2s). I had to be careful with the plans by using 2x3s and get creative in a couple areas but it worked pretty well and made it so much cheaper. I spent under $50 total for two nightstands!

Finish:

I know that these pieces are going to have to be moved so I wanted to finish them with protection being the number one priority. With that in mind, I used a semi-gloss Valspar paint + primer from Lowes and then several coats of semi-gloss poly. I could have done a better job finishing (for example, I only applied one coat to the back of the headboard where no one will ever see) but time was an issue as I only had a week to finish everything before heading back to school. I also probably should have waited a bit longer between coats of poly but whatever.

I stained the tops of the nightstands with an ebony stain and used the same Swiss Coffee Valspar Paint + Primer from Lowes as I used for the bedframe.

Found this awesome project but decided to add on a rock climbing wall and an underslung Hammock to upgrade it to full Birthday present levels. My son now calls it his "Epic Bed" and absolutely loves it!

This was a very simple build. I was able to finish in a few hours by myself with 2 young children hanging around my ankles! 

The supply list allows enough extra to make 2 or 3, making it fairly inexpensive! 

I used the armless chair plan, and altered the one armed plans to make two chaises. Then I increased the size slightly to accommodate the 25x25 pillows I bought. This took about 12 hours with one person working. I am super proud of it! Finished today, and will eventually stain after the wood has dried out a little. Thank you, Ana, for making straightforward plans that gave me the confidence to do my first woodworking project!

Andrea in Michigan

My grandson wanted a set of peg dolls and a house to play with them in.  I wanted to build something that was gender-neutral - so many doll houses are pink and feminine!  This doll house is sized just right for his peg dolls and playmobil people.  It's made from 1/2" poplar, although it could also be cut from a sheet of 1/2" plywood.