Community Brag Posts

This is my first furniture project I wanted to replace my cheap computer desk that was falling apart. The build was pretty simple, the only problem was finding a good project board and finding a good stain. Tried several different stains an a piece of scrap before deciding on red elm gel stain. Project took longer than I anticipated but most of that time was in getting the finish right, the build part was pretty quick.

Recently I added a family member and his name is Myles. He needed a home so before we picked him up I built him one of these for him to grow into. The one pictured is actually the second one I built that was built for a friend. I followed the original instructions. I used a couple different bits of material. My table top is 1x4's and for the sides i used bead-board. I painted it an off white with eggshell finish. The table top is stained with Minwax Ebony stain. I love how it turned out and most of all my puppy enjoys it as well.

I left the bottom open. The dimensions in the plans make it so you can set the crate right on top of a crate replacement trey series 700 from PetCo. This makes it very easily to clean by just lifting the crate off the trey and hosing it off and also prevents the wood from absorbing any liquids.

Farmhouse table made from distressed (worm hole) maple.

My neighbor was able to get me the 5/4 distressed maple for about $2/bd ft - I ended up buying 100 board feet and had plenty leftover. The finished board feet for this project was about 60 if I remember correctly. So the $200 was the bulk of the expense. The only other costs were sand paper, I bought a Kreg Jig, screws, Minwax Marker, paint, stain and urethane (much of which I already had).

It came out better than I anticipated. The antique white finish was not difficult at all.

Tip - When following the instructions for the finish here, I applied the first coat of urethane with a brush almost immediately after applying the Minwax marker to all of the sanded edges. I did this in haste, but ended up with some unexpected results that really added a nice touch. The stain from the marker incorporated a bit into the urethane as I brushed it giving it an antique, yellow hue. At first I thought I made a big mistake, but it turned out to add a really nice look.

This was built based on the "Reclaimed-Wood Look Headboard" post. The directions are under the queen size post and the cut list was under the king size one. The cut/supply list was absolutely dead on. Once I built it however, I realized that it needed more support if I expected it to last more than a few years. I reinforced the back and added vertical bracing and chair leg supports to prevent side to side movement. This was done with scraps from the original cuts. Since it was built with finish nails and glue, enough movement and I knew it would eventually start popping boards. I also decided to wall mount it so that it will last that much longer. Don't skimp on the directions. Pick only 100% square, non-bowed boards. Glue down everything. Triple-check for flush and don't even think about making cuts without a chop saw. If you don't have one, have the hardware store cut it. One less-than-square board or wrong degree cut will make the whole project fail. I did heavy distressing on it by hitting it with chains, an ax, a hoe, and a board with nails driven into it. I also threw screwdrivers, allen wrenches, pipes and anything else heavy I could find at it. I used a leather poking tool to make mock cracks. I used a small torx screwdriver to drive the finish nails in deeper and didn't worry about filling the holes since it added to the distressed look. I then took a hand torch and burned several areas to draw out the wood grain and deepen the aged look. Finally I sanded it with a 220 grit paper, put 6 coats of Watco Danish Oil Dark Walnut on it and varnished it with Formby's Low Gloss Tung Oil. All the finish was applied hand-rubbed with a rag. A brush will leave streaks - hand rub is the only way to achieve that antique look. It turned out much better than I even expected and matches our mango wood bedroom furniture perfectly. Total cost was about $170 and build time was roughly 30 hours, however, the initial build was done in just 3 hours. All other time was distressing and finishing.

When it was time for a big girl bed for my daughter I was so excited because I had been WANTING to make the Hanging Loft Bed since first spying it on The Bumper Crop and Ana White. I'm a novice so this was the perfect first project for me and my daughter LOVES it. If you have unique space challenges in any of your bedrooms this is the bed for you.

I really liked the sleek design of the concrete topped patio table. I needed a plant stand for an epic boston fern on my front porch, so I modified this design to use 1x2 cedar and topped the stand with a piece of travertine tile. I like the way it turned out. It's winter here, so no front porch photo, only a sad photo in our kitchen which we are in the process of remodelling.

Using the Benchmark Octagon table plans found here for the inspiration for our poker table we completely customized the top and modified the base to suit our needs! The dining top cover is yet to be finished but we are definitely thrilled with the result thus far especially seeing as though it was our first ever build! 

Hello Everyone! This is my FIRST brag post here on Ana-White.com - but not the first project that we've built from her awesome plans. :) 

We have an unfinished basement that desperately needed some shelving because 1. It's our workshop in the Winter and 2. We don't have an official 'storage' room in the basement of our split level home. When I saw these plans I immediately thought they could be modified to fit our space and get my stuff off the floor! 

I modified the plans just enough to fit our space. After reading through them completely, I realized for an 8 ft wide space (beside the stairs) I only needed three supports for the shelves. Easy! The only trick was fitting the shelf into the space AFTER installing the shelves. Because I had walls on two sides (unlike the tutorial) I couldn't do the shelves as the last step. 

I LOVE how these turned out! They are a strong as a ladder (we tested them... :)) and they hold everything I need them to, and a little bit more. It's a definite improvement on my previously messy, cluttered, saw-dust covered space ... :)