Community Brag Posts

XL Snack Cabinet

Submitted by Jarrah on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 18:13

I built the Channing Snack cabinet as a Christmas present for my husbands "man cave". It's bigger than the plans outline in order to accommadate the larger "mini-fridge" I bought from Target. He absolutly loves it and it looks like a piece you would get at a real furnature store and not something I built in my barn at night.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
75
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
High Gloss Bombay Mahogany
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

lalapizzaparty (not verified)

Sat, 01/14/2012 - 19:12

I love this! So fun. I love that you built this in your barn for your hubs mancave.
That makes you sound pretty cool!

woodtop

Sat, 01/14/2012 - 19:34

Hey..that amazing. I have a brother who own a mini fridge in his room. This will look nice for him to put his mini fridge. It will also look nice if can add a door to it.

Modified Jr. Loft Bed

We loved the idea of the Jr. Loft Bed, but made some modifications to fit our needs.

Modifications:
-I didn't really feel the 2x6 railing was needed, so to cut costs, we used all 2x4s. On the end, I put two 2x4s one on top of the other to keep the mattress from sliding off the ladder side.

-Height was a concern for me as my kids are 4 & 2. So I lowered the overall height by about a foot. 54in is the height. Since we are putting my youngest on the bottom (on the floor) we made sure she had enough head room.

-We wanted this to be STURDY and reversible. So we added bottom supports on both long sides to ensure that the frame wasn't going to move. We also added six 2x4 supports under the mattress on the top. I can climb up there to tuck in sheets with no problem.

-We skipped the stairs & landing. I didn't want my kids to be playing on the bed. So we skipped the stairs and just built a ladder into the frame instead.

This was a fairly easy build. We previously built a HUGE Ana White Table. And I felt like I was kreg jigging for DAYS. This was only a few hours of cutting, sanding, kreg jigging, and a simple put together. Staining took the longest! It's a great bed and we're so excited it's finished!

Estimated Cost
$70
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
We used Minwax Polyshades. Classic Oak Gloss. 2 coats.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Farmhouse Printers Cabinet

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 02/16/2016 - 11:29

I've been seeing these gorgeous printer cabinet everywhere. I mean everywhere. I had wanted one for a long time but they looked complicated. I mean, they do, look complicated. 

Finally we bit the bullet and got to working on this. We started at 3:30 on saturday, worked until 6:30 and then worked on it 9 am - 12 pm on sunday. 6 hours and we made this. 

I know it might take some a lot longer, but we build furniture for a living so we might be a bit faster in the building department. 

Husband built, I sanded, stained & varnished.

It is stained in our custom beachwood mix. Head on over to our blog to read the full story.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
374.00
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
We used our custom beachwood stain & matte Polyurethane.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Herringbone Buffet

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/01/2019 - 21:11

We wanted a large buffet for our hall and these plans were perfect. We modified the design to fit our needs, and painted the buffet a wonderful pop color that matched some accents throughout the house.

What really brought the project together was the herringbone top. We used 7 different species of wood sealed with poly and then finished with wax.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
295
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Sealed the painted sides with a clear polyacrylic. Since we used so many different types of wood on the top we decided to let their natural tones shined and just cleaned with mineral spirits and sealed with polyeurethane. We used steel wool and wax to get to the sheen we wanted.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

2 Drawer Nightstand

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/31/2023 - 15:05

Thank you so much for your plan. I made some small changes. I used pine wood for the box sides and dividers, I moved the drawer faces to the outside and used 1/2 inch plywood for the drawer boxes to add some more space. The drawer faces have an inlaid to match my farmhouse bedroom I am currently building. The final product was stained with Minwax Golden Pecan and clear coated with warm semi-gloss.

Comments

Tryde Table

I took the Tryde coffee table plan and made it taller and wider to fit our dining room space! It turned out way better than expected!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$150 ish (CAD)
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
I mixed the meduim and dark brown water based General Stain colours (2 coats) and then used a satin finish poly.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Mar_co (not verified)

Wed, 05/02/2012 - 15:37

This is beautiful ! how was your experience with spruce? im debating between spruce and pine, but spruce here is so much cheaper... did it split at all?

Crate Christmas Tree

Submitted by MaryMurray on Wed, 12/04/2013 - 11:11

I made all the crates and put them together to make this interesting 'christmas tree'.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
golden oak from minwax
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Comments

MaryMurray

Sun, 12/15/2013 - 07:03

I found the best app ever. "Tapeulator" If you are tape measure challenged like me you will love this app. For example: what is 8 3/8 - 6 1/2? It can be hard to figure out...just type it into the tapeulator and get your answer, it also shows the location of the answer on the measuring tape. I love it!
My husband gets so aggravated when I measure something and say it's 4 and 2 lines...lol. I really do know what the little lines are, it is just quicker for me. haha

Bed for my teen princess

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/02/2019 - 10:27

I built this bed for my daughters new “teen” room!! She loves it and I loved the cost and look if it ;)...

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$130
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Stain
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Little Girl's Take and Chairs

Submitted by rkmau on Tue, 06/06/2023 - 16:16

Made this table and chairs for my granddaughter's 3rd birthday. I used folding brackets on the legs of the table for easy storage. My granddaughter picked the colors and I can't wait for her to see it.

Comments

Solid maple IKEA inspired bookcase

Submitted by ccbuilder on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 08:38

I made this bookcase out of solid hard maple lumber. The project was more expensive because I chose to use this wood. It also took more time because I had to do a lot of sanding in order to finish it with shellac and paste wax, but I think it was worth it. I altered the plans and made the bookcase 5' tall instead of 6' as it would have been a little large for the room I put it in otherwise. I used a kreg jig to create pocket holes on the undersides of the shelves so that I did not have to drill and make holes on the sides of the bookcase. I also used L and T brackets on the back to hold the whole thing together.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$115
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Shellac and paste wax. The key was to sand extensively before finishing, as the lumber I bought was very rough. I sanded to 400 grit which may have been excessive, but it did create a nice finish. In between coats of shellac I also sanded. I finished it all up by adding a coat of paste wax. I liked this finish as it was much more natural and less hazardous than many other finishes.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

claydowling

Tue, 01/24/2012 - 10:12

I really like this. I made a similar set a while back out of pine, because I needed a lot of book storage in a hurry, but nothing near this nice.

How is the side to side stability? I found a need to put bracing along the back, which also served to keep my books from falling off when the cats push up against them.

ccbuilder

Tue, 01/24/2012 - 10:46

The side to side stability is pretty good. It'll rock a little bit, but it's really quite sturdy. The L and T brackets in the back helped significantly with the stability.

Canopy Storage Bed

Submitted by arkep on Fri, 12/06/2013 - 12:29

I combined the full-sized Hannah canopy bed plans with the Farmhouse Storage Bed with hinged footboard by birdandsoap here: http://ana-white.com/2011/07/farmhouse-storage-bed-hinged-footboard . Decided not to taper the ends of the 2x3s. There's so much storage underneath!

Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
2 coats primer, 2 coats Olympic Premium in Satin Ultra White.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Hall Tree

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 02/21/2016 - 16:07

Changed the plans to fit some stuff that I already had. I routed the box together instead of using pocket hole jig. Turned out great have had several people wonder where I got the idea.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
200
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Chalk Paint and Dark Walnut Stain
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Bar Cabinet

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/02/2019 - 20:04

We had a wine fridge sitting around that we didnt know what to do with, we were hardly using it. We also had a cheap metal bar cart that was holding all of our wine glasses and liquor bottles, very much not user friendly. So, I decided to build this bar cabinet. I am big into diamonds on my projects, so their are diamonds on both ends of the cabinet with diamond on the inside of the left side of the cabinet to hold liquor bottles. The shelves in the right cabinet space are adjustable in height. All in all, I was very pleased with the finished product, and of course, I was able to finally get some use out of the wine fridge.

Estimated Cost
$150
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Black spray paint, cherry stain, polyurethane at the very end
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Potting Bench

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 06/12/2023 - 04:33

A friend asked if I could make a potting bench for her. She wanted something simple, functional and attractive. My first thought led me to Anna’s site and I found these plans. My friend is so happy with the design and is over the moon with happiness. Thank you!

Comments

Smaller Square Coffee Table

Our friends and my co-worker, Tommy & Susannah, got married back in November and for their wedding gift I said that I would build them a coffee table. They liked the look of my original one that I built but wanted is square like the one I did for my sister. However, their living room space was not that big, so they wanted scaled down version. They wanted it 2 1/2' x 2 1/2' and similiar in color to the ones that I had already done.

Not to be say how cheap I got the wood for their wedding present, but the wood for this was not very much at all. Especially since I got the 4x4's in the culled wood bin for $1 each, and only needed 2! Total cost of wood was $17.50! Add in the screws, stain, staining materials and you are looking at around $30.00 max. Now my labor for this project was priceless, so was very expensive wedding gift!!!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$30.00
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Minwax Stain
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

First real project: Hooked!

As an Ana White newbie I was excited (to say the least!) about my first real project.

It was also my proving ground. My Hubby said that if this went well, I could feel free to build an office desk... pergola... coffers in the dining room... whatever! He was floored and impressed beyond words!

I have included a before picture of our entryway and also a view from our front door, so that you can see how much of a presence this has in a room. I love it absolutely!

I made mine a bit deeper in the seat (about 20") because my husband has size 15 shoes that needed to be hidden. I also added a shelf for more shoes (which was easy and also where I tried out my new Kreg Jig). That tool is pretty darn sweet!

I decided to use hefty planks for the seats as well and reinforced them with a bit beefier legs, as my husband and his family are all nearly 7 feet tall. (just in case - you know!)

Mine is a bit shorter in length than Ana's... but all in all pretty similar. These pictures don't show all the holes filled in yet (as I ran out of putty) but that will be done next week. It looks pretty polished where I have filled them in though - paint is a wonder at hiding things.

My tearful thanks to Ana for making this seem so completely "do-able" for a woman! I was feeling pretty low before building this - but I have to say that working with wood is a REAL confidence booster and it feels so satisfying when you see the finished result. The JIG is a bit intimidating till you get used to it - but then it's so cool! Love it!

I started this on a Sunday night and finished on a Wednesday night.

I will be building again very, very soon!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
280 (bought the small and large Kreg Jig :)
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Minwax stain and varnish for the seat. Three coats of clear varnish so that there is some "wipeability". White semi-gloss all over elsewhere (for easy cleanup). I opted for dark wood where the shoes would go to (hopefully) show less dirt!
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Joni

Thu, 12/12/2013 - 08:56

Did you seriously make this in your dining room? Now I'm even more impressed. This was your first build? And in 3 days? Holy cow -- the 2-tone finish, the architectural details on the front, customizing the build....GREAT job! Can't wait to see the pergola!

In reply to by Joni

Porshes Place

Thu, 12/12/2013 - 19:28

I did make it in my dining room! My husband was away for 3 days in Boston and I planned on building it in the barn, but it was 15 degrees here in Ohio - so that was out! I worked like a maniac for those 3 days too! I was on a mission. (note: I didn't realize how much dust sanding creates and I have now spent the last 3 days dusting said dining room :( Next time I will cover things!

DecorSanity

Thu, 12/12/2013 - 18:02

I don't think your husband knows what he's given permission to--I see a lot of great builds in your future! Way to go! :-)

In reply to by DecorSanity

Porshes Place

Thu, 12/12/2013 - 19:31

I think he is realizing that now too!! I can't wait for the warmer weather now - I have so many areas I want to get my hands on in the yard! I'm really eyeing that Weatherby Pergola and seating arrangement. :) Thanks for the kudos!

children's arbor

I built this a bit larger for a older child or adult. Measures 5'3 high by 5'10 long. This is my first Anna White project. I am a 44 year old woman who just last year never held a saw. I am finding my calling. I never knew how much I would love doing this!! I may also add, as my money is super tight, I made this completely from pallets. I don't have but a few tools, but found with a drill and miter saw that was the only tools that I needed.

Estimated Cost
$15
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
I had a dark grape paint that I added white to.
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Farmhouse Bed with Antique window headboard

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/03/2019 - 13:41

I had been searching the internet looking for plans to make a headboard out of an old window I found. I came across these plans and they worked perfectly. Thank you for the great plans and tutorial!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$200.00
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Varathane
Pre-stain wood conditioner
Special Walnut penetrating stain
Weathered Oak penetrating stain
Polyurethan
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Inspirational

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 06/16/2023 - 15:52

Love your site and wondering if you needed an idea. I know I would love to see a plan for this bathroom shelf. See picks attached. I was in a hotel and just had to take some pics of it for you.
Think you will design any more tiny homes? Keep up the great work and love, love you’re designs.

Comments

American Doll Bed

Submitted by angiemicn on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 03:50

this is a staple of mine, one that I love and my nieces do too. Every time a niece, so far 5 have got them, I have them all ready, built, sanded, primered, and an activity that we do together, is paint the beds whatever color the girls want. They love it, we also sew a mattress, 2 pillows, and they get a crochet blankie to take. Really great bonding time! Also made 2 for the make one, take one campaign of Ana's. These are the cutest, sturdiest beds I've ever seen. And yes, every niece has climbed into their beds to "test" them out :)

Estimated Cost
25
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
2 coats of Kilz 2 waterbased Latex, and bubblegum pink Behr Ultra Premium
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner