Community Brag Posts

When my sons outgrew their twin sized beds and primary colored room, I had already fallen in love with Ana's storage bed collection. I was happy to see that a full size bed was included in the plans. Building it yourself means you can adjust any plans to fit your room exactly, and I planned to squeeze storage out of every inch of their 11.5 foot wide room. The first adjustment I made was to make the headboard taller, so that their pillows would not rest against the small hutch with doors. I also added height to the cubby hutch, making it a 9 cubby unit. The entire bed unit is 92 inches tall. The center tall bookcase is actually two 47 inch tall units stacked. I have watched too many home improvement shows where tall units are built off site only to not fit up stairs or around corners. The center unit is 94 inches tall and 19 inches wide, filling the wall exactly with only an inch of wiggle room to spare. I also added drawers to the open cubbies in the bed base. This was my first time making drawers, but Ana has instructions on the site, so it was no problem.The sides of the bed base facing the walls are just open cubbies as in the original plan. Beadboard paneling faces the drawer fronts, cabinet backs and the face of the headboards. Did I mention how much storage these beds have? The hollow headboards are not accessible once the center bookcase was in place, but that didn't stop me from filling them up. I had 6 Rubbermaid bins (18 gallon) in our basement full of stored Hot Wheels, Little People and other sets. All of the contents fit in the headboards alone. I also put some large saved toys in the under bed cubbies that face the wall. Yes, the Little People Garage will fit! My favorite modification was added an extra crosswise 1x3 that ties together a large section of the slats that support the mattress. This makes an easy lid allowing that you can lift to access even more storage under the mattress. We store their camping gear and off season clothes under the mattresses. I can't total the hours, I worked on this project on and off for about 9 months. When the building was nearing completion I started looking for bedding so I could match the paint colors to the bedding. I painted all the plywood back panels before attaching them to the cabinets. This was especially a life saver with back of the 9 cubby unit, as there are four colors in this section. After painting, everything was glazed with Valspar Translucent Color Glaze in Mocha. When this layer was dry I coated everything with a protective coat of Minwax Polycrylic. If you are wondering about dark circles are at the top of the unit near the ceiling, I had a great idea to use solar landscaping lights up there for a soft lighting effect. It looked great for a few nights until the batteries wore out. There is not enough natural light in the room to charge them. They have since been replaced with a couple strings of cheap colored lights. They are shoved way back towards the wall where you can't see the wires, but are on a timer, so at night they give a nice glow on the ceiling.

I have been holding a really cool farm pallet in the garage for 3 weeks.  I finally decided to use one of the slats with the 2x4 supports to make this bench.  Only 7.97 for a box of screws!

I'd built a table for my daughter and her roommates at college last year.  One of them is getting married this year and asked If I would mind building one for them.  They found a picture of this table someone had built and I tracked down your plans.  They needed it smaller so this one is 72" by 39" and I built the bench in a similar style.  

They wanted a smooth top (no grooves between boards) and no breaboard ends.  The table top wanted to warp a bit at the corners without the breadboards, so I imbedded some angle iron to keep it flat.

Rustic table plans with slight modification of the width and the legs were mounted differently for a little added flair. So many finishes to choose from....

I followed the Emersen Console plans, but with a few changes. The biggest in that I went with sliding doors because I didn't want the doors to open into the living room. This meant having the doors run between the face trim and a guide I tacked into the inside. I also adjusted all of the measurements to fit what I was planning on stuffing into it. I drilled a 3 inch hole in the bottom for all of the cords to run to the power bar and left a gap between the shelves and the back. I kept the wood light to contrast with my floor and painted the doors blue for a mid-century modern-ish feel.

I loved the bed by plan, and now love it more that I have built it.

This was my first DIY building project.  I wanted a counter-height table, so I searched websites looking for plans and eventually I found ana-white.com.  I altered the plans a little and I added a farmhouse style table top.  I used 2x8s for the table top which makes the table very heavy.

Love these plans. Perfect weekend project. This bench is a nice size. 

This was my first EVER wood working project.

With that being said, it took me more than just an afternoon.
I used cedar, and all the materials on the cut list had to be sanded , since I didn't like the roughness of the cedar.
I also made the box 4x8. I didn't take into account that that would require a minimum of 48 inches for the top planks. So, some of my top planks are shorter.

I also wished I had a little more instruction from which side to screw the screws in. May sound a little needy for some of you, but I never did anything with wood before. The instructions simply read attach top planks to arm rests (or something int that manner) and I wish it would have told me from which side to screw in (or give me a picture). Looking at some of the brag posts helped a lot.

Because its larger size, I decided to make the seats 3 top planks wide (and also the back rest) and made another middle cover piece to bridge the additional gap when both seats are folded down.

Also, the cedar was VERY expensive, and all the screws, hinges, and handles almost cost me as much as the wood.

The sand to fill the box ran us another $80 (for good plays and), but that was because we made it so big.

All in all, a rather pricey sandbox, but worth it because of the large custom sizes, and the cute little seats.

Pictures show the sandbox without sand, and with some of the handles still missing. I also still need to fill the holes.

Will add a picture of finished box filled with sand when it is available.

This is my first piece of furniture to build. I love love love it!!! Now I can't wait to build something else! You may have created a monster in me. Thank you for the great plans!! 

This bench is the first project I have built from Ana White's plans, and I love how it turned out! The cutting list and instructions were very easy to follow. The most difficult thing about this project was the staining and painting, which I admit I have never been great at. I built this bench because my fiance and I needed additional outside seating on our patio for a party we threw, and I literally built it the day before! A week after the party I gave it to my fiance's daughter who wanted it as an indoor hall bench for her house. At first I was sad to give it up, but I figure I can easily make another! Thank you so much, Ana, for the fabulous plans you provide!!

Here is a simple outdoor project built with the Kreg Jig and cedar from the home store!

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZjvj3mSeJ4

jardiniere  16x36x32h 

built whit cedar