This 2 X 4 truss end table is a fun build. I'm going to make a pair and finish them with a farmhouse finish to use as night tables at the cottage!
This is a simple project for the beginning woodworker. There are a variety of bird feeder designs available on the web but I wanted to try something a little different. Anyway, this is my try at a simple bird feeder.
Build Instructions:
This was my largest project to date. Took me a LOT longer than I thought it would (big chunks of 4 weekends, plus sneaking in some time during the week), but enjoyed the process. The devil is in the details as always. The raw dog 2x6's took me hours upon hours to sand down to an acceptable state of smoothness. For the ladder, I kinda winged it and made it straight. My kids' room is really small, so every extra bit of square footage matters. My oldest is 5 and is fine going up and down. My youngest is 3 and hasn't quite figured it out yet, but that's probably for the best anyway. I also winged it a bit on the guardrails. I used pocket screws wherever possible in the joinery. I was planning on painting this since I knew staining/sealing would be a pain. But in the end, I'm glad I took the time (even though I was hating life during the staining). The kids are thrilled with the results. And I am VERY grateful for the plans you provided Ana! Thank you!
Built from scratch. First DIY build ever! Thank you for your plans. I customized it for my space 💜 instagram @onefortyfour_
I used the Ana White "Country Kitchen Island" plans to build. The only changes I made was the table top, bead board instead of pine planks, three drawers, and mostly 3/4" plywood. For the island top, i used the top of a maple desk and applied butcher block oil. To make things easier I used plywood to keep everything square and used bead board (very easy to install) instead of having to join boards together. After putting the shelves together I just used pine boards to cover the edges of the plywood. I also installed three drawers for convenient storage.
Wed, 10/26/2016 - 13:48
Do you have more details on how you did the drawers? demensions, etc? Did you just extend the divider vertical bards that are inside all the way up? Or did you build cut 3 holes out of the front facing horizontal board? If you did that were you able to add tracks?
We built this huge 7' buffet for our living/dining room area.
Thu, 09/07/2017 - 07:39
Woud you please share what stain/finish you used on your piece? It is beautiful !
~ Denise
Thu, 04/02/2020 - 16:34
I would love to have the custom stain color if you would share it!
Tue, 04/28/2020 - 15:00
Would you share the custom stain color for your buffet that looks like the one from Restoration Hardware?
Here is our version of the small cedar shed. Had to raise the door up a bit to clear the rocks. All built from cedar fence boards and a few 2x4's
My first real wood project with no help from my father. I wanted to make this for my mother for christmas and I got it done 2 hours before church. I recently purchased a kreg jig r 3 and put it to good use. I made a few changes to the plan that helped me achieve the look that I desired. First, through trial and error I adjusted the kreg jig to be able to drill pocket holes to secure the shelves without the need to go back and wood putty the scrww heads that normal would have been exposed on the outer walls. There is a picture of this set up that I uploaded. Also, when byielding the drawers I made two changes. From what I could tell, the plans called for 1/4 inch plywood for the bottoms of the shelves and that is the way I made them at the beginning. However I was not happy with the appearance of the plywood on the nice face boards I was using for the drawers. So I decided to rip down the two side pieces and the back piece of the drawers ( should be 1 - 5 1/2 inch back piece and 2 - 5 3/4 inch pieces ) but I left the face Plate the full inch and a half that way the plywood wous not show from the front. The last change I made on the drawers was I made 2 pocket holes on each side piece to attach the face to the drawers that way the nail holes would not be showing from the front view. While these steps might not have be necessary , it worked for me. Thank
you very much for the plan my mom cried when she opened the box for the first time.
It was truly great for us to find a greenhouse design from a fellow Interior Alaskan blogger. We kept coming back to this design, enough times to where we decided to actually build it.
We would be the first to admit that tackling a gambrel style building was slightly intimidating and not what we had in mind for our very first self-built building! But, we faithfully followed the cut lists and directions. It turned out beautifully! If you're in the same boat, have confidence that you can build this too!
We love the options available for making it your own. We decided to stain the greenhouse lumber of ours to match our cedar sided home. We also built a semi frost-resistant foundation, since we're a little north of Ana at 65 degrees and sometimes experience frost heaving. We also added full climate controls to ours, adding both fans and louvers that keep our greenhouse at perfect temperatures.
The performance has been great! Building this greenhouse has been the single greatest thing we have done in our years of subarctic gardening. We might even consider building a second greenhouse down the road. No matter how big your greenhouse is, it's never quite enough!
Thanks for the great plans, Ana! We appreciate your work!
This was a great experience. Thank you Ana White for all your hard work and great woodworking plans. This did take me a lot to build considering this was my first project ever but I am very happy and encouraged by this experience. Being a beginner I was not sure about the X support on the side so instead i customized it to my level of experience.
Hope you all enjoy it.
Mon, 03/01/2021 - 10:32
I love your mods, great job and welcome to the woodworking community!
I made these to use as counter stools for our breakfast bar. They're shown in the pics at our outdoor grill island but that's only until the finish dries completely. I built the set of three in "assembly line" fashion - in other worlds I built 12 leg assemblies, 3 seats, etc and then assembled it all. Total it took me around 8 -10 hours to build all three. My 11 year old daughter even helped. I taught her how to use the drill press and had her drill and countersink all of the pilot holes on the legs. I used pocket holes to attach the cross braces and the seats are attached with just wood glue. A pretty easy project and we ended up with a nice, simple set of counter stools.
Really good plans helped make these.
I saw this plan a couple of months ago, and knew right away that this is what we need for our kids - their old table was always filled with papers, crayons and they never had enough space to store whatever they did.
I made the table longer so that it would be enough for both of them, and added foldable legs to support the table top.
Since I didn't find the right hinges for the legs, I used a piece of 1x1 with wood dowels which are attached to the inner side of the legs when unfolded.
Fri, 03/22/2013 - 16:08
Well, I now know what I'm doing tomorrow! I'm going to make a small hinged one to go in our entryway because we have nowhere to put stuff while we're getting our shoes on. Yours looks great!
Made from plans on website. Granddaughters favorite color is purple so that's the theme. Siding and room match house.
This was a recycle from a window replacement project on my 108 year old home. I removed the leaded glas window from the top of a 4.5 by 4.5 street facing window with a reciprocationg saw, attached a 1x4 pine board with trim screws on the ends and trim nails on the mid-portions. Painted it with satin black with a sweep of gold and pewter for a little dramatic effect, purchased a heavy weight mirror hanging plate and attached to the wall and window back. I'm thinking of backing it with a mirror to improve looks,
Sat, 03/30/2013 - 09:39
This is just lovely! What a wonderful use for a piece of history, it's now a one of a kind piece of art, and an instant heirloom!
My 4 year old kept asking for a bunk bed, so my wife and I went to the furniture store and saw we would be paying close to $1000 for a junkie bunk bed. We told him it cost too much and left it at that. Then he started bringing us pennies, dimes and all the change he could find to pay for the bed. So I found this website and decided to attempt to build him one. I started building it after work on Monday, continued for a few hours every evening and finished Saturday morning. It turned out amazing, and both the boys love it. It is extremely sturdy, and will last beyond my lifetime. It's just a good quality design. Total Cost was about $300. Not bad for what we would have been paying for a lesser quality bed. Changes I made: I added the railing on the front of the upper bed to match the headboards and railing on the back side because my wife is a worrier. I also designed and built the stairway and bolted it to the lower bed. I am no professional carpenter, a novice at best. Most people with a little carpentry knowledge can build this. Thanks Ana, we all love it!
Tue, 04/02/2013 - 05:17
Wow, you did a wonderful job! What a sweet story with your son bringing you any change he found. Adorable. I'm sure your sons are so proud of you and it means so much more than just store bought. In looking at that first smaller picture of just the top part, it looks like a view from the back side of a day bed. You can take apart the bunk beds when they get older and you have one full bed and one day bed. Awesome!
Sun, 06/29/2014 - 05:09
Could you post the plans and cutting list for this twin over full bunk bed?
Tue, 12/23/2014 - 23:22
I would love to build this for my grandsons, but I can't seem to get the plans for it, I need instructions becuse I am in training. Thanks
I just completed my first build (#AnaWhiteFarmhouseDesk). It has a ton of mistakes, but they are my mistakes to learn from.
1. Measure twice cut once not measure once cuss twice.
2. Cutting 2x4s in half does not make a store bought 2x2. Which is really 1 1/2 x 1 1/2. Who determined that we would measure wood (used in carpentry which requires very precise measurements) and just round up? Awwe, they'll figure it out!
3. Steelwool & vinegar stain with a black tea conditioner provide a beautiful aged wood appearance, but when using different types of wood it is nearly impossible to match (maybe even store bought stains are like that, too.)
4. When your 95 yr old grandfather (how freakin' cool is it that I have a 95 yr old grandfather... With a planer no less) tells you to catch the "wormy Chestnut planks" on the other side (okay... I'm bragging about getting my hands on wormy Chestnut for my desk top) remember to bring you own PPE because at 95 he doesn't require ear protection and doesn't give a frog's fat a$# if sawdust shoots in your eyes & nose... What's the problem???? He never had a new pair of shoes until he was in the military serving in world war 2 so what's a little sawdust?
5. Sometimes you just need to ask for help from your trusty uncle! Thanks to my uncle Nathan (Lord do I love this man!) I finally, with his help, completed the build by assembling the desk top yesterday. I was so afraid of screwing up my gold desk top (aka wormy Chestnut)
6. Mistakes... Do not fear them, but rather embrace them because that is life's playground where learning happens.
7. Learn from others. Thank you Ana White, Woodworking for beginners members FB group and YouTube!
I built this table for a friend a few weekends ago. The reclaimed top turned out amazing!
Super fun and pretty easy to make!
My husband and I built this on Sunday- I love how it turned out! The hardest part was finding cushions, and carrying it up a flight of stairs!
Wed, 06/05/2019 - 08:40
I am looking to build something very similar! I was wondering where you purchased your cushions they are beautiful!
I enjoyed making this outdoor sofa and table combo from Ana's Ryobi series. An inexpensive and easy project that we just love! All construction grade 2x4.
