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This is the first time I have ever built anything and I'm very pleased with the results. The stain is water based 'charcoal gray'. It took 2 - 3 rounds of sanding, one coat of pre-stain, two coats of stain, and 3 coats of polyurathane. Total investment was about $350. It took me 3 months (I didn't have but an hour here and an hour there to work on it). My main concern was that I make it so that the screws were not visible. So I drilled a hole the size of the head of the screw about 1/4 in deep (then the typical pre-drill for the actual screw), screwed it together, then glued a wooden 'plug' in the hole. I'm very happy with the result of that. I also struggled a bit with how to attach the side rails - I ended up using 2 door hinges at each corner. The bed frame is completely separate from the mattress. I have a metal frame that is working fine, so the wooden frame actually does not touch the metal mattress frame. It is just built around it. Tools I used: Hammer, Paint Brush, Electric palm sander, Miter saw and a drill. The miter saw was huge for this project. 

Our local Habitat for Humanity puts on an annual event where they get folks to restore discarded or worn down furniture and sell them at auction. My wife and I participated last year and this year I was asked to build 4 dog houses and then they were going to let local designers/decorators finish them out.

I figured it would be easy to find a good dog house plan, but I was wrong so I had to come up with my own designs. I did not want to use plywood becauase I wanted them to look good. So I used 1x4's and 1x6's. I built them all just a little bit different, but the same basic design on all 3. Since I am not very good with circular cuts, did not do any fancy 1/2 circle doorways!

There are "after" pictures on the Blog. Thanks for looking!

This was our first build together and first furniture piece from woodworking. The kreg jig really helped out and we didn’t have any major issues while building except for some board being warped but we fixed it with a planer.

Finished building the entire table in one day and staining and coats of poly took 2 extra days. It was a very easy build. When we move to a new area that has better access to lumber I’d like to remake this using oak/maple.

I know we've all seen this piece done a lot, but I knew I had to have it as soon as I saw it. I finally got around to making mine. I altered the plans slightly to allow for 4 doors. I also omitted the upper portion of the backing to allow for easy access to component wires. The piece fits perfectly in my space.

Just wanted to show my Weatherly Sofa (Sectional) that I built recently. I've been drooling over Ana's plans for months now, I waited patiently until I could get a good deal on a Kreg Jig since so many of Ana's plans use it. I purchased my cushions first, I really wanted Sunbrella fabric since they will be outside in my Lanai so they need to stand up to the Florida elements, I was so excited when I found the seat and back cushions for $40 a set discounted from $98, however I kept watching them after I purchased them and they eventually dropped down to $20 a set (called Lowes and they refunded me the difference), so total for all 8 seat and back cushions was only around $170...the problem with them however was that they were 25 x 25 and not the 24 x 24 that Ana recommends in the plans. I just modified the length of the sofa's by adding 3" and With by 1" which did increase my cost of wood since I was short certain pieces however I really wanted them to fit and not look squashed in there. The extra 3" made them fit perfectly. I also have 8 matching back cushions but they are a little too puffy to keep on there so I just use 2 on the ends and stored the rest. The small cushions I also purchased were on sale for $4 a set of 2. This was a relatively easy project. I was a little intimidated to use a compound miter saw to do my cuts so instead I just purchased a Stanley Clamping Miter box that was able to do the 30 degree cuts to make the x's. Total cost was $470 with all the cushions. I used Behr Weather Proofing Wood Stain & Sealer Semi-permanent in COFFEE which gave it a driftwood beachy look. It is so comfortable and sturdy. I love it and considering it was my first build from Ana's site I'm now hooked....Thank you Ana

I have tried all sorts of nest boxes. No one ever used them. I decided to make the one from Anna White's site. I used joinery to attach the various pieces. The best thing of all: I find girls sitting in the boxes and take eggs from them. It really is awesome. I got a photo with real eggs and you can also see the wooden eggs to entice them to try it out. Thank you so much! I will build another one for the other side of the the wall.

Bench for Grandma!

The plan is great, I followed the instructions exactly.  Then altered the plan to build a second rack that would fit the bottom of the door, with foil, saran and bag storage at the bottom.  Consequently it was heavy and I was very skeptical of the hollow core door anchors, but I installed 3 at the top and 2 at the bottom of both pieces.  It's very solid and secure....would probably have worked fine with even less. This door is only 32" wide but has plenty of room for this project.  Thank you, looking forward to trying more of your plans.

We had this unused lower deck and this bar height table was the perfect addition. We have place now to hang when too hot or it’s raining. My husband and I built it in one weekend and your plans where great.

This tower plan was perfect for re-using some already stained 1x12’s I had from another project. It fills up that little square of unused space at the top of the stairs, and gives us extra storage for towels and TP for the 3 bathrooms in our house. I substituted 1x2 and ¼” plywood for the door and used some 1x2 and 1x3 to attach and build it in. This project has been up for a couple of months now, and has come in handy. This was my first attempt at doing something as a ‘built-in,’ and it gave me confidence that we could do our next big project (the pantry) as a built-in. Since the side and shelf boards were already stained, once it was assembled the finishing was easy- all I had to do was stain the trim boards to match, and paint the door and the inside.
Thanks for this great plan, Ana! I’m planning to build several more of these, for my sewing room.

Full over Full bunk beds. Adjusted for Full from a twin measurement. only 1" off floor for more head room.extra rail bar coverage upstairs for my daughter who rolls out of bed regularly.

8x12 coop modified from your classic shed plans. 2/3 for the chickens, 1/3 for storage.

by Harmony Munson

I decided to post this project as I know there is room for more information on finishing. I know I can be overwhelmed with all the different types of finish work out there as well as their associated tips/tricks, which are often not on the manufacture's directions!

My wife and I had some black furniture, which we were tired of. Some of it started from my bachelor days and some came later just to match things we already have. I really wanted to build new stuff for our living room, but it seemed like a little a bit of a waste, considering we liked it, minus the color!

Even though it was all sold as "better that Ikea" furniture, it was all pretty cheaply made with weak quarter turn screw joints and MDF.

The first thing I did was to take each piece apart and glue, pocket screw and nail the heck out of each piece.

I than scuff up the finish (committed now :-) ) with some 220 sandpaper. While my wife and I decided what color we wanted I looked into oil based paint. Even though it usually can't be found at HD or Lowe's a guy who worked in the paint department and was a professional painter for 30 years advised me to find some.

We both agreed that Latex paint never really seems to dry all the way, especially for a surface, which will have glasses and what not placed on them.

I got some oil based paint from a "paint store" and also bought a product called Penetrol to put in the paint. The Penetrol "watered down" the paint to allow more working time and avoid brush marks. I really tried to avoid usually a brush, and mainly used a very tight , high quality foam roller. It really work great and I just made sure I covered each area all the way from one side to the other. I would start with less Penetrol than they say. My paint was like soup and although it worked great, I figured you can always add more, but you can't take it out!!

The oil paint took about two days to dry in my garage (very cold now) and than I moved it into my house for the rest of the time. Once it was "cured" 3-4 days, it formed a shell like surface, which did not require any poly at all!

I feel it's about as good as you can get without having a sprayer. It was definitely more clean up as I needed paint thinner for the brushes I did use, but I stored them in zip loc bags in my garage refrigerator in between coats, until I was completely done!!

I hope this post helps someone out there!!

Build Instructions:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Shed-Ramp/

Video:

https://youtu.be/WTqfV1HDstc

My garage was starting to get cramped so I decided I needed a shed for the lawn/garden equipment. I thought about building one but bailed and decided to purchase a 10’ x 14’ shed with 6’ wide doors from the nearby Amish community. To not be a total slacker, I decided I could at least build the foundation and ramp. I’ve never built a ramp so I did a little research online and found that there are an abundance of styles, both good and bad. Anyway, this is my attempt at ramp design. Hope someone finds it useful.