Community Brag Posts

This was really my first build and it stemmed from not being able to find the kind of beds I wanted for my girls. My brother helped me cut the wood and assemble the first one and my husband and I did the second together. It was so rewarding to make them and I love how they turned out! You can store so much and they are sturdy pieces. My girls love them too. (bedding is from Pottery Barn) I would stay this is a beginner's project. You don't need any specialized tools. it was a lot of fun and now I'm it itching to buy a Kreg Jig so I can complete many more projects!

Time to get organized in 2017....and what better way than with some custom shelving. This was not too bad of a project to complete. It only took about 6-8 hours to cut, frame, and assemble everything together (thanks to an interruption or two). 'Twas nice to have a project for once that I didn't have to care about finishing the project with wood filler, sanding, painting. I am sure my wife thanks me more as I would have been another week getting things just right​​​​​! 

A few changes that I made from the original plans:

- used 2x8 for the shelving runs as I only was dealing with a 10ft run and was a few bucks cheaper to buy 8 boards vs 16 boards. Plus less cuts!!! 

-installed adjustable furniture feet in the supports to deal with sloping basement floor. Unexpected side effect was it was easier to slide the unit around in the basement as I assembled it. 

Outside of those changes I remained faithful to the original design. I didn't bother filling the screw holes as we will be hiding the shelving unit with a curtain once  we turn the room into a TV/Office area. 

Also as it wasn't 100% clear from the original plans, but the height measurements for the shelf supports are to center... not sure why it didn't register with me right away... but just in case anyone else didn't realize that as well. 

I love Ana's original design and it was a great inspiration. I needed to add more baskets so I adjusted it a little. I had some drawer slides sitting around so I added a pull out shelf to fold on as well.

Hope you like it! We used Duck Egg Chalk Paint and a dark walnut stain for the top and legs. We also put in drawer slides instead of doing it the normal way the plans said. (That was harder than we expected but the pay off is well worth it.) Knobs are from Hobby Lobby and we wrapped them in twine to brighten them up!

I made a few modifications from the original plans as I wanted to have some visibility into the cabinets. I used natural pine and finished with a tea, vinegar/steel wool solution to give it the reclaimed wood look.

This was just what I needed! My daughter started homeschooling and we needed a place to neatlly contain her school stuff. I had her working at the kitchen table next to me, but it still felt like it lacked the school atomosphere. I removed the area for the paper holder and instead added a few support scraps to hold her folders and books upright. 

It did take me awhile to get the support hinges placed correctly (I almost gave up and went with a rope or chain) but I finally got them placed correctly after placing a pencil mark on where they could lie correctly open and closed - seriously this took me awhile because just when I thought I had it, the brackets when closed would be to deep for the desk or when I placed it it correctly inside when open it wasn't 90 degrees. 

The only thing I wish was that I had made it slightly shorter, because when it is open it is a little hard for her to reach the top shelf, but its not to bad and that is the height my scrap bead board was and I was to lazy to cut it =) 

I had a magnetic clasp left over from another project and that has worked well to keep it closed nice and tight, I also used some foam board I had lying around for the back so that her things were not tapped/pinned on my wall. I choose the bead board on the front because A: it is what I had lying around and B: it is in my dining room so I wanted it looking a little nicer.

I had everything on hand excpet for the support brackets which cost me 2 something each at Lowes. YAY for projects under $10 bucks! Thank you so much Ana!

I used the x-back bench plans to build this bench, but trimmed the length down to 4 feet to fit the space.  It's constructed with cedar and is so beefy and sturdy. It has stood it's own against several storms already and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Thanks Ana for all the free plans and tutorials! 

I found a barn door headboard in a rustic furniture store years ago. They wanted $2700 for a Queen size....no thank you! I followed the plans for the Farmhouse King Bed and added cross pieces for barn door look using instructions from the Brookstone Headboard. I cut the legs at 56” to add some height and I set the bottom of the back panel at 18” above the floor to make sure no gap is seen with our thinner, memory foam mattress. I couldn’t be happier with our headboard and the total cost, including screws & stain, was about $150! Boom! Thank you Ana White for sharing plans! I’m working on the Mini Farmhouse Bedside Table now & feel like I can build anything! I would highly recommend Power Pro Premium Interior screws (no splitting or stripped heads, no pre-drilling & they counter-sink great in soft wood). For the 4x4 posts I used GRK UberGrade R4 multi-purpose 4” screws, which had the same quality, all from Lowe’s.