Community Brag Posts
Farmhouse Table
I followed the plans pretty closely. As you can see, I added an extra 2X4 inside the uprights. This gave me room to mortise the 2X4s that run under the table top. Very sturdy and useful. The third pic shows when we used this table for a birthday party. Matched up exactly with our dining room table! It only took one extra 2x4 to make the alterations.
Fall Farmhouse Bench
My wife has been asking me for quite some time to build her a bench for the front porch. I finally found some time to make one. I looked at a lot of different benches on Pinterest, YouTube and other websites and I presented the options to her, and she liked this design the best. She only had one request and that was for the top to match the front door and the frame to be white. I have a step-by-step video of how I made the Farmhouse Bench (Click Here) to see the video.
Loft bed for american girl or 18" doll
My niece wanted the purple AG loft bed for her doll. Since, the one online is $225 and back ordered until December...I came up with this one for free! I used scrap wood and fabric that I had left over from other projects. The bed has a built in desk top, shelves, cubbies, ladder, bulletin board, and coat hooks. It took me a couple of hours to build the bed and the chair and about an hour to sew the comforter and pillows. The painting took a little longer because I was out of purple spray paint! grrrrrrr!
Comments
Thu, 11/08/2012 - 17:50
The bed is awesome!
Do you have a time frame when you plan to post your plans? My daughter wants one of these for Christmas and was going to get started trying to reverse engineer based on photos. Then decided to check internet and found this! Would love to get plans do not care if scanned pieces of paper. Thank you!
Pottery Barn knock off table, benchwright collection
This is the third time I built this table. Everyone who has it loves it because it is the "perfect size". This last build was someone not as rustic, so I opted a premade round table top. This probably added $15 to the project but saved at least an hour.
Plant stand
I really liked the sleek design of the concrete topped patio table. I needed a plant stand for an epic boston fern on my front porch, so I modified this design to use 1x2 cedar and topped the stand with a piece of travertine tile. I like the way it turned out. It's winter here, so no front porch photo, only a sad photo in our kitchen which we are in the process of remodelling.
Rustic Kitchen Island
5 8’ 2x4s were not enough. I could not figure out how to get the needed cuts from 5 boards. We had to go back and get more (a 3 hour round trip) which didn’t help with keeping costs down.
I’ve wanted this built for a looong time and finally roped my husband into building it for me. We used cedar. 2x8s weren’t available so we substituted for 2x6s. We have 6 of those boards across the top, making a few inches of overhang on either side. I liked it just as it was so I didn’t trim the ends of the shelf boards.
The top is stained with pure tung oil for waterproofing. The frame and shelves are painted with milk paint stain. 2 coats of this left it pink until a light coat of tung oil brought out the nice darker colour. Waiting for the tung oil to dry killed me because I wanted to be able to use it right away.
Entryway Cubby from Book
I have been wanting to build an entryway cubby for some time now and was excited to see these plans in the book! (Awesome job, by the way!). I modified the plans to fit my entryway space and also used all wood left over from other projects. I added the wood top too. Now I just have to figure out how to hang it!
I'm actually in the process of finishing the Apothecary media console so I used this project to test out the finish I was thinking about using.
Paint: Behr Premium Plus in Beluga, Flat finish
Wood stain: Minwax Dark Walnut, 2-3 coats (I did pre-condition the wood before staining)
Poly: Rustoleum Ultimate Soft Touch Matte
I love the Rustoleum soft touch poly-it dries so beautifully.
I did glaze the edges, too.
I'm planning to build the bench next and finally my entryway will be organized (hard with a 2 1/2 year old!)
Stain: Minwax Dark Walnut
Poly: Rustoleum Soft Touch Ultimate in Matte
Used a glaze over the edges
Pie safe, jelly cabinet
This is the result of my interpretation on Patrick's Jelly Cubbard. Unless the cut
list has been updated there are some corrections that need to made. The rails
at 11" are too short. I adjusted for this by making them 14" and my rails run the
entire length of the door tops. If you prefer to have interior rails then the stiles
must be changed. The easiest fix for me was the rails. It took me around 9
hours to complete however my shop was already set up for this project. Each
station was ready for all of the cuts and my pocket hole jig was already set. I
spent minimal time sanding as I wanted to have a bit of a rustic look and I
wanted the stain to have sharp contrasts in the color over different sections of
the woodgrain. I used knotted pine for for the 1x12's and knotless for the front
and shelves. I used beadboard paneling for the back and the panels on the
doors attached with 1" screws. The hinges were purchased right off the shelf
from instock items in a big box store as were the pulls that are a close match
in color. I added magnets at the bottom to keep the doors closed. I also added
a piece of simple molding around the top.
I will be doing another one of these to which I will add punched tin panels to
the front doors. I really enjoyed this project and other than the cut list causing a
minor hiccup everything was spot on.
Fancy X Desk
easy project especially since I asked the guys at the hardware store to cut my pieces to length and I cut the angles with my new sliding compound miter saw. Since I reduced the length of the desk to 5 feet, the angles and length of the cross supports in the back changed drastically and had to be played with to get it right. I also added a hidden shelf between the 2 support 2X4's to hide all the cable for the computer. I just used scraps for the hidden shelf. Nothing more unattractive than a bunch a cords and cables hanging behind. Worked great and I should have taken pictures as the build was happening.
Comments
Thu, 11/08/2012 - 06:07
Looks Great!
The desk looks wonderful! I am curious what color of paint and stain you used? I am wanting to build a coffee table and that is the combination of paint and stain I like!
Farmhouse Queen Plans
I have wanted to build this bed for a very long time. I finally bit the bullet, stopped procrastinating and just got on with it and thank god I did. It was actually easier than I thought. It just about built itself! I built this bed taller than the plans called for. I used joist hangers to support the mattress beams. The joist hangers were attached to the inside of the siderails and the mattress beams just slot into them for easy removal. The most time consuming part about this build was the painting. It is extremely sturdy. This bed will last a life time.
DIY Farmhouse Table w/ Matching Benches for the Dining Room
This was a relatively simple job and saved hundreds of dollars versus buying a new one in the store. Distressed the wood myself and modified the plans to fit our space. Minimal tools and woodworking skills were needed. A big shout-out to Ana White for the DIY plans.
🍒 Here is a video I shot to show the final project➔ https://youtu.be/tnskR5J-8Mo
Good luck!
Dresser Makeover
I bought an unfinished dresser from a local furniture refinisher - on clearance. It was intended as a changing table as I was preparing the nursery for our first child (about 5 1/2 year ago). Finally, 5 years and another baby (who is now 3) later, I finally decided to do something with it. So, please note that I did NOT build this piece from scratch. Rather, it was more a finishing project. It was unfinished pine. I failed to capture the "before" photo. Inspired by the Farmhouse Console and the Antique White project, I decided to tackle a distressed look.
I sanded between each coat, and focused on areas that would naturally be worn. The end result was essentially some areas of bare wood showing through, and other areas where the base color shows through.
I don't remember where the baskets came from, but they fit perfectly and the red-checkered pattern matched nicely. It turned out to be such a cute addition to my daughter's room, and I think it will be a piece that will grow with her.
Sandpaper in 60, 120 and 320
Behr enamal paint (in Buttercup and Antique Red)
Behr Glaze (not necessary)
Minwax Finishing Wax paste
small paint roller
small paint brush
cotton rags (which I made from old 100% cotton t-shirts)
I sanded... and sanded... and sanded. I have a little handheld Porter Cable sander that works brilliantly, except that it doesn't get into the little cracks and crevices, so I did that by hand. I started with 60 grain, then 120.
I painted 2 coats of Behr interior flat enamel in Buttercup, sanding with 120 in between coats, sanding through to bare wood where it would naturally be worn. Here is where it got interesting and frustrating. When I originally purchased paint, the very nice gentleman at the paint counter asked me what I was doing. I explained that I was doing a faux distressed finish on a dresser. I ordered a pint of the red paint, and he then explained to me that I should go with the Behr glaze. So, he gave me the glaze and that little sample of the red to mix into the glaze.
Glaze fail. I actually liked the look, but it was so not the look I was going for. Nevermind the fact that the glaze dries very quickly and soon became a sticky mess.
So, I left the project for about a week to ensure that the glaze was completely dry.
Then, I sanded with 60 and 120 again. The intention wasn't to get the glaze off, but rather treat it like a base coat. I then painted the entire piece with the red (no glaze). Then sanded with 120 in areas that would naturally be worn. The end result was essentially some areas of bare wood showing through, and other areas where the buttercup color shows through.
I sanded one final time with the 320 grain. I then used 2 coats of Minwax wax, resulting in a very silky, shiny finish. (It seriously is SO soft to the touch!)
Comments
Mon, 11/12/2012 - 11:06
I'm very impressed with your
I'm very impressed with your recycled changing table--beautiful finish on a piece that will indeed grow with your daughter. The piece itself reminded me of the recycling console (pp. 86-91) in Ana's new book. Your finish would look awesome on that plan, too.
Bedside table
I needed to build a bedside table to go with my farmhouse bed and I wanted to make one that was not matchy matchy with my other one and it also needed to look a little more manly.
I used new chunky pine for this build.
I couldn't find the right handle for this so I bought a steel strip from Bunnings and bent it into shape and drilled holes to attach it to the drawer. I bashed the steel strip with a hammer to make it look more rustic and battered.
The bolts on the legs are purely for decoration.
I think I managed to make a manly looking bedside table and it goes really well with my farmhouse bed and bedside table.
Handmade Farm table
This was my first attempt to build a table . I'm very pleased with the outcome.
White semi gloss for some high lights . Stain doesn't dull the finish of semi gloss paints.
Sand entire piece to bring some of the natural wood back out.
Then I applied min wax Jacobean stain color over the top of everything.
Lastly I applied 2 coats of min wax semi gloss poly.
Ultimate Work Bench using Ana's plans
When I first saw Ana's Ultimate Work Bench I was blown away. I *had* to make this. I love how neat the garage looks when everything is put away.
I had to make a few extra cuts in order to allow room for my table saw fence, but other than that the only thing I did differently was to pretty it up using a white gel wood stain that I sealed with finishing paste. I also added trim using the leftover 1/4 inch plywood.
Thank you for being such an inspiration, Ana. I love your plans!
20 sec tidy up coffee table
This was one of my first projects that I completed all be myself. I've done lot's of furniture with my dad but never alone. It went pretty smoothly just following the plans. I even used the Kreg jig for the first time and I love it! I completed in about two or three months working on the weekends for a few hours when I could. I was also working on refinishing my son's trundle bed so I'm not really sure how long it took me to finish. Sorry for the poor quality photos, I'm terrible at taking pictures.
Comments
Fri, 11/16/2012 - 11:21
great finish
I love how the darker areas look on your table. I tried for that look when I made mine but couldn't get it right. I will have to try again next time. Congrats on your first solo project:-)
Fri, 11/16/2012 - 20:22
the finish
thanks, I didn't wipe any of the stain off, I just blended it in to the rest of the board.
toy box
Simple cuts, kreg jig made all the difference when putting this together. Made for my niece's 2nd birthday and both she & my sister loved it.
Fancy X Farmhouse table with top attachment idea
For my third project I built my brother-in-law the Fancy X Farmhouse table cut down to a size suitable for him and his girlfriend. When I read through the comments it seemed like alot of people had the same question: How do I attach the top?!?!?! As this was going to be used for an indoor dining table I didnt want to screw through the top if I didnt have to and I didnt want to use metal bracketry eithery. What I did required 4 inch screws and a 5/8 drill bit. Ive attached pictures to show where I placed the wood suport pieces. Two screws went through the top cross beam (connecting the two leg ends) into the center support piece and I put a total of 2 screws each through the sides of the two longer support pieces and into the top board of the legs. I used a 5/8 bit to drill about an inch (very rough estimate and essentially to countersink the screws an inch deep) into the 3.5 inch width of the 2x4s and then a smaller drill to pre-drill holes for the 4 inch screws. This allowed the head of the screws to sit about an inch into the wood and the threaded portion of the screw to dig deep enough into the second board without going through it. Overall it holds great and there are no visible screw heads on the top of the table!
FYI This technique DOES require aligning the cross beam with the top of the second 2x4 rather than the top 2x4 because you want to save enoughg room the support pieces. (See pictures)