Community Brag Posts

I modified the tall and lengthwise laundry basket dresser a bit to make this shorter version. I also combined it into a single dresser instead of it being two separate dressers side by side. I put the dresser on casters so that I can roll it around my laundry room. I can tuck it away in the closet area or roll it out and use it as a folding counter.

This bed frame was my first project. There are some mistakes, but overall, I love the way it turned out. I combined two plans: "Mom's fancy farmhouse bedframe" and the storage bed.

I love the look of wood and would have loved to stain this project. However, this project was painted due to the fact that I repurposed Ikea bookshelves for the two side pieces. The pieces I built were the headboard, bottom storage bench, and the drawers. 

There are a couple of things I learned during this project. 

1. Measure, remeasure and if you're building pieces like drawers to fit your frame, measure just one more time. I did not plan to frame the bottom storage box I built, so when I made measurements for my drawers, it was for the frameless box. I, however, changed my mind and ended up framing the box and cutting the drawers. I put them together and checked to see if they fit and ooops.....they don't because I added frames. So, lessoned learned was to double check before I make cuts especially since I made measurements at the beginning of my project. 

    1A. I also ended up going off the measurements for the "farmhouse bed frame" for the headboard and didn't match my calculations for the storage bed frame to match. So, the headboard ended up being wider than intended and it sticks out. I did not end up rebuilding the headboard or the bedframe since I thought it would be too much work.

2. Making drawers did not agree with me. I seriously had to redo my first drawer four times due to my mismeasuring or calculating. After everything clicked, the rest of the drawers were a breeze.

3. The drawers I made with 1/2 plywood. Looking back, I would have made them with 3/4 plywood. I also would have made the drawers shorter so I could have built the faces of the drawers using Ana-white's drawer face plans (they seem so much easier!).

4. The drawer faces were made with 45 degree cuts to add more interest vs the straight pieces of wood. I'll admit, this was my husband's idea and I LOVE it. However, getting the pieces just right weren't the easiest thing (and they aren't perfect, but it's our first project and it's good enough). It made painting the bevel a little more difficult too.  So, if I were to do this again, I would have made the drawers shorter, used 1/2 ply for the face and glue the frame on the 1/2 ply to attach to the drawer.

5. The finishing part took the longest. I used Glidden semi-gloss white paint off the shelf. I actually used old paint that the previous owner of my house left. I would NOT use old paint again. The paint must have been at least 3 years old and I thought I mixed it well, but it seems like there's some yellow in the paint. I'm guessing I didn't mix it well enough.

We moved into a new house with exposed dark beams and white railings. Plus, we were gifted a new white couch, so the wife wanted a new coffee table. I loved this project and decided to do it a little different and try the dual finish look to go with our furnishings and house. We love the finished product. Assembly was a snap. As always, the staining and clear coat step took the longest.

Almost done :)

I needed mine to move so I added some castors to the bottom. It is my bakery cart! I also had hubby put a double towel rack on it for my flour clothes. Thanks so much for the plans! This is my first project and I loved doing it! Hubby got me the Kreg Jig and it was a breeze. I even used that for the top!!

I needed to build a loft bed for a small room that has a nine foot ceiling, I wanted to have ample storage room below, but was concerned about a ladder that would stick out at an angle taking up a little too much precious real estate in the small room.  Using Ana's great Sketch Up plans, I modified the design by incorporating a fifth leg as a permant addition to attach the ladder to.  Part of the appeal of Ana's design was the ability to take apart the bed if it ever needed to be taken out of the room it is installed in, and the ladder became a part of the foot board end, perhaps a little unwieldy, but still able for two people to lift and move.

As a self-taught woodworker, I wanted something a little nicer than standard pine boards, and since we have a nice local hardwood supplier in our town, I was able to buy some nice red oak in a 13/16" thickness.  This project gave me the opportunity to use the planer that I bought some time ago but hadn't really used very much, so I ended up milling all of the wood to bring all to a uniform thickness.  In gluing up the legs, I used a spreader and a lot of clamps so that there are no screws, staples or nails joining the boards, just a lot of Titebond II.   

For the ladder itself, I cut dados in the upright edges of the ladder and attached the treads with 2" wood screws along with a liberal amount of glue.  I had a slight miscaculation on the width of the ladder, so in order for it to fit in between the two legs, I had to plane away a small amount of wood, which you can see the end of in the last picture, the close up of the ladder.

After a fair amount of sanding and a round over bit in my palm router to break all the exposed edges, I finished with three coats of polyurethene.  The bed was assembled in the room using 2" wood screws which I had pre-drilled when I dry-fitted the bed out on my driveway.  There are three screws in each corner of the mattress board and two screws in each corner of the railing.  The short section of the front rail is also attached with screws so it can be removed as well if the bed is ever moved.  I finished the installation with three, six inch lag bolts, two higher up going into wall studs, one near the bottom bolting into the wall plate on the floor.  The bed was very solid, but has been made even more so with the addition of a bookshelf spanning the width of the footboard, and it is as deep as the ladder is wide.  I offset the side of the bookshelf on the ladder side to allow for a two inch gap so your toes can overhand the ladder treads when climbing up or down.

This project went pretty quick. I've learned how important it is to make super accurate cuts while making a carcass and inserts for it so I didn't have to "fix" as much along the way for this piece, yay for progress! The only amendment I made was adding drawer glides because this will be in my toddler's room so I didn't want the drawers to be able to come out all the way. I used mostly scrap wood I had that just needed to be ripped to the right size for all the framing pieces so all we actually had to buy was the 3/4" ply! And it cleaned up my scrap pile nicely too!

My wife sent me your YouTube video of making the sectional.  She asked me if I would make her one.  It was perfect timing because our 9 year anniversary was just around the corner.  So my 5 yr old daughter and I went to Lowes and purchased the supplies on a Friday night.  Her 8 year old brother and her helped me measure, and assemble (I did all the cutting;).  We enjoyed the project as a family and were very proud to present to mommy for a gift...

thank you!

Jack Christensen

I'm so excited about my farmhouse table! I used mostly scrap wood that I had lying around, and I adjusted the length of the table to fit my space (it is 62" long). I cut the table ends in a curve pattern just for a little more interest. I used the steel wool/vinegar solution to darken and age the top, with a paste wax finish on top to give it a more aged patina. I painted the base with the paint leftover from my outdoor sectional that I built from Ana's plans. The actual table didn't take long to put together, but it took me a month to get around to the finish.

Sorry for the photos - I used my cell phone camera and the light was bad!

This was my first build from your site! Farmhouse bench.
I was a little confused with the miter saw instructions "bevel cut at a 10 degree angle off center". I had to google to figure out what you meant. In the end the bench looks awsome and I feel very empowered with my tools.
(still need to stain the finished project, bought all the wood and built in 1 day)
Thank you Ana for sharing your plans!! I love your site and I love my Kreg Jig!
Vicki
(Canada)

I've had this idea to build some sort of storage bench or blanket chest for quite a while now. I knew I wanted a classic look with detailed moldings and a solid wood top.

I have plans for this build avaliable HERE. 

You can check out my detailed video tutorial :

Ive been looking for a sewing table to fit my space. but found none for less than $500 and they were quite small. I found a post at quiltedcupcake.com that linked me to another blog, linking me here. I modified the plan to be about 2 feet wide and cut a hole to fit my sewing machine. There is a support in the bottom to hold my machine level with the tabletop. When I make this in the future, I will splurge on a fine hardwood. This plan was easy to build and looks great! Just what I was looking for :D