Community Brag Posts

This was the first table i built a couple of years ago at the age of 19, it is just a simple trestle leg table made from white oak. The dimensions are 10 feet long by 3 feet wide.

My husband built this bed for our 4 year old son and let me say its just perfect! His room is on the smaller side and this made a huge difference for him to have more play room. When my son seen it his eyes filled up with tears he was so excited! My husband built this bed on a Sunday afternoon. He torched the wood along the grain, and then over a period of a week added clear (he used 3 coats as the wood just soaked it up pretty good ). Highly reccomend this project!

Substituted the galvanized pipes for heavy grade (Type M) copper pipes for a prettier, warmer look (I'm obessed with copper accents!) 

So happy to have found these plans, and proud of how it turned out! It was even better than what I was hoping/looking to build. (I can't stop staring at it! :) It looks like I paid over $1000 at some high end furniture store like West Elm, but managed to make it for under $200!!!

Thanks Ana White for these plans and all of the others on your site. You have shown both me and my 65 year old mother the confidence and joy of woodworking! (And saved us a lot of money, too!)

We built this tilt-out cabinet for our trash and plan to build a matching one for our recycling. We modified it a little and used bead board on the face of the cabinet to match some other elements in our kitchen. We painted it bright red using some leftover paint and absolutely love it!

We ended up not using any mechanism to prevent the drawer from falling to the ground - the trash can we purchased is JUST big enough that it stops the drawer from opening all the way, which is great!

There are more pictures below and on our blog, http://strawbridgestuff.com

This is a country style dresser I built from one of ana's plans. I slightly modified the top and the dimensions to fit my needs. Painting this dresser was the biggest challenge. First I stained the entire dresser, then I applied 3 coats of ce ce caldwells chalk paint. I then used a wet rag to wipe away the yellow in areas I wanted distressed. Last I applied a paste wax to seal it.

First time I designed a piece of furniture.  Made out of pine.  Slat top and bottom with book shelves on both ends.  Joints held with glue and pocket screws.  Minwax pre-stain conditioner.  Two coats of Minwax Provincial stain.  Three coats of polyurethane.  

This was my first shot a farmhouse table. It was pretty easy to make overall. Frame and tabletop were put together mostly with dowels and wood glue but I put a few pocket screws and corner braces in for extra support. I also added a decorative trim board to the sides, which I put on the face of 2x3s. The tabletop is four 2x10s and two 2x6s for the ends. The stain is a dark Expresso color and I coated with polyurethane. The legs were bought from Lowes at a reasonable price since I lack the tooling and know-how for a lathe. 

The benches were exactly the same except I used two 2x6s for the tops. 

One of my first projects and first attempt at sewing since 7th grade!

I used Ana's plans for the Simple, Cheap and Easy Console Table and modified it. I used 1x4 boards for the top of my table and added a bottom shelf using 1x3s. The top is stained with Minwax Early American and the bottom of the table has 2 coats of red paint and a chocolate glaze. I lightly sanded some areas of the table (it was my first time distressing a piece of furniture so I didn't want to overdo it) and then I used a chocolate glaze to get a distressed look. I finished it with 3 coats of Polyurethane.

Built the console (without the hutch) and my wife wanted another one a little diffrent for the other wall so I modified the plans a bit and made the second one. this was our first "distressed" paint job. I think it turned out great!

Great project and fun to do. I've actually made 6 tables off this same plan, all different sizes,from 4ft. To 8ft.. 

First project. Followed the plans exactly. Since it was my first project I used furring strips to save money. It still ended up costing me a bit for some extra tools (counter sink drill bits, wood filler, sanding paper). Used a cream color water based paint for the base coat followed by a very light coat of bright blue on top. I sanded it to the desired distressed look I wanted then sealed it with a clear coat.

edited the plans a little bit because the original plans were too tall. my cabinet is only 36 inches high. I did the inlet doors but if I had to do it over again i would ABSOLUTELY do overlay doors to cover up any imperfections in the opening. this project is a little bulky to move around and therefore get the shelves level, at least it was for me.

Also, I cut the back two inch strips to fit more snuggly. I ripped one piece at a 45 so it fit more flush against the other 1X2 on the back. This cut around the back of the shelves better in my opinion but isn't necessary.

I chose to do a similar paint treatment. i sprayed on a nice dark grey with my wagner 590 sprayer and then did a white wash with a big 4inch brush and just brushing on liberally (and mostly dry)

GREAT Project and fits the space very well. THANK YOU!

I kind of took this project to the next level.  I have never built anything like this before, some shelves and minor wood working projects but I wanted this piece to be really special for my wife who requested I make this for our family room.  I made it out of solid poplar and used birch plywood for the sides.  I decided to dovetail the drawers and recess the drawer bottoms.  The entire frame was assembled using biscuits, dowels and glue rather than screws or nails and it took me 6 weeks to complete but I didn't work on it daily.  The project cost me about $450 in materials but it was worth it.  

I wish I had used joined wood for the sides rather than plywood because it did not take stain well (blotchy).  I upgraded the drawer slides to side mounted ball bearing made by Amerock that I got on Amazon for a great price.  The stain was custom mixed from two standard Minwax stain colors I used oil based semi-gloss on the top and water-based semi-gloss on the remainder.  I had some experience with doweling and biscuits but had never dovetailed before.  I purchased the Porter-Cable 4212 kit and opted for the through dovetails for added strength.  The drawers barely needed glue, and it was very easy to use!   I mounted the top using figure 8 fasteners which was another first for me but I highly recommend them.  The hardware I found on Amazon at very reasonable prices compared to big box stores but couldn’t find a silver colored label holder so I purchased brass and used Rust-Oleum Flat Antique Nickle to get them to match the pulls. 

I am a beginner at this but feel that this was a great project there was only one error in the list of materials to cut but other users have already identified that.  I anyone has questions on this project I will be happy to help! 

After building one 6 Cube Bookshelf (http://ana-white.com/2010/07/well-i-did-promise-you-i-would-work-on.html) so my wife would have somewhere to store toys for the kids, I decided to modify the plan to use in our bedroom.

I chose to put doors on it, and learned quite a bit. Rather than 6 standard cubes, I went with a single divider on each shelf. The back and the doors are both made from some Bead Board trim packages that I found for about $12 at my local big-box.

I added a 16" wide board on the top to create the look I wanted.

I also want to note that when you're working alone, some right-angle clamps are lifesavers! Makes it a lot easier to keep square and hold things together while you drill and screw everything together.

I chose some hardware that came close to what we already had in our bedroom. The hinges took me 4 different trips to get right (first was wrong type (did not want self-closing), second was wrong depth, third was wrong color).

Overall I'm very happy with it and so is my wife. We replaced a piece of furniture that was twice as wide and it's amazing how nice it is to not have to walk around it when walking through our bedroom.

I am redesigning my family, which is really the children's playroom. I have decided to change it to a beach theme. I saw the project on this site and knew immediately it would be a perfect fit as a storage/coffee table. Within 5 minutes of me completing the box, my three year old started filling it up with toys.

I have to admit it is slightly tall for a coffee table, so I'm debating cutting off the legs. It would be easy enough to do without taking the entire project apart and it would make it the perfect height.

I did have to plan my build around my work schedule and the kids, so I did what Ana suggested and built a panel a day. I cut all the wood one day, then built a panel a day. The last day, I started putting the pieces together, put the bottom boards in and made the top.