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I had a wall in our living room that was bare for almost 4 years. SO happy with the results of my "Ten Dollar Ledges"!!

Hey Ana -

You're plans have been such a great help to me here in the Bahamas. You've saved us thousands of dollars. Really! Here's one of my many adirondack chairs under construction. I added a Bahamian accent. 

I built this based on the idea of the mimi storage bench and hutch. We will use this in our garage next to or shoe rack. I built this primarily from 1x6 cedar fence pickets, a few cedar 1x2's and a couple cedar 2x4's.  

The lid lifts for off season shoe storage.  All bench joinery is with pocket holes and the cedars pickets are attached with pneumatic 1 or 2-1/2" nails.  

I used my speedy square's 45 degree angles to trace out the mountain silloutes and then cut them out with my jigsaw.  I paced myself on the project and my four year old helped quite a bit with measuring and handing me the next board. We're excited to have a little spot to change shoes and grab the jackets.  Feel free to check out my Instagram for other random projects or are family fun  instagram.com/fotosnapper 

First Project...

Different aspects of the project took a lot longer than they should since I was trying to figure out how to use all of my new toys, e.g. circular saw, kreg jig, adjustable shelf jig, sander, etc., but I think it ended up turning out pretty good.

I ended up buying an unfinished rocking chair on Craigslist for $20, which I finished the same way.

I have some pallet wood and decided to make some Christmas trees.  They were really fast and easy.  I cut them at a 45° and just glued and nailed them together. 

This dollhouse was super easy to make! Harper (the doll) wanted an open concept living/kitchen, and that is the first floor. Second floor are the bedroom and bathroom. Top floor is the closet. The roof is made from 3.5" slats of luan glued together and painted with black sanded paint. Notice the baseboards and crown molding? My granddaughter helped cut windows out with a jig saw. I still owe my granddaughter a garage and patio with pergola, and kitchen appliances and chairs, but that will wait until summer when she can help craft/build them. 

Harper's bed is modeled after the farmhouse bed plans available on this site, but I used smaller scrap lumber. I wanted milk paint but was unwilling to pay the high price, so I bought a sample jar of antique ivory paint and watered it down. It turned out great!

This was our first major project, so we learned a lot while we were doing it. We painted our bed white, and rather than using metal bed rails (which no one seemed to sell), we improvised and fastened 2x4s to the inside of our side rails. Then we cut slats to rest on the 2x4s and run the width of the bed. The 2x4s lend great stability to the side rails, and are much less costly, not to mention easier to obtain. ($10 vs. $75) This bed is sturdy and solid. I think we will be handing it down to our grandchildren in fifty years!

I have added a few things to make this workbench comprehensive. I added a paper towel holder, go Jo holder, cord hooks, electric bar,  and I enclosed the sides and put a door on the front and a hinged pegboard on the back which makes it able for me to store all of my tools and lock them up.

I followed Anna's incredibly easy to follow plans pretty darn closely. I used Cherry for 90% of the bed and the cross-boards on the headboard and footboard are poplar. I used lumber that I had been holding on to for some time and purchased construction-grade lumber for the frame. Anna's plans allowed me to bring to fruition my dream to build my own bed. This was the largest project I'd built to date, and I was incredibly happy with the outcome. For a mattress I ordered foam from http://www.mattressbymail.com/ I ordered 5" of high quality foam and 4" of the 5lb viscomax memory foam and it is the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in for

This Rekourt dining table was a slightly more complicated build as it involved planning for removable extensions. I finished the base using a slightly off-white milk paint from Homestead House Paint Company (Canadian) with a distressed finish.

The tabletop was stained using a process of Orange Pekoe Tea solution, followed Steel Wool and White Vinegar solution, stained with Minwax's Dark Walnut stain and finished with an oil-based satin polyurethane from Varathane (Canadian subsidiary of Rust-Oleum).

To achieve the distressed and antiqued look on the base, I first applied stain on the edges of the base and on some middle parts where I knew I would sand down.  I then applied vaseline on certain spots that I had stained which created a beautiful effect of crackling paint. I then painted the entire base using VOC-free milk paint from the Homestead House Paint Company.  I even went over the vaseline spots. As soon as the paint dried, the spots that had vaseline, you could immediately notice that the paint had not adhered to the wood and it started cracking which made these wood pieces appear old and weathered.

For the extensions, I carefully cut out two openings on the first leg braces that touch the bottom of the tabletop.  These were JUST wide enough to allow two 2x4's to slide in and out with a bit of force, but without being too tight.  I made sure I left enough space for when the wood would expand.  The extensions are basically two 2x4's support pieces with a two 10" board planked together for addition breadboards. I used the same width of boards as the breadboards to maintain a consistent look.  I painted the support pieces white to contrast with the tabletop and to match the base.

I really enjoyed this one as it challenged me to modify the plan and come up with my own solutions/designs.
 

To see my other projects, make sure to visit my facebook page (only after you have spent enough time on Ana's site!)
www.facebook.com/simplyrustik

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Couldn't be happier with how this turned out! I was going for a rustic look so I beat up and scratched up all my boards before staining. I built with pine. I used walnut stain, then rubbed on a thin layer of black paint to achieve the color.

I tried a few combinations of paint and stain with scrap, then let my wife choose which color combo she loved best!

Our baby's turning 3 and is ready for a twin bed, having slept in a toddler version since 18mo... but we just HAD to build this adorable canopy toddler bed for her while she can still use it. We added a small window box that had been above her previous bed to the footboard, she stores her stuffed animals/bedtime books in there. Just need to pick out new sheets and fabric for the canopy :) Both she and the puppy love it, Thanks Ana!!

I built this in my spare time over a couple weeks.  I am really happy with the results.  It was easier to build than I expected, considering this was my first builf that has a drawer. I am wanting to build the storage bed, and I am trying to get a few practices in with drawer making first.  We draw names for Christmas in my husbands family and I drew the name of a wine lover.  I hope she likes it!

After painting this bench, I customized it by adding the child's name, as well as some other art to it using black acrylic paint.  Turned out awesome!

My husband and I needed a small bench for our long hallway. This plan was perfect! Somehow though we bought extra wood, I followed the shopping list exactly. Took about an hour to cut and put together. Painted it a matte black and sanded edges to looked distressed, and then 1 coat of polycyrlic. Cost about 15.00 to make.