Community Brag Posts

I built this saw several years ago using plans i got on the internet. At the time I needed a way to easily breakdown full sheets by myself. It is extremely accurate and easy to use. With the removeable wings attached it opens up to over 12'. It easily collapses for storage. I would reccommend this to anyone who does not have the room for a professional quality cabinet saw. It took me about a weekend to build. All parts were readily available at my local homecenter and hardware store. I since have gotten a cabinet saw and a tracksaw so sadly this saw now sits in a corner of my shop.

Luv your site. Took your bench swing plan and modified it a bit (shortened depth) and then created a small pergola to hang it from. Just need to stain/poly to finish it off. Thanks for your plan and website it is very inspiring.

Thank you soo much for the apron plans. I've used a sewing machine about 5 times in my life, and I didn't know what "stitch in the ditch" or bias tape or trim was, but with the plans and some web searching, I was actually able to sew this apron. It took me considerably longer than others, especially because I don't have an iron, pins, or a seam ripper (ripping a seam took me over an hour). Again, thank you sooo much! I hope to never lose my pen and tape measure at the lumber yard again with this handy creation :)

Total cost was around $170. I used western red cedar for 4x4 posts and 2x4's, all the rest is carpenter pine. For the slats I decided to go with .375" dowel pins and drilled holes to hold slats in place. I sunk 3" screws through frame to connect head and footboard, if I decide to move it one day, I will just remove screws and do the same again. The finish is Milk Paint, i absolutely love it, mostly because it is 100% non toxic for my kiddies :-). The bed is for my two year old who is delighted with it! Thanks Ana for once again saving the day! We have such great and solid furniture because of you!

My son needed more room in his bedroom...and to be rid of the very girly furniture he inherited when he moved into his "big boy-ish" bedroom. At 10 yrs old, it was high time he got a bed that wasn't pink-tinged, white washed pine with 4 posters and enough curlicues to choke a forest. He also needed a desk which I couldn't really fit in his room with the armoire and chest of drawers that came with the Queen sized bed.

So off to Ikea we went and I saw a black loft bed for $300, but it was really, really high which meant I would have to cut it down and it was not sturdy at all. I looked at PB and saw the $1800 bed. Um, no - that wasn't happening. So, off to Ana-White I went and I'm so happy I did!

I built the full sized version of these plans and, to keep costs down, used wood I had on hand. This meant I had to work a bit at the cuts, but it all worked out.

Mods:
1) I modified the railings to have the ladder at the end of the bed to keep away from the ceiling fan.

2) Because I put the ladder at the end of the bed, I got very nervous about having a soon-to-be teen climbing on to a ladder secured to a 1x10 that was only connected to the side railings with glue and screws. So I sandwiched extra 1x3s over the bottom rails and attached them to the top railing.

3) I was very nervous about making sure that the bed was adequately supported so I put a 2x4 down the center instead of the 1x2.

4) I went a wee-bit overboard screwing things together to the point where it's a bit embarrassing and now I have to paint over the screw heads.

5) I made the ladder treads with 2x4's, modifying the inside spacer board cut lengths.

Because I had quite a bit of lumber on hand, the bed only ended up costing me about $90.

For the bookcase, I did end up buying the 1x12s and the adjustable shelf railings. I made the book shelf the entire width of of the bed and split the two sections based on width of the 1x24 board I bought for the desk. I only put the backer board up half way so that the daylight could get underneath the bed and make it not so cave-like.

The book case cost me about $70.

The desk was the easiest...but most costly item. A 1x6x24, 4 table legs and the table leg mounts ran me about $80. The plexiglass top that I had cut for the top cost me about $80.

Time wise, this would have taken me a lot less time than the 4 months it took - but I worked on it as I could and when I could, by myself. I got some friends to help me bring it upstairs and put it back together, but it was mostly done when I could fit in some time.

My son LOVES this and it really does give him so much room!!! Thanks Ana - I really appreciate it!

On this project we modified a few things like the arm rests which we cut at an angle to keep kids from pinching fingers in there if someone decided to move the bench back on them. We also modified the size which we made 6'x4' to maximize play sand space and kid space. Therefore this made our benches bigger so that big kids (my husband) could sit on the benches and play in the sandbox. Yes there was talk about putting cup holders but I won the conversation by mentioning sand in his drink and we would have to do a sippy cup. We notched out the handles instead of installing handles which made it look sleek. We used the template from the hinge so it matched the shape....clever huh? We decided to primer and paint this one sandstone in the brick and mortar sample book by Behr and had them put it in an exterior paint color for us. We used a wagner paint sprayer which made the project fast at the end. Overall still an easy project for anyone. I do suggest pre drilling all holes first before screwing in screws so the wood doesn't split when doing the slats on the top.

My husband and I built this table as our first project. We followed all of the dimensions from Ana's "Small Sewing Table" project here: http://ana-white.com/2010/10/plans/sewing-table-small-spaces?page=1 The only thing we changed was the size of the table top and the legs. We were worried about putting my heavy sewing machine on top of the leaf called for in the plan, so we created gate legs to support the leaves. Since the legs were going to be folded up in between the base and each leaf, we extended the center portion of the table top to accommodate the change. After it was assembled and stained, I decided that I didn't like the solid color, so I stenciled on a pattern with white latex enamel paint (what I had on hand) and continued to paint the base. After lightly scuffing it up with the sander, I layered 3 coats of poly on top. It has held up well, even after many large quilt projects! I just LOVE my sewing table!