Community Brag Posts

Second wood project overall. First with a power-saw. Just found Ana-White - love it and thanks for sharing it all! I had to change the dimensions of this one to fit the space we needed it for. It holds two paper bags side by side to hold all of our recycling. So much neater then our plastic bin we had.

Looking forward to the next project...

This project was very simple but an excellent experience. With a lot of patience on the finishing, it turned out absolutely beautiful too! The wood cost was higher because Home Depot was out of several of the size boards in the cheap pine and I didn't want to wait till I found them to start. I began the project with our trusty circular saw, but was quickly frustrated trying to get nice square cuts (and even lengths) so back to Home Depot we went. We came home with more wood, a 12" Sliding Compound Miter Saw and a Kreg Jig, which increased my cost just a tiny bit. But boy was I a happy girl! Especially since they are all mine (maybe I'll share w/the hubby and kiddo)! :o) After that, it went together very quickly. I added a 1" apron on the bottom shelf which hid the bracer - just tapped it in with the finishing nails. I also added screw-in padded feet, which means it sits nice and even and I don't have to worry about it scratching the floor (or the bottom of the table getting damaged). The only thing I did not enjoy was filling in all the pocket holes from the Kreg, which took forever. I definitely learned how important pocket hole placement is, as I ended up having to paint the legs instead of staining them (as originally planned) so I could hide all the huge holes. But it turned out better than expected so I'm happy this happened. I also recommend attaching the top, the top bracers and the bottom shelf after sanding and filling all the holes if using a Kreg. I actually attached both the top and the bottom shelf after I'd stained and painted. This allowed me to get in all the crevices and kept the stain out of the paint and the paint out of the stain! A few touch ups once I attached the top and put in the bottom shelf and voila! Sealed it with the wax and am thrilled with the finished product. And the best part is, my son is finally interested in building and even started his own table! Thanks to Ana's site, our build list is growing every day! There are just not enough (cool) hours in the day to build during our 100 degree Central Texas summer!

I loved these rolling cubby plans, so I used them to build one of my own! I needed a bench that could "nest" itself within some open shelves, but be pulled out to provide additional table seating. 

I built this one from maple and walnut, because I like the bright, white color of maple against the brownish/gray of walnut. I very much dislike shiny or dark woods, so I went for an ultra matte wax finish. I used a liming wax for the maple to keep it bright and white (maple tends to go yellow when finished with a "clear" or "natural" finisher), and a clear wax for the walnut. 

I found some non-marking casters on Amazon, but that was the tricky part. The bench needed to be high enough to create ample storage, yet not too tall that it was uncomfortable to sit on. SO I went with s smaller caster, but needed to use six to support the weight of the bench and three occupants. Final bench dimensions are 19" H x 47" W x 17 " D. 

I had just retired and wanted to make a playhouse for my 2 year old grand-daughter. I always wanted one as a kid and wanted to build one for my kids but never found the time.
This was made mostly out of scrap wood that couldn’t be used to build a house and I was lucky enough to get permission to take whatever I needed. Learned a lot doing it. Thanks to my boyfriend for letting me borrow his nailer.

This was my first project at building some sort of furniture. we wanted a stool that really fits out toilet bowl shape, the height, etc. and 2x6's worked perfectly. I could have bought 2x12's for the sides, but it would have cost significantly more and with the inside support board it is plenty sturdy.

I bought 2# 2"x6"x6 foot coarse pine boards from Home Depot (not the expense Select Pine boards. They cost about $6 each. Then I bought a 100 count package of Kreg 1.25" coarse screws.

Cut lengths
2 @ 15 3/4" for lower sides
2 @ 10 1/4" for upper sides
5 @ 14" for steps and fronts
1 @ 12 1/2" for inside support

I used my Kreg Jig and connected all the pieces along with wood glue. I sanded the whole thing down after and tried to round/smooth the corners.

Built this for my son in law. Texas A@m cornhole game and a bonus washer game with the left overs

I found your toy box plans in 2016 when I was expecting our first son. We have now made all of our sons a toy box from the same plans. I build the boxes and wife does the painting and detailing.

My husband and I decided to make an entertainment center from the Apothecary Console plans. We mostly followed the plans, but wanted it to be taller than the original in case we want to use it in a dining room as a buffet in the future. To do this we just added another level of drawers. I wanted the drawers on the bottom to be wider, so each of them is four false front's wide. The wood on top is walnut from some trees my dad cut down over 25 years ago. We wanted more of this to show than would have if we followed the original plan, so we put a two inch trim piece around it. I really wanted card catalogue drawer pulls but couldn't find any that were dark that were at all "cheap"...so I bought gold ones online and spray painted them with a "hammered" spray paint which worked really well.

I built this table in one day by myself. Well, just me and these three kiddos. We were at Home Deopt selecting wood at 9am and by 7pm they were sitting on a finished table. Thank you so much for the easy to follow plans, Anna!

I had already built the Rustic X End Tables, and 3 years later I finally built the Rustic X Coffee Table to match!  I shorted the length by 8" and coated the whole piece in a steel wool and vinegar solution.  I then went back and used White Adirondack chalk paint by Folk Art for the base.  I sanded the edges lightly for the distressing and put 3 coats of Minwax Matte Polyurethane over the entire piece for the top coat.  I ended up putting 2 large wicker baskets underneath for extra storage and it is perfect!

spare room home project

Love this design. Good project for beginners.

I'm going to build a second one but it looks like both dogs are enjoying this one I was even able to get them to get in it together when it wasn't too hot :-)

This is my first project from your website and it was really interesting I ended up modifying the plans a little. For the modifications the back panel was pre-drilled and attached with bolts and t-nuts to allow me to easily remove when the weather starts to get cold and put in insulation... Order clean it. It's a very good size dog house and I really enjoyed this project! Thank you so much for your contributions to those that have never actually worked on anything like this before.

I have too many scraps … and a granddaughter with a 2nd birthday coming up soon … so spent a couple hours cutting the pieces … took extra time since i was trying to make scraps work … but it still came together well. I had trouble making pocket screws work on this project … but the design makes it easy to bury and cover regular screws.

I used the Farmhouse Bedside Table plans as a starting point for this Christmas gift project for my husband. I removed 5" off the legs, omitted the shelf and doubled the width so that it would hold 30 DVDs in the drawer. I wanted something unique for his man cave and coming from England this seemed a great way of introducing our heritage without being overpowering in the room. Great project plan and easy to follow and only took a day to make including the painting time.

I modified this plan to fit a 27"x 25" chunk of butcher block that my mother-in-law gave me. The finished height is 36 & 1/2". I didn't have any special tools to make the notches for the shelves. I simply lowered the blade-stop on my 7&1/4" miter saw and fastened the screw with hair ties (or in other words, I jimmy-rigged it ;)). I practiced on scrap wood until I reached the depth I needed. There is a 9&1/4" clearance between both shelves, and the shelves have a 1" overhang off the sides. I mainly used pocket holes to connect the pieces. The shelves (3-2x6s each) were fastened together with wood glue and pocket holes, then I slid them into place and screwed them into the side aprons/supports from the top, then filled with wood filler. For the top, I added support from underneathe (2x2s that I had on-hand), then used 2&1/2" screws from underneathe through the 2x2s into the butcher block. At first I used zinc wood screws, but learned quickly that they strip extremely easily, so I switched to sheet rock screws. Fun project!!