Tall Wood Planters
32” wood planters with false bottom
Jenna
32” wood planters with false bottom
Jenna
Nesting Grill Station
My mom was looking for a new outdoor table, and asked me to come up with something. I found the link for these plans (http://www.thedesignconfidential.com/2011/04/free-diy-furniture-plans-t…) to knock off Restoration Hardware's $4000 Provence Beam outdoor table. Overall I liked the plan, with the chunkier look of the 4x4's. But there were a lot of errors in the diagrams, and the finished height is 34" which is ridiculously tall for a table. So we took it apart and cut the legs back down to change the finished height to 30". We chose rough-cut cedar for it's look and outdoor properties, not wanting to use treated lumber for a dining table. We couldn't find 2x10's like the plan, so we substituted seven 2x6's just like Ana's plan, but left a 1/2" gap in between so water can drain and not pool on top and rot the wood. Also, since we were working with 4x4's for the legs, we chose heavy duty lag bolts instead of screws to join them together. I love the finished look they give. Overall it's a sturdy, yet lightweight table that my mom loves and has already used for entertaining!
Wed, 04/25/2012 - 10:02
Thanks Brook! It was so much fun to build. I put my dad and husband to work while I was the "project manager" ;)
This was our first build and it was quite a big project to take on to start with. We had so much fun and learned so much along the way.
Our biggest lessons were to hand pick our wood and make sure we get the straightest pieces possible. We had to wrestle some wood to make this bed work! Clamp everything especially when using large bolts as the pieces would pull apart from each other. We even used a ratchet strap at one point becuase our small clamps weren't cutting it. I'm sure there's a better way and we'd love to hear about it but we made what we had work. We also had to figure out how to attach the side rails and at what height. We ended up using 3 4-inch screws on each end to screw them into the posts.
We love this bed not only because it was a labor of love but because its such a solid beautiful piece.
Sun, 03/01/2020 - 11:29
Very nice! I love the lighter wood too, but my wife likes the darker stain, so we compromised in the middle for the finish. Why arethe post always so red? I can appreciate the natural tendency of nature to add color, but the 4*4's are always red-er in color. Do they always use a different pine or certain part of the tree for those?
Mon, 01/18/2021 - 11:27
I believe the posts are actually Douglas fir and not pine judging by the look and color of the grains.
The twin beds that my boys were using took up way too much space in their small room so after much looking I found the Ana White site and this plan. The bed I made is per plan except for the addition of the side rails that slip fit onto the sides. When we change the sheets on the top bunk we just slip off the rail and stand on the lower bunk. We've had my two boys and three nephews all on the bed playing Xbox and it is rock solid!
This project took me the majority of a three-day weekend to complete, but it was well worth it! I had the lumber store cut the beadboard panel for me so that it would fit in my car. This was also the first time I built something with doors on it, which was a bit of a learning curve, but came out alright in the end. I used pocket holes to build the face frame, and attached the shelves to the frame first before attaching them to the 1x8 back. I used 1 1/4" pocket hole screws and 2" wood screws. I left off the trim at the top and didn't bother to cut out the footer, but I think it still looks pretty cute.
Chicken coop with run!
by Vicki
Made my wife happy!
Mon, 05/06/2019 - 10:22
Hi Mike this is a fantastic project! Just fabulous!
This was so super easy. We are so in love with this. Thank you Ana for making DIY so much fun!
Thu, 05/18/2023 - 09:22
Way to go, so happy you enjoy it! Thanks for sharing.
HI Ana! Just wanted to tell you thank you for sharing all your knowledge. I really got inspired reading your book and looking through your website. I was quite intimidated but I finally completed my first build. It feels amazing and I am so grateful for your help! XO Sarah Taylor
Wed, 03/09/2016 - 08:28
Hi Sarah, your bench is so beautiful! Thank you so much for building and sharing, I love how it turned out! Can't wait to see more! XO ANA
Closet by Joanie
I made this a few years back for my brother, such a fun build.
Natasha M
Decided our old play set needed an addition, landed on these plans of Ana's. Sat on them and mulled them over for months. Once the wife said something about adding on to it I made the purchases needed. Connected the two platforms with a bridge. I used 4"x4"x10' for the runners, same boards as the decking for the platform of the bridge(5/4"x6"), 2x4's and 1x4's for the railing. If you look at the 3rd photo, I had to chisel out the 4x4 post to get the 2"x6"x12" support to fit correctly. This should measure 2"x6"x13". Another change I made was to cut the bottom and top trim pieces longer on the front and back sections so that the trim would cover the framing of the gable end walls (see last photo). my son wanted windows so I faked in some windows with scrap 2x2's. I used 2x6's as supports from the 4x4's to the 2x6 framing (see photo 3) I added the monkey bars about a month before deciding to do the platform/deck and playhouse. The ladder is based loosely off of a couple of plans I found online. I was able to do all of this work myself except for the roof. Need my dads help to lift the plywood, he then helped me with the rest of the roof.
I had a big empty wall in my den/man cave, so I decided to build a dartboard cabinet instead of just hanging a dartboard on the wall. No plans for this, I just made it up as I went. Measured twice, sketched it out and cut as I went.
I use pine 1x4's for the frame and back. 1x3's for the accessory box, 1x2's for the door frame, and poplar strips for the doors and door braces. The darts are held by 6" long 2x2's with holes drilled.
Wood screws, finish nails, and small brads were used to hold everything together.
The chalkboards are simple MDF's cut and sprayed with chalkboard paint. Overlay hinges are used for the doors, and the dartbord is held on with screws from the back so it can be replaced when needed.
The Alabama A is hand-painted.
Made in 2014 from the playhouse bed plans with the storage stairs as well.
Made this bed from Ana's plans. Modified it with rail so I can add my box spring. Cost was approximately $160 for lumber, screws and stain. Absolutely loved the plans and easy to follow or modify if needed.
Tue, 02/23/2021 - 20:12
This is gorgeous! Is there anyway you could post your modifications? Very nice work!!!
I had been looking for pretty wooden planters for the front porch and couldn't find anything affordable when I came across Ana's plans for a planter box. So I just made it a square and made it a bit taller.
I used finishing nails and glue to put the whole thing together. If you make the sides 17 1/4" then the bottom is wide enough for three pieces side by side. I added four pieces the same as the strips that were made to the bottom so that they stuck out into the center of the planter. Then I laid the bottom pieces on top of those. I left them loose so they could be replaced if needed after a few summers of water and dirt. You could also put a liner in. The width is just enough to give space for water to drain out.
Out of 5 pickets I could have made the side strips a bit longer and put a strip across the bottom. But I had a couple other projects in mind for the scraps so I didn't.
With the left over scraps I made the small flower box for a table on my deck. I glued and nailed that together too. So for less than the price of one planter box I made two and the small flower box. If I hadn't cut one piece wrong the first time I could have made a second small flower box.
I'm building a doll bunk bed from Ana's plans later on for a friend's daughter. I figured that since I had all the materials to do the linens, I would get that finished now. I used the plans from Ana's 18" doll mattress instructions and created these two sets of beds - they're "sisters" but not twins, since I ran out of materials to make 2 quilts. Since it's going to one recipient, I figure she won't mind having 1 quilt and 1 blanket that coordinate. The mattresses were SUPER easy to put together, and I opted to keep them plain without buttons, in case I want to make fitted sheets at another time. Took me about 10 minutes to make each mattress.
My husband and I live on a small hobby farm and are growing/raising a lot of our own food. We decided to venture into working with chickens. We wanted to start out small so we got 6 chickens and needed a home for them. We found a kids play house one day while shopping and got the idea of modifying it into a chicken coop with a run. We took off with this idea and with quite a bit of modification and some extra building materials we were able to raise it up in the air and attach a run so our chickens would have a nice home to protect them from preditors and the emements and not to mention one that looks good in our yard!
In reply to OMG! by benfoldsfivealive
Wed, 05/27/2015 - 18:42
Building chicken coop doesn't have to be expensive. Just get the easy-to-follow plan from this:
http://bit.ly/how-to-build-cheap-chicken-coop
Fri, 06/17/2011 - 21:26
Looks awesome! I just spent the evening building a coop for 4 hens of my own!
Tue, 02/21/2012 - 19:08
Are the plans available? I have Black Copper Marans and Lavender Ameraucanas and I really need to separate the LAs from the BCMs and this would be perfect!
Sun, 02/26/2012 - 18:00
When I click the link to get the plans for the standard coop, they are not there. Do you know where I can find the original plans? Thanks.
Tue, 02/28/2012 - 10:20
Yes - would love the plans please!!!
It's gorgeous - great job!
Sat, 06/02/2012 - 15:22
Sorry guys there are no plans for this coop. My husband and i just "winged it" and built it without any plans.
It is a play house that we found at Mills Fleet Farm and we modified it to make it a chicken coop. We put together the play house based on instructions from the box (with a few of our own modifications to make the window on the ground etc.) added some chicken wire to the doors and bay window, added some 4x4 "stilts" and a floor to get the house in the air, and constructed a frame around it with 2x4's and wire fencing to make the run
Sorry I dont have any plans to give you guys!
Made a 4 foot version of the farmhouse bench. I also used 4x4s for the legs instead of 2x4s. They work great, just makes the bench a little heavy.