Community Brag Posts

I found the plans for the Printer's Triple Console on Jen Woodhouse's blog and fell in love with the design. Once I studied the entire Ana White website, I decided I could try to build this as my first project because the plans were so clear!
I changed the top to be cubbies instead of drawers to accommodate TV components and such. I just measured the openings, cut the ply board to those dimensions and used my kreg jig to make installing the cubby bases super easy.
I blogged the process (it took me a while so it is three separate posts) at becauseitalktomyself.com, look under "Optimistic Ideas"
I was DELIGHTED with how it turned out! I still can't believe I MADE THIS!!
THANK YOU ANA WHITE!

I used the trundle bed as a template to build this one for my niece as a birthday present. I used black walnut that I got as scrap from a hardwood mill and planed it down and cut it into usable material. My wife sewed the matress, quilt, and pillow for me. Im not very handy with a sewing machine!

It took me till the end of the summer but I finally finished my awesome wood cooler project! Check that one off my to-do list.

Found the headboard directions on here... Messed w dementions for footboard n connect it w a 2x12 w three lag bolts each comer. Night stand was constructed the same but on a smaller scale

We needed to transition our son out of his crib-turned-toddler-bed to free up the crib for the next spawn, arriving in November. We wanted something we could sit or lie on with him for the reading of bedtime stories, which ruled out most toddler beds and the inexpensive twin size beds. The choice was clear between spending $1000 on some out-of-the-box bed from a furniture store, using a mattress-and-springs-on-metal-frame from the mattress store (which lacks any sort of organized storage potential) or building our own awesome storage-friendly bed that will hopefully last until the kiddo graduates high school and gets his own place.  I love this plan because of the ample storage it provides between the under-the-bed cubbies, the cubbies on the "walled-in" side of the bed that can be used for off-season clothes and less-frequently-used items, even the space between the cubbies only accessible by sliding the mattress off and popping out the slats.  Also, my child is doomed to need glasses at some point in his life, so the headboard with space to stow the glasses, an alarm clock, a glass of water, a couple books ... this plan was perfect for what we needed and what we wanted. And custom-made by dad? Painted Elmo-red (the current obsession) by 7-months-pregnant mom? What could be better?  We are thrilled by the bed and are already planning the expansion we'll do (create a bunk? Just build a matching bed?) in a few years when the new little brother has outgrown the crib.  

We opted to skip pretty much all the hardware on this bed and, with the help of a few nails inserted via nail gun, put the bed together with copious amounts of wood glue and clamps. This bed is NEVER wiggling apart, no matter how much the kid jumps on it.  The exception is the binding of the headboard and footboard to the base itself -- this is done with cleverly placed screws so that the bed can be disassembled if it ever needs to be moved.  The project would've been a weekend project from shopping through painting except that we had to wait hours for glue to dry in between steps. As a result, it monopolized our garage for about a week.  

Thanks to Ana's plans I was able to build this in a couple of hours. It's not necessary, but a miter saw makes this project a cinch. I used one coat of Minwax Mahogany for the stain and distressed the wood with various sharp edged tools from my garage. I used a large Lowes moving box ($1.50) to cut the backing to 18"x24" and spray glued it to the print. I didn't use glass partly because its expensive and I was a little lazy. As you can see in the pictures below I just stapled the back to the frame. Even without the glass, I think it came out pretty well. Another project completed to go in the mountain house....

We had extra space in the backyard and I always wanted somewhere cozy to sit. Of course, the 'conversation' sets you find in stores were out of our price range so we turned to Ana!!

The whole project took a long weekend to complete - including shopping, cutting, sanding and putting it together. The cushions took a bit longer because they were custom made.

The project was much easier than I expected and the result is fantastic (in my opinion, of course!). I can't believe we actually built a piece of furniture!!

Thanks Ana!

I decided to go with a different top for my project, in order for it to fit our home better. The top is just stock pine 1x4's from the local lumberyard. I ripped the edges off on the table saw for a tighter joint, and used the Kreg Jig and wood glue to join them together.

My husband built my son’s bed using plans of this website before (we didn’t post to brag chat but almost two years later and a move the bed is still holding up!) so we were very happy to find plans for a kitchen table here too! My husband did all the wood work and I painted and stained. It’s perfect for our dining room. Now on to the benches!

Beautiful media center, couldn't resist building it for our living room! Thanks Ana for such awesome plans!!

Our home improvement store didn't have non-pressure treated 4x4s so we screwed 2 2x4s together to make the posts. We chose not to put quarter round around the posts, but instead added baseboards to the front and side to finish it off. We're really happy with how it turned out.

I wanted to make a small memento box as an anniversary gift, and I used Ana's pirate treasure trunk as inspiration. My cuts are a bit different due to the scraps I had in my "shop", but I still used 1x4 and 1x6s. I loved the idea of the side brackets. They look good and add to the structural integrity of the box. Win-win. I also added a bit of dark red felt to the bottom of the box, which I think gives it a little bit of a fancier look.

My wife wanted a hutch to store her canner and supplies in. We searched online for hutches and Hoosier cabinets and they were anywhere from $1200-$2000!!. That's when I said "I can build that". I sat down and custom designed on CAD and started my build. I was able to find the butcher block top at Lowes for $50!!.  It took me about 3 weeks to build it in my spare time. I had to special order some of the hardware because I could not find what I wanted locally. I had a lot of fun building it. On to my next project!!

When the neighbors came over and looked at this, they thought it came from pottery barn. I knew it reminded me of something, but I couldn't put my finger on it. This picture is about 2 years after I made it.

This was my first large project. Built it in one very long day and then finished over a few weeks. Instead of 2x4's for legs I opted for a 4x4 post with a bolt running through. I didn't really want to figure out the square washer so I just went with standard round. I spray painted all of the hardware silver with Rust-Oleum Universal Hammered Spray paint to coordinate with the Tolix like chairs I purchased from Restoration Hardware.