Community Brag Posts

First Anna project, I needed a bench by the pool, so I did waterproof it, which is holding up well, and it's extremely nice even with my limited skills. Definately worth the time and sanding.
Things I learned, need to measure each cut out. I didn't, so my slats are not all the same length. Still works really good, but I should've measure, cut, measure, cut, because I didn't take into account the width of the blade. I wouldn't use so much wood filler. I really glopped it on there. The sanding and staining pre, good call.
I would've used 2 pieces of wood for each leg.
Well, next one. I've already learned so much from making it and had a great time making it. Can't wait to get started on the table to match!

Thisi s a bedside table that I made for my good friend Gayle for next to her log bed in her log cabin at Higgins Lake, MI

I built this bookshelf for my girlfriend, Julia over the course of two weekends.  The kreg jig helped a ton.  Staining, using the rubbed on polyurethane finish, and sanding down--plus all the drying time required--took the most time.  This is a very sturdy and finished-looking bookshelf plan.  Overall, the projectturned out nicely.

I loved the design of this planter and have been making wood quilts. This was a natural combination, incorporating a red, white & blue Americana quilt design into the front panel. The only modification I made was that the boards were 14" long instead of 15 3/4".  This way the 1x4 boards could create square sides. I also made the 2x2 corner posts 20" high.

My husband and I were able to put this together over the course of two weekend days. Then it took me an eternity to paint/finish it. But we love it now and so does our little girl!

Our version. Now covered by an offset umbrella.

Thanks for the plans Ana!

I stuck to the design but changed the dimensions to suit the space and the boxes we intend to store. This made the shelves 7.5 feet high by 8.5 feet wide. The timber was supplied in 17’ lengths so this also meant very little wastage. The frame is composed of 2x4’s, the shelves are 4.5 x 1.5’s  - as I wanted the shelves slightly shallower this meant I could get away with three boards for each shelf instead of 4 as on the plans. 

For the short cross pieces I used woodglue and screws – to attach the long shelf pieces I just used screws. I predrilled holes in the first piece for each of the screws, but I didn’t drill a pilot hole in the next piece, the screws were self-tapping and didn’t need one.

The back wall is concrete block and I screwed each upright to the wall using wall plugs and screws. I’ve 2 young children and as the shelves are quite high I was afraid they might climb on them and tip them over otherwise. The attachment to the wall definitely makes the whole thing feel much sturdier – the structure is completely rigid.

The only real issue I encountered was that some of the boards were slightly twisted or warped – and I had to apply some force to keep everything square when I was gluing up. Overall I’m very happy with the end product, and found it reasonably easy to put together. Now its time to put the shelves to good use and start tidying up the garage!

Very quick to do. I made a few modifications to the plans as you can see. I also stained the pieces before gluing and screwing together. My boys LOVE this one...

This was a first project choice when I needed to figure out what to do for some entry way furniture. Everything was so expensive in the stores and with my creative sense, I was influenced by the simplicity of some of the furniture featured at Hobby Lobby and told myself I could build that myself!! I looked through pinterest to gather ideas to build my own piece and came across a pin (hillary locker) and stumbled upon Ana-white.com where I found not only an inspiration but a whole how-to and blueprint to build with! Without counting the time spent trying to get home depot to cut all the pieces correctly the first time and chucking pieces with the saw blade they were cutting across the store almost hitting myself and my husband, saving up for the table saw so it would not happen again, and stopping to stay at my post as mom, I would say the project being worked on took 6-9 hours. there was a lot of stages like letting wood filler dry before sanding, letting primer and paint steps dry before continuing so it took time for stages. First project and time getting used to the new saw and kreg jig that I purchased but learned rapidly. I do suggest the kreg jig!!! It made the furniture so solid and professional. I suggest making sure the cuts are right on because it made the whole difference!

I built this dining table with a concrete top and a base using the Rekourt Dining Table plans.  

Built for our laundry room with pallets radiator cover  and casters attached to bottom all purchase from a local thrift store, with matching recycle bin.

The wood for this project cost me about $50 from Lowes (and this was combined with making a 3ft square table and another love seat, so in total for all 3 was about $145).

I didn't add the trim pieces (I felt they were unnecessary and more likely to come apart or fall off), I used only 1x3 for the slats on the seat and back, and 1x4 for the seat back top rails. I used 2x3 for the legs because the 2x2 was horrible quality and I used a 2x3 for the front cleat, which I think makes it stronger.

I also didn't attach the back the way the instructions say as I thought all those screws would look ugly, so I fashioned a wooden corner brace to hold the back in place, and used metal corner braces and screws (in 3 places, UNDER the back rest 2x4) to hold the seat back still and then only 2 screws to hold the bottom of the back in place. I added photos of these changes to help you see what I did.

One HUGE TIP - assemble the frame (minus the slats) and stain / paint that part, THEN stain and polyurethane the slats before attaching - it's horrible to try to stain or paint with the slats in place as there are too many tiny gaps to fill!

All in all, I think this plan of Ana's is brilliant - it's simple, rustic looking and yet looks great on my deck - I will take a photo of the 2 sofa and table as soon as the second sofa dries enough to finish assembly.

First sofa took me a little longer as I was getting used to the Kreg, second sofa has taken me about 6 hours in total so far.

One issue I do have is that I think I would use a 2x4 for the top rail of the seat back, simply because the 1x4 has a tendency to split easily.

If you make this project, you won't be sorry, it looks awesome!

We were unable to find a table that all 5 of our kids could sit at together in our toy room, so we decided to build one. We were able to use mostly scraps of wood that we already had in our garage. I distessed the legs and table top since I knew the kids would be playing with it every day. We love the way it turned out and the kids love playing on it!

Hanging the board and batten wall is incredibly easy and fast! It's when you decide to paint it black that complicates things!
You can check out the whole tearful/funny experience here http://isteppedoutofmycomfortzone.blogspot.com/2011/04/and-opened-can-o…

I built this as the prototype for the 1-Board Cedar Trinket Box plan. My goal had been to create something that would make a nice gift, only use 1 cedar fence picket (about $3 in wood), didn't require any special cutting or ripping, and could be made with just your miter saw and brad nailer (you could use regular nails and hammer too, but I love my nailgun!) Also highly recommend using a palm sander for this. (Love my power tools!)

As I was building I discovered the beauty of cedar, the imperfections of cedar fence boards, and the value of prototyping. I added some tweaks to the plan to identify the places where you should build the first part, then measure, then cut the next part.

This took about 2 1/2 hrs to build, which included a whole lot of sanding. I started with 80-grit, then 220 grit to get the board surfaces smooth. After the prototype was assembled and I noticed how much cupping there was in my fence board, I broke out the 60-grit and went over all the high spots to smooth them down. Next time I'll be much more careful to choose a board without much of a cup. It did give some real interesting grain patterns though, so it all worked out in the end.

For pulls I cut a couple of interesting looking knots from my cedar board and glued them on. The next one I'd like to try some strips of leather or maybe a rope knot for pulls.