Community Brag Posts

This project took me about 8 hours from start to finish over 3 days. I can't buy 4X4's here (unless they are treated or made of cedar ($25) or $60 each at the specialty store) so I made the legs out of 1x4's that I ripped down and then did a bevel edge and glued and nailed with my 23 gauge nailer so that they look like posts. I just followed the directions after that. I used little L brackets to secure the top instead of the figure 8 brackets in the plans. They worked fine. I also didn't put in the cross pieces. I tested the top without them and it was really solid so I didn't see a need for them. I wouldn't recommend cutting everything ahead of time like they say to do in the plans. Nothing ever works our perfect with wood so it's better to cut as you go to get the perfect measurement. For example, the end pieces of the top we supposed to be cut to 21". I needed to cut to 21 1/16th. It doesn't sound like much but when you are then trimming the whole top out with 1x2's it is really noticeable if everything doesn't line up.  I sanded as I went.  I find it much easier to do it as I go then trying to get all the nooks and crannies when it's all put together.  I also stained and put on the poly before it was completley together.  I did the frame seperate from the top and the bottom shelf slats.  Once everything dried I put it together.  It's hard to do sometimes because I just want to get the piece together as fast as possible but it is actually quicker in the long run if you sand and stain along the way.

It will go at my rental house at the lake. I tried it out at my home. I don't need a coffee table but I may have a hard time letting it go. I really love how it turned out.

With the extra wood from some earlier projects I was able to make this tiny nightstand. Ive got limited space between my bed and wall and there was no way to find a suitable solution, so I built one.
Did not follow a plan, but used some of the design features from some of the benches on here.

made with scrap wood

A few notes on our build:
- we wanted to keep the center section open for a wider display by deleting the middle upright

- if using barn door slider kits, you need to take into account the recess and height of these. Recommend either building up the top as we did with layering more boards in a stepped fashion, or going with 1x6 for full clearance.
we dressed up the sides by adding a cross brace. I found a double door kit on Amazon for $125. I now have a spare rail for future project.

- the top was finished from walnut

Overall pretty easy build, and first time spraying paint through HVLP sprayer. Thank you for the plans and ideas!

We started with the bench seating plans and adjusted them to fit our dimensions. added wallpaper, changed the lighting, and a couple cushions later... We have a totally transformed window seat! Loved doing this project!

My daughter loves "cooking" so we made her this play kitchen for Christmas. I had so much fun making it that it was worth it even if she never plays with it. Of course, she's been playing with it since yesterday morning.

Inspired by Dwell Studio's Mid Century Dresser, I built a smaller version for my daughter's small room. Working on showing photos of the building process on my little blog this weekend. =D

Loved building this headboard for my daughter's bed.  She loves it!

Thanks to this site my wife found this headboard design. I modified the plan to suit our king size bed. We chose popular with a java stain.

I built this desk by combining a modified Julia nightstand and the schoolhouse desk. I added a little ribbon and some upholstery tacks around the upper edge. I rescued the chair from Goodwill and added the zebra cover. I also made the mirror using the barnwood frame plan.

I found this table on Pinterest and wanted to "knock it off." I figured out my angles and used the table saw to bevel the edges of the wood. In the blog post, I explain how I would have done a couple things differently if I could do it over, but overall, the project turned out really well. Once the angles are figured out (I did that work for you), it really isn't too difficult. And it makes a great statement piece. All for about $25 in lumber. :)

"Thank you Ana White for your plans I'm in love!"

Tarryn Leigh Curlee

My daughter needed a custom sized shelf to display her retail products in her busy day spa. The shelf needed to be narrow to not block walk around access to the massage table. It needed to be functional without looking like a book shelf. Ana's plan for the General Store Cubbies was just what I was looking for. I sized it down to fit the space and it turned out great.

I recently discovered your blog and got really inspired. After building a couple of beginner projects following your plans, i started to think about making something that can be used as medicine cabinet and does not take much space. Came up with the idea for this over the toilet storage rack.

My goal was to recycle/reuse some of the stuff that was sitting in my garage.
Started with building a frame using 1x6s (24 inch for shelves and 72 inch height). Used plastic table mats were used as sliding windows. Found a PVC trim (8 ft) for $2 at lowes that has been used as the rails/track for the windows. The back is piece of cardbord that was scrap from an old broken ikea bookshelf.

I am pretty happy that i recycled some stuff and made this in less than $15.

We homeschool our 3 kids, and my wife needed a space where she could conduct school, keep all the kids' (and hers) school materials without creating a massive mess at the dining room table, and where she could easily see and interact with the kids and they with her.  She found a 64" x 64" square desk with four pedestals online, but it retailed for over $1400!  No way we're paying that much! She asked me if I could build it, and when I found the Schoolhouse Desk Single Pedestal plans and compared it with the picture of the square desk, I worked out a few modifications to build what we needed. Here it is! Use the basic Single Pedestal plans as a base, with the mods below: 

The top is 64"x64" (connected two pieces of 3/4" maple at 32"x64" using kreg jig & wood glue)

Each pedestal is 22 1/2" W x 25 1/2"H. Drawer sizes modified to match. Instead of a single drawer at the top of the pedestal, I modifed to make two drawers on the bottom with a cubby hole remaining at the top. Thus, place the 16 1/2" 1x2 cross bar at 8 1/4" from the bottom (instead of from the top). Add a 16 1/2" x 22 1/2" shelf at 15 3/4" from the bottom of the pedestal. This will form the cubby.

Drawers: 14" 2x2s on the short side, 21 1/2" 2x2s on the long side. Total dimension 15 1/2"x21 1/2". Attach 1/4" plywood at 15 1/2" x 21 1/2" for the bottom.

Base dimensions (2x2s): 19 1/2" 2x2s on the long side; 15" 2x2s on the short side; 3 3/4" legs at corners