Community Brag Posts

We built three of these for a women and children's shelter. We had friends help us with various aspects of the project. The colors are definitely more vibrant in person. Table tops are painted with chalkboard paint. Because we built three, it took three weeks with some down time here and there. Haven't sat down and figured cost but I know other bragposts have included them if you are curious.

This is my first real woodworking project. This is my version of the Rustic X coffee table. Was made from raw lumber, not what you normally buy at a lumber store. Made of White pine. It wasn't planed either haha. That took me lots of extra time sanding and evening things out. But I do love the knots! After everything was assembled, I used an ebony wood filler in some of the cracks around the knots or any slight splits to add more to that rustic look. I sure to love the fact I made that decision! After that set up for a few hours, I used a natural stain. Only one coat. I sealed it with about 4 coats of glossy polyurethane. I definitely made some mistakes and learned from them. Although, I have to say the Kreg jig is my most favorite tool! If you don't have one, GET ONE! Best invention ever. I am actually onto my second project. I am making the matching end tables out of the same wood, same tree, so they will all be identical. I cant wait to get them all finished and displayed in my living room!

I built Ana's Master Closet System for a flipped house.  The closet was a large walk-in, approximately 6'W x 15'L.  I pretty much used Ana's plans as written, with some tweaking in shelf length for a custom fit.  I used beadboard in the back for a built-in look, and 1x1/2" boards to trim out the edges.  The entire closet was plywood, which was cut, primed, and painted before install.  The pictures are the completed project and before the trim was installed.

During the house sale, the closet impressed potential buyers more than any other feature.  This was my first build from Ana's plans, and now I'm hooked.  I am currently renovating a 1910 home and plan to use Ana's site for everything from built-in's to furniture.  Thanks Ana for such a fantastic site!

We shortened the table and lengthened the benches - you can see all our details and changes in the blog link.

I build this limonade stand, together with my granddaughter  with inspiration from Ana White

Br Knud from Denmark

This was my first finished project using plans from Ana's site, and I am very pleased with the finished product. Every aspect of the finished sideboard is based on something from the site. I started with the plans for the Planked Wood Sideboard, and made no modifications as the dimensions were perfect for our basement family room. I decided to inset the back (http://www.friendly-home.net/2012/02/gigantic-rustic-sideboard.html) as Ana explained that Hillary had done, and love the final result. This will allow us to use this to potentially divide a room in an open concept space at some point in the future.

For the finishing process, I decided to follow the "Rustic Yet Refined" finish tutorial highlighted on both the Ana-White site (http://ana-white.com/2013/08/rustic-yet-refined-wood-finish) and Jen Woodhouse House of Wood (http://jenwoodhouse.com/blog/2013/06/07/diy-dining-table/). I fully intended to complete the 9 step process, but found that after we applied the Minwax pre-stain wood conditioner, followed by Minwax special walnut stain and wiped it off within 15-30 seconds, the finish mirrored the restoration hardware finish that we were going for. We decided not to proceed with layering on the weathered oak or applying the whitewash, and went straight to the spar urethane satin coats.

Overall, the project was a success, but was difficult to finish during the Minnesota winter as it was unbelievably cold and was forced to complete the finishing process in our basement/laundry room, which extended the length of the project. I am very excited to begin building other pieces from Ana's plans.

This was my 5th build. Took a few weekends working in the morning. Table is Weathered Oak (base) and Early American (top) stain. Modified the plans to make it slightly smaller so it would fit better in my kitchen. Very sturdy and table looks gorgeous in person, very happy.

The toy room needed some attractive storage for the books and puzzles instead of the floor! Enter this plan. I shortened the shelves to 36" and fastened the shelves to 1x2 stretchers that I fastened to the inside of the sides. I hid them by nailing a face frame to it made of 1x2s. I used beadboard for the back, which I painted before attaching it.
I had a hiccup when I forgot to use my square and had to backtrack some, which made this project longer than I anticipated.

We built the farmhouse king size bed over the last week. We used 2x4 hangers to hold the 2x4's in place and used 2x4's to support the mattress. We put 7/16" plywood on top of the 2x4's to support the mattress. We struggled with how we were going to attach the side rails to the bed frame and finally came up with a way we felt would be strong enough. Please see the pictures included to see exactly how we attached the rails to the bed frame. We used lag bolts, and metal brackets.

I built this play kitchen for my daughter's second birthday during my newborn son's short naps or often with him strapped to me in his baby carrier. I spent more money on higher quality wood to save myself time and effort sanding the wood down. I splurged on a drinking faucet as it was the perfect size and a mini version of my real kitchen faucet. I used magnets on the fridge doors and oven door and a simple ribbon to prevent the oven door from opening too wide. I have built a few things befor-shelves, table, baby gate but consider myself a beginner who is still learning a lot about woodworking.

Thanks for the instructions! Here's my version. I haven't built much of anything before, but I needed it in my basement to handle kids' stuff. My version is 18 feet long. I combined a 12-foot and 6-foot 2x4 to get that length, which meant less cutting, which I had done at Lowe's (for free). I used the 6-foot 2x4s throughout the shelf to ensure it was strong (in other words, I didn't want a 12-foot "section" and a weaker 6-foot "section" added on).

I was able to get everything in my car but the ride home was slow. I also had to use my egress window to get the 12-foot boards in the basement.

Total cost for me was about $170 including a couple boxes of screws and wood glue. I could've easily spent double the cost on store-bought shelving. Thanks for the plans!