This is a gentleman's valet that I build for my sister in law's boyfriend as a Christmas present. It was also a good opportunity to try out my hand tool skills, since I cut all of the joinery by hand.
We added a 2x6 to the top and made the table 5.5 " longer and wider. We had to adjust all of our cuts. Read your instructions on the can of stain because on Shanty2Chic's site they mentioned leaving the stain on for 5 minutes and then wiping. However in doing so, you will end up with a very dark finish.
My daughter wanted a console for her holiday Halloween village and Christmas village. I had to measure and modify the original plans as they were longer and shallower than what I needed. I also used tongue and groove boards for the sides. She also wanted mitered doors on the front because the barn door stood out too much. Phew! I wish I had a CAD program.
Greenhouse for extended growing.
This is the first sink that I made, for one of my nieces of course, and when the other niece saw it, she started campaigning for one of her own. They are extemely easy to build, used my trusty Kreg jig, and on the back, hinged, is a painted, plain top, so when they're tired of using the sink, the top can come off, and instant nightstand! I used the home depot brand sink fixture, 10.00, and a dog dish for the sink. I added a "granite" top, and since this pic, I've sewn the 3 tier curtains. There are 2 different sinks in the below pics.
I enjoyed making these projects for my 6 year old for Christmas. Warning: make cuts as you build. Even though I bought standard board sizes, my finished measurements did not all match cut list. Just keep measuring as you assemble and make cuts and small changes as needed. A 1x3 can be anywhere from 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 wide for example. I finished with primer and two coats of Benjamin Moore Advance semigloss Cloud White on both projects. I used 2 inch high density foam for the mattress. The quilt is pieced from 2 1/2 inch squares. The small pillows are 3 inch square finished. The large pillows are 4x7 approximately. The cake stand is cute enough for a child's play room but also large enough to be borrowed for an adult's dessert table.
Just finished this beauty, entirely made with 2x4, plans were modify to match our outdoor sofa and coffee table. I think our best looking project so far ;) Thank you for inspiring me to build !!!
In reply to Very nice! by Ana White Admin
Tue, 03/01/2016 - 18:13
Little by little I am transforming my ugly concrete patio with no view in Zen garden...
Tue, 03/01/2016 - 18:15
Little by little I am transforming my ugly concrete patio with no view in a Zen garden...
Tue, 03/01/2016 - 18:16
Little by little I am transforming my ugly concrete patio with no view in a Zen garden...
I adapted this build from the Barn Door Entertainment Center plan. Like most families, our storage space needed some major help! We had minimal space to work with and all sorts of awkward things to store (rollerblades, helmets, etc). I measured how deep I needed the shelves to be to fit our helmets and pretty much built around that!
The open shelves are great as they allow easy storage spots for the kids to reach - the doors are great because they allow me to hide the stuff that just never seems to get organized! And the best part? The sliding barn doors! I park next to this thing so not having a swing out door was a major win for me!
I left the center of this piece open so I could fit a stand I already had in our garage, which allowed for a “charging station” for the cars! Our garage is rustic theme so on this piece I went with standard common board for the walls and shelves and built the trim and doors from cedar. The entire piece is stained with Minwax Provincial.
Easy Kitchen Island. This was my first big woodworking project so I bought the top and recycled some old wood. I learnt a lot, it took me about 20hrs to complete including painting and staining. I found the plans easy to follow and I’m super happy with the results.
Anji B
Mon, 11/11/2024 - 08:34
Looks great! I was wondering what stain you used? I love how it turned out!
We used the loftbed plans, http://ana-white.com/2010/05/furniture-plans-loft-bed.html and the bookshelf plans, http://ana-white.com/2010/06/plans/what-goes-under-loft-bed-how-about-b…- then designed our own headboard. The girls love their new room and we're going to build another one for the boys! We just put a platform bed from Ikea underneath!
Sun, 12/30/2012 - 06:39
i want to build this project for my daughter, but the link for the bookcase is a dead link. where can i find the bookshelf plans? i plan on making the loft be a full size, so will be adding 15" to my project. thank you!
Colin needed a bed for his room to upgrade from his toddler bed. I new immediately I was going to use plans from Anna's site! Building the bed was extremely easy with the new tools that I received for my birthday. This was my first time staining anything so that took the longest time for this project. It is my second thing that I have built from Anna's awesome website!
Fri, 02/21/2014 - 17:19
Thank you! I'm getting ready to post my second project now! I love her site!
Thu, 03/06/2014 - 07:00
Did you use a kreg jig and attach 4x4 legs via pocket holes? I don't see any screws... trying to decide how to best attach everything before taking on this project. Thanks!!
Thu, 03/06/2014 - 07:00
Did you use a kreg jig and attach 4x4 legs via pocket holes? I don't see any screws... trying to decide how to best attach everything before taking on this project. Thanks!!
Thu, 03/06/2014 - 20:16
Yes. I used the kreg jig and created pocket holes that screwed into the 4x4. I used the correct size when drilling the holes but I may have used the next size up in the screw length for extra support. The bed gets plenty of use between my 7 and 5 year old and is one solid piece of furniture.
This was a really easy build and has brought much needed order to my little one's stuffed animal collection.
I first saw this headboard on Ana White's Instagram and loved the idea! I took a screen shot so I would remember it later. One day my daughter was flipping through the photos on my phone and saw this screen shot. We were about to move to a new house and she wanted me to make this headboard for her new room. She is 11 years old and loves to play games on her laptop with her friends so this was perfect for her. Within a month of moving into the new house I started to build this piece. It took me a couple weeks to finish since I have three kids and was also trying to unpack our entire house but I love the finished product! My daughter really loves it too!
I loved the Balin Console Table plan, so my husband and myself decided to try it as our first project. We adjusted the height to 42" and we added a bottom shelf. I am so happy with the way it turned out. I have received many complements.
The mirrors were made by my father, I have to brag on him since he did such an amazing job! I show him Viva Terra's porthole mirrors collection and he re-created them with Teak wood.
Thu, 02/16/2012 - 11:49
This table is on my to-do list also. You did a fantastic job on it. I can only hope mine will turn out that nice.
Fri, 02/17/2012 - 11:36
magnifique.Il faut vraiment que je m'y met. Bise Isabelle
Thanks for the idea. I added a couple extras and figured I'd post them in case it helped anyone. Fun project!
Wed, 12/25/2013 - 04:48
This is soooo cool! The details and additions are fab!
Merry Christmas!
I used the Husky Dining room table plans to build this table. I also modified the plans to make a bench as well. This was a very east build and turned out gorgrous!! Thanks Ana!!
This piece was one I recently created for a customer using the plans provided in the Queen Storage Bed with Drawers from Anna's site. It was created using 3/4" birch plywood and 3/4" pine common board.
I chose to cut dado's when building the boxes for stability's sake. I was able to leave out much of the construction screws by using strong, but relativity simple joinery techniques with dado's and rabbets.
The piece's drawer fronts were then veneered with pallet wood to lay flush with the drawer faces, and hardware installed on top of that. The headboard and footboard were both then stained using a Varathane, Minwax (water-based), and General Finishes to create the various tones in the pallet veneer to create a complimentary uniform look to the drawer faces.
The other variation in this bed was that I used Threaded inserts and hex bolts so that the head and footboard could be removed multiple times for transport without damaging screw holes.
Built the nested grill station just in time for the 4th. So much fun building this, thanks Ana so much for the inspiration! Chris
This was one heck of a project LOL! But I am so pleased with the results!!
Wed, 02/29/2012 - 13:34
It looks awesome. I really like the built in look!!!
Mon, 07/23/2012 - 19:37
My husband just built us one of these for our laundry room, take a look!!
http://glamorousbride.blogspot.com/2012/07/making-most-of-your-space-la…
- Fotini
Mon, 07/23/2012 - 19:38
My husband just made us one of these!! Take a look :)
http://glamorousbride.blogspot.com/2012/07/making-most-of-your-space-la…
- Fotini
Mon, 09/03/2012 - 15:06
This excites me!! :) Such a great idea - practical, and yet pretty!
Sun, 09/23/2012 - 08:03
My washer will shake on the metal pedestals. Will it shake on this one?
Mon, 12/31/2012 - 19:01
My husband just finished one similar to this for me today-total cost about $65.....Thank you for the fabulous & frugal idea!!
Wed, 06/19/2013 - 11:33
Do you have the plans posted for the washer dryer pedestals?
Sat, 11/07/2015 - 07:47
Please help me find out where to get plan specifics, new here
Sat, 11/07/2015 - 10:54
Comments
JoanneS
Sun, 02/05/2012 - 09:20
Beautiful!
Wow, this is gorgeous! Love the rich finish and the dove tail details, and the sliding top tray is so neat. Everyone in the family is going to want one! :) Joanne
viola
Sun, 02/05/2012 - 12:25
Great gift
This would make a great gift for my husband and all the men in my family...
kristen
Sun, 02/05/2012 - 17:07
Beautiful work!
I am impressed with the hand tool joinery!
claydowling
Sun, 02/05/2012 - 19:12
Hand Tool Joinery
Kristen you should try it yourself. You'd need to buy a joinery saw, but I just picked up a decent dovetail saw for $13, and a set of good chisels, but for $26 you can get a good set of 4.
My joinery isn't brilliant, but it's functional and doesn't look terrible. I'm pretty sure you could start knocking out some strong joints pretty quickly.
The upside is that it's faster than setting up power tools to make these joints. Hand cut dovetails will always be faster than machine cut, unless you're building a dozen boxes.
In reply to Hand Tool Joinery by claydowling
kristen
Mon, 02/06/2012 - 10:48
You don't give yourself enough credit!
From here, your dovetail joints look great! I've always just skimmed past instructions for dovetails thinking I'd never put the time into constructing them. Perhaps I will investigate for future projects. The glue and nail option just goes quicker right now, with the list that looks like it just might take forever in this house!
Lady Goats
Mon, 02/06/2012 - 07:29
Very nice, Clay
You may not think your joinery is brilliant, but those are some tight joints. Looks beautiful. I love the top!
claydowling
Mon, 02/06/2012 - 08:35
Tight joints
Those are very tight joints. Slightly too tight in fact. There was a small amount of hairline splitting on the side I didn't show, that I had to fill with glue and sawdust to keep from spreading.
My dovetails aren't bad, just slow for me to cut right now, especially cleaning out the waste. I bought parts for a small bow saw that should make that easier, once I get the thing built.
hammertime
Mon, 02/06/2012 - 09:15
Beautiful
I love it. Very impressive. What a lovely gift.
Justine
Tue, 02/07/2012 - 07:49
What a great present!
This Gentlemen's Valet looks amazing! How did you do it? This would be a great Valentine's present for my husband!
claydowling
Tue, 02/07/2012 - 08:35
How To?
The short answer is that I built a box, then built another box to go inside of it. A plan with dimensions wouldn't be a very good idea, because I sized this to match the $7 board I'd found at the hardwood dealer. Your lumber dealer almost certainly carries differently sized boards.
I'll think about a tutorial or video though. Box making is fun, rewarding, and can be profitable. Especially since most cabinets are just different variations on the box.
Justine
Tue, 02/07/2012 - 09:21
Thank you!
Alright, I will give it a try this weekend. Will let you know how it went! Thank you so much
claydowling
Tue, 02/07/2012 - 10:44
Post pics
If you get any results, post some pics. If not here, feel free to put up a link on my blog. Always good to share ideas and results.
katiesommer
Tue, 02/07/2012 - 12:07
Gorgeous dovetails. Nice job!
Gorgeous dovetails. Nice job!
Kat Roberts
Thu, 02/09/2012 - 19:17
A Must-Steal
Your work is gorgeous! I'm definitely stealing this idea for my husband's birthday as well as all the men in my family, who all have birthdays this spring. :) Only thing is, I'm using tools, my hand tool skills are no where near as good as yours.
Also, I appreciate the tips you've posted on other project plans, they really help clarify some of the smaller details overlooked by the designers for beginners like me.
Hope to see some more projects from you soon!
claydowling
Thu, 02/09/2012 - 20:06
Hand Tool Skills
Hand tool skills actually develop pretty quickly, and one of the reasons it's gaining popularity. You can use scrap wood to learn how to make joints. The first ones will be rough but with even a little bit of practice they'll improve.
The tools are also getting cheaper. I just bought a decent dovetail saw for $13 from Tools For Working Wood, and $26 will buy you a decent set of chisels from Narex.
Christopher Schwarz and Logan Cabinet Shoppe are two good sources for hand tools articles, including videos. There are also good books on the subject. My first text was Hand Tool Essentials, but I'm told there are others worth looking into for first books.
In reply to Hand Tool Skills by claydowling
claydowling
Fri, 02/10/2012 - 07:30
The Book I was thinking of
The Essential Woodworker is the alternate starting text I was thinking of. I haven't read it yet, but heard it recommended by a few sources as a good place to learn about hand tool woodworking. I just ordered a copy for myself. Amazon sells it too, but for considerably more, and I've heard unpleasant things about the binding on the copies available on Amazon.
If the book turns out to be any good I'll post a review on my blog.
Kat Roberts
Fri, 04/20/2012 - 21:48
Please do! Thank you for the
Please do!
Thank you for the tips and information, I'll definitely be starting on hand woodworking soon. I love the results of hand vs. machine woodworking, it's just sleeker and has more of a homemade quality.
In reply to The Book I was thinking of by claydowling
claydowling
Sat, 04/21/2012 - 04:56
The Book
I did finally buy the book, and I've reviewed it at http://claydowling.com/articles/02242012-1350/getting-started-woodworki…
There's also a new video coming out (or maybe it is out), that I wrote about: http://claydowling.com/articles/04022012-0947/learning-use-hand-tools I've ordered my copy, but I won't have it in hand until next month. I grabbed is specifically for the information on block planes. I own them, but I've had the least consistent results from them of all my tools.
Guest (not verified)
Mon, 04/02/2012 - 18:27
Very nice work
Thank you for posting . I always learn something from you.