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This cabinet was inspired by an Ana White project. My wife wanted more storage in our new home, and we had a sofa table at this location. But it was just a top, no shelves. I custom fit it to be flush with the window sills at the top and ends so it takes on a bit of a built in appearance. The top and bottom are oak faced plywood, all edges covered with iron on oak facing. As I was short of the expensive plywood, the ends, shelves and kick are doug fir plywood with a light oak stain; while not a perfect match gave a pleasing result that guests have not caught. The doors are 1/2" MDF, with a 2" solid oak end glued on where I routed the slots to open them. Slots are 1/4" +, 3/8" apart, and the top and bottoms of the doors routed to leave a 1/4" rail. The bottoms of the bottom slide slots have a slick poly tape in them, which really helps the doors to slide easily.

Sides and interior are brush finished with 3 coats of semi-gloss polyurethane, while the top has 5 coats. The MDF on the doors has one sprayed coat of white primer (oil based to avoid bringing up the MDF) with a final sprayed coat of mat finish enamel. I need to do one more step, light sand with 320 grit and paste wax the top to get that really fine finish.

While not as easy as Ana makes it look, it turned out pretty well. That hard part on a piece this size is getting all the pieces cut precisely, and I mean with less than 1/32nd difference, to provide a good fit. As it was I had to custom cut the oak opening ends on the doors to account for the small differences in widths at the top and bottom to obtain a nice fit against the sides. Next time I'll triple check all finish dimensions to make those small adjustments in parts before assembly, then triple check again for placement during assembly.

While I'll always see the small "errors", my wife is very pleased with the finished cabinet.

 Ana, you're the BEST!! Thank you so much for sharing these plans. This was a very simple build ... my problem was trying to decide how to paint and decorate it. There's a lady in our little town that cut out the letters for me. I think it turned out so cute. I'm working on a Christmas collection for our church auction next April and thought it would be fun to have Christmas in April :-). Thanks again Ana!!!

I’ve wanted a new island for awhile but wasn’t quite sure what I wanted it to look like, until I saw Ana’s cabinet plans for the Momplex kitchen! We wanted a fairly large island, so we did two 24” base cabinets “townhouse style” (from Ana’s Kitchen Cabinet Base 101 post) plus we added a little extra space at both ends, so Hubby could install some electrical outlets and we’d still have plenty of room for the drawers. The old island had power already, so he got the outlets wired pretty fast. Behind the doors are some deep pull-out drawers to hold all the stuff you’d usually have to bend down and reach for. Now it’s so convenient! I built a Farmhouse Table top for it and love it! We built flat doors and trimmed them up to match the island sides and back (also matches our pantry and dining room). This project took us about 40 hours to build and finish, and it was so worth it! Ana, you are a rockstar in our house! We now have a real showpiece for our kitchen, thanks to Ana White!

This was a great plan to follow. I made a few modifications such as adding a back wall that I painted with chalk paint so my daughter can draw to her hearts content. I also added a bit above the door so we can post messages such as her name or "girls only". I decided to skip the stairs being storage thinking it would simply be a junk collector and added a small step at the top as she found it a bit too high to get into her bed. Finally the painting took sometime as I used cabinet quality paint for durability but it's a bit tricky to work with. As a final touch I installed LEDs from Costco on the interior ceiling and back top rail all controlled by a remote with over 20 colors to choose from and adjusting brightness. Can't wait for my next project.

As soon as I opened Ana's new book I fell in love with the bench on page 33. When I met her in Chicago she said she was going to draft a new set of plans, and of course she didn't let me down! I followed her plans to a T! The size was perfect for my "mudroom" and this was technically my first project since I insisted on not having my husband's help. It was also my first time going to the hardware store and purchasing the wood...I think that part will take some getting used to!

After I had it built I decided that I wanted to make everyone in my family a "cubby" inside the storage area. I just used some scrap 1x3's and glued them into place. I then stained it with Minwax Dark Walnut stain and then used oil based poly (3 coats). The entire family loves the new bench and my toddlers LOVE their "cubbies". Thank you again Ana!

I used Ana's plans, but switched things around a little as I went. I wanted something fancy for my bunny to hang in when I'm not home. The biggest modification I made for a bunny was the bottom. I wasn't happy with the stability of the chicken wire even though my bunny is just a few pounds. I used a more solid plastic called plaskolite ( you can find it in the lighting section of Lowes) We are planning on adding levels for the bunny as well as a cloroplast tray to fit the bottom since bunny poo can get stinky. We took about 2 weeks to complete this project and it was definitely a learning experience! We also tried to cut costs by getting some of the wook and backing from Habitat for Humanity! 

We also made the little bed with the leftover wood from this project :-)

The need for a proper workbench in my garage/shop is a must, but. So is space! I already have a fold down workbench I’ve made with ¾ inch pipe & a door, but. I just need something that can handle all my tools. So, I stumbled upon these plans from the Family Handyman & couldn’t find a reason why this wouldn’t work in my shop. It has room for storage, can easily accommodate my tools & most importantly fold up to store. Easy to build too! Make sure you read all the plans first as some of the materials could be pricey, but well worth it. Technically it’s taken 2 months to build this bench, as I operate on a firefighter/teacher’s budget & during the holiday season no doubt. I ordered all the shelf standards & brackets through Amazon, $210.00 for those alone, but they hold so much weight to support your tools I figure it’s worth it. The rest materials (wood, screws) were purchased at Home Depot for around $150.00. The plans called for ¾ inch ply & it was $45.00 per sheet. However they did have a smaller thickness for $22.00 per sheet & was only a 1/32 inch thinner. I plan on topping all my surfaces with some ¼ inch tempered hardboard later on so I knew it would work. That also left me adjusting my screw size to mount my brackets. Due to the reduction in thickness of the plywood all my #8-1 inch screws needed to be adjusted to ¾ inch so to not screw through the ply. I also hit the molding isle to nab some pieces to use as furring strips to use under the shelves before attaching the brackets. This way I can sand each strip to match before mounting to make sure it lined up flat with the center top. One more thing; where it says “drill 1/8 inch hole in brackets make sure you use 1/8 inch pop rivets. I barrowed a pop rivet gun & was handed some rivets as well. Popped two & they had to be trashed because the rivet size turned out to be 5/32. So I stepped up in drill bit size & it all worked out. As I said, I’ll be topping it with some ¼ inch hardboard. I also plan to run it’s own electrical with an outlet on each post. I hope you all enjoy & this can help!

I have been looking for ways to use the live edge walnut from our property. I adapted Ana's side table plans to make several tables.
I used select 2x2 pine and painted the legs bronze to coordinate with our windows.

It took the husband and I a good 3 days to finish this project. You can read more of my experience with this chaise on our blog:
http://tonyandkristine.blogspot.com/

For the plans, I found them at Lazy Liz on Less blog:
http://lazylizonless.blogspot.com/2012/05/it-took-me-while-to-decide-wh…

I really wanted to add a layer of depth to the front of our house, and my favorite option was adding new shutters! I used fence boards to keep cost low and to be sure that the wood would stand up to all weather conditions. I protected the wood with an oil-based sealant made for exterior use. I attached the cross braces with chunky screws and painted those black. I love how they turned out!

Great bench

A few months back a friend of my Sister asked if I would build a bed for her 10 year old daughter. I was excited to do it! So I finished up the projects I had already started and then went to work. I had never built bookshelves before. I wanted it clean and "hole-less" on the outside, so we found a Kreg Jig and I started learning. SUPER easy!! I believe it has been painted white. I can't wait to go see it!!
I followed Ana's plans except I used 2*2s for slats and used 16" wide boards for one of the bookshelves and the desk top. I want them to be able to use this for years to come and not out-grow it too quickly.