Large Modern Porch Swing + Ghetto Stand
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Made the swing then just kinda came up with my own frame.
Made the swing then just kinda came up with my own frame.
This was our first build from this website and we are so pleased! Having seen very involved plans on an Australian website for a similar sandpit, I was so pleased to come across this version, with its far simpler design!
We wanted a slightly bigger sandpit, so I needed to do some modifications, and while I was enlarging it, I also converted to metric sizes, and designed specifically for the timber I knew I could buy locally (very obscure and inconsistent seeming German sizes). So the end result is a 1.5x1.5m sandpit, that has so far had 6 kids playing happily in it at once!
I've put in the drawings I used, and the cutting list for larger sizes in case anyone else is working in metric, or wants a bigger size!
Our other modification was to offset the shorter sections of the base to run along the front plank of the bench seat - there were two main benefits for this - we need a lot less sand, as there is none wasted under the seat, and the seat is supported and can't bow downwards!
The dimensions and layout we used are in the images.
Supplies
Timber
2 - 200 x 40 x 3000mm
6 - 120 x 24 x 3000mm
1 - 80 x 50 x 3000mm
Hinges
12 - 140mm long (the original design had 8, we went with three per edge to allow for the extra width)
Self tapping decking screws
18 - 5 x 80
48 - 5 x 50
96 - 3 x 20 (or enough for your hinges, depending on the design)
Paint
3 - 375ml PU Acrylic Paint, suitable for exterior use (top planks and seat supports)
1 - 750ml PU Acrylic Paint, suitable for exterior use (base)
Weed matting and staple gun
Sand
I calculated I would need 20 x 25kg bags - in the end we needed 11 - don't ask me where we went so wrong!
Cutting list
2 - 200 x 40 x 1500 (long sides of base)
2 - 200 x 40 x 1415 (short sides of base)
12 - 120 x 24 x 1495 (top slats - just under half a plank, to allow for waste)
4 - 80 x 50 x 245 (armrests / seat braces)
4 - 80 x 50 x 495 (back supports of seats)
I gladly paid 5 Euro for the wood to be cut in Hornbach - it should have been more than this, but the guy was generous!
12 hinges (the original design had 8, we went with three per edge to allow for the extra width)
On Sunday we had the idea, on Monday I drew up the plans, on Tuesday I went shopping! Once all our wood was home safely, we sanded it down - most edges weren't badly finished, but there were a few splinters that needed getting rid of!
The next two nights Mr W gallantly set to work with the paint brush. After two nights, the wood all had two good coats of paint and we were ready to start assembling on Friday.
I pre-drilled the base of the bench before the second coat of paint - three holes for each butt joint - with some careful measuring this made screwing the base together really easy!
The top planks were also pre drilled, but there unfortunately my tiredness made me make mistakes, and some had to be re-drilled! Spacing the planks out took a lot of time, but I am glad I made the effort. I used cereal box, and experimented with different numbers of layers - I knew I wanted a theoretical 5.4mm gap, but it took some time to get the right number of layers of carefully creased and concertinaed card!
Having got our spacing wedge sorted, we screwed the blue planks in place at either end of the base. We then assembled the green seat section, and the blue/yellow back rest. Following a tip from the comments section, we added the hinge to the seat/back combo first, as this ends up being on the underside. Once those two hinged sections were made, they were then laid in place on the base (card wedge spacers in place) and then the final hinges added. The final assembly took about 5 hours - but this was partly because we started outside, then had to move everything inside when a huge thunderstorm rolled in!
The next morning we got busy with the staple gun and tacked weed matting over the base, then it was hauled in to position and filled up! For us getting this done and dusted was important, otherwise it could have dragged on a lot, but we are terribly proud that it was done in less than a week from being fist conceived!
I hope the metric/enlarged plans are of use to someone else too. One other idea we had, which we didn't get round to building in, was a support bar to be fitted when you close the pit, so the kids can play on top as a stage when it is not being used for a sandpit!
My very first big project! My 6 year old daughter was in need of a new bed and a room makeover so I decided to build her a headboard which then turned into a whole new room!!!
I really wanted it to it to have some dimension to it so I added some moldings and a mini shelf to the top of it. I basically just designed it myself, based on what some of the $1000+ pottery barn ones look like and spent hours at the hardware store finding the perfect moldings.
For the main backboard I used plywood, however to keep it light I used a sheet of molding and added a round edge to make it seamless.
My my daughter was so excited Mommy built her whole room.
In reply to Beautiful! by Ana White Admin
Sun, 10/16/2016 - 23:50
I am so excited!!! And fully addicted to your site. Thank you so much! You're an inspiration!!!
Wife asked me to find a farmhouse table to make for our house. I was super nervous and had zero confidence going into this project. However, I decided to give it a try. I am super happy with how this project turned out. I modified the plans to have 30" 4x4 legs rather than the 29" the plans call for. This was to accommodate the set of barstools we have currently at our house. We can get 8+ around this wonderful table, and are super excited to keep building!
This is my second build - first one using a jig saw. I built this so my daughter can easily get up and down on the daybed we have in our sunroom.
Sat, 07/12/2014 - 11:56
I applaud you for using your jigsaw on your second build. :) It took me quite a while to build up the confidence and skill to use one!
I expanded on the plans I found at Ana White and made this closet. They are 8' high, and made from Birch plywood and 1x2's from my local Home Depot. I ended up using 12 sheets of plywood and 18 1x2's. Sanded and stained with Minwax Jacobean and Satin clear on the unit and semi-gloss on the drawers. I intalled soft-close drawer slides that I found on Amazon for $120 for 15 pairs which included the rear mounting brackets, which I highly recommend using as they save you a ton of labor and make it much easier to install the slides.
What I like most about my work, is that I found regular hanging rods that were too expensive or just plain did not fit the end sockets. I used galvanized fence rod typically used for the top of chain link fences, and simply brushed them with 0000 steel wool and then polished them on my buffing wheel. If you want the brushed look, simply don't buff them. What was best about using fencing rods, was that it cost about a dollar a foot and was much stronger than buying the actual chrome rods which were over three times more money.
For the corners, you will see that they are three angled rods, which you can not buy anywhere. So, I purchased 1" galvanized electrical conduit. and bent it with a tubing bender. I simply measured what I needed, and put two 45 degree bends in the rod, installed 1" sockets on each end, and a center rod support for the middle. These two were polished with 0000 steel wool and then polished to a chrome finish. They look amazing, and the best part is that it cost $6 for a ten foot piece, which was more than enough to do both corners. You cannot beat the cost of using fence rods and electrical conduit for closet rods.
I plan to install a small drawer island in the middle later as I require a need for more drawere space.
Thanks to Ana White for the help. I already have a few more next projects lined up using her ideas here.
Tue, 10/18/2016 - 10:26
That is one lucky wife and one heck of a build! Thanks for sharing:)
We built this bed according to the plans. Amazing plans btw. It’s very heavy so the next one we are going to go with 1x4, 1x6 instead of 2x4 & 2x6...think. The slats & the backboard is what we gonna change. Instead of tongue & groove we used dog ear boards which painted nicely once sanded.
I think we are gonna drop the 4x4s by 5 or 6 inches also in hopes of closing the gap between headboard & mattress so we don’t have to use a boxspring next time.
We built these bunk beds and absolutely love them!
A nice quick build to add some decoration to the house. I made three ledges at 80" long. I had initially made them for a different room that could only allow 80" ledges, but ended up not being able to put them there because the wall was too curved to attach the ledges. Ledges have two coats of Miniwax Special Walnut Oil stain and Polycrilic.
All the "art" things were painted on old scrap from a years worth of ana-white projects. I used the three different stains I had left over (Miniwax Aged Oak Gel Stain, Weathered Oak Oil Stain, & Special Walnut Oil Stain) and alternated them on the three different types of wood scraps (Oak, pine, & maple). Then I "distressed" them with physical abuse and watered down acrylic craft paint. The designs were also acrylic craft paint. Then I sanded it all down to give it a worn look.
Mon, 07/14/2014 - 19:11
These are beautiful and creative! I see some staples from my own childhood there. :) Come do mine!
I loved these rolling cubby plans, so I used them to build one of my own! I needed a bench that could "nest" itself within some open shelves, but be pulled out to provide additional table seating.
I built this one from maple and walnut, because I like the bright, white color of maple against the brownish/gray of walnut. I very much dislike shiny or dark woods, so I went for an ultra matte wax finish. I used a liming wax for the maple to keep it bright and white (maple tends to go yellow when finished with a "clear" or "natural" finisher), and a clear wax for the walnut.
I found some non-marking casters on Amazon, but that was the tricky part. The bench needed to be high enough to create ample storage, yet not too tall that it was uncomfortable to sit on. SO I went with s smaller caster, but needed to use six to support the weight of the bench and three occupants. Final bench dimensions are 19" H x 47" W x 17 " D.
My wife wanted a collapsible table for her craft fair sales. I put a wooden dowel in the opening for her to drape packing paper over and hooks on the sides for gift bags. Easy plans to follow and it turned out great!
Todd Martens
This is a Pottery Barn inspired headboard. You can see from the pictures posted that I used 4 different kinds of wood. Reason being that money is tight and I had extra wood laying around the garage. I really enjoyed this project thanks to Anna's post here http://ana-white.com/2010/03/plans-mason-headboard-its-all-in-finish.ht…. I noticed there was a lot of posts concerning the finish. For my headboard I used 2 coats of primer, sanding in between coats. 2 coats of paint. 1 coat of chocolate glaze ( 4 parts glaze, 1 part stain). 1 coat of sealer. I followed this post for my finish http://ana-white.com/2012/05/distressed-turquoise-chocolate-glaze. Good luck everyone. Feel free to ask questions.
- Brad
Build time: 2.5 hours
Painting time: 4 hours
Building cost: Free (reclaimed wood)
Painting cost: $25-$30
This was my second project off Ana White's website. The construction was not as difficult as I would have thought. The staining on the other hand was very time intensive. I made an amended version of the table since I only wanted a 1x12 vs. 1x16. All in all, I am extremely happy with how this turned out.
Built this for my son in law. Texas A@m cornhole game and a bonus washer game with the left overs
When I built the little kids picnic table, I substituted 1x4 lumber, except for the top slats, the seats and the cross supports. The measurements needed to be adjusted of course. It was a fun project to build. The plans were clear and easy to follow.
Rick
We have Pottery Barn furniture in our cottage and I wanted a bench for our bedroom. I found this plan was very close to the "Benchwright" style and I'm very happy with the results, including the match in stain colour. It cost me approx. $40 vs $650 at Pottery Barn. The effort was definitely worthwhile !
I needed a table to fit in the gap of my offset and back to back couches. I made the bottom shelf a little bit longer to better fit the space. I also added additional screws to the back for more stabilization since I knew my kids would find the steps irresistible. The different hues of blue make it more interesting.
I had already built the Rustic X End Tables, and 3 years later I finally built the Rustic X Coffee Table to match! I shorted the length by 8" and coated the whole piece in a steel wool and vinegar solution. I then went back and used White Adirondack chalk paint by Folk Art for the base. I sanded the edges lightly for the distressing and put 3 coats of Minwax Matte Polyurethane over the entire piece for the top coat. I ended up putting 2 large wicker baskets underneath for extra storage and it is perfect!
Comments
mikejillnelson
Tue, 09/11/2012 - 05:04
Comfortable?
I have been considering making this bench for a friend but I wonder how comfortable it is...is it comfortable? Does it require a cushion? Is the back high enough to be comfortable leaning back in it for long periods? Also - how long did you wait to paint your pressure treated wood? I just recently learned you have to allow pressure treated wood dry out before painting...no one seems to tell you how long you have to wait though. Thanks for any help/opinions you share.
In reply to Comfortable? by mikejillnelson
mrhelton
Wed, 09/12/2012 - 19:38
Needs Tweaking
Honestly, it's not very comfortable. I think the seat part is a little too long, and the back is a little too short. We're going to put a beefy cushion on the back, and I think that's going to help because it will push us forward a little bit. It's not bad to sit in, but I definitely think it could be tweaked.
I let the wood dry out for 4 days (but I cut and assembled it the day I bought the wood). I'm not sure if that was long enough of not, but I was getting impatient, and, like you, couldn't find any real answers on drying time. It wasn't really that wet to begin, though. Hope that helps!
tracysmith
Thu, 09/13/2012 - 00:04
I have to laugh
I thought my kids and I were the only ones who used "ghetto" as a way to describe things... but I have to say that your frame looks great, it serves its purpose so I have to respectfully disagree with you, it doesn't look anything like "ghetto" :-)
In reply to I have to laugh by tracysmith
mrhelton
Thu, 09/13/2012 - 15:31
:D
Well thank you! I put the first coat of white paint on the frame today and it looks much nicer now!
Joe (not verified)
Tue, 01/22/2013 - 10:02
Hey, can you post the
Hey, can you post the dimensions of your frame? its exactly what I'm looking for. Do you have it screwed down to the deck? will it tip over?
Joe (not verified)
Tue, 01/22/2013 - 11:27
Hey, can you post the
Hey, can you post the dimensions of your frame? its exactly what I'm looking for. Do you have it screwed down to the deck? will it tip over?
jtv001
Fri, 10/27/2023 - 13:58
Would love the frame plans.
Would love the frame plans.