Community Brag Posts

This was one of my favorite DIY projects. It's so much more affordable than buying patio furniture, and the building instructions make it sturdy as ever.

I built this with my fiance, who you'll see in the image of the in-progress bench. It was a snap for us, since we have a fair amount of experience building our own furniture. With the right tools, this project can take only two days, including wait time in between coats of paint and varnish.

We made our sofa to fit the cushions we found, and thus, the sofa is actually 84" wide, instead of 72" wide. By doing this, we also eliminated the need for a love seat, and instead are in the process of making two chairs to match this sofa. All in all, our patio will seat 6, which is what we were aiming for.

TOOLS
The most important part of making this an easy, fun project is having the right tools. I highly recommend you purchase or borrow:
- Compound miter saw
- Kreg jig
- Square head screws (stripping these is nearly impossible)

This is my first Ana White project and it came out great. We used the Kreg Jig for the first time and it's awesome! I put a coat of Rustoleum Weathered Gray on first, which has a blue tinge to it. Then I added two light coats of Minwax Provincial (basically wiped it on and then back off...didn't let it sit). Finished it off with two coats of Minwax Wipe-On Poly, which is super easy to use and great for items that need a little protection. The only downside for me is that I have discovered that I am apparently allergic to pine resin which throws a major roadblock into building pine furniture!!! I end up with an itchy rash and face swelling when I around the freshly cut or sanded wood. Totally sucks. So I may have to have hubby do the cutting and sanding.

Table

I made this chair as a part of an outdoor furniture set including a loveseat and coffee table (also featured on this site). Very simple and easy to follow instructions..I did not have a jig to create the pocket holes, so I decided to leave the screws exposed and then cover them with wooden dowels sanded down. It created a little more work but added a little more character.

My son is now 5 years old and needed a new big boy bed. His bedroom is tiny so finding the plan for this kind of bunk bed with an opening area underneath was perfect to have the space to play and have an area to store his toys. This was my first and biggest piece of furniture that I've built and I did it all by myself. My wife helped with the painting. Following the instructions was simple and easy. I picked the Superman theme because my son's middle name is Kal-El, which is Superman Kryptonian name for those who aren't superhero geeks like me ;)
Overall an easy and fun project. Took me approximately 1 week (working on it each day for 2-3 hours after work) to cut and prep all the wood pieces. The painting took about 3 days for 3 coats of paint. The assembling took about 2 hours.

Awesome plans for a farmhouse table. We love it!

modified that bed, it is higher. We also paid our neighbor, who is an artist, to design and paint our foot board. Our cats love this bed too! We are putting the sideboards to cover up the mattress tonight.

p.s., If you live in GA and want to do something like this, let me know and I will give you the name of our artist

Added backdrop using 6inch boards.

Built this with 2 pedestals instead of 3, 7 feet long. Stained the top, then belt sanded and added a second coat for a more rustic look. Sprayed the entire project with the Titan Flexspray. 

Loved doing this project. Used a kreg jig and had pocket holes for my project. Less screw holes.

Ira J.

This was made entirely of scrap molding. The sides and bottom shelves are left over baseboard. The front stops are made out of door/window casing.

We wanted this to hang on the wall instead of the floor, so we added 1x3 scrap under the 2nd and 4th shelf and countersunk screws into the studs in the wall.

Very simple. The vinegar/steel wool solution works fantastic as long as you put a coat of brewed tea on first. Otherwise, the wood wont turn color due to the lower amount of tannin in the pine. Also be sure to finish all of your pieces on the same day. The stain solution gets its color from basically rusting the steel wool in the vinegar, therefore, the longer it sits, the more the color will change. Also, I built these for my wife and she opted out of having the "x" on the tables. I also modified the end tables to be smaller and better fit our living room.

Took the advice from another and made the width 16 1/4.  Fits the changing pad perfectly.  Thank you!!  Made from oak with Espresso stain and 2 coats finishing wax.  

We had some roughcut cypress lumber left over from building our house which has been laying in my yard for a few years. Once I received Ana's new book, I knew just what to do with it! We love our new chairs so much we built a firepit to go with them!

Since the original post, I made burlap seat cushions. Love it!

I had a fun time building this easy to follow project. A brad nailer does make a world of difference. I chose to stain the inside of the drawers but had to let it sit out for awhile before use. Thank you for posting this project, it has made my family very happy.