Community Brag Posts

From the Modern Square Farmhouse table.

My niece's husband is career military and they move a lot. She saw the farmhouse table on Ana's site and asked if I would build her one that could be disassembled for moving and have extensions for large group gatherings. Challenge accepted!

In order to take the table apart, I used 2 - 6 inch long lag screws at the top of each leg that screwed into the 2x4 supports for the table top. Due to the weight of the table, it is advised to turn the table upside-down when removing the screws or assembling the table. Next, I used 3 inch lag screws to secure the beam under the table. Again, the lag screws are easily removed for moving.

For the leaf inserts, I utilized a dowel jig so the leaf extensions could be easily inserted and removed on the sliders that support the breadboard ends. (It is necessary to drill the holes out a little larger that accept the leaf dowels. If this is not done the leafs will fit too tight and it is difficult, if not darn impossible, to remove them.) This was advantageous for two reasons ... (1.) The leafs are easily installed and removed; and (2.) No need for leaf extensions that have their own 2 x 4 sliders. This reduces storage space for the extensions and eliminates the slider insert hole cutouts on each end of the table because the slider is never removed.

The table, when disassembled, is in (8) sections:

(2) table leg sections
(1) table top
(1) Main beam from under the table
(2) Leaf extensions
(2) Breadboard ends attached to 2x4 sliders

My niece is simply thrilled with the table.

Great instructions and a great finished project

Our old firebox had rusted out through improper installation. So, we took it out and built a 7” bump out directly in front of it. The best part was, the new electric fireplace fit the old firebox location perfectly. Since my wife wanted a stone appearance, we purchased two ¼” 4’x8’ decorative panels that she then “schmeared.” For the mantle, we used pin oak milled from our property. I used three boards to create a faux beam to provide the look we are very happy with. The hearth consists of four walkway pavers.

I built the kids play table stool for a birthday gift, handpainted with a single letter monogram.

We followed Ana's plans almost exactly. We decided to do without the slower board that ran the length of the table and it is still super sturdy and we love it. When we were finished building, we filled all the cracks in the table top {between boards} with wood filler and then stained the top. I wish I would have filled the cracks on the bench too because there is a LOT of food that gets stuck in the cracks with little ones. I also wish I had done a self-leveling resin on the top right away too because when we moved the table, it did crack some of the wood filler that was in-between boards. It is still much better than having cracks that food can get stuck in, but I will for sure be doing the resin in the near future to make it more of a solid surface and make it so the soft wood can't have writing marks in it from my kindergartener.

We painted the legs to make it two toned. Once I had 3 coats of white paint on it, I sanded the edges and then rubbed the whole surface down with the same stain that we used on the top. This made the edges that we sanded stand out but also made the white paint not so white. It is exactly how I wanted it to look. It came together so perfect

We put 4 coats of clear coat on it too and its shiny and beautiful. This was the first big project that my hubby and I built and I am quite impressed with how well it turned out. The finishing is what took the longest. We had the table built in a day or two but it took me all week to get it painted and clear coated.

With all the wood, paint, stain and clear coat this cost us about $225 for both the table and bench.

I made this cabinet first, actually two of them, that way I would know the exact depth to build my other wall cabinets.  The depth without the face frame came to 11 3/4".  I built it exact to the plans, Thank you Ana!  I did modify the height to 36" and the rails of my face frames are 2 1/2" to accomodate the trim at the top and lighting at the bottom.  I have never built cabinets before and never made a pocket hole before either!  But I couldn't invest the $15,000 that Lowe's quoted me, this house is too old.  So I found a really nice set from craigslist and went from there.  I built all my wall cabinets to a custom height of 36".  The doors came from FastCabinetDoors and they are great quality doors.  The door I chose was "Camden" in oak frames and panels.  I used Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations in Pure White for the finish.  I hope to be finished in 5 weeks.

Finished building my son's shop by enclosing an existing carport and adding these hand built carriage doors to the front of the shop. Sorry, not built from any plans here but used the techniques learned here from many of the other plans.

Gary

The benchwright table.... This is my 3rd project. I was very intimidated by the angles and bevels but they turned out to be not nearly as bad as I expected. This table is not made to Anna's dimensions.... i wanted the table to be able to fit 8 chairs so I added 10 inches to the length measurements, I also wanted it to be wider so I added 11 inches to every width measurement (which equaled 2 extra 1x6 boards for the table top) In hind sight i think i would have either made the table a little taller or used a 2x4 for the stretchers instead of a 2x6 because the space for your knees with the 2x6 is a little tight. Before finishing i distressed the table with chains, nails, hammer, and screwdriver gouges. I still have to add some details...... I want the stretcher to have the turnbuckle like to pottery barn version and I have not found the right size pipes or turnbuckle yet so that will come sometime in the future. I also still have to add the bolts to the breadboards. Now to find some great chairs (don't mid my awesome patio folding chairs that are currently in use lol) I think im going to go for the mismatched painted chairs, maybe in a fun color like blue or red?

When we first moved into our new home one of the first things that I built for it was this custom gate that resides at the top of our stairs. We needed this to keep the baby from falling down and keep the dogs out when need be. Overall it was a great way to separate the two areas. It is also inexpensive and easy to build. I used a pneumatic nailer for all of the joinery on this one so it was quick to build as well.

Quick and easy phone holders

Fireman Joe

Followed the directions for the simple outdoor dining table. Mine is still unfinished. Plan to paint and primer it white. There were some errors in the plans. Do not screw the top framing together with butt joints and still expect to be able to put the leg bolts through. They will hit each other. It was only a real problem for me on one of the legs but if I had knownthere would be a problem I would have found another way from the start.

used triple pedestal plans and modified. I laminated all the leg pieces to look like one piece, also did top in 3" thick top.

This was my first ever DIY project as I wouldnt consider myself a handy man, but I had alot of fun making this table and bench. I modified the design as I wasn't confident in making the necessary cuts for the X but I added a long support underneath the table top so that the top wouldn't sag (hopefully!).  Since completing the table, I've grown more comfortable with my carpentry "skills" and all I want to do on the weekends is build things! I'm sure I'm driving my wife insane!

It took me a lot longer as I had a couple weekends where I could only work on the table and bench for an hour or two but you can definitely do it in a weekend.

Thanks Ana! 

I wanted something special for my Daughter’s room. I made her bed and bedside table and then I experimented with your book case plan. I was pleasantly surprised with the finished product.

A x console table made to fit in recessed area near dining table. This was made out of scrap and left over blue pine. Top, middle and bottom shelves were joined with biscuits and kreg screws. In order to get more dimension out of legs I made out of 1x that were ripped at 45 and then the 4 pieces were joined with biscuits. Was stained with white mini wax

 I followed the plans to build the counch.  My wife liked it so much she requested the love seat and chairs.  The chair plans were not up on the site yet.  That said, the plans were so easy to follow, I was able to adjust the loveseat plans to make the chairs with ease. Thank you very much!