Community Brag Posts

First project. Thank you Ana for getting me started. 

Rustic finish on Ana's Mini Farmhouse Bedside Table

We wanted to build my daughter a smaller bed with lots of storage. I really liked the Daybed plans on here, so we used those and made a few minor adjustments. First, we wanted the bed to sit inside the frame of the bed, instead of just sitting ontop the frame. This will prevent the matress from sliding around. We did this by adding 3 inches on both the length and width of the bed. After building the bed you probably only need to add 1-2 inches, but it still turned out fine. I glued and screwed strips on the side rails a few inches down and then attached my 3" strips to the rails. I also increased the height of the bed slightly by addinga few inches to the 2x4 sides. Also, instead of using 1x12 boards for the construction of the bed, we used 3/4 plywood. This let me make the sides and drawer taller than 12" and also saved a lot of money. I was able to make the whole bed from 2x4s and one sheet of plywood, plus I bought a sheet of MDF for the bottom of the main drawer. This brought the entire cost of the bed to around $150 in materials.

For the bottom drawer we wanted one large storage area instead of 3 seperate drawers. The main reason for this is so we would use it as a trundle in the future if we wanted to. I build the drawer bottom out of a large piece of MDF, and maded the sides out of 3/4 plywood. I cut a 1/2" rabbit on the bottom of the drawer sides so the bottom sits flush. My main reason for doing this was because the boards are different colors (MDF and plywood) and I knew I was not going to be painting the drawers. The drawer sides and attached by pockethole screws which are hiddle. The front pocket hole screws are hidden by the front drawer face and the rear screws could only be seen if you look behind the bed.

I used homemade chalk paint and put about 4 coats on the entire surface. The finish was done with a high quality paste wax which was put on, let dry, and then buffed. I put 3 coats of wax on the finished project.

The bottom of the drawer has 6 straight casters on the bottom for easy pull out.

The contruction of the bed was done in about a day, but the finishing took longer due to the multiple coats and letting the wax dry.

This is my first fine woodworking project after taking two classes at my local Firestarter FabLab community entrepreneurial center.  

I used wormy maple, the top is 40" x 1 1/2" that I used the CNC router to cut out.  The base I used 1" and glued everything to thickness for the the Square X Base Pedestal Dining Table plans, with a few variation.  For the 45's I only made 2x4's instead of the specified 4x4's and the same for the X on the bottom.  Thrilled with how it turned out.

Thank you for the great inspiration!

This is a little bigger than the plan, especially in height.... leave it to me to make things WAY more complicated than they need to be! The trundle is made from 3/4" plywood, but the faux drawers are done with 1/4" plywood. Everything is pine. I wanted to have a nice dark warm cherry color for the finish, but it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted. I am still very proud of myself, but next time I'll use a better wood, like maple or cedar maybe. It's not perfectly square, so if I try to turn the trundle in the other way, it sticks a bit. I like that I can shove it against the wall and plop some pillows on it and turn it into a bench if I have people over.

Made this over the weekend for my wife. I got the top from my work as they were going to toss it out because it was the wrong color so i took it home, got the bench plans from this awesome site and bada bing...my wife is happy! Thanks ana! Looking forward to future projects.

After seeing how expensive custom cushions can be, I decided to build a custom outdoor sofa around the dimensions of the cushions instead of the other way around.  I took some plans for a chair and modified the dimensions.  I also gave the seat a 7 degree downward slope and gave the backrest a similar angle to in order to keep the cushions from falling over since each section is a single piece (seat & backrest).

I used a jigsaw to round out the corners of the armrest and then sanded them smooth.  I ended up painting it white (hard to see in the 2nd picture) and it came out great.  

My first project using an Ana White plan and the first time using a Kreg jig (love that little blue thing!). The plan is pretty much straight forward. I had a great (but exhausitng) time building this bed for my 2 year old son. It was pretty easy and I did everything myself. Lowe's didn't cut my boards...I did! Bought a circular saw just for this project.

My only complaint is that 2'' wood screws are not on the posted "shopping list" and are needed for the side rails construction. It is listed in the step by step instructions, but if you are shopping for this don't forget to add this to your list of needed items. I got to the side rails and had to go back out for wood screws before I could add the cleats. Also, if I had to do this project over again, I would sand the plywood panels BEFORE constructing the head and foot boards. My reason being that I used wood stain. I've learned that plywood stains best when it is sanded to a smooth finish and pre-treated with wood conditioner. Once assembled, the slats on the head/foot boards make it impossible to sand the plywood with a power sander (too narrow). I had to manually sand between each slot...talk about tiring! No other glitches though! This was a fun project and the instructions were great and easy-to-follow.

I used Minwax water-based wood stain to finish my son's bed. I had it tinted at the paint desk to charcoal gray. In the store it looked very driftwoodish. However, it came out looking more blueish on the bed. I still like it though and my son loves it. I would wipe the stain on and keep it on no more than 20 seconds before wiping the excess off. I wanted the grain to show through really well and after many, many test pieces this seemed closest to what I was looking for.

In case anyone is interested, the striped fitted sheet, flat sheet and pillowcase are from Target (Target brand for $14.99 I think). The red, gray and black comforter are from Walmart.com (Style Lounge Reinforcements Grey/Multi comforter for $58). I had painted the room white with a fat black stripe shortly after moving into the house. I couple of years later we found out that we had my son on the way to we turned that room into the nursery. I primed part of the stripe and hand painted his first and middle name to overlap the stripe so that it all looked it was painted at the same time. The gray and black area rug was also from Walmart (we bought it in store about a year and a half ago...don't remember the style's name).

Thanks for looking!

I've been wanting a storage bench for my bedroom to store bed pillows and blankets while we sleep so that the dogs don't take them over during the night on the floor. This is perfect. Just need to finish painting or staining. I did add a plywood bottom. I may add trim to the bottom as well. My first larger project without my husband's help! 

We were able to finish this table after work one afternoon and stain it the next day. (we have a 16 month old also, so you can do it! :) ) I wanted a similar style I had found at World Market that retailed for $700 we were able to complete this entire table for $100 including all hardware and stain. LOVE it so much and get SO many compliments on it. Thanks so much!

Shelby
The Dandy Lion

I made this table for me and my wife.  We love how it turned out! Approximate dimensions are 83"L x 37"W x 30"H.

I planed the table top boards down to around 1 1/4".  After assembly, I used a hand plane and a belt sander to even out any unevenness, then I used my random orbital sander and gradually increased grit to 320.  Sanded lightly between finish coats. 

Built this to clear up my son's room a bit. Lots of flexible storage for his legos, rock collection, art supplies, and everything else cluttering up his room.

Big Kids Picnic table. Made this for my daughters and they absolutely love it. Just the right size for a 9 and 6 y/o.