Community Brag Posts

First attempt at anything like this, so this website was a great find and very inspiring!

A great plan that was so easy to follow!  My hubby and I had a great time building this, even though it took us about a year from start to finish, actual work time on this project was not huge.  The Kreg jig was brilliant and made everything so easy.  

We started building farm tables just recently and used the great plans from the Ana White site along with all the helpful other brag posts.  The main construction of the table was based on the plans from here: www.ana-white.com/2012/11/plans/farmhouse-table-updated-pocket-hole-plans along with some other modifications made along the way.  The table turned out great and just wanted to give thanks for the plans and this community.  

We built more than just the picture uploaded if you want to see more versions/sizez you can check them out here: http://backyardcedarsevents.com/gallery/

Thanks for the great DIY website - the projects and plans here are great for everything!

My husband made two of these star closets for our girls and all of their American Girl Doll clothes and accessories. He added a drawer to the bottom so that they could fold pants, shorts, and swim suits and keep them there. He also built three small boxes to hold the smaller accessories, like shoes, hair bows, and hats. It turned out beautiful!

I had my nephew build this outhouse for our new 70 acre lot - no neighbours in sight so I had him put in an acrylic window (with a view).  I left off the deck and had him put the boards tight together so 'critters' didn't get in as easily. I made a sign for above the door - 'Waste Management' for a touch of humour.  The plans were easy to follow and I love it.  Thanks, Ana.

I changed the this plan to make it into a puppet stage for my niece's birthday.

I added a curtain rod and made some curtains to fit. I put two shelves in the back, but I put dowels in along the shelves so she could put her puppets on them for easy storage. I used a piece of a sheet of wainscotting for the front of the bottom.

I also put chalkboard paint at the top to allow her to write the name of puppet show that she is performing.

I was able to use some scraps that I had around for quite a bit of it, so it was pretty inexpensive.

The pictures are not great and I wish I would've taken pictures of the back before I gave it as a gift, but the kids are having lots of fun with it. I'll have to take some better pictures the next time I visit.

A coworker wanted bunk beds to give her daughter for Christmas for her American Girl Dolls and and asked me to build some.  She was happy with the result

Hi all,

Joining a large group who have already done this coffee table.  Hope you like it.

I made the original plan higher and wider, and added an extra shelf. Very pleased with the outcome!

I built this media console from 100% reclaimed shipping pallet wood.  I added 4" steel hairpin legs which I thought went well with the rustic appearance of the wood.  The shelves that are in place are removable.  Although this is not built from one of Ana's plans I really enjoyed working with reclaimed wood and I hope this post will inspire others to do the same. 

- Brad 

Instagram: Timberandsoul 

Since my daughter turned 5, she has joined the ranks of those children (un)fortunate enough to have 2 bedrooms to furnish. In approaching her 6th birthday I asked her mother if there was anything she needed for her new room at her house, and she suggested a new table to do colouring/craft etc at. I was actually searching to buy a table and chairs, and was decidedly underwhelmed by the selection and the quality/cost ratio on offer. 

Thankfully I stumbled across the plans for the Clara Table, and it was precisely what I was after. I have made various tables before, for garden and dining, and have always gone with reclaimed wood and a rustic style, but for this I did just use the plans as-is, and I bought new pine timber purely for the convenience of it. 

The table is simple to build, I already had a pocket hole jig, and the table itself took about 90minutes to build. Most of this time was spent sanding off the foaming glue I decided to use between the planks used for the top. If you are considering using this sort of glue, or indeed any glue, I'd say it isn't necessary. I had neverade a table top of this construction before, and went for the belt and braces approach. In my opinion it's totally unnecessary, doesn't add much security, but adds plenty of time to the project. If you really want, I'd go for bog standard wood glue, but by the time you screw it onto the legs, it's solid as a rock anyway.

It is mentioned to set the aprons back a way, to avoid splitting the legs. I did this, by using an off-cut of the 3x1 as a spacer on the face of the aprons as I screwed them in. Worked a treat, set the aprons back, but not all the way, and gives the illusion of a little more heft to the dimensions.

I then painted the top with chalk based emulsion, distressed and did the signwriting to personalise it, finished it with wax and my daughter was more delighted than I ever thought any child could be by having a table daddy made for her birthday, and at a fraction of the cost of a shop bought one of far lower quality.

Am.so.pleased I stayed on this website, and have already lined up the matching chairs for her as my next project!

Thank you for inspiring me to get back to making things again...it's been a while!

The timber cost me about £20, and the biggest expense was all the paint tester pots for the top!

When I first saw this and showed it to my wife it became number one on my Honey Dew list. I did not like the open space between the bottom shelf and top, saw on this site where someone put a wine rack of shorts as a second shelf. So I did the same I used 1x4 instead of the 1x10 used on bottom shelf. I also used 1x4 for the top to help eliminate the gaps between the boards that the 2x4’s would cause. To help give something for the 2x4’s and the 2x6’s to attach to I screwed 2x2’s to the 1x4’s around the edge. Gives the illusion of 2x4’s and makes for a very smooth and flat surface for the top.

My first real furniture DIY project.  My wife has been asking for a farmhouse table for a couple of years and I found Ana's site 3 weeks ago.  By reading the plans the project seemed simple enough to give it a try.  I modified the plans to shorten the table to 72" to fit in our dining room.  I bought lumber from Lowe's and lumber costs for the table was approx $65 and the bench was right around $20.  My wife loves it and I have had multiple requests to make more tables for other family members.  The project took a week to complete working a few hours each evening after work.  Stained with Rust-Oleum Ultimate in Kona and 4 coats of a Rust-Oleum Polyurethane in Satin finish. A big thanks to Ana for the free plans and for my new hobby of furniture making!    *EDIT*  The table and bench are not as dark as the pictures show. 

I made this rustic vanity and mirror out of pine and stained it with a variety of different stains.

Ana's design caught my eye and I had to build one that was similar. I decided to modify the top because I really like the look of breadboard style tops. So the main difference is that I cut the top boards 41" long and added two 2x6 pieces for breadboards (about 27-27.5" long). So the total width still comes to 52". Turned out pretty cool!