Community Brag Posts

We made these tables and benches for my daughter’s wedding. They made setup for dinner just what she wanted!

This is such a great way to show off art from school. I used scrap wood and regular and small clothes pins. I thought I could put photos in the small clips on top and the artwork on the bottom larger ones.

Added kitchen and dining room storage by building bookcases / shelf units to fit under the peninsula breakfast bar overhang. It's the simplest possible "box with a toe-kick", loosely based on Ana's plans for a bookshelf and the closet master system.

Much of the "working time" was stain and finishing time. Actual cutting and assembly time was under 3 hours.

No dimensions: every breakfast bar is different.

1 - The boards were cut to fit under the overhang, with 1/8 or less clearance. Top and bottom of unit is between the upright pieces.

2 - Width of units was also cut to fit. One unit is the width of the lower section of countertop (appx 23 in), the taller section was divided into 2 equal units (appx 21 in)

Shelves were cut about 1/4" narrower than the insiude dimension of the unit, to allow for insertion and the shelf pegs.

3 - Toekick space cut to match the cabinet on the far side of the peninsula. Used a circular saw and then a hand saw to finish the corners.

4 - Drilled pocketholes in the top and bottom boards.

5 - Used Rockler's jig for drilling shelf pin holes in the 6 uprights. Oops! I should have drilled every possible hole. I drilled every other hole and don't have the shelf flexibility I really need.

6 - Stained and topcoated everything, let it dry.

7 - Assembled each shelf unit, using corner clamps and a carpenter's square to make sure it was square. The bottom shelf is screwed at the same level as the toe-kick.

8 - Slid units under the overhang, shimmed them firmly under the countertop.

9 - Added shelf pegs and shelves

DONE!

Doors could be added, using the hinges for inset doors on frameless cabinets.

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NOTES:
The units are backless. I considered nailing a 1/8 hardboard back onto them, but because the finished back of the peninsula is visible behind them, and they are shimmed into place to prevent slouching it was not needed.

Cost is low because we had some 1x12 boards in the attic. Already had the tools and stain from earlier projects. 3 1x12 x 6ft boards were new, the rest were salvage.

This was my first prject of this scale. First time making doors and drawers. Took about 3 months of working after work and weekends to finish. I'm pretty happy for how it trurned out as new wood worker. Time for a drink.

My version of the 8’ Grandy Barn Door Console. I made it deeper to accommodate a sink that we haven’t put in yet. It was so fun building again. I haven’t built a piece of furniture since high school. Thank you for your amazing plans!

I wanted a place to sit and watch the koi in my pond. I have a bi-level home and the bottom of my deck is about 5' from the ground; the support posts are 6'3" apart. The joist layout made hanging a 4' swing absolutely perfect. So, I took the simple design and modified it to be shorter to fit my space. This swing could hold a small car - I just hope the chain and connectors I bought will! I used treated wood and plan to use an opaque stain for lower maintenance when it has dried out (3 weeks). Now, to pick the color! Love this plan! Thank you!

With a new baby boy on the way, my big boys (1 & 3) are moving into a big boy room. They requested a tractor room so here's the first project, the closet.

I have not built a project in a while but we needed shelves for our homeschool room.  I decided to pick something and build it so we started with this one!  I love working with my hubby doing these things and he still loves me after we're done ;) so I guess we did alright!

It looks great in our room holding our games and will add some books soon.  Thanks Ana for empowering me to go again in building!

Was super simple to make. Got our bookbags out of kitchen chairs. As suggested in plans we used 2x3. Its plenty deep for notebooks. Love all your plans. Thanks!!

* I have tred EVERYTHING to get this picture right side up!!! So sorry it is upside down! This was my first every woodworking project and I am very pleased with the result. I have used it many time since for other projects now too. The plans were easy to follow and although it took me some time it was easy to make. Very sturdy and a great size to work on. I made it out of wood from orange and stained it with weathered oak stain.

I built this bed for my two year old son and it is super sturdy! I used some Rockler bed rail hardware to attach the rails to the headboard/footboard for easier disassembly later. I attempted the tea/vinegar/steel wool staining technique with fairly good results. The plywood turned a little more gray than I wanted though. I spent around $100 for all of the supplies (wood + pocket hole screws), but a huge chunk of that was the 3/4" Maple plywood, and I only used half of the sheet. So, I guess the actual cost of the bed was closer to $75. Luckily, I'll be able to use the rest of the plywood for some beds for my daughters. This bed was super easy to build and my son loves it!

This project is based on the outdoor storage bench at morelikehome.net, which was based on an Ikea outdoor storage unit.  I used 100 year old lath that I recycled from a remodeling project.  The lid of the bench lifts off, it will eventually hide the timer for a drip irrigation.

Just built this today, very easy build. I used cedar tone treated lumber for the frame and the cedar pickets. I modified the size some, little smaller than the plans. Total material cost about $70.

Combination of the Farmhouse table (http://ana-white.com/2009/12/plans-farmhouse-table-knock-off-of.html) and the simple, cheap, easy console table (http://ana-white.com/2009/11/plan-simple-cheap-and-easy-console.html).

I wanted it taller so that I could make rolling crates to push underneath and might add a shelf later on to maximize storage potential. I kept the lengths of the pallets except for the side supports which I just cut in half, I wish I had cut a little more off the side supports making it so that I didn't waste as much pallet wood cutting the wood for the table top but I love it nonetheless and I have bonfire wood for our next get together. Right now I'm enjoying it since it's my first Ana-White project.

I used two free pallets I scored on a yard sale group on Facebook, lots of sanding, and I had the paint (one coat to keep it rustic) and screws on hand so it was a free project. I only received one splinter (should of been wearing gloves) and added an embellishment with chalk board paint (stating the year that my husband and I met since he just left on deployment). It took me 5 hours (I told you it was a lot of sanding) over the weekend. Fun project, can't wait to get started on the next one :)

Our home is small, about 1600 sq/ft, so I am on a mission to create as much out of the way storage as possible. It feels like a loosing battle, but I suppose with 2 young children most mothers feel like this with or without more square footage. You might wonder why I don't buy furniture to solve my problems? My answer to that question is that most of the furniture out there is too expensive, it doesn't fit the space available, and just doesn't suit all of our needs. Most importantly, I know that I can make it myself, build it better, and use quality materials. No particle board here, thank you.

So, my storage solution for my boys books was inspired by the Ana Whites Flat Wall Book Shelves (http://ana-white.com/2010/04/plans-wall-book-racks-easy-and-inexpensive…). I wanted to maximize my storage and make a good use of space in our already cramped home.

Please visit my blog for a complete DIY on my version if you are interested.

Only our second wood working project (after the x console table) and it was a success! Next time, we would do the doors differently as we made them with 1x 3's and 1/4'' plywood and we had to cut the shelves down about 1/4" so they doors would shut flush. Next time we would do the 1/3's as a frame and surface mount the frame then put the 1/4" ply wood on behind it. Absolutely loved how it turned out though!

I made this day bed with dividers for a friend who requested it mirror the farmhouse table. I think it turned out wonderfully! I replaced the 2x6's with 1x6's to cut down on weight since it was being fit for his 5th wheel trailer.

Made these side tables for our master bedroom using the wood from 3 wooden pallets. The pallets took about 45 minutes each to disassemble and the plank sizing required us to ripped the boards to 3 different uniform widths.