Community Brag Posts

Bar stools made completely out of old barn wood.

I've wanted to make this dress up storage since the moment I saw it; I planned to do this as my first building project. I finally got around to getting all the supplies and then I asked my father to assist me since i never really built anything like this before - well, he's not a patient man and he ended up building the whole thing without me (boo!) ... but I at least got to paint it! I absolutely love it and it looks fantastic in my girls' playroom.

I used Ana's garden bench plan and had a blast finishing this project. The plans are well thought out and finished very square and sturdy. I altered the depth of the bench to 18 inch seat supports as I am short and felt the 24" span would leave me feeling like Edith Ann. (This also required shortening of the armrests to 24") I also was inspired by an abandoned headboard that had nice detail and some Oak spindles. My son, bless his heart, carried it on his back about 6 blocks so I could make this. (He knows how to stay on my good side.)
I spent more time painting the project than cutting out the boards. I prepainted all the pieces before assembly. I wanted it to withstand the Wisconsin weather so I diligently primed it and then did two coats of outdoor latex paint. I elected to tint the primer as I was not sure how much paint I might need. One quart of Zinsser 123 primer and one quart of Dutchboy Maxbond semi gloss paint in plum mauve was enough. The dark paint is Rustoleum spray paint in purple. If I thought it was cost effective I might have spray painted the whole thing but it was summer and I didn't want to deal with the fumes. Of course, I picked the hottest two weeks so far this year to do this project. My sewing room became my painting station.
The width is close to 62", seat height 20" and seat total depth is 22". I trimmed about 3" off the leg post of the headboard.
I am eager to pick another project from Ana's plans.
My cost is higher as I had no scraps to work from and needed all the screws and paint. I also bought $90 in cordless tools and some collapsible sawhorses. All of these items I will use again for other projects.

My son had a 'lightning Mcqueen' toddler bed- but we needed to get him into a little bigger bed.  We had a spare full bed, and Batman is his current favorite... Since there aren't Batman full race car beds- time to start planning and building from sketchup!  Took me about 2 weeks of evenings (after the kids go to bed) and about $110 in materials.  The model is available in the sketchup warehouse at:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=u6b750a53-37a4-4d52-9d31…

For the wheel covers I ordered online at Amazon for $25 for a set of 4.

For the Wheels both HD and Menards make a 18" wood table top for ~$7 that I just cut the middle out  with my router to fit the wheel covers.

The slats to hold the bed (made to fit both box spring and mattress) were just 1x4 pine boards from menards.

The body was made from 3/4 MDF, though you could of course use plywood. 

I used a projector to project the image from sketchup onto the board to get it transferred- else it would have been 50+ pages if printing..

For the logos I just used a minila folder as my stencil and cut out the logo.  Needed to touch up the 'tabs' to hold the logo in the circle after pulling off the stencil.

I started with the triple cubby design, resized it to fit my space, made it desk height (30"), added shelves and doors.  It was my second project based on the triple cubby.  In the process I used a multitude of Kreg items - the rip cut, the pocket hole jig, the hinge jig, the cabinet knob jig, and the corner clamps.  Next up:  queen size drawer bases for my son's bed.

I built this chair for my sister. I added small 2X2 support for the front legs and the arm rests because the pocket holes split. It was a little tough building this one since I had to rely on the HD staff's cuts, which are not always exact. But I'm happy with how it turned out, and my sister loves it too!

I was honored this past March to be Matron of Honor in one of my best friend’s wedding, and as a gift to the happy couple I made them a guest book bench. I wanted this one to look extra special. I started out with Ana White’s Fancy X Bench plans and made a couple of modifications. I reduced the overall length to 54″ to sit at the foot of a bed or under a table, and used only 2 pedestals instead of 3. To make the top better for signing, I decided to substitute the planked 2×6′s for a pine 3/4" thick “hobby board” that was 15″ wide, purchased at Lowes. I framed it out with some 1×2′s to make it look chunkier. Once it was built I gave it three coats of white semi-gloss latex, and then drew up the art for the center. It’s the same font used on the wedding invitations. I wish I had thought to take a photo of the signed bench at the wedding! But I was a little bit busier at the moment. I’m really proud of this pretty little bench. As I received in one of the messages on my own wedding bench, I hope it sees the butts of many friends for years to come!

I built this crate in about a week (a few hours at a time). It is big enough for my Lab but too small for my Rottie. It needs to be about 6 inches wider and three inches taller. Inside dimensions on this one were 23" Wide x 35" long. I will post pics of the next one when complete. Thanks Ana!

Memorial Box

King Size Farmhouse Bed

I absolutely love this table and couldn't believe how easy it was to build. It was a weekend project and gets so many compliments.

For the finish, I mixed steel wool with vinegar and brushed it on. The table really darkened up nicely and made the distress marks in the wood come out. I then applied walnut stain and followed up with 3 coats of poly.

In my post I have pictures of the finishing process and a video showing how to distress wood and apply the vinegar solution.

If you are looking for an affordable table that looks great, I'd highly recommend building Ana's table.

Now that I've completed several projects from the Ana White website, I've started accumulating scrap wood at various lengths. I have been in need of new nightstands for quite some time (seeing as I was using a Rubbermaid bin on one side of my bed ). I modified the plans to use my scraps; on the tops and bottoms are 1X4 cut to 18", and on the sides I had extra 1X8 that I ripped down to 1X6 because I wanted a sleek profile and rectangular finish. I also found them a little plain and added decorative 2 1/2" corner braces for look that I painted in black gloss.

Thank you as always for the awesome plans and the inspiration!!

A Christmas project for my sister

Inspired by a photo online and Ana's cheap and easy console table, I decided to make an entry table out of salvaged materials. I found a shutter at a thrift store for $5 to make the top, rescued some legs from an old kitchen table left on the side of the road, and some leftover barnwood from my rustic cooler project. I used the Kreg jig to put it all together, and now have a simple, rustic table that's the perfect size for my entryway!

I made these shelves to connect to a vintage sideboard that with a new granite top will become our kitchen island. Since the sideboard was dark and highly carved I wanted something chunky, sturdy and with a bit of style. Use links in the original post for all the building details.

Last year I built a "Cara Storage Console" and matching bookcase for my 12 year old granddaughter. Her 5 year old sister decided she needed one too, but a little bigger so she could store all her "ponies" on it. She and her mother planned it all out over a period of a few weeks and what ended up being built was 5' wide and 7'3" tall. It is 20" deep. Anna's plan was scaled up a bit and then had to be broken down in to two sections, upper and lower, so it could be brought in to the house. The sides and shelves are all 1x12 pine boards put together with glue and Kreg screws. The back took most of 2 sheets of 1/4" plywood. 1x2's were added for support under the front and back of the shelves.

Fortunately her other grandmother is really good at painting, so it was given a couple coats of semigloss pink along with pink heart wall paper. The grandbaby and her little brother started loading it up before Granny could even finish the sides.

The good part is that all her toys will fit on these shelves. The bad part is she won't pick up all her toys and put them on these shelves.

We needed to fill the corner in the house, wasn’t sure what project to do forever!  We liked the look of the rustic furnitures and decided to go forward with this truss shelf design.

We used a crackle paint with a black base and turquoise top layer and finished the wood planks with a pickling solution to weather the wood. 

Let me know what you think. 

Maldonado thanks for the prints for this awesome design!