Community Brag Posts

Very versatile and easy to build design. With some tweaking I was able to build a bookshelf, hall table and coffee station fro the same basic plan. End tables are next!

I built this 3 times, the first time, I wanted to beef it up, so I took it apart and decided that I was going to use a frame to make it more sturdy. This was for my 6'4 football playing husband, wanted a place for his sweats, jerseys, etc, so the 2nd one is the white beadboard one in the pic....Then, when I finally did move it into the house, boy I missed it in the garage. I had been using the baskets for my paint brushes, tack clothes, tarps, etc.....So, I built another one, just for me and my sundries. That's the one you see in the pic that is just the frame with baskets. My 180 6 ft tall son actually was caught sitting on top of it, and I'm proud to say, it held, no problem. I love Ana's plans, you can follow to the tee, always a good idea, or add in your own flavor. It's like adding your own spice to the soup. This is one of my favorite pieces to build, used my kreg, and the one that gets the most compliments and requests. For the top, I didn't have a 1x16 on hand, so I kregged together 2 1x8's. Absolutely beautiful.

Entry way bench made from some 3.5 by 3.5 inch posts, 2 by 8 for the top and 2 by 4 for the rails and under seat supports. Finished in Varathane Kona.

4 feet long, 17 inches to top of seat and 14.5 inches wide.

This cabinet was inspired by an Ana White project. My wife wanted more storage in our new home, and we had a sofa table at this location. But it was just a top, no shelves. I custom fit it to be flush with the window sills at the top and ends so it takes on a bit of a built in appearance. The top and bottom are oak faced plywood, all edges covered with iron on oak facing. As I was short of the expensive plywood, the ends, shelves and kick are doug fir plywood with a light oak stain; while not a perfect match gave a pleasing result that guests have not caught. The doors are 1/2" MDF, with a 2" solid oak end glued on where I routed the slots to open them. Slots are 1/4" +, 3/8" apart, and the top and bottoms of the doors routed to leave a 1/4" rail. The bottoms of the bottom slide slots have a slick poly tape in them, which really helps the doors to slide easily.

Sides and interior are brush finished with 3 coats of semi-gloss polyurethane, while the top has 5 coats. The MDF on the doors has one sprayed coat of white primer (oil based to avoid bringing up the MDF) with a final sprayed coat of mat finish enamel. I need to do one more step, light sand with 320 grit and paste wax the top to get that really fine finish.

While not as easy as Ana makes it look, it turned out pretty well. That hard part on a piece this size is getting all the pieces cut precisely, and I mean with less than 1/32nd difference, to provide a good fit. As it was I had to custom cut the oak opening ends on the doors to account for the small differences in widths at the top and bottom to obtain a nice fit against the sides. Next time I'll triple check all finish dimensions to make those small adjustments in parts before assembly, then triple check again for placement during assembly.

While I'll always see the small "errors", my wife is very pleased with the finished cabinet.

Turned Out Very Nice. Modified The Drain.

A friend showed me a picture of a coffee table and asked if I'd build her one.  It was very similar to this plan and she loved it, so I gave it a go.  I had my table top boards run through a thickness planer and a jointer before assembling.  The table top is attached to the base with "z" clips which will allow the wood to expand if needed.  The "X's" on the side gave me a little trouble but that's likely because I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist and I needed them to be "just so". ;)

I was happy with the finished piece and my friend was thrilled. :)

 Ana, you're the BEST!! Thank you so much for sharing these plans. This was a very simple build ... my problem was trying to decide how to paint and decorate it. There's a lady in our little town that cut out the letters for me. I think it turned out so cute. I'm working on a Christmas collection for our church auction next April and thought it would be fun to have Christmas in April :-). Thanks again Ana!!!

This is a play kitchen I made for my 2 year old. This was the first big wood project I have done. The instructions were easy to follow if you stay organized.

Flower potting bench for the front porch.

I liked Sausha's design, but I wanted a more "built in" look for the one I built. I didn't follow the plan much, but used it for ideas

This daybed was modified from the Farmhouse bed plans. I am still finishing the drawers, sanding, putty and paint.

Console table build.

So I went off most of the specs on this table except I didn't want the brace on the bottom. Instead we braced it under the table with extra 2/4s. The longest part of this was the staining and poly due to it being cold as heck in Washington.