Community Brag Posts

My favorite project ever because I built it for my 18 month old grandson. He really loved playing in it. Thanks for the plan Ana. It was well done and easy to follow.

I built this doll house bookcase for my little girl for her Birthday. And she loves it!
I used white pine. I did not want to use paint. I did 5 coats of clear stain. I like the look of the natural wood and the knots to show.

Thank u so much Ana for making this possible

So this is the first build we ever did from Ana. The chairs were in 2'
sections and fit PERFECTLY in our new sun room, making a great
entertainment area with WAY more seating than we had before. We used
this plan (http://ana-white.com/2010/05/furniture-plans-collection-simple.html)
using the corner and back pieces. There are no cushions yet, but once
we find the right fabric they'll be going on--hopefully this summer!

We also used the plan here (http://ana-white.com/2010/05/furniture-plans-outdoor-storage-bench.html)
for the box in the middle. We also installed a bottle opener and ring
handleon the top, and a styrofoam cooler fits inside! we had a great
time building this, and I hope someone else gets as much out of it as we
did!

First attempt ever at building anything! Probably took me a lot longer than it should have, but I'm very proud of the result

Fun & easy, the console table took much longer than anticipated due to weird weather in our area & conflicting schedules.

This was our first introduction to Ana's incredible web site.  My wife wanted an activity table and stumbled upon Ana.

Built using Clara's table design and painted with PPG's HPC paint.  This was also my first time using a cordless paint sprayer.  Incredible tool however, don't forget to setup a paint booth (I knew better) but was still giddy of an 18v cordless sprayer I've learned to love the new pink/white floor design

The Shelf Help app helped me customize this to my space, the plans were excellent. Thank you!

I looked everywhere for a two-step wooden step stool and just could not find one.  The ones the kids were using to try and reach the sink to wash their hands, just wasn't cutting it.  I have tons of scraps (from many other Ana projects), so I thought I would make my own little stool.

The building part was pretty straight forward and I'm glad to have a stool that doesn't wobble. I sanded all the edges down so it looked worn.  I decided to experiment with the finish as I have a big cabinet that I'm getting ready to finish and I don't want to experiment on that one.  :)  I recently downloaded the recommended "Creating Your Masterpiece" by Shaunna West (see the ad to the right of this post) and was inspired to try something out of my comfort zone.

So, for the finish, I first used Miniwax Hickory gel stain.  After that was dry, I used the Behr paint I had leftover from my bathroom walls and dry brushed it on.  I had never done this technique before, so I started on the underside of the stool.  I'm glad I did because I got much better at the dry brushing as I went on.  It is definitely a tough technique to use in corners and where the wood meets at a 90 degree angle.  That's why it looks so much better on the treads and flat side of the stool.  After the paint dried (about 10-20 minutes), I took a medium to finer grit sanding block and sanded in a circular motion.  I even had little hands helping (note picture). Finally, I used the Miniwax Paste Finishing Wax.  I was unsure that I was using it correctly as it goes on very thin and it was hard to see where I applied it.  After letting that dry for about 15 minutes, I buffed it out with a clean cloth.  I could really see it start to shine up (just like a car wax).  I love the feel of the wax and I hope it holds up over time.  I do realize that I will need to re-coat on the stool treads, but that's fine with me.