Community Brag Posts

Santa was bringing my granddaughter an American Girl doll for Christmas and I knew she would need a bed. So I went to my favorite website in search of plans for a doll bed and found this one in Ana's catalog. I thoroughly enjoy creating projects like these and loved that I had enough scrap material around the house to sew some bedding for it as well. Thank you Ana for your inspiration and helping to make my granddaughter's American Girl comfortable!

Restoration hardware style coffee table.  We saw a coffee table we liked but didn't want to spend $2000 on.  Designed my own and managed to build for $200.  Main expense was the $130 for the legs from Osbornewood.com.

I love this table. I modified it to fit my needs.

I built the Farmhouse bed with storage but departed from Ana's design a bit. I built the legs from 4" red oak, the boxes are painted plywood. The crowns on the head and footboard are also red oak. I have a Carvewright and used it to detail the bed pretty thoroughly...and topped it off with a temperpedic mattress. ROCK solid and looks great! Also, put LED lights behind the headboard insert that shines around its sides.

All in, great project, took me around 3 months to complete!

Ana's plan called for using 8 hinges (I'm not sure on the placement of those).  I used a total of 16 to ensure sturdiness.  I put two hinges on each corner of the 1x8 piece and a hinge anywhere the corners connected.  I used Narrow Utility Hinges (1-1/2" Zinc plated).  The pack of 2 cost $2.27 and comes with screws.  My biggest regret is not painting the hinges before I put them on. I waited until after screwing them in and it was a pain and makes my paint job look sloppy.

Although I priced this build out, I ended up using wood I already had in the garage.   I didn't have enough 1x3 to make the anti-tipping feet so I used a 2x4.  I also didn't make the rounded edges, just a few angled straight cuts.

THESE ANTI-TIP FEET ARE A SAFETY MUST, DO NOT SKIP THEM!!  I've seen a few commenters say they skipped the anti-tip feet, but for us they were a must.  My kid would have easily knocked his tower many times if it weren't for these anti-tip feet!

Couldn't be happier with this build.  Totally worth  every penny.  Hands down my favorite kitchen addition!  

Wrote about this on the blog too: http://thehuth.blogspot.com/2014/11/ana-whites-little-helper-tower.html

Not much to say here other than THANK YOU ANA! I built it right to the plan, used plain dimensional spruce for the drawer box, and reclaimed fir for everything else.  Had fun using my thickness planer to save many hours on the belt sander.

This was my first build...in fact, it was the first time I ever cut something with a saw. This was very easy and came out better then I ever imagined. I did some modifying because the original was way to big for the space I had planned for it. I also could not get ahold of a 4x4 that was not treated so I glued and screwed some 2x4's together to make my own. This was so much fun, I plan on making my sons toddler room and new living room furniture. I took pictures of most of the steps so if you want to see them, send me a message. Happy building!

Wanted to give my great-nephew something handmade for his 2nd birthday and hopefully something he can enjoy for years to come. Spent the weekend with my hubby doing this and loved every minute and thrilled with the final outcome 

I present the "Castle Loft Bed" with minor modifications. Finished in a "Frozen" theme.

It was time to upgrade my youngest to a "big kid bed" and she was insistent on a frozen bed. After searching for various options we settled on the "Castle Loft Bed" from the Ana White catalog of plans.

We left the slide off, due to available space. Also we changed the steps to be more of a usable toy box/storage and hamper area. I also modified the internal bookcase to have a small "secret" cubby for her "valuables". We also added color changing LEDs to fit the little princess's mood.

I hope you like my rendition and keeps in spirit the DIYers quality.

Followed plans with slight modifications:
1. Made shelves deeper but narrower
2. Used 3/4" Birch Plywood for all
3. Built no base just mounted to floor & wall
4. No drawers just shelving

This was my very first project, and it was so easy thanks to Ana's plans.  I bought a few tools that I didn't have already - Kreg jig and miter saw - and things went super fast from there.  I found cushions at Ikea that fit perfectly, and were cheaper than making them myself.  I just hope they last!  I used cedar for the sectional and storage table, and stained them a dark brown.  I used deck stain as suggested by a Home Depot employee, so that the stain and waterproofing was all in one step.  I have received tons of compliments on this set, and people still can't believe we build this ourselves!  Thanks, Ana! 

...onto the next project...

I changed the plans some. I started with a large pallet crate used to transport train windows.  So with the used palletwood i had to put the boards in sideways and pockethole screwed them together. With going on the cheap iwent with a 1x4 and 1x6 top so i could use the pallet wood. I ended up torching it with a torch to bring out the grain  and it looked good with the rustic look of table.i plain to eventually clear it when ohio weather permits. I only had to buy i 8 foot 1x4 and 1 8 foot 2x2. Have less then 15 dollars 

Our daughter has just recently gotten into playing dress up so we were looking for storage for all of her new dresses and accessories. This tower was the perfect solution. We used a mostly MDF and some plywood we had left over from other projects to help keep the cost down. We added a mirror to one side and 3 hooks to the other side. Very pleased with the result!

I improvised on this a bit.  I envisioned being able to put small items on the shelves at some point so I made it with solid shelves instead of all 2x4's.  Except the stuff I bought for the shelves was so flimsy I had to add the support pieces. Ahh, well.  I'm learning.  And with the three support pieces (2x4's cut to size) running widthwise, it turned out to be a solid shelf.  LOVE this site!!  Thank you again, Ana!  Next project is a bathroom vanity.

Made based on a picture i was shown,and used the kids andarondac plans on this site