Writing Desk and Bookcase
Inspired by Ballard Designs Turin Bookcase http://www.ballarddesigns.com/turin-bookcase/237257
and the Marche writing desk http://www.ballarddesigns.com/marche-writing-desk/278164
with some tweaks to my liking :0)
Inspired by Ballard Designs Turin Bookcase http://www.ballarddesigns.com/turin-bookcase/237257
and the Marche writing desk http://www.ballarddesigns.com/marche-writing-desk/278164
with some tweaks to my liking :0)
Thanks for your amazing Farmhouse Indoor Playhouse plans!
So easy to follow your directions! I may have gone a little overboard.
I used some scrap wood from recent Renos and wood from an old boxspring my parents had.
The kitchen was originally from Ikea with some updates.
The shrubs are silk plants from Ikea and scrap wood.
The only real cost was Paint $30 ish.
The counter height farmhouse table plans were so helpful! Thank you Ana White! I replaced plywood on top with 2x8s and added a shelf underneath the table for some kitchen storage! I am in love thanks again😍 Follow me on Instagram @abbbclark_homeee for more home renovations, decor and DIY!
Thank you for generously sharing these plans. My husband built this for our 9 year old. It's beautiful and perfect!
Thanks again!
We found this beautifully chippy lumber on the side of the road and snagged it knowing it would make a perfect table top someday. When I decided to build a table for our back patio makeover, I knew exactly what I had to make the top out of.
This was my very first build and the pocket hole plans made it so much easier than I thought it would be! I built the top first then modified the cut list dimensions based on the top. I also flipped the ends around so the braces would show on the inside instead of the outside.
I seriously can't get enough of the top, it's so pretty and I don't have to worry about it at all since it's already wonderfully rustic. The table fits six chairs perfectly. We are looking forward to having many evenings around this table with family and friends!
Fri, 09/30/2022 - 18:16
WOW, this is amazing, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful table!
I love this workbench! I added casters so I can move it around the garage, outside, wherever it's needed. I just took 4 inches off the bottom of the legs. My hubby is admiring my handy work and planning on making one for himself.
Wed, 01/25/2023 - 14:31
Love this with the casters! So beautiful. I'm new here and wondering at what point you took 4 inches off the legs. Did you build the table and then just cut off the legs? Or did you adjust the measurements of the cuts? Thanks in advance! :)
Mon, 01/30/2023 - 02:32
The overall height of a 4-inch caster wheel is a little over 5 inches with the mounting bracket, so that also needs to be taken in to consideration. 2nd photo shows the overall dimensions, but to me the bracket and brake area appear to be a bit more than 1.03 inches. https://amzn.to/3DkMKzB
I think the best bet would be to have and measure the overall wheel height, prior to measuring and cutting the lumber.
Since developing a love for woodworking I’ve began building things for other people. This particular bed frame I built for a couple who are rebuilding their home after it unfortunately burned down. It’s a beautiful farmhouse home out in the country, and this bed frame fits perfectly in their new home.
We built our greenhouse a couple years ago and I absolutely love it! We just recently ran electricity to it so I can use heat mats and get an earlier start on my seeds!
Kristin Golden @goldenacresgirl
This table was custom made for a good friend and his family. He wanted a trestle style with bench seats for his kids and able to have room to sit at the ends as well. In addition, he wanted breadboard table top. Engineering wise, thats a tall order. So I made the table top solid by using biscuits to secure the timber and since the breadboards could not be supported by the trestle legs I used 5/8" dowel rods, 6" long, 2 per board. I used a 2x4 and scrap plywood to make a dowel jig. I also reinforced them with 3" pocket screws on the bottom.
The next challenge was bringing the legs in enough to make room for end seating while still allowing room for the benches. I used 2x6s on the top and bottom of the trestles and secured them flush to the edge to allow for leg room at the ends.
I used 1" dowels to secure the 4x4 runner using a split/wedge technique. The benches are pretty strait forward and I also used biscuits to make solid tops.
To save money and to have a rustic look, I used douglas fur framing lumber which required many hours of scraping and sanding to make the top level and splitter free. Additionally, I used 5 layers of polyurethane to withstand the wear and tear of a young families daily use. Thankfully they fell in love with the table as much as I did!
My son wanted a table to hold his laptop and Xbox at college, and wanted to match the height of his dorm furniture. We modified the plan of the "Tidy Up" table to match that height, and added an extra shelf. Build time was an afternoon, and he had a great time making a table that he can tell his friends he made himself! - Carl Nelson
We originally built the original console a while ago as an entertainment unit for underneath our television. We enjoyed the console so much that we decided that we wanted to do another modified console with a fireplace in it and make the other one into a buffet/storage area for the dining room.
Both of these are fairly modified from the plan, however the basic concepts remain the same. One big thing that we did was use 1x4s as much as possible to reduce the different sizes of lumber we were buying to both reduce complexity and end up with as little as possible scraps.
The frames are made of the 2x3s, The sides (4 deep), shelves, middle shelves and face frame are all 1x4s. The back and inside frames are scrap plywood. The top is 1x6s.
The addition of the fireplace was not difficult. What it did require us to do was to add the centre section and essentially create a box that is closed to the outside cabinets. If it were not closed off it wouldn't support the fireplace insert correctly. The important piece with the fireplace is to ensure you have enough clearance on the top and sides to allow the fireplace to mount safely without overheating. The nice thing about this setup is the additional shelf above the fireplace which we used for electronics. The wires go through the back of the cabinet and it looks very clean.
These are probably my favorite things I've built this year. They're simple to make and add a lot to any living space.
Tue, 01/12/2021 - 19:34
This is beautiful! Any tips on how your built the box around the fireplace?or pictures?
So this was a really fun project from start to finish, I wanted a storage bed with a place for my son to showcase his Super Hero collection!
I desperately needed storage in our 1910 house that was not in the basement. I wanted a place to keep my sewing machine and accessories, at-home school supplies, and other odds and ends. We had an alcove in the kitchen that was about 74 inches wide and 17 inches deep, so I decided to build something to fit that space. I really liked the Simplest Armoire plan but I also really liked the Kentwood Bookshelf, so I ended up somewhat combining the two. Since I had a fairly large space, I made the cabinet about 6 ft X 6 ft. The hardest part was getting it into the house. This project was my first big DIY building project without my dad's help. I did call him a few times during the project however, and he helped me hang the doors. I really enjoyed using the Kreg Jig and I appreciated having all of the Kreg Jig instructions for the Kentwood Bookshelf. It was a huge help, as I had only used the Kreg Jig a little and with my dad in the past. My husband has been a great support as I have ventured into building furniture. He works from home, but any time that I needed him to help hold a large sheet of plywood he was quick to help. This was definitely a big project for a beginner, but I enjoy a challenge when it comes to fixing things and creating things. Fortunately, this one worked out in the end! Now what should I build next summer...
Sun, 05/31/2020 - 13:27
This is so great, and I can't wait to try my hand at emulating it. I'm buying a place so old there's no record of a date. Still has adobe bricks with straw sticking out stored up in the attic. Not a closet in the whole darn place, so I'll probably end up making more than one, and probably using one as a clothes closet and another as a pantry. Thanks so much for sharing this!
This was my first time using my own measurements for an Ana White build. I was really nervous but having completed a few other projects by following plans exactly, I felt confident I had gained the skill to branch out of my comfort zone. I had been looking at coffee bars for my kitchen, but at $300 and up, cheaply made and in the wrong dimensions,. I just knew I could build something with better quality for a portion of the price. This project took me half a day to build the carcass and then another afternoon to figure out the door hardware and stain. I used all 1 x boards and the final bar is 12" wide so I used 1 x 12 boards for everything except the trim. All in all you could complete it in a few hours, it was really simple. I made the door hardware by popping open two pulleys and attaching them with metal somethings (not sure what they are) that I found at Lowes. I then ran a flat bar across the front using spacers like Ana did in hers. I painted the hardware with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint and stained the top of the bar with Minewax Dark Walnut, the bottom is Minewax Ebony. I still need to poly. One thing I changed up was the top. Instead of using a piece of plywood, pine, or combining pieces together, I used a stair tread! It was a little thicker than a typical 1 x, and also had a rounded edge which I think gives the piece a finished look! This is a piece of furniture I will truly use every single day and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out! The grand total? $60 for the wood and $20 for the hardware. $80 all in all (I had the stain leftover from another project). There's no way I could have bought a piece this nice for that price!
Wed, 09/09/2020 - 12:33
This looks great, time to enjoy a cup of coffee and read a good book!
I had a perfect corner in our playroom that was reserved mostly for clutter and always wanted to do something fun with it. The base is made with 2x8"s topped with Handscraped Hickory laminate flooring. Bored holes into the floor and installed 1" diameter color-changing LED decklights. Added theatre-style tracklights, disco ball and other dance floor lighting for extra effect. Of course the stage wouldn't be complete without wireless microphones for karaoke and mic stands hooked up to a small amp and speakers in the ceiling. I made the shelving on the right side with 1/2" black pipe and used leftover 2x12" shelves from an old garage shelving install from 7 years ago! The kids were ecstatic on Christmas morning for the reveal!
Sun, 07/27/2014 - 15:52
This is great! I was just wondering what your dimensions were? I've been looking for something like this to do for my niece but have been struggling to find a plan and figure it out myself LOL.
Tue, 08/05/2014 - 05:58
Hello, the back wall is 8' and side wall is 6.5'. The stage comes out about 2.5' on each side then the front is around 7'.
Hope that helps, good luck!
Sun, 04/10/2016 - 14:44
Actually, I was wondering ,what lights did you use? I'm working on a very similar project and was curious to the lights your used please.
Sun, 12/08/2019 - 17:11
Can I ask about the lights you used or would recommend? Getting started tomorrow. A stage from Santa. Please help! 😬
Sat, 12/18/2021 - 14:09
Hello! Also wondering which lights you used. Thank you!
Sat, 09/28/2024 - 11:01
I would love to build this for my kids! Can you send me the details for everything? (dimensions for the stage, lighting, microphones)? Amazing job!
I put an ad in a local classifieds for free wood. Got some heavy oak beams I had local carpenter saw to make the leg posts. The top boards are construction scaffolding boards. All will be sanded and stained some more, top boards sanded and varnished, bottom boards and posts stained and some holes filled w epoxy and it is good to go.
This was a really fun project. We stood on top of the boards to make them bend down when screwing them in from the top as well as bottom, as the middle board is cracked and bent. I love the table as it is now but it will look even better when the boards are even more worn and grey from the elements. Thank you Ana White!!!!!!!! we can't wait for a book of yours' to come out for a European audience, as we Europeans have a hell of a hard time to convert the measurements! This means we improvise a lot. The tables in your book help, but the local wood we buy in many different countries and stores.. have different measurements!!!!
First time I have ever attempted something like this. Made this table for my wife's birthday. Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned.
Used part of the Ultimate Roll Away Workbench with Miter Saw Stand to just build one of the roll-away workbenches to work with my miter saw and table saw. I'm very happy with how it turned out.
Sun, 04/28/2024 - 12:57
Hi, I am planning on getingt a dewalt 10 inch table saw as well. I am wondering what you did to adapt it for extending the rails with the fence? Curious if there were more photos. I would very much like to adapt my station to be similar to yours. Thanks. .
I recently published my first foldable farmhouse table last week here: http://ana-white.com/2013/06/foldable-farmhouse-table The first one I made was very heavy because I used 2x6 tops and 4x4 legs. I decided to make another one that would be lighter and easier to transport. The plans are basically the same just instead I used 1x6 for the top and put 2x4s together for the legs. I also shorted the length by about a foot. The only issue with making the table shorter length is that the legs don't fold completely flush. You could easily make the legs short enough to fold flush, but then the table was a little too short from the ground up for us. The same as before I simply used kreg joints to join the top boards together. I then made a 2x4 frame and attached it to the bottom. I made each of the legs separately by joining 2x4s together and sanding everything down. Everything was stained before putting the legs on using Miniwax Dark walnut stain. I used 2 coats of Miniwax water based clear coat to seal it. A notch was cut out on each of the bottom 2x4 supports on the legs and I glued in a small piece of wood cut to size. These are so I can put in a 2x4 support board under the table so that the legs do not fold in on themselves when it is standing up. The legs are just attached using door hinges you can buy in packs in the hardware section. Be careful when screwing into the 1x6 top not to use too long of screws or else you will over screw and have them come through into your table top. Table design was by Amber Veatch Designs and photographed by Andi Mans Photography
Tue, 07/07/2015 - 06:41
We have built something very similar and we have a good bit of wobble at the top, even though the stretcher down the center of the table is holding solid in there and secred with clasps. Were thinking of some sort of sliding pin into the top of the leg to the apron. Anyone run into this before?
This was our second table from Ana's website. We flipped the bottom legs around to make the cross bar on the inside...just for a little additional leg room on the ends. Don't be discouraged if you have trouble finding good boards. We had to go to two stores and REALLY dig for them... and even then, we did a LOT of sanding to make the boards even when it was all built. We used the Kreg Jig (we initially bought the $20 one, and then went back for the "real deal" so if you're considering buying one - just go for it, the small one frustrated us). The Kreg Jig is AWESOME!!!. We are just finishing up building the farm house bench to go on one side of this table... then we're going to have to figure out where to get our other chairs. A few friends have seen our table so far and every one of them has asked to purchase it! Thanks Ana!!!