Easy DIY Workbench
Ana I’m new to wood working and I really love your plans. They are so much easier to follow than a lot of other plans that I’ve seen. It makes me feel like I can build almost anything. Thank you.
Brandy
Ana I’m new to wood working and I really love your plans. They are so much easier to follow than a lot of other plans that I’ve seen. It makes me feel like I can build almost anything. Thank you.
Brandy
I really wanted a sewing table/desk for my office but wanted something that could be repurposed in a few years when we move. I chose the Narrow farmhouse table plan because it was a really sturdy plan that was easy to modify for our needs and was a timeless enough style that I can use it in another room if need be. I especially loved the look of the legs.
We made our table smaller to fit our space and also made it about 1 or 2 inches shorter because I’m really short and wanted a comfortable place to sew and craft. The top of our table is 58″ by 24″. We used MDF for the top instead of slats because my kids use this as a craft/coloring table when I’m not sewing. I didn’t want their pencils to poke through their papers if they got caught on the slats. We used thin molding for the edge of the MDF to give it a nice finished look.
Check out the details about how we build the bed on my blog: http://www.brightgreendoor.com/2013/05/diy-ana-white-jr-loft-bed.html
Although nothing about it was difficult, it was time consuming, and consumed the greater part of two weekends.
We followed the plans on Ana White’s blog pretty close, other than narrowing up the stairs by a few inches due to a furnace vent that would have been in the way.
We bought all of our boards at Menards which came in just under $100 including the large piece of plywood. I spent chunks of time throughout the week getting all of the boards sanded. Then we spent a Saturday getting all the boards cut to the proper size. Then it was a week full of giving all the wood 2 coats of Bulls Eye primer and a top coat of high gloss cabinet paint.
I also installed the Ikea Kvartal track system around the inside of the bottom bunk. I used leveler clips from Ace to hang Ikea curtains that I altered.
My boys were SO excited the whole time we were building it and love it. My little one calls the whole bed his “top bunk”, even though he sleeps on the bottom. They also have dubbed the area under the platform the “hideout” and think they are invisible when they are hiding in there.
Fri, 06/21/2013 - 18:46
These are awesome and I think it's so smart you stained them after you cut them and before you drilled them! Thanks for that time saver! Question? Is the bottom bunk raised or did you raise the height of the planned bed? I want to make ours a bunkbed too, but don't want it to be too tall.
Thanks
I adjusted the measurements to make it longer and wider. I also looked the original Pottery Barn trunk and tried to copy the multi color finish. I had so much fun building this!
In reply to This is truly gorgeous! by Ana White
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 12:05
Thank you, Ana! Your comment means a lot to me! =-)
Tue, 04/28/2015 - 12:07
The handles are from Ace hardware--I had to spray them antique bronze since they only had them in silver. I stained the trunk is dark walnut from minwax and then used diluted paint in barn red and teal to spread some color here and there. Finished with some polyurethane in satin (spray). That's it!
Tue, 12/25/2018 - 19:42
I don't know if you will check the comments on this brag post since you posted almost 3 years ago, but I'm also curious about the hinges to use. I have watched some youtube videos that show how to chisel out a space for the hinge, but I know there must be an easier way and an easier hinge to put on this box.
Thanks so much ,
Apryl
We wanted a patio table to fit up to 10. Done with a mix of pocket holes & 1/2" hex bolts. Made small changes to the stretchers. Moved them inside because we liked that aestetic better. We made the top longer because we didnt want to do the breadboard ends. Used big 4" hex bolts & washers and painted them with "hammered steel" paint to give them a more vintage look.
Will be making the matching benches next. We wanted the benches to fit perfectly underneath the table for storage, so Ill be cutting the bench seats to fit under table leg to leg.
Built the Helper Tower for my grandson. It's the optional hinged version. He uses it every time he visits, and will get a lot of use out of it - platform is at its highest setting.
Mon, 10/04/2021 - 16:51
This is such a great way to include the children in learning and fun! Thank you for sharing, it looks amazing!
This was my first furniture building project. I made quite a few mistakes along the way, but I'm happy with how well it turned out. This project took me ages; I'm amazed that people can pull it off in a weekend! I made the table slightly lower and narrower than Ana's plan. It comfortably seats 6 people. I'm so grateful to Ana for her plans, and I also found the instructions at the tommy & ellie site very helpful.
Mon, 01/20/2014 - 14:25
Your table looks amazing! I am going to start my farmhouse table this week and I've been trying to decide on the color. I think the dark walnut looks awesome! Great job.
In reply to Your table looks amazing! I by tricia.flores
Wed, 02/26/2014 - 18:52
Thanks! I couldn't decide easily either. Good luck with the table :)
First project my husband and me attempted- turned out awesome! Very sturdy bed. The metal frame and box springs are not attached, it just sits inside the wood rails, headboard and footboard. We worked on this a few hours at a time on Saturdays and Sundays for one month since we work full time. Definitely more projects to come!
My oldest son grew out of his twin bed and we found the plans for the Cassidy bed and thought it'd be perfect. He couldn't think of a " theme" for his room so we decided to make the headboard taller to keep from having a "blank wall" to have to decorate. It turned out great! We used Colonial Maple, American Walnut and English Chestnut stains for the shims & Colonial Maple + Kona for the border. This was my first time building a queen bed. I am so excited with the way it turned out. This project was so much easier than I had anticipated. It took about 3 days for me because we had triple digit weather and that limited the amount of time I could work outside. I needed help with the final assembly, but other than that, it was a breeze. Thanks again for the awesome plans!
Check out the free plans for these laundry room projects!
I made this table using Ana's design for the Farmhouse Table and the original from Restoration Hardware. I put the stretcher supports back on the outside and added the extensions.
I also switched out the 2x6 top for 2x8s and attached them all from the bottom; I didn't want to deal with concealing screws on the table surface. The switch meant the boards on the sides are attached only on the innermost 3 inches. I drilled up through the 2x4 aprons and used 3 1/2 inch screws every six inches to make sure they were secure.
It's enormous and seats 12 if needed.
This bed is made exactly the same as the plans. Pretty easy. Very sturdy, I did use the kreg jig to assemble, even to attach the sides to the headboard and footboard. I'm not able to use the box spring anymore, since it makes it too high.
Another cute, easy project!
Wed, 10/06/2021 - 20:11
That's a great little set, love the finish! Thank you for sharing:)
Thu, 10/07/2021 - 21:43
Thanks Ana ... and thanks for all you do! You're the best!!
This was my first project working start to finish with my husband, and let's just say that I prefer to build without him! This was a lot of trial and error, but I think in the end it turned out really well. We splurged on the plywood top, the sheet alone was $60, but since we used it on this, 3 benches, and our kitchen island, it was well worth the splurge!
We made the vessel sinks from metal bowls snagged at Target for $17 each. We drilled a hole using a hole-saw bit, and popped in an $8 drain kit from Lowe's. The faucets were given to us by my father-in-law, who's the manager of a plumbing company. I sewed a curtain that I stapled on the inside to hide the plumbing beneath the sinks. I love how it all looks now!
This was a birthday gift for a 1 year old. Yes it's painted like the tractor.
THE MOTIVATION
After a recent washer outage (that I was ultimately able to repair myself), my wife and I talked about eventually replacing our front-loading washer/dryer set. One of the bullets I hate biting is paying the exhorbitant prices for the matching pedestals for new washer/dryer sets.
Having just bought a good set of cordless powertools, and having watched my father when I was a kid build countless household fixtures, window dressings, furniture pieces, etc., I decided to try my hand and construct a permanent platform for our current washer/dryer set, thereby eliminating the need to ever buy manufacturer pedestals again.
The existing pedestals were a standard 15" high, with a storage drawer, which we felt was still not high enough for comfort. And, the washer pedestal drawer was entirely inaccessibl due to the 2" walls on the washer drain pan, so its drawer was totally useless, wasted space.
And, lastly, we really wanted more space for clothes baskets full of laundry, which we generally stacked (full and haphazardly) on top of the machines.
THE CHALLENGES
The largest challenges were mainly logistics, and gravity. The washer/dryer would have to be unavailable for at least 2-3 days while they sat disconnected in the next room waiting for their new home. So I coordinated with the family so they'd know when they needed to have their laundry done, or tough it out until I was done.
There was no way to know for sure what the drain connection for the washer pan looked like until I got the washer out. So it was a small gamble that I'd be able to get the parts needed to extend the drain pipe up to the new platform right when I was ready for them. Fortunately, this was no issue at all.
The biggest challenge turned out to be toward the end when it came time to lift our 230-lb. washer onto the new platform. I seriously considered disassembling the washer to the point that I could remove its molded concrete counter-weights, but instead (and arguably stupidly) elected to use a large hydraulic car jack to raise the washer. This ultimately worked, but I have to STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST trying this.
THE SPACE
Our laundry room is also the "mud room" between our kitchen and the garage. It is only large enough for the two machines, and the walk way between the two doors--in total, about 70.5" square. Building the platform from wall-to-wall made the most sense, and minimized framing by fastening edge framing directly to the wall studs.
THE PLAN
Pretty basic: 2x4's all around for the edge framing--back and sides fastened directly to the wall studs, and front 2x4 supported by two, notched 4x4 legs. 3/4" plywood for the subsurface, and 1/4" laminate faux-wood flooring on top (left over from reflooring, so it matches the floor below). Bore holes for the washer pan drain and the dryer vent. 1" quarter-round molding on the sides, and 5.5" face piece flush with the top of the molding across the front (spare lauan I had looks perfect). I also made a point of putting the machines on the platform before the face piece since it might have been in the way or damaged.
Anyone will tell you that it's best to at least sketch out what you want to do so you can minimize surprises, forgotten parts, etc. I, of course, did virtually none of that, and made several course changes and corrections along the way. For this project, I was lucky that I didn't need to backtrack at any point, and probably won't learn this lesson any time soon anyway. However, you SHOULD.
TAKE-AWAYS
The main mistake I made was while gathering the platform dimensions for cutting the plywood. It was only blind luck that kept me from having to do it more than once (and having to buy more than one 4x8 sheet). I know that it's actually very unlikely that two adjacent walls are perfectly square, so I made a point to measure the width between the walls at the back and at the front--and, sure enough, found a 1/8" difference--wider at the front. But when I measured and marked the plywood for cutting, I measured both distances from the precut edge, and then cut. By doing this, I inadvertently assumed that one of the back corners was perfectly square.
What I should have done was used a carpenter's square in each back corner to extend a square line from the back edge to the front, and then measured from the square lines to their respective side wall. This would have accounted for neither back corner being square.
Fortunately, my mistake wasn't big enough to keep the plywood from fitting, but it was very, VERY close.
GIDDY
I honestly couldn't be happier with the finished project (or more smug). We've raised the washer/dryer 9" higher than they were (24" off the floor), and we now have basket storage underneath all the way across. I placed two 24" plastic cabinets on top, which still leaves room for the detergent right over the soap inlet on the washer.
And, most importantly, I got to use every powertool I own. Kinda beats "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" thing, huh?
Fri, 04/17/2015 - 19:54
Thanks for sharing the ins and outs of your project! Looks great!
I built this bench for my niece on her birthday. It as easy and fun to build. My niece and everybody at the party loved it.
I always have leftover pallet wood lying around. So I decided to whip of a beam ledge as a gift. I ended up wrapping it before I even got a final photo but it was finished in a dark gel stain. I think the next time I make one I will apply a simple Tung oil finish so all the wonderful character can remain.
I did a shortened version of the Farm Table, I only had room for a six foot table. I wanted to give it an old-looking feel, so I beat it up a bit and stained it with an ebony stain, then a jacobean. I plan to paint the legs black.
We wanted a bench for our daughter for our front porch, both for sitting and for storage of her rain boots, outdoor toys, etc. I'm definitely a beginner woodworker so I wanted something easy I could tackle in a couple of days with only basic tools, so I chose the Kids' Country Bench project. I liked the version posted here by a user named Jenny Anne, who modified the bench to make three cubbies rather than two on the bottom shelf, so I did the same thing.
It was easy, and the bench turned out great! I used no power tools except for a cordless drill to do the 40+ pilot holes & woodscrews. I don't own a jigsaw and I want to learn hand tools anyway, so I used a coping saw (a kind of miniature hacksaw) to do the curved cuts on the trim & the legs, and used heavy-grit sandpaper to smooth out the wobbles (there were a lot of wobbles).
For the rest of the cuts I used a Japanese-style pull saw (a cheap one from Ace Hardware). Cutting all the boards to length with a handsaw was probably the hardest part, and I had a tough time truing the edges. Next time I would probably use a miter box and miter saw to get perfect 90-degree angles, but I got better as I went along, and was able to finish the edges pretty well with a wood file and sandpaper.
I wanted to stain it a deep red color, but my better half insisted on a clear stain, so I used clear Polycrylic, four coats on the top & outsides, and three coats on the inner & undersides.
The bench feels pretty sturdy and is definitely strong enough to take my 3-year-old's weight. The trim on the front and back acts as a brace, so it's got some structural integrity. I don't know that I would trust it to hold an adult's full weight for very long -- I probably won't be dancing on it or using it as a stepstool or anything, but for a kid's bench it's solid and level.
The whole build probably took me four sessions in my "workshop" (i.e. my basement), at probably 2-3 hours per session. With woodworking it's definitely true that you learn by doing -- I gained confidence as I went along and am excited to try some more advanced projects!
Comments
Ana White Admin
Tue, 10/05/2021 - 09:48
You can!
Thanks for sharing, love the bench and can't wait to see what all you create in that space!
dogweather
Fri, 03/24/2023 - 16:18
Beautiful!
Beautiful!