Community Brag Posts

This was my first project from the plans I got from this site. I had a blast building it. Made it out of poplar so that it would be strong enough to support either me or my wife on it with our daughter. Directions were simple and easy to follow. Key to this project as mentioned is to be precise in measurements and square! My wife and daughter both love this bed and now have 3 more projects lined up for me. I am so lucky!!! What family wants you and urges you to build more things from wood!

Designed to store 56 qt clear sterilite totes. Spaced 17” apart and used 5 2x4s so 23” deep. We have a lip of our foundation that sticks out so we had to adjust for the difference in leg heights. 

We LOVE Ana's plans for the outdoor sectional! We just bought a house with a first patio and we knew this is what we wanted out there! We used one corner unit and four armless units to fill our space. I'm also planning to add a couple ottomans as a coffee table. Let the cookouts begin!
I don't know if it's true everywhere, but here 2x4s are about 1/2 the price of 1x4s so we made a couple modifications to the plans so we could use the much cheaper 2x4s instead. It saved us tons of money and gave the sectional a really chunky, sturdy look - a nice bonus!
When we finished it, the blue store employees suggested we use a deck sealer to make the cheaper wood last a long time. We were able to use a waterproofing stain to color and seal the wood at the same time which made the finishing go a lot faster than other projects I've done with stain and polyurethane.
This is the first time I got to use my new Kreg Jig, which was super fun, and made the furniture nice and sturdy!

If anyone is interested in using 2x4s I have the modifications here: http://morelikehome.blogspot.com/2011/06/our-new-outdoor-sectional.html
And info about my finished project here: http://morelikehome.blogspot.com/2011/07/patio-perfection.html

I enjoyed making this project! My wife loves the table and benches.

I made this table because I have a very small house and needed a table that was more of a compact size. This table was perfect for that. I also love the farmhouse style. Originally, I didn't realize how much my screws were going to show on the outside, but I actually like how it looks, with the mix of hardware and wood. This table is very heavy and thankfully ended up sturdy! I used a compound miter saw (which I LOVE!) to cut the wood for this project which made it a lot faster than cutting with my jigsaw like I started out with. I bought the wood from home depot, and it took about a whole afternoon to cut the wood, sand, and construct and then about 2 more hours to stain and put the polycyrlic coats on. I did have a little trouble getting the legs on by myself since I had to hold them in place while I was screwing them on, and it was awkward and more difficult than if I had someone to help me hold them while screwing them on. But overall, not too difficult and love how it turned out!

I had been asked a few times for these plans, but as someone else posted a similar one, I'll just stick to a blog post for now and describe my differences. I made this shelving unit January 2010, just after I found out of I was pregnant with my third child, and it's been a lifesaver since then. I desperately needed a toy storage solution (and purging), as shown in the 'eek' kids closet below. I didn't like the shape of triangular Ikea ones, as they spanned more floor space than I cared to give up. Plus, I wanted a place to put *almost* all of my kids toys, so I wanted it to be tall. I'm so glad we did, since we've moved twice (also, 'eek') since than, and it's made packing and unpacking the kids toys super (SUPER) easy. At first, I was afraid that the kids would go crazy and just tear down every bin at once, but it hasn't happened yet. Unlike the other plan that was posted, I used white sliders that ikea sold. I'm not sure if they still sell, as I don't see them online. It cost an additional $24 (they were $1/2), but seemed worth the extra money. I didn't have a router and wasn't particularly confident with our table saw skills. Plus the Ikea version had some really thin areas that made me nervous that it would break easily. I tried to keep it easy and just had to line up and screw the sliders in. Now that I'm a little more confident with a table saw, I'd give the router style a-go. I used two sheets of cabinet grade plywood, each costing about $30. I ripped down some pine boards to cover the front edges, which made the unit look loads nicer. However, I wish I would have used maple, instead of pine as they got dented almost immediately. Not a big deal though. The three shelves were sort of an afterthought, but turned out to be great for puzzles and other type toys. I didn't use backing or cross supports initially, but put some in after we moved. You can see them in the last picture below. The heater in our temporary house caused the slightly-bent sides to become very bent sides. That caused the drawers would spontaneously fall out, which was always quite the shock and disappointment. I put in some supports in the back, which I wish I did initially as it would have made manufacturing easier. Also, If I were to go back, I would put one cross support in the front-middle, as the boards are so tall, it needs something to help maintain the shape in the front. I've found that even in a perfect fitting slider, really heavy buckets would bend just enough to flex out of them to crash... so don't plan on filling one of the large buckets with matchbox cars and sticking it on the top. Regardless, we've learned our lessons, made it work better, and has been a huge success in our house for a while now.

My husband and I modified the lovely Miss Ana White's dollhouse bookshelf plans to create this awesome Barbie Dollhouse for our 2 and 4 year old daughters to Christmas. They love it, and I love that it will last for years! Thank you Ana, for your amazing talents and your giving heart...your sharing your talents means the world to me and my family!!

I saw your raised garden box and decided to make it for my wife so she could garden on our deck due to medical problems. She absolutely loved it.

The only thing I did different was I added casters to the legs so it can be moved easily on the deck.

Thank you very much for the idea and plans. We really enjoy them.
 

I used melamine for the top and shelf to get a nice surface for working on

I wanted to make a built in storage bench for the breakfast nook in our eat-in kitchen, but wasn't entirely sure how to go about the process. After seeing Ana's "Mimi's Storage Bench" I thought the plan could be modified to fit our space, so I convinced my husband to give it a shot. We've done a fair amount of carpentry in our house, but this is the first piece of furniture that we have ever built. Thanks to Ana's plans and our new Kreg jig, it turned out better than I ever imagined. We absolutely love the new bench, where my toddler spends every morning eating his breakfast while staring out the window and giggling at the squirrels in our backyard.

Finished it in about two weeks, but that was during my sons daily two hour nap window and two days of staining. Had to make a few adjustments so the pillow from West Elm would fit, because the plan calls for 11 slats on the deck when it should be 12. I added some wheels to the back and will add pull out drink tables soon. It was a fun project and my wife is thrilled.