Play room makeover
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Our playroom needed serious help so as my first Ana White project I decided to tackle these shelving units.
Our playroom needed serious help so as my first Ana White project I decided to tackle these shelving units.
I built these sofa tables for my wife’s client. She has a interior paint business. Her client was talking about wanting she sofa tables, so she volunteered me to build the tables. I didn’t have a design for the tables, so I looked at several different designs and talked to the client on what she was looking for. So I just did some rough sketches and got some ideas from my wife. I used mostly 1 bys for the build, just depends on the size on what width and length of board you are going to need. The top of the large table is a 5/4 preglued board that Menards has in store, again depending on width and length on the size of board you use. I used the 5/4 board for better stability and strength. I used a red oak stain then applied several coats of poly to finish. On the top I used a 200 sandpaper after a couple of coats of poly to get the top smoother for more coats of poly. Over all the build was pretty easy if you have good woodworking knowledge. Used pocket holes (Kreg) to attach sides and frame to top. On the large top side I used two 1x8’s to get the width i needed. Joined them with pocket holes (Kreg). If you can dream it, you can build it.
This was the easiest project EVER! And I love the look! The wall space I have for it wasn't long enough to accommodate the width of the whole pallet, so I cut it right after the center brace. Used another piece of the pallet for the bottom. Did a little sanding around the edges so it wasn't rough. That's it! Just wanted a shelf for a few bottles of wine and a cookbook. Voila!
This is my first hand made project using reclaimed wood. I always liked the look of the wood and black gas pipe together.
Hope you enjoy it
Tue, 07/09/2013 - 10:47
I love how you mixed reclaimed wood and black pipes, something I haven't even considered when building furniture yet. :)
This bed is made using the Farmhouse Bed plan from page 136 in Ana's book. We just had our kitchen remodeled, so I took the cabinet doors and swapped those out for the 1x10's in both the headboard and foot-board. The cabinet doors took a while to strip the paint off and I used paint stripping sandpaper for that. Once the cabinet doors were stripped, I cut 1x2's for the two center dividers and 1x3's for the two outer dividers to get the desired width. I then stained the cabinet doors and dividers before attaching them to the 1x4 trim. I did not get 4x4's, so I cut 2x4's to length and glued and screwed them together.
Our mattress does not use a box spring, but slats, so I borrowed slat directions from Shanty 2 Chic's platform bed and our old IKEA bed frame. I used 2x2's for the supports and 1x4's for the slats. I used scrap 2x2's to support the center slat support and attached the side 2x2's to the bed rail (1x6 vs. 1x10 due to matress depth) with glue and screws.
Made a few design changes as I went along, but overall the plans were great. And with my wife's finishing we have an antiquey farmhouse table.
I used the plans for the simple stool, and put my own twist on it by adding my sons initial “J” on the sides and adding an avengers themed top with an epoxy coating for protection. This was my first project and the plans and cut list made it super easy!
I made a few modifications to the plans, but the overall simplistic design was what I was after. Thanks Ana!
Used the simple nightstand from this site, and modified to add in the "X" on the sides. Finished in a Classic gray minwax to give reclaimed wood look.
Thu, 07/11/2013 - 19:32
Can you please post how you did this. I'm going to make my first project this weekend and I would like it to be this. I know it's based off the simple nightstand but can you give the details on the alters especially how to make the x? Thank you
Sat, 02/04/2017 - 13:39
Did she ever post her plans? If so, I can't find them! I prefer this design to Ana White's original, but I don't trust myself enough to try and wing it and make it look like hers. Did you end up making something similar?
Sun, 07/24/2016 - 12:38
I am very interested in building these nightstandss, could you post the plans, or where would I be able to locate the plans? Thank you!
Tue, 08/23/2016 - 05:30
Your nightstands are beautiful and I am working on creating my own! Did you keep with the original plans and use the 1x2 and 1x3's for the legs? Yours look thinner. Did you use 1x2's for the X sides?
In reply to Question about design by Oohlaladesigns
Tue, 08/23/2016 - 14:11
I didn't build this, but I feel pretty confident in telling you that the legs/x's are 2x2s.
Our daughter loves to use it as a place to store animals as well as books.
I decided to make several of these for family this past Christmas. I made mine from oak which was harder to work with, but more resistant to scratches and nicks. I primed and painted them white with some leftover wall paint. Then I added some craft paint that had glitter in it. While it was still wet, I dusted it with more glitter: white and iridescent. Then I sealed it to keep the glitter from going everywhere!!! Then I hot glued all the sides with a rhinestone like ribbon I found at the Dollar store. I was very please with the result. I also found pearl like stickers that I hot glued on the other snowflakes when my rhinestone ribbon ran out. I added felt stickers (those that are used on the bottoms of chair legs) on the back to prevent the wood from banging on the door every time it opens and closes.
Love this project! I thought it was pretty easy and it was a good practice with the jigsaw, drill and sander which are relatively new skills for me.
Tue, 01/18/2022 - 16:33
That looks awesome, way to go and such a great way to sharpen those skills!
I loved making this! The depth and width of the treads are great. It is sturdy, safe and roomy. My little guy loves it!
When we bought new couches for our new house, we realized our existing rectangular coffee table would no longer work. We searched for larger, rectangular shaped tables in all the major furniture stores. We became disappointed in the limited selection as well as the high prices. The ones we found that could work were typically in the $800 to $900 range. I suggested to my wife that I could make something better and less expensive, which took her by surprise since I had never made anything before. That's when I stumbled unto Ana-White.com and found the tryde coffee table plans. After searching the brag post, I found where a few had modified the plans to the size and shape we were looking for. The plans and build were very straight forward and much simpler than I expected. The table came out great and fits in well in our new den with our new couches.
This is fairly close to standard other than I raised up the sides and footboard 2" from the plans. I also used a plywood platform in place of slats and a standard box spring (there are 3 2x4 supports under the plywood). This saved some money since we just bought a king size Casper mattress and we prefer the look.
The other modification is that I purchased "bed rail fasteners" from Amazon. These "clips" enable us to easily disconnect the side rails from the headboard and footboard (like you might find on a purchased bed frame) for when we decide to move or redo our floors or whatever. I thought that was better than having a semi-permanent connection with screws.
Tue, 01/30/2018 - 04:12
I went back and added another modification I forgot. I bought bed rail fasteners from Amazon in order to be able to quickly disconnect the rails from the headboard and footboard. I prefer this versus having to disassemble the whole thing when we move/redo the floors/whatever. I'm happy with that decision even though it made the alignment a little trickier.
Tue, 01/30/2018 - 09:42
I love how you raised it. What height does your mattress sit at? I'm thinking of raising the rails by 2 or 3 inches as you did, but using 1x10 or 1x8 for the rails instead of 1x6s. In your opinion, would this look good? Or make the clean lines look too heavy?
Fri, 02/02/2018 - 08:25
Sorry @canuck I tried to reply to your other post but it never posted apparently? I was going to do the same thing with 1x10's but then I lifted one at Lowe's and thought it would just be too heavy and cumbersome. As it is, the bed feels like it could take a direct mortar hit! Then I looked for 1x8's and they weren't in stock so I ended up just using the stock 1x6's.
I think you could raise the rails/footboard another inch or two easily (I did 2" higher so 16.5" for the footboard posts because my wife wouldn't let me go higher) and still be fine aesthetically. The plywood platform sits a tad below the top of the sides of course and then the mattress is 10" tall so I think the final result is just above 25" from top of mattress to floor which was close to other beds in our house (our last bed was slightly higher [with a full box spring], at 26.5").
Thanks for the compliment and good luck!
Fri, 10/15/2021 - 06:10
We too have used the same modifications as you. However the bed fasteners I have bought seem to be too wide for the male connector ends on the 4x4.
Can you provide a link to the fasteners you bought?! I thought I was going to get this together today but doesn’t look like it.
Thanks,
Liz
Mon, 01/13/2020 - 19:05
Beautiful work! I also love the blue paint color on your walls. Any chance you know the name/number of it? Thanks!
Thu, 06/18/2020 - 09:31
I also purchased bed rail fittings for the bed. How did you line everything up? Did you attach it to the cleats or the 2x6's on the side rails? I really wish that they came with instructions for installation, but they didn't, do you have any advice for me? Thanks!
We made a few changes to fit our needs but love the design. Way better than any kit you can buy!
Love this sofa! Shown primed and in the process of painting a chocolate brown now. Super easy to make!
I used 5 inch wheels as I wanted the wagon to sit a little higher. http://www.harborfreight.com/5-in-polyurethane-heavy-duty-swivel-caster-69852.html and http://www.harborfreight.com/5-in-polyurethane-heavy-duty-rigid-caster-61757.html We bought these metal pieces for the straps http://www.lowes.com/pd_44138-37672-11662 Our Lowes didn't have snow blower parts in July. But we were able to find a shear pin in the draawers where much of their specialty hardware connectors are located. . I opted to screw everything together and not use nails. Thanks so much for plans that include a seperate shopping list and cutting list and easy to follow directions. The wagon was a huge hit with the birthday boy.
Sun, 07/19/2015 - 18:34
The color is beautiful and it looks solid...definately grandma's heirloom wagon.
I made this for my son; he loves it! I don't have the tools to bevel edges so I did my angles with a cheap jigsaw and I think they turned out just fine. Thinking of adding a narrow shelf on the bottom.
Super easy and inexpensive build!
OMGSH ... I'm in love with this project!! My brother had given me some left over lattice that he had, and I was wondering what project I could use it on. This turned out so precious. However, I must say that drawers aren't for the faint of heart. Feeling defeated, I took the cabinet over to my brother's workshop and he helped me (or maybe he just did it for me). Anyway, as with all of my projects, it's going in the annual church auction and I can't wait to see how high it goes!!
Again, thanks Ana for your blog ... you're such an encouragement!!!
Thu, 02/17/2022 - 08:35
WOW, all the details and color choice are spot on! It will definitely be a big hit at the auction!
I needed a surface to work on all of the projects I'm building from Ana's wonderful plans!
I love how the stain turned out on this one. Super simple project!
Wed, 07/17/2013 - 09:56
I just clicked over to your blog, Autumn. I wanted to comment on your "Never ever" post, as I never thought I'd be building furniture and blogging about it, either. I live in Hawai'i as well, although I was born and raised here. =D I've added you to my bloglovin' list to keep track of your posts. Malama pono!
Wed, 07/17/2013 - 10:48
So glad you commented! I'll also be following your blog. Good luck in your endeavors!
Autumn