Community Brag Posts

The instructions were easy to follow and although 4x2s are not readily available in the UK, it easily translated into 95mm x 45mm treated timber.  Instead of the screws suggested in the video I used Miller Dowels so there are no screws in the build at all.  It was challenging to fit the back section but this was solved by drilling half-way through, fitting the dowel and then filling with a glue and sawdust mix.  Fortunately my wife has massive stock of upholstery material and she knocked up these cushion covers in an afternoon, which was less than the build time.  I have two English Springer spaniels and they think this is the best seat ever for a sunny day in Shropshire.

This was my first Ana White Project and I think it came out well. I already had the chairs and needed a table to match the whimsy. The chairs are counter-height so I changed the dimensions of the table to match the height. I re-used an old oak table top to save some money. The top is painted all by hand and the messages on the apron read: "life is too short to drink bad wine", "sit, relax, and accept the crazy", "eat, drink, and be merry", and "frolic". To help the top from wear, I found a perfect-sized glass on craigslist.

Thank you, Ana, for the inspiration. I just finished the Kids Storage Leg Desk. Off to paint it now. :-)

If you build the triple pedestal table, you also have to build the triple pedestal bench.

Thank you for your plans on the Fancy X Farmhouse Table. Those where the foundation from which I built this new table for my family. Although tweaked a little my inspiration was a direct result of the beautiful table you built. 

I am so so so proud of myself for building this great bench. I can' t wait to do the next project. I wanted something bright and fun to put in my entry way to put shoes on. I thought this was a great first project. I opted for orange, ( ) I wish it had been a different shade, it's pretty bright. When I ruffed up the edges with brown (with a toothbrush) that helped take the brightness down a bit. I chevroned the top to make it funner. Chevroning is a pain in the behind, it takes forever to tape it off but it's cute in the end. I noticed a few people said they did this in a couple hours, I don't know how. It took me two days! It doesn't take more than two or three hours to cut the wood and put it together but then you have to fill the holes, sand it, prime it, paint it, touch it up....

If you have all the tools already... Then the cost is low.
I spent:
$28 lumber @ Home Depot
$20 paint & primer @ Walmart

Now the only problem is I don't have ANY other orange things in the house. I'm going to have to rethink my decorating, or build another bench ;)

Thanks Ana!

Assembly Workstation with small drawers for tools and hardware supplies and large drawers for scrap wood storage.

Has lockable wheels so can be stored against wall when not in use and pulled out to allow easy access to move around the piece I am working on.

Drawers have 3/4 inch ply bottoms for strength and the big ones have full extension drawers.

Top is 66 inches wide by 34 inches deep to give plenty of work surface.

Total cost was about $300.

I built this for my younger brother and his wife for their new home.

My neighbour Bryan challenged me to make it. It was indeed a challenge as there is no strait bit to a wheelbarrow and I had no plans so I kind of made it up as I went along. From far the hardest thing I made so far.

My wife and I made loads of additional storage space by using a hollow half wall 

I'm so glad I found your blog/website. It is exactly what I was looking for. I'm going to tackle the farm table & benches next and then adjust the porch swing plan to make a bed swing for a friend. Thanks for the great ideas!

Thank you Ana and Jenny for this project. After many searches for the perfect bunk bed for our 4 and 2 year old daughters I was ready to spend more than $1500 in a store on something that was not nearly as cool as this. The plans were easy to follow and it took my dad and me about a week to make the bed. My girls love it and have spent the last two days in their room.

We made a few modifications to the design that I highlighted in the pictures. We wired the back of the bed with electricity to include some outlets, a light that is on a timer switch, and an outlet with a built in night light. We also added 2x2s to support the sides to make them stronger when the bed is apart. We move a lot (4 times in the last 5 years) and the design was great for taking apart and putting back together. The light on the timer is great for telling my oldest she can read books for 5 minutes and then go to sleep when the light goes out.

Thank you so much for these great plans!

Several years ago, the first woodworking project I finished was the Vintage Step Stool built with plans by Ana White.  I use the step stool just about every day.  I had some scrap lumber taking up space in my garage, so I decided to use it to build another step stool.  Check out the blog link for more project details.

My daughters decided they wanted to do a lemonade stand at their Nana's yard sale.  I'm a beginner when it comes to woodworking projects so when I came across Ana's plans for the fence picket lemonade stand, I just HAD to give it a try!  This was a fun project and the plans were extremely helpful and straight-forward.  I would definitely recommend if anyone is looking for a cute lemonade stand for their kiddos!  Side note - my girls raised $75 for the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation to help fight childhood cancer! So proud! 

I built this storage crate to fill out space on top of my kitchen table. On my table saw, I ripped 1/2in birch plywood down to 6in widths for the outside frame and 5 3/4in for the dividers. The dividers are 6in wide and so I cut the outside ends to 7in. I attached the whole thing with 1 1/2 finish nails and glue. After finishing, I attached some L-brackets on the corners and drilled 2 holes on either end for handles. For handles, I simply braided 6 strands of jute together and tied knots on the inside of the box. I have more details and photos on my blog link.

Keep in mind I am a novice at best and this took me a total of 12 hours over 2 days to construct and stain and line.  Filling will be a separate project all together!

I opted to remove the top row of lumber all around to have something to attach bird netting to to keep the critters out and make it easier to reach in, also a cost consideration. The posts are still the recommended 3 ft I also changed to 12ft X1in boards instead of 12ft x2in also in the interest of cost. 

For the most part I followed the plans for the legs and base structure as suggested. In our area the 2x4s are sold with rounded corners. To avoid a very obvious seam on the legs, I used 2x6s which I screwed and glued together then cut back to 3x4 (1.5x2) x 4 to make the legs and cross beams a little beefier with little or no seem on the legs. As I decided to build the top from reclaimed wood I framed in the top with 2x4 ripped down to approx.. 2x3 with a sheet of plywood to support top boards. As I don’t have a planner to level any reclaimed top boards I could find, I decided to make my own faux reclaimed boards out of ¾’ x 9’ – 8’ planks. I distress the wood using a chain, rocks my table saw, hammer, nails, blowtorch and bow saw. In hindsight, I wish I had distressed a little more vigorously but everyday use will augment it over time. I continued to paint, distress and sand on the fly, using paints I had left from previous projects. In some cases, I mixed paints to get additional colour varierty. All boards were stained at the to colour bare areas which as a bonus added a slight yellow hue making the paint look older. I did some scraping and blowtorching of semi-dry paint and stain to get a variety of looks and textures. I dry fit the boards and reorganized the puzzle pieces to get a random but organized look – controlled chaos. Once I was close I glued and screwed the board down clamping as I went to keep the boards tight. This paid-off later as the tighter seams allow less food to fall in-between. I cut down the last row from over sized pieces to get a tight fit in the last row. I finished with 11 coats of poly to toughen up the pine and again to seal the seams from food. My wife suggested painting the legs off-white as our cottage already is max-ed out on natural wood. We will follow by painting the existing chairs the same off-white and adding a little distress for age. Cost was approx. $175 to 200. The plywood alone was $45, paint I had. Time was easily 50 hours as the artistic on the top, time although fun, was time consuming.

Anna’s website is great I have had many compliments on my table. I have pointed many people to the site for direction on their own projects. Thanks for the great plans.

Sandy