Firepit benches
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Love these benches. Working on cushions for them.
Love these benches. Working on cushions for them.
With six people in our household, we were in desperate need of easily accessed storage for our off season clothes/gear. This ended up being a perfect solution. We customized shelf heights to fit the bins that we use for storage as well as made an area for our cat box (at the bottom right). It's such a relief to finally have everything tucked away but easy to get at when we need it.
This project was completed in a weekend. I was really proud of the result.
My daughter wanted to create the Farmhouse look for her New England home. Had so much fun building the Table, Bench and Floating shelves. The Plans were perfect, and of course customizable (she wanted it a little shorter). My next project is a real workbench for my garage. I think the only issue is the New Jersey winters.
Despite relatively high ceilings, we have a small, pantryless kitchen and needed more shelf space. Couldn't be happier with how this turned out. Besides taking off 2 inches in width to make sure it would fit in the space, I followed the measurements exactly.
Made just one modification with the instructions involving the face frame. I first assembled it together per the instructions, but it was just not lining up with the carcass well at all when I went to attach it. Before the glue got too dry, I made the quick decision to take the face frame apart and just apply the individual pieces of it one at a time to the carcass. I figured this could maybe leave some very small gaps where the face frame pieces joined each other, but that seemed better than what it would look like leaving it as is, with almost no section flush with the carcass. This ended up being the absolutely right choice. Everything was very very close to flush and there ended up being virtually no gaps. If I ever built again, I would do the same and attach each piece like that.
My only other struggle was at the very end attaching the barn door hardware. Nothing wrong with the hardware or the instructions, I just ended up installing the rail too high up on my first attempt. Because this piece has a top that slightly overhangs and gives that nice little lip, it means there is a maximum height which you can't go above when installing the rail hardware. If you go too high, like I did, the rollers that are attached to the door will physically not fit on the rail, b/c that lip will be in the way. This might be very obvious to most people but I thought I'd mention it. Once things clicked, I just had to get some new measurements and redrill the holes a bit lower(but not too low b/c then you will have a gap!).
I decided to leave the door natural wood after seeing someone else's finished piece posted here and given how dark my stain was, I also left the plywood back panel natural. It's still a bit light now and it may even take 2 or 3 years, but I know pine can do a decent job darkening up.
Lastly, I did put a whole quart of satin polyurethane on this over 5 coats. Each coat but the last was cut with %50-%25 paint thinner applied with a foam brush. Yes it did take a long time but seeing it up close, it was absolutely worth it. I would recommend it for anyone making this project.
Mon, 12/21/2020 - 13:29
It looks like you made an excellent choice, love the two tone finish too! Thanks for sharing:)
This took approximately a week to build, but was fairly simple. Drew arm rests freehand and applied 3 - 4 coats of Helmsmen.
Sat, 12/06/2014 - 12:27
I built this at the local college woodshop and I am very happy with how it turned out. Our comminity is so very lucky to have a community college that has a wood shop and a huge spray booth. (Wood Shop 1 & 2 as well as Cabinet Building 1 & 2)
My Biggest build so far. We have a large living room and needed something large for that wall. I really had fun on this one. It took longer than I wanted but in the end, I’m really proud I finished. This was my first time to use the router and learned how build shaker style doors. -Instagram.com/theorthfam
I built this for my sister in law this Christmas from Ana's plans. I can't wait to make a second one for myself! The overall build was easy and I would consider myself a beginner level. Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the final product before I gifted it, but I distressed it to allow some forgiveness in the white paint detials and hand-painted decal on the top. It turned out great and they loved it!
Made this out of a ton of scrap wood I had laying around. On the downside it made the project more difficult, but on the upside all I had to buy was hinges and handles...
Since my daughter turned 5, she has joined the ranks of those children (un)fortunate enough to have 2 bedrooms to furnish. In approaching her 6th birthday I asked her mother if there was anything she needed for her new room at her house, and she suggested a new table to do colouring/craft etc at. I was actually searching to buy a table and chairs, and was decidedly underwhelmed by the selection and the quality/cost ratio on offer.
Thankfully I stumbled across the plans for the Clara Table, and it was precisely what I was after. I have made various tables before, for garden and dining, and have always gone with reclaimed wood and a rustic style, but for this I did just use the plans as-is, and I bought new pine timber purely for the convenience of it.
The table is simple to build, I already had a pocket hole jig, and the table itself took about 90minutes to build. Most of this time was spent sanding off the foaming glue I decided to use between the planks used for the top. If you are considering using this sort of glue, or indeed any glue, I'd say it isn't necessary. I had neverade a table top of this construction before, and went for the belt and braces approach. In my opinion it's totally unnecessary, doesn't add much security, but adds plenty of time to the project. If you really want, I'd go for bog standard wood glue, but by the time you screw it onto the legs, it's solid as a rock anyway.
It is mentioned to set the aprons back a way, to avoid splitting the legs. I did this, by using an off-cut of the 3x1 as a spacer on the face of the aprons as I screwed them in. Worked a treat, set the aprons back, but not all the way, and gives the illusion of a little more heft to the dimensions.
I then painted the top with chalk based emulsion, distressed and did the signwriting to personalise it, finished it with wax and my daughter was more delighted than I ever thought any child could be by having a table daddy made for her birthday, and at a fraction of the cost of a shop bought one of far lower quality.
Am.so.pleased I stayed on this website, and have already lined up the matching chairs for her as my next project!
Thank you for inspiring me to get back to making things again...it's been a while!
The timber cost me about £20, and the biggest expense was all the paint tester pots for the top!
My first real furniture DIY project. My wife has been asking for a farmhouse table for a couple of years and I found Ana's site 3 weeks ago. By reading the plans the project seemed simple enough to give it a try. I modified the plans to shorten the table to 72" to fit in our dining room. I bought lumber from Lowe's and lumber costs for the table was approx $65 and the bench was right around $20. My wife loves it and I have had multiple requests to make more tables for other family members. The project took a week to complete working a few hours each evening after work. Stained with Rust-Oleum Ultimate in Kona and 4 coats of a Rust-Oleum Polyurethane in Satin finish. A big thanks to Ana for the free plans and for my new hobby of furniture making! *EDIT* The table and bench are not as dark as the pictures show.
My dream bed is finally done. Blood, sweat and tears.....not really, but after making a few mistakes along the way, I can finally say it's done. I am happy to report that it only cost $300 -- a whooping $ 1895 savings from Restoration Hardware's Maison Bed Collection. I am in love with my new chic bed. I will be posting my tutorial for the Chestwick Bed - King size - very soon. In the meantime, thanks for looking.
Dining Room table and benches tops built from reclaimed Douglas Fir and table and bench bases built from 4x4 posts.
we needed an exterior table big enough for 8 on short notice. It's hard to find nice exterior furniture on the Big Island of Hawaii so we decided to build ourselves using borrowed tools. only wish i had my kreg jig nearby :).
*this is July 2021 (pandemic) so wood prices have shot up. that's the reason the cost of the project is higher than normal.
Great plans allow for versatility and easy customization. Put the whole thing together in a day w/ one other person. My set up is 16' long - 5' on the side shelves and 6' for the workbench. Added a pegboard and fluorescent light under the top middle shelves. I'm also designing a slim drawer to go under the workbencheck area. Thanks a bunch!
My wife needed a desk to work at home from and nothing on the retail market interested us, so I offered to build one. I followed the plans for a Farmhouse Desk, but with a change for the top. I chose a pre-sanded 3/4" red oak top and trim to cover the plywood edges. We didn't want the lips or edges that may show up using the planned 1x6" planks. The desktop measures 31.5 x 71.5" which is large, but allows for a lot of work to be accomplished. I added a grommet hole for the wires and a 3 1/8" hole for a desktop outlet with 2 USB's, 1 USB-C and two regular outlets. I also added a 9-input power strip / surge protector on the underside of the desk that the desktop outlet plugs in to. So only the power strip plugs into the wall and everything is surge protected.
It took me 4 weeks and about 25 hours, as I made it around my work schedule and family life.
Hi, I built this wedding Arbour for my daughters wedding a while ago and unfortunately, I have no plans as I built from my head. It now sits in pride of place within thier garden as arch for thier garden.
I built this with a drop saw, hand saw, router, drill and hammer only.
I follow Ana's plans every release and save her plans for when I retire in two years to build for our house as well as try to run a small business from my shed.
Thank you Ana for you continued plans and wonderful advice.
Tue, 10/05/2021 - 10:40
WOW, such a sweet gift and reminder of their special day! Thanks for sharing:)
I modified the dimensions slightly and opted to not mount the fold down doors as I figured they would always be open anyway. I built this mostly from solid red oak save for the bottom panel and the middle panel, which are plywood. I crafted the top out of 5 pieces tongue and grooved with mitred corners on the front. I also tongue and grooved the doors with glass insets. I finished it in Minwax red cedar under poly.
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
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!