Using the plan,I used (3)1x3’s for the top and (3) 1x2’s for the top so would have a similar look. I also opted for Select pine boards. This table I left plain. I have also made them and painted them. Love the plan. I typically glue and use a Brad nailer to finish.
When I find clothes I like, I buy more of the same. Apparently this habit applies to furniture, too. This fall I built two cube bookcases for my 8 year old's bedroom. Last weekend, I built another, this time for my 6 year old. What can I say? The first two worked out so well I needed another!
For this bookcase, I had the lumber (at least the big boards, not the 1x2s) cut at Lowe's. The cuts were precise and square -- everything I want in a cut!
Just as I did with the first two bookcases, I used the Kreg Jig to put this one together and then I topped it with 1/4" MDF, attaching mitered cove molding underneath. At some point this winter I realized that my miter saw was out of square. I'm not good at fixing mechanical things, so my husband did me the favor of squaring the saw for me. Wow, what a difference! My cuts are so much more precise now that the saw is square again. Whew!
One change I made from the first two cube bookcases I built was in the finish. Instead of building and then finishing, I painted the surfaces that would end up on the inside of the bookcase before assembling the whole thing. Last time it was a bit of a nightmare getting into all the corners and inside tops of each cube. Painting the inside ahead of time was much simpler. Once the unit was put together, I sanded and painted the outside, touched up the inside, and then added two coats of poly to both the inside and the outside.
I followed Jamie's tutorial from "That's my letter" on how to make this frame fit an existing chalkboard piece.
It was easy peasy. Finishing took longer than building.
I had all the wood, just had to buy the chalkboard from Hobby Lobby and the chalk markers.
This DIY Herringbone Barn Door is used over a simple hallway opening to separate the maing living space from the kids' bedrooms. I searched this site and Pinterest for inspiration, and loved the herringbone and chevron patterns that I found. This door was made of reclaimed barn wood and wrapped in raw steel channel iron. Hope you enjoy!
I followed the plans with 3 modifications.
Modification #1: To add more structural support, I used 6 more 2x2s. 3 of them went directly under the 1x3s that made up the seat. 3 of them went at the bottom, flush with the lower 1x3s at the base, right by the legs. I did not pre-cut these! I measured the lengths and did the cuts as I needed them because they needed to be a snug fit-had to use the hammer to lightly tap them into place before securing with 2 in nails. For the middle 2x2s, I tonailed in a couple of 1 1/2 nails to keep the 2x2 from twisting/spinning (because I didn't use 2 nails to attach it the first time!) See the pictures for closeups.
Modification #2: I stained and polyurethaned the legs. Stain color is MInwax Jacobean (The other stained parts of the stool don't need staining, but mine are because I used scrap wood for this build and they were already stained.)
Modification #3: Padding and wrapping and slipcover - I purchased a 15x17x2 inch foam pad for the top of the stool. I had some 1/4 batting in my craft room. I used an upholstery stapler ($10 at Hobby Lobby + an extra box of staples) to attach the batting. I wrapped it around the sides and top, securing it along the sides of the cube with the stapler. I used a spray adhesive to glue down the foam pad. Then, I wrapped 1 more layer of the batting over the top of the foam pad, securing along the cube edges. I flipped the whole stool over, trimmed the batting edges, leaving enough to fold over and staple onto the base frame. I made the slipcover as instructed in the link provided in the plans, but I had to take the measurements from my stool NOT their measurements, due to the extra bulk created by the batting and foam pad. I used 1/2 in seam allowances on all seams, leaving 2 extra inches at the bottom. After making the cover and fitting it, I turned the stool upside down and stapled the cover to the frame, making sure that it all looked neat and secure. Tip: Some of the staples didn't fully sink into the wood so I had to use a hammer and a nail set to get them really secure. I added a felt slider to each leg.
Finished dimenstions are 19 in high, 18 in (long sides), 16 in (short sides).
Enjoy your build and hope it turns out great!
This is my very first project, and I couldn't be more excited! It started with a need for a smaller kitchen table, and after stumbling across Ana's site, I think I will be building many more things for my house now!
My husband and I spend a few hours on this. It was our first furniture project and we made our first pocket holes yesterday! We did a platform bed with slats to avoid a box spring. We used Douglas fir and left it natural, just with a clear poly coating. We love it and are addicted to making our own furniture!
I was so happy to finish this bed and get it set up today, one month and one day shy of my 20th wedding anniversary. My husband and I had never been able to agree on a bed but we got a new memory foam mattress after Christmas and found Ana's website through an "IKEA hack" type of page. We finally found something from Anna we agreed on and was affordable. : ) I used non-mortising bed rail brackets as well as a center beam support, all from Woodcraft, so that this bed could be easily disassembled if needed. I used a combination of 1x2 and 1x4 to create slats, 17 in all, about 2-3" apart, placed on cleats, all to hold the mattress and simulate the bed slats from IKEA. I sanded 80-120-220 then covered with a wipe-on poly product from Watco, which was easier to work with than stains etc that need to sit, since I had to work in my dining room (else risk getting lots of maple "flyers" and pollen in my finish...) Thank you, Ana, for all your great ideas and encouragement! One tip: maybe sand some of the pieces, especially in the head and footboards, before assembling. It was tricky to get into the tight places with the power sander and by hand.
From Ana White kids kitchen plans
Thank you!
My kids loves their mini kitchen!!
highchair is finished! I used mostly 1x3's instead of the 1x2's and had to adjust the measurements accordingly. This project talked me into buying that pocket jig.. and I LOVE it! This is only my 3rd project but it took longer than "20 minutes to assemble". I have to build after my son goes to bed so I completed it over two evenings.
I followed Ana's plans http://ana-white.com/2012/06/plans/fancy-x-farmhouse-table Total cost for me was $150 thats lumber,screws and stain. Total time for me was approx 6 hours and it was most time consuming for the legs. I build this in my yard as I don't have a shop. I put my old table saw on a pallet and my chop saw on the table saw. I altered a couple pieces to make the look different and bulkier for me. This is going to make an excellent gift. I just need to put a finish on it and seal it. Oh and I made mine from spruce. *Update* So we finally were able to put a finish on it with a 24 hour window of no rain. We used 2 coats Behr Cedar stain. It is an all in 1 and turned out beautiful.
*Note*
Not pictured, but I did add a strip of wood under each end to pull the board ends flush with one another. I used 2 1x2's with ends cut at 45 degrees. Length was cut to fit. This isn't something that was in the build plans, but it was very hot out when I was building this and the boards were starting to run up and down if you can see that in the photos.
This bench was very easy to make and perfect for a family who hasnt tackle any wood projects. We are so happy and pleased not only with the results but how satisfying it was to make your own piece of furniture.
I recommend this project not only for the bedroom but for many places in the house, specially in the Entry way.
This was a fun and unique project. I've always wanted a farm house table. But to make this project so special my Father gave me Oak wood from the land that I grew up on. There is a small "accent" trim of Iron wood. I remember that tree before it was cut down. Being that all the boards were rough cut; I had to plain them all to equal thickness. But not one board was exactly equal width. So we made the outside "bread board" ends all the same, then let the inner boards remain slightly uneven in width. So the table ended up being 71" x 61" Iwas going for a very large square table and came close. But it fits our space perfectly! The other unique element of this table is that we designed it so the top of the legs show as part of the table top. The legs are 4 x 4 oak posts that came from the white fence in the front yard of my childhood home. We had to take them down to 3 x 3 and they even have some nails still in them. So much characher in this table. It is rock solid and doesn't move! And my daughter has already claimed it when it gets passed down. It will out live me for sure! :)
Chairs are next ;)
I took the plans for the Farmhouse X Desk and combined it with a (slightly) modified nightstand since I liked the 1x4’s better than the plywood base and also wanted a drawer instead of 2 shelves.
Also, I milled the side and took about 1/8” off the rounded 2x4 edges so that the squared sides fit together MUCH tighter. The joints were a lot easier to sand putty and sand seamlessly flat/smooth.
Very happy with the results and my brother and wife both want me to build them one now!
Tue, 10/19/2021 - 07:24
YES! That is gorgeous, love the added drawer option. Thanks for sharing!
This started out a project driven by inspiration. I wanted a bed similar to the Hampton Bed in the Pottery Barn Teen Catalog, and I wanted a handful of beds from the newest Crate and Barrell Catalog. So, I sat down with a piece of paper, and a felt tip marker, and sketched out the bed. I had just built the farmhouse bed, and knew it was strong, so thats how I designed the frame. Then I used plans from the Simple Bed to get another reference point and for full size dimesniosn. Then I built it. I journaled each step of the way on my blog, if you want more info on how building went, or the learning process. I am truly very proud of this bed. Thank you Ana for giving me the courage to do this one without step by step instruction. You rock.
A good friend of mine, a pastor of a local church, asked me to build a pulpit for their recently finished church up in the countryside of Grenada. She showed me a picture of what she had in mind and based on that, I drew my own plan in SketchUp, and then built it out of Yellow Pine boards and Plywood.
Note to the dimensions:
After I drew the plan, and just when I was at the lumberyard to have the plywood and boards cut, I thought I might have had it estimated not wide enough, so I decided on the spot to make it 2" wider and the top panel 2" wider and deeper too. So if you'd like to build based on my plans, please consider if it's wide enough for your purposes.
This is what I used (corrected measurements here):
2x 2x8 26" long YP Boards (Base)
1x 18 1/2" x 6 1/2" Plywood (Base Support Panel)
1x 26" x 16" Plywood (Top)
1x 18 1/2" x 9" Plywood (Shelf Panel)
2x 45" x 9 1/2" Plywood (Side Panels ) - these are cut angled, see plans
1x 44 1/2" Wood Moulding (for the "stopper" on the top panel, and the "back" of the top shelf.
This desk is massive at 3.4m long (over 11 feet). Initially it was going to be a homework station for the kids but my husband decided that he'd like to use it as his office.
I'm somewhat embarrassed that this took well over 12 months to complete and I was easily distracted by other projects along the way. I made many mistakes but I learnt something from every one of them.
I modified plans to suit my space and used sketchup to plan it all out.
Thu, 01/30/2020 - 09:19
I love this! Do you have more information on how you did the top? It looks like one solid piece, and I'm just curious where you purchased the panels and how you built the top to look so nice.
Teenager designed - mother approved DIY storage bed.
We had a good time building this table. We made it smaller (6 feet) than the original plans, and also changed up the breadboard a little bit. We are a military family so made it so it assembles/disassembles with carriage bolts instead of screws. Hopefully that helps it hold up over time with frequent moves.
Varythane golden oak stain on the top and rustoleum charcoal chalk paint for the base. Sanded lightly and a light touch of the paint on the tabletop to create a distressed look.
