Community Brag Posts

I love these ledges!!

I was looking at getting the West Elm Rectangles Day Bed, however, the bed was a bit too tall.  The window sill of the room was 26" high and I didn't really want the bed above the sill.  I found the plans on this site and decided to modify the plans so that the top of the bed would be flush with the top of the sill.

To make the bed fit, I removed 2" from the height of the rectangles (10" cuts instead of 12") and 1/2" from each of the top and bottom joiners (1 3/4" cuts instead of 2/1/4").  Finally, the corener legs are each cut to 26" instead of 30".  The makes the be 7" off the floor instead of 8".  Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out.

A couple of things I learned:

1.  I used clear pine for the wood.  It was very smooth to begin with, so I didn't need to sand it.  I primed all the wood prior to cutting.

2.  The pine was not all exactly the same size.  This means that I could only have one side completely flush and needed to decide if it was the inside of the outside of the bed (I choose the inside).  I sanded the outside a bit, but all the pieces still weren't completely flush, but I didn't care since it would be facing the wall.  You may be able to get better results with more expensive wood.

3.  Get a Kreg jig.  I bought the pocket unit for ~$20.  It was very useful for creating joints.  Make sure to do a test joint as I initially set the depth incorrectly and drilled too deep (luckily I DID do a test piece)

4.  I did not buy the Kreg plugs.  Instead, I just used wood filler.  For each hole, I covered with wood filler, let dry and sanded.  I then put on a second coat and sanded again using 300 grit sandpaper.  You can not tell there are any joint holes, and am very pleased with how the joints look.

5.  I did not use the Kreg Jig on the 1/3/4" top/bottom rectangle joiners, I just used 3" wood screws and screwed throught the top/bottom in from the top/bottom.  I used a Big Gator Drill Guide to drill a pilot hole that was perfectly perpendicular (as I don't have a drill press) prior to screwing the pieces together.  Filling the holes with wood filler and sanding (twice) worked well.

6.  Sanding!! I sanded a lot to get the paint to be very smooth.  It was a bit of a pain as I did it all by hand.  I think a belt sander might have made some of the sanding go a bit quicker, but the rectangles day bed has so many inside areas to sand, you're going to have to do some by hand.

7.  I used a primer on all surfaces and sanded the primer smooth prior to the final coat(s).  For painting the final coats, I used a foam brush as the paint was pretty thin and I did not want to see any brush marks.  I considered spray painting the final coat, but it was just easier to do by hand.

I had to scale mine down a bit in size (I didn't want a huge coffee table this time around)...I absolutely love this table. Very easy to build and only took one day from start to finish to make. I receive tons of compliments on it! People can't believe I actually made it from scrap wood I had in the garage! I have a 3 year old who plays and bangs toys on it everyday, and it only adds to the distressed, rustic look that I love! Couldn't be happier!

Look no further for a one-of-a-kind coffee table to complete your room!

This project took several months of off and on work but I am very happy with the results. Followed the plans on this website to the T and they were great. Got the wood from the local lowes and the hardware from Ace Hardware. Used the Kreg Jig pocket hole system to hide the fasteners which makes a big difference. I also used flat black spray paint for the hardware.

I loved the rustic look that this project was finished with so I did the same. The stain was great, really easy to make and stains really well. I covered the stain with the recommended wax which gives it a really nice shine and is very smooth.

Huge thanks to this website!

This was my first major furniture project. My daughter wanted a changing table and this looked like it would be a good choice.I made a few modifications; it's a little taller as my daughter and her husband are on the tall side, I also added a small rail to keep the changing pad from sliding off. Overall it was a great learning experience. I have built several outdoor pens and small houses for our chickens, but this was my first attempt at a piece of furniture. I think it turned out well, and my daughter and her husband are happy with it (and that is what matters).Of course I see the mistakes but I learned from them and now know what to do (or not to do) next time.  Plans are great, easy to follow ....thank you ANA!! Can't wait to try another plan.

Built by Sarah Ashley Allen on Instagram

I changed the plans for the headboard a bit, just using 2x4's and fence planks. total cost including headboard $45!!

This was perfect for my hall as it doubled up as a hall stand too. Love it.

My wife desperately needed a storage solution for her baking supplies in the kitchen. I came across Hillary's Locker Cabinet on Ana White's website, which gave me some good direction. I modified the plans a little to increase the storage space my wife needed. In one weekend my friend Robert and I built this kitchen cubby storage solution that organizes all the clutter, looks great, and doesn't take up a lot of room (6'x4.5'x1').

Thanks for the idea and wonderful resource!

This was my first attempt at furniture. My husband helped a little but I did most of the work. Worked out beautiful, an excellent birthday pressie for my daughter. Started cutting wood  one afternoon, and finished painting and assembling the following afternoon (had a birthday cake to bake otherwise it would have been finished earlier). I used recycled timber for tops, the rest of the wood cost $50, so guessing Australian timber is way more expensive than USA. Bought Kreg jig specially for this project. Pocket joins give an excellent strong join. Had trouble getting crosses on bench correct, required many rescaling a to get right. Also had a wonky table because I screwed to the recycled timber top (some of that wood is warped) so fixed with a choc under two legs. Very pleased with result, look forward to my next project!

This was my second Ana White project but the first from her new book.
It started out being 2 separate shelving units but once in the space they need to be modified to fit between the windows. I just removed the one side leg and screwed the shelves to the other unit.
the bottom shelf is perfect to house my 12x12 scrapbooks!

This is our version of the farm house table. Flat white base with a grey finish on top to give it a coastal farmhouse theme. 

I have been bugging my husband for a month to help me build this bed - he builds houses for a living, so the last thing he wasn't to do with his time off is deal with more saws and drills!

But, when it came to making Christmas lists this year, all I asked for was his time to help me with the bed... guilt trip!

So, Friday after work we went to Blue Store to pick out lumber - He thought rough cut lumber would be THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD, or at least he acted like it... so we got what we had to out of framing lumber, and the rest was premium white wood. We were lucky enough to find 4x4 fir posts too!

All in all, we spent about 5 hours making the bed (little did hubs know, he would thoroughly enjoy building furniture, and now explores this website for new projects!) and I used BM Antique white to finish. I wanted to try Ana's method of sanding edges and using stain pen, but I really do love the bed in just white. Still needs a poly coat, but that will have to wait until after Christmas!

Completed just in time for Christmas company!

The only suggestion I would make is when putting the top 2x6 on the footboard, make the back edge (closest to mattress) flush with the 2x4 below.... We centered it, and the mattress fits too snug to easily adjust blankets and sheets!

My wife saw a painter's ladder shelf at IKEA and wanted one for our master bathroom.   I showed her the shelf on Ana's site and she liked that one much more.  So ... a few hours later we had our  new shelf and my wife couldn't  be more pleased.

This took me forever to do even with the plans and I still had to rig it cause I just couldn't get it square.  Im working on that but I'm very new at wood working and took this project on but I absolutely love it. This really cleared up my shed and space combined with extra tables to work on.  I got to use it for the first time today and it was awesome.  I think everyone should have one of these !!!