Community Brag Posts

My wife, Carrie, and I decided to make this bench for a very deserving couple for their wedding. It turned out great and this will be the first of many pieces we'll build. Thanks for the plans Ana!

I made this with pine boards. I used an old twin mattress for the cushions and covered with some material I had on hand. I love it.

Great project and my wife loves it. I added a door, locking hinges, and made a custom cutout with shelf for the machine to sit flush with the table. I switched to piano hinge for the leaves and locking hinges for the 2x2 legs. Turned out great. 

My new Craft Table I built from Ana White's plans. I combined her plans from her Modern Craft Table (http://ana-white.com/2010/09/modern-craft-table) and the desk drawer from her Craft Tabletop for the Modular Collection (http://ana-white.com/2010/02/plans-bedford-project-table-top-with.html). I modified the plans slightly, I added 1x2's aroung the tabletop instead of edge banding or nosing to give it a nice decorative finish. I also used 1 x 3's instead of using 1 x 2's for the floating base for the tabletop so you could see more of the floating base since the 1 x 2's around the tabletop covered up the majority of the floating base from view. I also created a frame for the table top to sit on which also helped stabilized the 2 bookshelves in place, as well as adding support to the frame of the drawers.

I followed the plan but made the sofa longer, the cushions were on clearance from Pottery Barn for $160 and the cushions are about 96 inches wide.
I used weather treated wood and did not want to spend more since its my first project. I used Behr exterior weatherproof transparent stain. I attached the seats back piece using a 2x2 attached on the bottom with screws and pocket hole screws are used to attach the 2x2 to both sides of the arm frame.
I love how it turned out. I was not expecting for it to come out this nice but I am really impressed.
I hope you guys like it too!

Total cost is around $240 including paint, wood, screws and the cushions.

My wife wanted a Hall Tree with a bench to sit on and shoe storage. I used Mimi's Hall Tree plans for the Hall Tree and added the Shoe Rack/Bench for the base. It's all made out of Hickory. I love the multitude of colors in that wood.

This was my first solo project using Ana's plans. I did the whole thing while my husband was out of town, with my 4 kids (including a toddler and newborn) milling around. We surprised him with it for his birthday when he got home. He was shocked.

The plans were straight-forward and easy to understand. I had everything cut at the hardware store, because I was afraid of the miter saw, but I ended up using it anyway to fix an incorrect measurement. (It wasn't so bad.)

I painted the bottom and stained the top separately, before putting them together, so I could get the finishes everywhere, and there wouldn't be bare wood showing through when you open the top.

I used narrow profile hinges, just like in the plan, and they work beautifully. Three was the prefect amount. The trickiest part was screwing the top on, because I was afraid the screws would protrude into the storage compartment. But I measured carefully (several times) and used clamps to keep everything in place. Then I marked where the screws would go with chalk. It worked perfectly.

This bench is the final step in reworking our entryway. We have a small house with lots of kids, so we need our spaces to work for us. Having a bench that also keeps up with our library books is a perfect addition. I can't wait to use Ana's plans to make the rest of the house work for us too!

More details on the blog post.
http://lassothemoon.typepad.com/lasso_the_moon/2013/06/entryway-flip-to…

Thanks, Ana!

ps. The time estimated is total time--including working around the kids, and trying to figure out how to turn on the miter saw (20 min!).

The money is my estimate of what it actually cost, even though my hardware store bill was a little more--but I'm using some of the screws, stain, etc on other projects.

Table and bench before we finished it

This is a farmhouse queen bed that I built with the assistance of Ana’s plan. I put my own flavor in it with a modified structure and cosmetic touch. Enjoyed this build very much!

The Kreg jig made this project a snap to assemble. The shelves attach quickly with pocket holes. I wondered how to line up a screw from the inside of the bookcase with the fin when my husband pointed out that pocket holes would work well. Sure enough, 30 minutes later I had two fins drilled, attached, puttied, sanded and painted. I love my Kreg jig! I made this bookcase for an auction, which is why it's sitting next to a fancy vase on a table
(in case you're wondering about the photo).

We had been saving up for a table like this one from Restoration Hardware or Urban Barn or West Elm but needless to say it was taking a while (just for the table)... then we stumbled upon @Shanty2Chic on Pinterest and loved the idea.

As far as woodworking/furniture making goes, I have taken a turn at it here and there but this was our first major project and it worked out great. We decided to go with two benches and we're currently hunting for chairs, maybe a DIY as the ones we want are also pretty expensive for what they are!

We bought all the wood, subbing the 96" 2x10s for 72" 2x10s and subbed the 2x4s in the X legs for 4x4s. I like the one piece better than the 2x4s and we attached the X pieces to the 4x4 using 2-1/2" pocket screws. After cutting and sanding, we assembled the table and set out staining it with a brush and a clean rag using the "brush on - wipe off" method which gave us a nice look at the grain pattern. The stain we chose was Varathane Weathered Grey and did one coat which gave us the look we were after. After staining we applied three coats of Varathane Matte Finish clear to allow for that "natural wood feel".

I think this turned out pretty good for it only being the second piece of furniture I have ever built.

I've been married for a little over 12 years now and we have NEVER had a bed frame or side tables. I had never built anything on my own (without the hubbies input) and I have to say that it was extremely empowering! I'm so proud of how it turned out! It took me a while to cut the pieces out because I used a handsaw and guide....ugg, we need a saw and once I get one I'm moving on to a bed frame!