Community Brag Posts

First time builder.

Our 19 year old daughter moved back in with us and we had to put her in our den. This room doesn't have a door or closet. The closet system was priority one. She has a ton of clothes. We followed your plans to the letter, but didn't add the shelving in the middle. She wanted a space to put her dirty clothes basket. This was the perfect solution and super inexpensive and easy to make. 

I was inspired to create this after seeing an article somewhere where Ana created her own old "laundry" sign. She used the same idea using the Numbered Cubbies plan. We just purchased a second home in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and it has 4 bedrooms. I'm decorating each with a season in mind. I wanted something to go across the top of the windows.

So, off the the landfill I went. I was looking for an older piece of wood. Low and behold, found one that was perfect. It already had a weathered stain, so I just added a cream paint and then a light green paint. I sanded it off in areas to distress it. Next, I found a quote that I liked ("Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush") and changed the font size to fit the board. I printed out the quote (on 8 pages) using only the outlines as not to waste ink (Ana's tip). I put the pages up to a window and traced over the lines with a soft lead pencil. Next, you line them up on your board and then rub the pages down so the pencil lines show up on the board. Next, I hand painted the words in. I really should look into the paint pens. :) Finally, I did a very light hand sanding of the words to make them look aged.

I love it. :)

This is the prototype build for the Pirate’s Treasure Trunk Plan. This build was made entirely from scrap wood and left over finishes on hand. The only items purchased were the angles used for the hinges, and the decorative hardware. This really is a great project for scrap wood, since it really doesn’t use much at all. I used the miter saw to cut down some pieces of 1x12 scrap to the 1x4 and 1x6 sizes to build this.

For the finish on this one, the first coat is a gray paint wash (just regular gray paint watered way down and then wiped off), then a Walnut glaze (Minwax Express Color in Walnut + clear mixing glaze) brushed on and then rubbed off. I didn’t sand after the paint wash coat, because I wanted the glaze to stick to the texture of the paint on the wood. The goal was for the weathered wood look of a trunk that may have washed up on shore from a pirate ship. Then it was top coated with clear poly. The hardware was spray painted with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. The decorative nails were left natural. I think they hint at the big chunky bolts that might have been seen on pirates’ treasure chests. Originally I was going to paint the “keyhole” on, but then it occurred to me to use a little scrap of foam shelf liner, cut to shape using the painting template from the plan. Last, a coat of mod-podge was added over everything.

When I was doing the plan I added a couple of alternatives for the decorations (painting all of them on, or adding with mod-podge), since everyone might not like the actual hardware. But, I’m very happy with the look and glad I tried it!

This was a super simple build which took less than an hour to build and sand. Finishing took a few minutes at a time throughout the course of a day. I think the longest part was being patient enough to wait for everything to dry. I let the glaze dry overnight before adding the poly and hardware.

Overall it was a fun and very easy build.

This table was made following the Ana White plan for the 8' table. I stained the whole thing Dark Walnut. I the rubbed Vaseline on the edges and anywhere else that I wanted distressed. I painted the table with a light coat of white chalk paint and sanded it to distress it after it dried. After getting the look that I wanted I applied a clear wax.

Changed the side aprons to 4" for more depth to a storage compartment. Hinged the seat and added a bottom tray. Stuck with natural wood to match the Ikea desk. Fun project. Thanks!

Our daughter is fast approaching 2 years old and had learned the word "chair." She wanted her own, clearly.

In addition to being my first brag-worthy project, this is the last thing I built before I got my Kreg Jig, but even without, I'm quite satisfied with the end result, and it will support me sitting in it (at over 200 lb) so I did something right.

I ripped down some 1x8 to make the lumber required, so it's not exactly per the plan, but it's pretty close. I also made the back legs of out ripped 1x4 because I felt it looked nicer, and added the brace between the front legs only in order to maintain stackability. (For I will be making a few more of these.) My favorite personal modification is the accent heart in the back slat.

3 chairs- Love that these are strong enough to hold even me. I placed these in the bedroom as lounge chairs in front of the TV (see http://ana-white.com/2013/09/mini-media-center)

Forgot to mention, part of the cost I figured, was $250 for mattress and sheets etc. 

Here's my take on the Tryde Coffee Table. The only modification that I made was in the legs. Instead of untreated 4x4s, I used a 2x4, 1x4, 2x4 sandwich.

I also made the legs detachable for easy transport. This was done by drilling holes in the side piece and then screwing in these magic "screw/bolt" things [picture 5] into the leg. To assemble, I just pushed the legs through the holes, and then put a washer and nut on the bolts [picture 4].

[Candlesticks are made from logs with a hole bored in them and the coasters are coiled sisal rope held together with hot glue]

I built this cooler box using the plans posted here by "Jenny from Birds and Soap". Great plans, easy to follow. Thanks Jenny. As you can see, I made some cosmetic changes.  The clock and "rare earth" magnets behind the front panel to catch the bottle caps. I also added a hook for a towel on the side. Turned out pretty cool looking.

Made a few modification s but followed the general pattern! Absolutely love my 10 foot table!

I made this for my boy who's turning four tomorrow! (Sep 1st) He loves building forts and I don't mind rearranging the furniture, but set up and clean up is so time consuming, we'd both rather spend more time playing. This is an indoor tent, but I took it outside for pictures. Aside from the obvious difference of adding doors and a back, the changes I made from the original plans are: using an 8 foot 1x3 so the tent is 4 feet deep instead of 3. Instead of stapling the fabric on the 1x3s at the bottom, I wrapped the fabric around and used velcro so I could remove it for washing. I sewed a tube of fabric and attached it at the top to make removal easier. Time Investment is so long because of the sewing involved for the tent. If you have an Ikea near you, they've got this stuff called glaze paint (more of a stain, I think) in all different colors - it doesn't need a top coat (unless you want it shiny), it's solvent free and, are you ready? $6 for 12.something ounces, MORE than enough for this project. To make it even easier if you're using fabric instead of curtains like me and you've got the room, cut a 8ft 1x3 in half so you've got two 4ft pieces. Most quilting cotton at fabric stores is 44-45 inches wide selvedge to selvedge (the ends that don't fray) and if you follow the plan according to where to drill for the top bolt, you'll need 4-4.25 yards of fabric, depending on whether you are going to use velcro or staple. I would use 4.25 if using velcro, the fabric can go right over the top bar and over the other side if you don't want to sew a tube like I did. If you don't want to sew at all, use iron-on hem tape on the cut edges and iron on velcro. Make sure of placement of the velcro before ironing on. More pictures on my blog =)

I made this desk for my niece, and I am really happy with how it turned out. The bookshelf was really easy to make and came together well. My sister wanted a smaller sized desk, so I shortened the top and decided to make one of the sides a bookshelf instead of both sides. I think that made it a little less stable than it would have been if both sides were bookshelves but it still holds up well.

This was my first project and I think it came out pretty nice.  I changed the plans slightly as I wanted the base to be made out of 4x4.  However, the only 4x4 you can by locally is treated, so I combined 2 2x4's and ran them through a jointer to get the look I wanted.  I also ran the table top pieces through a jointer so that the edges would not show.  This however made the top too narrow so I added a 2x4 to the top.  So, the top is 4 2x19 with 1 2x4 in the middle.

i can't wait to start my next project!

Couldn’t find any barn door hardware that would fit the console, at least for a reasonable price. Made my own with aluminum strips and steel rollers, spray painted with a textured black paint.

I desperately needed a podium to help me stay organized while I lectured in the classroom. After learning that none where available at my school or even in the county, I decided to "give it a go" and tried making one myself. This is what I came up with! You can access a step-by-step tutorial at http://sawgrasshome.com/