Community Brag Posts

The next few months are going to be crazy! My fiancee and I will both be graduating in May. Our wedding will be be just over a month later in June. Sometime in the middle of all that craziness, we will be moving. I'll start a new job and she will be starting a graduate program.

With all this coming up, I had been looking forward to my last spring break as a college student to go "home" and relax by working on a couple Ana White projects that I had picked out. I ended up working from about 9 or 10 am to about 10 pm every day for 8 days to get everything finished! just sitting in the garage working and running back and forth to Lowes was so refreshing. The time flew by and I ended up with two great pieces that my fiancee and I will enjoy for a very ling time.

I spent a bit more than expected after ordering the cheapest ($20) kreg jig from Amazon and other small things like paint but the value for for what I created is still great!

Bedframe:

I love learning how to do new things but I had relatively little experience with wood before this project. I picked up a miter saw a year ago when it was on sale at Lowes and hadn't used it except for cutting laminate flooring so I was excited to be able to use it finally! I had a table saw that was picked up at a garage sale that hadn't been used either which came in handy! My uncle brought over some other tools that were indispensable like a belt sander and finish nailer.

Everything went pretty smooth. The only advice I have is to make sure that you measure EVERYTHING. For example, the slats used in the headboard and footboard need to be the correct width when glued together. Mine came out a little short due to the dimensions of the wood. It was an easy fix for me: use 1x4s on each end instead of 1x3s. I found that when I finished the main three pieces (footboard, frame, headboard), the frame was slightly too big to fit into the footboard and headboard. That's where the belt sander came in handy! Just be careful... the belt sander works FAST.

One change I made to the bedframe plan was that I added 3 inches to the legs. My fiancee and I are very tall so I thought this would be a good idea. I like how it came out but I will warn you... this bed is TALL. Especially with a mattress and box springs! One huge positive aspect of making the bed taller is that a 12" storage box fits perfectly under the bed (see picture). I didn't do this on purpose but it's going to be nice to have all that usable storage space!

My final note on the bedframe is that it is huge. I'm not looking forward to moving it (although I think it can be done). I used kiln dried wood from Lowes for everything which worked fine. The only pieces that are not dry are the two 2x10 side panels on the frame. These make the frame SUPER HEAVY. Just a warning.

Nightstands:

The nightstands were so much fun to make. I used the Kreg jig for everything on it and I highly recommend it. I would not even try to build these without a kreg jig. Besides, the Kreg jig is so awesome to use (I also highly recommend the Kreg screws and the Kreg brand clamp).

I used 2x3 instead of 2x2 for the legs (2x3 at lowes was like $1.50 in stud length compared to like $8 or something ridiculous for 2x2s). I had to be careful with the plans by using 2x3s and get creative in a couple areas but it worked pretty well and made it so much cheaper. I spent under $50 total for two nightstands!

Finish:

I know that these pieces are going to have to be moved so I wanted to finish them with protection being the number one priority. With that in mind, I used a semi-gloss Valspar paint + primer from Lowes and then several coats of semi-gloss poly. I could have done a better job finishing (for example, I only applied one coat to the back of the headboard where no one will ever see) but time was an issue as I only had a week to finish everything before heading back to school. I also probably should have waited a bit longer between coats of poly but whatever.

I stained the tops of the nightstands with an ebony stain and used the same Swiss Coffee Valspar Paint + Primer from Lowes as I used for the bedframe.

This was my first huge project!  I am so happy it turned out.  We ordered barndoor hardware and it was too big.  We had to switch to using plumbing pipe.

DIY Workbench

I made this potting bench as a plant rack/stand for my wife for the back porch. She has had the plants on the ground and now this will give her some place to put them on as well as not having to work on the ground. I changed the dimensions to fit our space as well as used 1x4's mostly since it is what I had. I used 1x6 for part of the back legs so as to have a deeper shelf. I also made it to have additional shelves that are a bit adjustable to (3) different levels. I also changed the front a bit so it is closed in. Thankfully you can't tell in the pictures much but this was my first time trying to stain something. Definitely not my forte. Hopefully will get better with time and experience. Thank you for posting the plans for to build from.

I had built the "Traditional Toddler Bed" for our first daughter a while back. Since then we have had our second daughter and a house of 3 girls (and not knowing how many more were coming) we needed another dresser. So i designed and built this dresser to match the toddler bed. It was made from 2x4 studs, b grade pine plywood, b grade pine and wainscoting. Though it required extra sanding and finishing work it was well worth the savings.

Dream dollhouse made with the Ana's plan. So proud to say I did it myself! Thank's from Brazil, Ana!

I made these toy boxes for my two grandsons for Christmas. They have been laser etched with their names and a special note on the inside of the top lid. "Always remember you are braver than you believe, Stronger than you seem, Smarter than you think and Loved more than you will ever know. Love Papa and Lita.

Used Fir for the posts, side rails, and top 2x6, pine for everything else.

Our new home has a corner area of the kitchen with enough room for a table, so we figured this one would be perfect!

Rustic console table- distressed.  Made this one wider and taller. Used 2x8s for top and shelves. Increased height by 2". 

Distressed wood with a good beating and also metal hardware. Paint/sand distress for top. 

This was mine and my husband's very first attempt at making something on our own from wood, and I'm so pleased with the end result! Actually I didn't do much of the actual building - I left that up to my husband. We recently moved into a new home, and I wanted some nice furniture for our front porch that was comfortable to on. I found a lot of nice furniture, but the price was just a little more than I wanted to pay especially since I knew there were other things we needed for the house. So after discovering Ana's site we decided to bite the bullet and buy some tools and the supplies we needed to build this loveseat. The only thing we really had was the drill because our circular saw needed to be replaced. It turned out to be probably more expensive by the time we paid for all of those things, but we knew in the long run it would pay off.

So my husband started his work, and when he finished building I put two coats of primer on it and one coat of white paint. The woodwork itself turned out better than my paint job because there are some drips here and there. I just haven't bothered trying to sand them yet since it's not too bad.

We bought our cushions from Lowe's. They were $55 for each set (cushion bottom and back) so about $110 for the all. It's amazing how much more expensive the cushions were than the actual loveseat! All in all we are very happy with our new loveseat and absolutely thrilled that we found Ana's site! We've already made something else since this project and are working on a third!

Decided build this simple cahnging table for my wife and I. I used the "Simple Changing Table" plan, but used 1/4" Hardboard instead of 3/4" ply or MDF. To keep the 1/4" hardbaord in place I cut a groove in each of the 6 end pieces and glued it in, then I put 2 supports (1x2) under the middle of each shelf. I didn't make the top try insert and made it a little narrower. I notched out the legs to help support the cross beams.

My husband and I made this as

an anniversary gift

to one another! Love how it looks.

My daughter and I decided 2 weeks before Christmas to try your easy mantle project. Well not so easy for us, lol my husband had to help, but it was fun! I think it came out great! Thanks Ana

Jackie

With grandchildren and pets we decided to put a gate on the deck.

The gate is made from 2 X 4's and 2 x 2's. I used brass hinges to prevent rust and smooth operation

This was Ana's cottage loft. I was asked to make it into a bunk bed. So I changed the backside to include two sets of five 1x6s, and added a 'second floor' so the top bunk child would feel like she was in the house as well. I also added the flower boxes and made the rails 19" high on the top bunk. Next time, I would add a ladder to both sides for easier access to making the bed. The customer painted the bed.