Community Brag Posts

My daughter is 3 and though her room isn't terribly small, I thought this project would be awesome all the same. I wanted to do the doll house bed, but I figured this bed would grow with her more and I liked the platform at the end so I just added a curtain and called it good.

The book shelf is by and large my favorite part of the project. I just added some more 2x4's, a sheet of 1x10 and some left over bead board paneling that I had and used left over paint from her play kitchen that I had previously repurposed from an old entertainment stand. I added an inexpensive, small fluorescent light to the book shelf, out of sight, and found this great, inexpensive paper lantern.

I also added a support beam down the middle of the mattress area and used some 1 in MDF board that I had from another bed and wrapped it in fabric (which ended up being a little pricey, but she loves her ceiling)

Because she is so young, I pushed the bottom of the bed against the wall instead of building a railing off the platform because I was afraid she would fall as she still gets up in the middle of the night. This worked out because the space that was left at the head of the board fit her TV stand and laundry basket without leaving a foot print on the actual area under her bed. With the curtain up (and almost always closed, as insisted on by the primary tenant) it really is like a clubhouse under there. I can't even begin to go into the hours she spends under there with her books; who doesn't love that?!

This was my first "from scratch" projects and I learned a few things. 1. Don't strip screws inside of pocket holes. 2. Sand more than you think you need to, especially if you plan to paint. 3. Staining might be a faster way to go, 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint takes a lot of time if you want to avoid runs. I would say painting took twice or three times longer than the building! 4. I may avoid lumber from the big box stores from now on, or be much much more careful in picking it out, but I had a 3 year old running circles around me as I was picking it out, so I guess I can cut myself a little break.

Finally, price wise I would say I spent more than I thought I would at first. Lumber was more expensive than a lot of posters mentioned, which is strange, because I thought NC was supposed to have cheap wood. But just for the lumber, I would say I was at or a little over $100. I would say all together I spent between $150 and $200, but I added a good bit, and honestly, fabric isn't cheap either, and I bought about 9 yards all together. With that being said, I think this bed was well worth the investment. I couldn't have gotten something like this for anywhere near that price in a store.

Oh, and I built the entire thing completely alone as my husband was out of town when I got the bug to do this. It didn't come out perfect, but every project I do is an improvement from the last and it's for a kids room! As long as it is sturdy and safe, and it definitely is, and is still attractive, then that's all that matters. My daughter loves it!

So my husband and I bought a 60" flat screen and decided to mount it above our fireplace where a mirror had previously hung. Come to find out that with the age of our house, and chimney it was going to cost us almost as much as the TV itself did to have it professionally done. So we decided to build a new, much larger mantle over the existing one so that our TV, WII and DVD player had a home on the mantle as well.

We ran across several problems while designing this. 1. the next buyers may not want this huge mantle here to put their TV on and 2. because of the age of the house and lack of plug ins, how where we to hid all the cords.

The new mantle sits over the old and above it about 3". It is attached to the wall, with 3" boards attached underneath that simply sit atop the old mantle. The boards are in a serpentine fashion and not only hid the cords underneath, but also the power strip that everything plugs into. The TV not only sits on the new mantle but is also secured to the wall behind it. The front of the new mantle hides the space between and any cords. And we stained it to match the old. So unless you are very closely inspecting it, you wouldn't even know there are hidden cords or that it is not completely original.

Problem solved. If a new owner wants to revert back to the old mantle, all they need to do is remove the top, patch the holes and dust the original back to its former glory.

This build was the one that really got me into woodworking. I fell in love with this bed - and Ana White - as soon as i stumbled onto the plans online.

These were a lot more work than expected but turned out amazing! I used a drill + jigsaw for the center. To do the designs I printed the logos across 4 sheets of paper each, lined them up, then cut them out. Next, I covered the entire area on the boards I wanted to logo into painter's tape. Then I used my cutouts a a stencil and a box knife to out out the logo. Finally, I prepared for spray paint and spray painted the logos. Pulled the tape off and BAM. Finally a bunch of coats of polyurethane. Lights from Amazon.

Easy outdoor planter made from piece of scrap fencing.

I built these chairs last summer, they came out amazing! Everybody loves them! Thank you Ana. I also built the sofa for my sun room. Pictures to come.

Made this out of just 2 x 6 boards.  

This bed was built using Ana White’s Haily plan. I used 2X10’s in place of the 2X 8’s. I chose not to build the headboard.

In addition to my brag post regarding DVD stand (posted here: http://ana-white.com/2012/09/simpliest-shelf-stand) I would like to suggest you the project of TVset and other multimedia stand.

PS. Sorry, English is not my native language, but I hope you can understand my post. Blog link leads to russian language page.

Made a smaller version of the fire truck bed for our two boys. The youngest will move "downstairs" when he gets out of the crib. It was fun, but lots of work! It took me about 5 weeks of weekend/late evening work.

Thanks for the great plans and inspiration.

Executive office desk withmatching hutch. Hanging file drawers on the bottom and pull out paper trays included on the top drawers. Adjustable paper tray in the hutch. Custom gray washed finish

Made this patio set out of old lumber from a deck we replaced. I saved a lot of the 2x10 joists. I ripped them all into 2x4s, then had to sand off 25 years of grime. Built two chairs and a loveseat. Just added additional seat support for the loveseat. Then stained them. Very happy with how they turned out. Was nice to be and to repurpose that old wood.

I made a simple queen platform bed from the Hailey plan by omitting the term pieces. See more details at my blog post.

Our old kitchen table was a bargain buy from a nearby outlet store and while I hate to say it...you get what you pay for. This was my second project ever so I was pretty nervous about building a table. My first project was storage daybeds for my girls. They were a lot more forgiving than a table. This project took me approximately 2 weeks of working off and on but only because I'm a bit of a perfectionist and finishing it drove nuts. But it's finished and I am in love! The plans for the rustic table were modified to make a shorter version to fit out kitchen. The bench plans were kept the same but the pesky cross supports were omitted due to lack of functionality and difficulty of cutting angles. End length on tabletop is 6ft. That's the perfect size for the bench to fit under.

My daughters play kitchen, everything works... running water included!

Just finished this console table for my granddaughter the angels on the cross piece were quite challenging.

This was my very first real DIY build project - and I loved every second of it! Ana has made me an addict and now I can't wait to get started on another great project she has provided to us here on the blog.

These ledges were incredibly easy to assemble. I painted them using the trim finish in our home so it looks like that have been here all along - love that!

Thank you Ana for the inspiration!!!