Community Brag Posts

This was my first finished project using plans from Ana's site, and I am very pleased with the finished product. Every aspect of the finished sideboard is based on something from the site. I started with the plans for the Planked Wood Sideboard, and made no modifications as the dimensions were perfect for our basement family room. I decided to inset the back (http://www.friendly-home.net/2012/02/gigantic-rustic-sideboard.html) as Ana explained that Hillary had done, and love the final result. This will allow us to use this to potentially divide a room in an open concept space at some point in the future.

For the finishing process, I decided to follow the "Rustic Yet Refined" finish tutorial highlighted on both the Ana-White site (http://ana-white.com/2013/08/rustic-yet-refined-wood-finish) and Jen Woodhouse House of Wood (http://jenwoodhouse.com/blog/2013/06/07/diy-dining-table/). I fully intended to complete the 9 step process, but found that after we applied the Minwax pre-stain wood conditioner, followed by Minwax special walnut stain and wiped it off within 15-30 seconds, the finish mirrored the restoration hardware finish that we were going for. We decided not to proceed with layering on the weathered oak or applying the whitewash, and went straight to the spar urethane satin coats.

Overall, the project was a success, but was difficult to finish during the Minnesota winter as it was unbelievably cold and was forced to complete the finishing process in our basement/laundry room, which extended the length of the project. I am very excited to begin building other pieces from Ana's plans.

We are trying to tidy up our laundry/mud room and needed a place for the recyclables. I ran across Ana's plans for these pull out cabinets and raised panel doors, adjusted the measurements to fit our space, and had at it! It's kind of a tight fit in that room but these seem to help with the clutter. I also added that little table on top for folding laundry.

Chicken coop I made to look like a little red barn complete with a working barn door. We have seven girls and they love their lovely barn home.

This is a smaller version of the easiest chalkboard shelf. We needed a smaller shelf to fit between the garage door and coat closet so this was it. It was also my first time using my Kreg Jig, which I love. Such a simple little project but I am excited.

After seeing the plans for the Factory Cart Coffee Table on this site, I decided I should build one. I didn't actually follow the plans exactly...really just used them as "inspiration". I went with 5" swivel casters and 8" fixed casters, and the stain is Minwax hickory poly that has been sanded back a bit. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Now on to the next project !

Very easy to read instructions... Excellent swing. You can build and stain in one evening. Love it.

Barn door console I turned into a coffee bar. Great storage space. Love the way it turned out.

Dee

My son needed organization and of course instead of buying something I thought I could build one. I've been eyeballing Ana's site and found this project. This is my very first one. I only had a manual mitre saw so it took a long time to cut all the pieces but it did get done and in the process my hubby bought me a mitre saw! It wasn't hard to put together but the instructions are very detailed. As u can see from the photo, my little man helped me with it!

We decided to build this a bit bigger and taller. I will caution you to be careful as we came inches to not making it through our doorways. We expanded the depth 15" to make it a full bed and we extended the length of the legs to allow for 48" clearance underneath.

We also went with a rock wall instead of a ladder. I 1st built the angle too steep; recommend at least a 30 degree angle on a wall. Kid's love it; mom not so much when attempting to make the bed! :)

We went with military theme - green rope lights, camo netting for a roof, and sandbags filled with old clothes from my high school years for a bunker underneath.

Great project! Thanks for the idea!

Our house walls are still pretty bare, we wanted some artwork.  We bought an old door at a flea marker last summer and decided to turn it into a large picture frame.

More details and photos on my blog:

http://www.woodworkingfourdummies.com/blog/door-picture-frame

Cheers,

Ian

I have built several furniture pieces in my home several coming from you.

I have done quite a bit of wood working never being great at any of them . But I truly love furniture building.

Built this for our Daughters 4th birthday. Both our girls love it! If we had not painted it with outdoor paint we would have been done in a few hours. It took awhile for the paint to dry and we did multiple coats.

I needed a better way to store my fire wood. The rack that we had only held enough wood for to load the fire place and add 2 or 3 as needed before the wood was gone. I wanted something that I could hold more wood.

I was looking online at different racks and came across something that looked like a bookcase with no shelves filled with wood. I then looked at where I had my wood and saw that I had a nook to put something like that in. The photo of the shelves with only a little wood is all the wood that was in the metal holder. I had a lot of space left.

After looking at various store for bookcases and shelving, hoping in vain that I could find something cheep that would fit the size I needed, I came to see what plans I could use from Ana's site. I looked at the cube tower and the locker cabinet and finally used the pdf from the locker cab resized to fit my needs.

My wife remembered seeing something about banding on here,( http://ana-white.com/2013/11/momplex/finishing-plywood-edges-edge-bandi… ) So we found some white to match the wood. I think the banding turned out good.

I did have a hard time getting the drill in to the pocket holes for the second side of shelf. I started to look on line and found 3" bits at Lowes and HD, but it was 10:30 at night. After looking some more I found a great post on Kreg's site for using a ratchet with a 1/4" socket to hold the bit. http://kregjig.ning.com/photo/ratchetasrtangledriver-1?context=user

My wife also said I should add one more shelf for keeping the wood stable. I told her that I would be fine. Now that I have filled it up all the way I think another shelf would be good to keep the wood rotated. Have one stack of room temp wood, and one of just from outside trying to warm up. So she was right that I should put in another shelf. ;)

I think it has opened the space by the fire place and should help my daughter not to stub her toes like she did with the rack.

The wood was $30 and HD cut if for no charge. It only took one sheet. The banding was around $5 and I had to buy some more Kreg screws.

The Size is 12 1/2"W 18"D and 79" high.

The blue bag under the shelving is an Ikea bag. It is just the right size and strength to carry the wood in.
Mike

A friend who has a photog service on the side said she needed a bench for group photos. Selected this modern farm bench and it has been a great hit. I did not make any changes in the design. Took a day and about $20 in lumber. Sorry for the photo clarity or lack thereof, I have several orders from her family members but I need to get on with my projects.

This is my first project and I've spent a couple of months preparing for it. My wife loved the plans for this bed and I loved the challenge. I reviewed the plans for both the king and queen size beds and read through all of the comments before starting. The comments were especially helpful, so thanks to everyone for contributing. I took my time with project hoping to minimize beginner mistakes. We recently upgraded to a king sized mattress and already had a bed frame (we highly recommend this one)

So I adjusted the plans for making just the headboard and footboard along with the runners. I omitted the 1x3 boards to account for orienting our king bed so that it is 76" wide and 80" long. Initially, I made the mistake of thinking that 1x6 boards would be adequate for runners. But that wouldn't withstand the constant onslaught of our kids climbing into our bed, so I switched to 2x6 boards and it's much sturdier. I cut the runners 3" longer than the bed frame to allow for room for the bedding and to account for the 1" overlap from the 2x6 cap on the footboard. L brackets were perfect for attaching them to the headboard and footboard. Now that this is under my belt I'm looking forward to my next project.