Community Brag Posts

This was quite a straightforward project. I added a shelf along the bottom and a small overhang with scrap boards. Both add a lot in terms of play, especially because I screwed little hooks into the overhang which my son loves to hang things on. This toy workbench can be a lot of things - fun for tools, nature play, art, an outdoor kitchen, or so many other options.

Made this table as a Christmas present for my wife. I modified a few details like the legs because I was able to use some old timbers from her dads farm. And for the apron, I just ripped a 2x6 in half. First time I've used plans from this site, thanks so much for making them available. -Matt M

Built this for my wife for our anniversary. Plans for the table was easy to follow. Used poplar for the table top. I copied the chairs from our large dining room table that we purchased so the two sets would match. I’m an Ana White follower looking forward using more plans. I used a jig saw to cut the circular table top instead of the skill saw using a fence.

I still can't believe my husband and I built this. We have never built anything before. well unless assembling cheapo furniture from a box counts! It was scary at first but nothing you can't do trust me. It is not perfect but it looks awesome I think. It's about 2 inches too wide on each side of the mattress, not sure why but you can't really tell. I am super happy with it! Thank you so much Ana for this website!!

I took this and modified slightly. My wife wanted it a little lower since our room is smaller. I took the original plan then just drew out a rough sketch with the dimensions I wanted. I modified the cut list accordingly. I prepped all the wood for cutting and had all wood cut and headboard assembled in just over 4 hours. The finishing of puttying and sanding, puttying and sanding, puttying and sanding, then painting and painting and painting took about 2 weeks due to weather and other time constraints. But the patience paid off and we have a nice looking headboard. We had no scraps so the cost for us was about $150. Already have had friends ask how much to make one for them.

This table was made with already turned legs purchased at HD, one 4 x 8 sheet of oak plywood cut into two 4 x 4 sheets, pine for the cooler supports and edged with 1 x 3 oak routed with an ogee detail. Table supports were attached to the legs using pocket holes. Legs and supports were attached to the table bottom using pocket holes. The opening for the cooler was cut by plunging a circular saw from the top.

My daughter, like most other 2 & 3 year olds, love playing dress up. Over time we have collected a large selection of princess dresses and various other dress up clothes. Where do you put this stuff? My wife went to Pinterest for ideas. She came to me asking if I could make her a closet. A closet, what? She then showed me a picture. I said "that looks like a box. I can do better." the idea of repurposing a dresser sounded like a much better and time saving idea. So I set off to the second hand stores in search of a sterdy, decorative, not too expensive dresser.

Once the dresser had been procurred ($30 at Goodwill) and transported home, the project began. I first removed all but the bottom drawer and drawer supports. Next I removed the hardware from the remaining drawer and deglossed the entire dresser and drawer. Once deglossed, I put down a single coat of white primer. The next day I came back and put down two coats of paint. The outside I used a cream color to match the playroom where it would be housed. On the inside of the dresser I painted it bright Pink; Bear Paint calls this color "sexy Pink". We'll call it bright pink since its for my 3 year old.

After two coats of paint the project was pretty much complete. Then I had the bright idea to add lights. I went to the hardware store looking for under cabinet lighting. I was unimpressed with the lighting options and price points. To Amazon.com I go. I found 16 feet of LED Strip lighting for $4 and a power supply for a couple extra bucks. The lights came with a remote control. When UPS delivered the package of lights I couldnt wait to install them. This was going to put the closet over the top. I cut the strip to the size I needed and installed using the provided 3M tape. It could not have been easier to install. I was able to cut the strip into the size strips I needed (64 inches total).

The final product with the lights on can be found on my youtube page:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE1soeC2OaE

My daughter was THRILLED! She loves using the remote to turn the lights on and off as well as changing the colors of the lights.

This project was super easy!

Made exactly to the plans with the exception of the middle 2x4 between the legs. I used 1/2" threaded rod, some steel rings welded to the rod, and a double sided clevis to make the connection in the middle. 

Changed it up to use less 2x4's for the seat and a few others. Grey stain from Dutch Boy turned out great.

I made modified the plans to make the bed a full instead of a twin. This was a little tricky, because the full bed is bigger then a 4x8 sheet of plywood. If you are interested I can get pics of the extra support I had to build to suport the plywood seem. I also used redoak, which is why it cost so much. The extra money was well worth the cost when you use the finish. The headboard I used is from my wifes great grandmas' house in Southern Louisiana. It is 125 year old cypres storm shutter.

I really wanted to have a raised bed garden to grow organic veggies for my family but was so discouraged by the cost of ready-made planters that I almost gave up. While searching for options on Pinterest I came across these fabulous, affordable and untreated wood planters and after a trip to the home store, we built 10 according to the plans. I couldn't be happier with the results; thank you Ana!

Finally having a house meant that we could finally have family over for holidays, parties, etc. The problem was that we didn't have a table large enough to accommodate more than 4 people comfortably. When I saw the plans on here, I knew it would be the perfect fit for our home which is turning out to be a little bit rustic, a little industrial and very eclectic. While my dad has done some woodworking projects, they have mostly been easy shelves or home construction, nothing like this project. We built the table and built the matching 8ft bench out of approx. $95 of construction pine lumber. We changed the table lumbar from 4-2x10s to 8-2x6s (cut down to 5" width for cleaner edges). My dad did most the construction and I completed the finish. I sanded to 220 grit. We used SamaN Water-based stain in Black (I love that stuff, so easy to use and re-wets so I didn't have any lap marks, although it did wipe off some when I applied the poly) and ZAR Ultra Max waterborne oil-modified polyurethane. The grain raised even more after I laid on the poly. I love how the pine created a reverse grain and has such great texture. We made some modifications, one being that we did not attach the table top to the base. Instead, we added some wood to the bottom of the table to brace against the brace and legs. The table top is so heavy that is never moves and will make it easy to move since together, the table and brace are too heavy for 2 people to lift. Some of the things we learned: always double check the measurements (the base braces were about 1.5" to tall), if at all possible, create a jig to keep the leg pieces square, be careful assembling the base (we cracked one of the braces), and let poly cure for at least 24 hrs even if none of the literature mentions it. If we had the equipment, we would have loved to use a planer and a joiner, but even so, I think it came out awesome. It only took 40 years, but I think that our first father-daughter woodworking project has been a great success. Can't wait to work on our next project!! Thanks Ana-White & Shanty 2 Chic for some great plans!

Modified the simple outdoor chair plans and made it into a loveseat.

Mike T.

This bed was built completely out of necessity. Our old 30 year old bed (including mattress) had given me my last backache. A new bed and mattress set was too expensive so I decided to build the bed and spend the saved money on a mid class mattress. So glad I did! What I built seems waaaay better than what we could have afforded. And it only took me a long weekend plus a few days waiting for stain and polyurethane to dry. Plus the return trips to HD to purchase new lumber after making wrong cuts and the cheap furring strip I bought at first continuously split on me.o t

I wanted the box spring to fit inside of the frame as much as possible. I realized the farm house queen bed plan plus the platform bed plan that I was using did not do that a bit late. By then I had already glued and screwed on the side rails. So I just flipped the frame around and decided to go with that side. Later I realized that the inside width of the bed was 57!! (60 - 3 for the frame) so I needed to return to the store to get new wood for the frame since what I cut already was 3 inches too short. My already built headboard and foot board also would not fit like the plan suggested so I needed to improvise. What you see is mainly my improvisations as a result of many, many mistakes.

My bed has two sets of legs. I did not trust the headboard and footboard legs as I could not attach them as described so I added a set to the frame itself. I also made the upholstery so that I could easily change it by unscrewing it from the head and footboards.

Changed the scale of the front panel and the window trim slightly.  Added window boxes for a drink, toys and book storage.