Community Brag Posts

Ana Whites easy to follow plans. Lake house. Love the way it turned out!

We redid our master bathroom - we ripped out a soffit, a closet, the old vanity, and we ripped off the HORRID old wallpaper, put up 5' tall beadboard, designed our own trim, designed and built some heavy-duty floating shelves (see pic below) and decided we wanted an open-concept vanity, too. I fell in love with these rectangle porcelain white sinks and with all the white beadboard, and soon-to-be dark walnut stain hardwood floors in there, I thought the vanity should be dark brown stain too.

I used the farmhouse vanity plans to build the frame of the vanity, but i had to design the shelves on my own - I chose to do spa-style slatted shelves - they whole thing keeps the bathroom very open looking and not heavy and closed off. we LOVE it! :)

This was my first Farmhouse Table build. 8ft long with 2 benches. Distressed white with True Brown tops.

This was the first time I built something from scratch. I've done assembly required bookshelves and a doll-house, but never before had I cut my own wood and drilled my own screw holes, nor had I ever tried my hand at painting a piece of furniture. My husband's friend mentored me and got me going with the power saws, I used his shopsmith for a table saw, and I used the compound miter saw we own. Because this website is so user-friendly, I might have even tried to do this on my own, but it helped having someone much more experienced than I check in on me every now and then and give me some tips.

We are in a new house, so most of our walls are still white, but we did paint the family room a bright green, so I used leftover paint for the bench. I had to work on this in the evening after the kids were in bed so it took me about a week, working for about 1-2 hours a night. I found relaxing for the most part(except for where the newspaper underneath the bench started sticking to the painted legs).

I did not use furring strips even though they would have been cheaper, since my friend convinced me they would have required more sanding. The upgrade only cost a few extra dollars.

I needed a change. The freebie table that I used for folding laundry bugged me because the beat up legs of the table prevented any storing/stacking/using the space underneath it. The top of the table was always filled with baskets of clean clothes! I loved the tabletop and it fit the space perfectly so I decided to customize the laundry dresser to fit under the 2′x4′ tabletop. I wanted to fit a basket for each family member (5) and we always need one for linens.
I worked it out to use melamine boards to save on finishing (and match my other basement builds) and 2×2′s in a ‘U’ instead of a backing (kids were in the car so I couldn’t fit the big piece of backing!) I bought 2 2′x6′ shelves (cut one in half and one 3/4″ less than half) and 1 2′x4′ shelf and cut it to 43″. Then I just used a kreg jig to make the ‘E’ shape (the sides covered the rough edge of the bottom piece) and attach the tabletop. I also used the kreg jig to make the ‘U’ shapes to fit inside the 24″ space (long way) and 18″ space (short way). I thought about putting the back piece more forward so that the baskets the long way couldn’t slide all the way back, but decided to just make both sides the same. I pre-drilled and countersunk the screws to attach them to the sides (measuring and clamping over and over). Melamine is a little slippery to work with but it was nice to save time on the finishing end!
I have a fold down ironing board right next to the table which is just perfect!
P.S. I have a hanging drying rack in the background (the expanding ones didn’t work b/c the floor angles down to a drain) and a metal pipe behind the white curtain for hanging items.
Stand with the table at 36″ so you can fold without getting a backache, easily slide the baskets in and out to put away clothes as you fold them….and thank Ana for the way that she has transformed your home and feeling toward doing laundry!

First time building and I'm in love with it!
So happy with the finished product. Used 100 yr old barnwood and matte finish with varathane.

This by far has been my favorite build.  Our front room is in the process of being revamped, and this is just the beginning.  With our garage now dedicated to building, our cars have been kicked to the street.  This means we actually use the front door now, so I took full advantage of making a piece of furniture that would allow for all the various items that get dumped on the floor when we walk in.  

I love that everyone has a cubby and shelf for the shoes.  My kids actually hang their backpacks up now when we get home from school and my husband can find his keys, wallet and sunglasses now! 

This was one of the bigger projects I have tackled, but well worth it.  I don't think my husband would have ever allowed me to buy this at PB for over $1000

What a fantastic project!
Color of the stain - colony blue by Behr. Lightly distressed.
Now awaiting cushions!

Updates: cushions arrived!

This is modified from Ana's Simplest Armoire plan, re-sized to fit the door (already had this, from another project -- I couldn't part with it when that room was remodeled- that gallery glass insert took me so long to make) and deep enough to hang clothes.  Used my favorite new toy, the Kreg jig for this.

Such a fun project, now we're hooked!  We've made a bedroom full of pieces to go with this one, and still making more.

Ana, thanks for the inspiration!