Community Brag Posts

Solar Birdhouse

Submitted by mtairymd on Sun, 08/17/2014 - 13:40

Simple/Fun project

Build Instructions:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Birdhouse/

Video of the build:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU5ffvweSjQ

Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Stain
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Farmhouse side desk

Submitted by vprice on Mon, 08/17/2020 - 16:28

This is a modified farmhouse desk we built. It is 60” and it doesn’t have the crossbars on the backside. We put this to the side of my desk.

Loft bed for american girl or 18" doll

My niece wanted the purple AG loft bed for her doll. Since, the one online is $225 and back ordered until December...I came up with this one for free! I used scrap wood and fabric that I had left over from other projects. The bed has a built in desk top, shelves, cubbies, ladder, bulletin board, and coat hooks. It took me a couple of hours to build the bed and the chair and about an hour to sew the comforter and pillows. The painting took a little longer because I was out of purple spray paint! grrrrrrr!

Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Kilz primer first and then, I mixed a dark purple gloss with some white to get the lavender colored paint.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

spiceylg

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 18:49

This is amazing! What a great idea and build! You must share the plans....please?

spiceylg

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 18:49

This is amazing! What a great idea and build! You must share the plans....please?

Handy Man (not verified)

Thu, 11/08/2012 - 17:50

Do you have a time frame when you plan to post your plans? My daughter wants one of these for Christmas and was going to get started trying to reverse engineer based on photos. Then decided to check internet and found this! Would love to get plans do not care if scanned pieces of paper. Thank you!

Kendal Dresser

My cousin is having a baby boy and needed a dresser for the little guy. I made this for her as a shower present. I love that it was made to fit her needs and that it is made out of solid wood. Not at all like the cheaply made dressers costing much, much more in the retail stores.
The blog from Katie and John from Sew Woodsy was not only helpful but very cute. Kudos to Katie for attempting a large project while prego. It couldn't have been easy.
The only change I made other than the color was covering the space under the dresser. She didn't want to have to collect toys from underneath the dresser or clean dust.
The plans were awesome and I would recommend reading the blog from Sew Woodsy. Their comments were helpful and so were the pictures.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
300.00
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
ZAR Wood Stain in Moorish Teak and ZAR clear stain finish
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

DIY everything

Wed, 08/20/2014 - 20:49

My cousin likes dark stain but after I finished the dresser I became a fan of the color too. I'm thinking of making myself one since it went together so well.

dhendy13

Sat, 01/03/2015 - 19:38

Congrats, your piece is a beauty. Please, can you tell me what type of wood you used for the drawer fronts.
They seem so clear. AKA Knot Free. I have done a work up on material costs and have not come close to the estimated 300.00. So I was thinking that maybe you splurged on "Clear" Pine boards for the front facing elements. Thanks in advance for your answers.... Happy New Year!

tylerrencher

Tue, 01/06/2015 - 12:44

$300 is the number I'm coming up with for #2 or better S4S pine boards plus stain and clear coat. #2 graded pine is definitely not clear. I'd like to know what kind of wood you planning to use and where you are getting it because this is the cheapest I can find in the Pacific Northwest.

DIY everything

Sun, 07/12/2015 - 20:00

I've checked out Frost Hardwood and I love their products.  They have clear wood that they can mill down to size but it is very pricey.  I'm saving up for a really nice dresser but until then I'm gonna stick to the birch plywood at home depot and birch boards that I get from my local specialized lumber houses.  Thank you for your comment and I hope your turns out to your liking.  I think what really makes this dresser is the stain and finish I used.  That was recommended by a professional painter friend who does this kind of thing everyday.  The info for that is on my post. 

DIY everything

Sun, 07/12/2015 - 19:54

I'm so sorry I didn't know there were questions on this post.  The dresser did cost me a little over $300.00.  The whole thing was made out of birch which I got at a local lumber house that specializes in furniture grade wood.  This probably doesn't help you anymore since I'm sure you've already made your dresser. 

john2090073

Fri, 09/11/2015 - 09:59

This looks really nice. Could you please let me know what wood you used for the frame and the outside of the dresser? 

Built-In Bed with Trundle Drawers

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 12/06/2016 - 18:05

My oldest son's room is only 97 square feet. We needed to add the maximum amount of storage in the small, awkwardly-shaped room. My husband and I decided to make a built-in bed using a couple of stock cabinets to flank the bed. Using Ana White's plans, we made 3 rolling trundle drawers to go underneath. 

Estimated Cost
Cost for the trundle drawers, themselves, with the hardware was $14.00 per drawer. The total cost for the built-in bed, trundle drawers, and 2 cabinets that flank the bed was $480.
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Painted
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Outdoor Privacy Wall

I built this wall to give us a little privacy when our family wants to lay out and go swimming. Also, to hide our neighbor’s ugly fence! The length for all pieces are 8’ long for no cutting and the widths are 1x2, 1x6, 4x4 with 3/4” spacing and about 100 or so deck screws. I modified the pattern from a photo of a fence I seen on HomeDepots YouTube.

Estimated Cost
140
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Thompson Waterseal - Semi Transparent - Autumn Brown
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Entryway Cubby from Book

Submitted by DMax2010 on Sun, 11/04/2012 - 15:34

I have been wanting to build an entryway cubby for some time now and was excited to see these plans in the book! (Awesome job, by the way!). I modified the plans to fit my entryway space and also used all wood left over from other projects. I added the wood top too. Now I just have to figure out how to hang it!

I'm actually in the process of finishing the Apothecary media console so I used this project to test out the finish I was thinking about using.

Paint: Behr Premium Plus in Beluga, Flat finish
Wood stain: Minwax Dark Walnut, 2-3 coats (I did pre-condition the wood before staining)
Poly: Rustoleum Ultimate Soft Touch Matte

I love the Rustoleum soft touch poly-it dries so beautifully.
I did glaze the edges, too.

I'm planning to build the bench next and finally my entryway will be organized (hard with a 2 1/2 year old!)

Estimated Cost
Nothing, I used left over wood from other projects
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Paint: Behr in Beluga, flat
Stain: Minwax Dark Walnut
Poly: Rustoleum Soft Touch Ultimate in Matte
Used a glaze over the edges
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Ana-White's Modern Park Bench

I told my husband that I wanted to try a project since he was getting to have all the fun building around the farm. So we bought the materials and started this bench. It was so easy. The only things he helped me with were some of the measurements and to speed things along :) some of the cutting. The project took us about 2 days. I had some paint I was going to use on another project so I just used it. I have the bench under some trees by my grandkids' swing. Thank you Ana for all the plans you graciously share. I have made a point to visit your sponsors' websites and actually visit their stores when I am able. Go for it ladies. You can do it!!!

Estimated Cost
$72
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
We used Kilz first since I only had a pint of each color and I wanted to be sure I had enough. We still used 2 coats of each color. We bought the Valspar paint at Lowes which by the way, has the worst website ever.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Rustic X Console with a twist

Submitted by Rifka on Sat, 12/10/2016 - 17:23

I just love this plan of the rustic X Console.  You can create so meny versions from this one plan.

This one I made is 42" long, with two X in the back.  The finish, is vinger and steal wool with a dash of black tea.

Thank you, 

Rebecca

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$30.00
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Vinger and fine steal wool
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Outdoors Simple Modern Chair (dining size)

Submitted by Joella C on Sun, 08/23/2020 - 11:47

Finally the 3 rd piece made for the COVID-19 Birthday Celebration outdoors for my husband and his twin! “ all together but socially distant” I made the Oudoor Simple Modern Chair (dining size) for the ends of the 2 tables! Again...I’m a nurse never having touched Power tools, let alone knowing what they were called! Ana made it possible for me to create these to celebrate outdoors my husband and his twin for their birthday during a Pandemic!

Estimated Cost
$100 for 4
Finish Used
Matching deck stain and poly all in one Varathane Natural

Fancy X Desk

Submitted by Mdcary on Tue, 11/06/2012 - 11:57

easy project especially since I asked the guys at the hardware store to cut my pieces to length and I cut the angles with my new sliding compound miter saw. Since I reduced the length of the desk to 5 feet, the angles and length of the cross supports in the back changed drastically and had to be played with to get it right. I also added a hidden shelf between the 2 support 2X4's to hide all the cable for the computer. I just used scraps for the hidden shelf. Nothing more unattractive than a bunch a cords and cables hanging behind. Worked great and I should have taken pictures as the build was happening.

Estimated Cost
$75
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Callie_Grace

Thu, 11/08/2012 - 06:07

The desk looks wonderful! I am curious what color of paint and stain you used? I am wanting to build a coffee table and that is the combination of paint and stain I like!

Coffee Table

Submitted by naomi on Fri, 08/29/2014 - 03:06

My eldest son and his girlfriend just recently moved into their own home together and seeing as I like to build things I decided that as a house warming gift I would build them something.

I decided that a coffee table would be perfect!

I like the character in old timber instead of new timber so I went out and gathered some pallets and I got to work.

I wanted to use hairpin legs for the coffee table but soon discovered that they are crazy expensive to buy. Solution: make them myself. So I purchased a cheap welder, steel rods and some L brackets all to make the hairpin legs.

When staining the table top I used the same stain colour for the entire top but I used a extra coats to get different colour depths.

Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

naomi

Fri, 08/29/2014 - 07:34

Thank you. They do love it. The hairpin legs worked great and if I take out the cost of the welder the legs worked out really cheap - less than $30 for four legs.

Chunky Barnwood Farmhouse Table

Submitted by jgioulis on Wed, 12/14/2016 - 12:27

I was lucky enough to know someone who's property had 4 barns that were on the virge of falling over.

I removed wood from the barns I needed, some wood was just inside the barns. The thick pieces with holes going around the table were actually old telephone poles (horizontal section). 

 

The plans were straight forward, but prepping, cleaning, sanding the wood from an old barn was the most time consuming. Also hardly anything was straight or square! 

Estimated Cost
cost of tools I didn't have... pocket hold jig, belt sander, 36" clamps
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
unfinished
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Finally finished my 2x4 modern adirondack chairs!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 08/28/2020 - 07:52

I finally finished my DIY Modern Adirondack Chairs! Frame made with 2x4 cedar lumber and seat and backs with 1x10 pine planks. Stained with Benjamin Moore Aborcoat silver grey semi-transparent stain with a clear coat. Used a free diy plan by Ana White with some slight modifications to make the chair back higher. Cost was a bit higher than expected but lumber has gotten more expensive during the Covid time.
Thanks Ana for the design and the YouTube video. I watched it at least 20 times!

Estimated Cost
About $100/chair
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Benjamin Moore Arborcoat Silver-Grey semi-transparent again, Arborcoat Clearcoat
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner
Seasonal And Holiday

Potting Bench for Every Season

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 09/24/2024 - 09:07

I wanted something with more height and room for decorating in addition to space for actually using it as a potting bench. I looked for ready-made online but nothing was exactly what I was looking for. I knew it was something we could build so I searched for free plans online. I love it because it has plenty of room for potting plants but also lots of space for decorating for the seasons and holidays. itsme_christyb

Built from Plan(s)
Seasonal And Holiday

Dresser Makeover

Submitted by kyalamode on Mon, 11/12/2012 - 07:33

I bought an unfinished dresser from a local furniture refinisher - on clearance. It was intended as a changing table as I was preparing the nursery for our first child (about 5 1/2 year ago). Finally, 5 years and another baby (who is now 3) later, I finally decided to do something with it. So, please note that I did NOT build this piece from scratch. Rather, it was more a finishing project. It was unfinished pine. I failed to capture the "before" photo. Inspired by the Farmhouse Console and the Antique White project, I decided to tackle a distressed look.

I sanded between each coat, and focused on areas that would naturally be worn. The end result was essentially some areas of bare wood showing through, and other areas where the base color shows through.

I don't remember where the baskets came from, but they fit perfectly and the red-checkered pattern matched nicely. It turned out to be such a cute addition to my daughter's room, and I think it will be a piece that will grow with her.

Estimated Cost
$50
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Materials:
Sandpaper in 60, 120 and 320
Behr enamal paint (in Buttercup and Antique Red)
Behr Glaze (not necessary)
Minwax Finishing Wax paste
small paint roller
small paint brush
cotton rags (which I made from old 100% cotton t-shirts)


I sanded... and sanded... and sanded. I have a little handheld Porter Cable sander that works brilliantly, except that it doesn't get into the little cracks and crevices, so I did that by hand. I started with 60 grain, then 120.

I painted 2 coats of Behr interior flat enamel in Buttercup, sanding with 120 in between coats, sanding through to bare wood where it would naturally be worn. Here is where it got interesting and frustrating. When I originally purchased paint, the very nice gentleman at the paint counter asked me what I was doing. I explained that I was doing a faux distressed finish on a dresser. I ordered a pint of the red paint, and he then explained to me that I should go with the Behr glaze. So, he gave me the glaze and that little sample of the red to mix into the glaze.

Glaze fail. I actually liked the look, but it was so not the look I was going for. Nevermind the fact that the glaze dries very quickly and soon became a sticky mess.

So, I left the project for about a week to ensure that the glaze was completely dry.

Then, I sanded with 60 and 120 again. The intention wasn't to get the glaze off, but rather treat it like a base coat. I then painted the entire piece with the red (no glaze). Then sanded with 120 in areas that would naturally be worn. The end result was essentially some areas of bare wood showing through, and other areas where the buttercup color shows through.

I sanded one final time with the 320 grain. I then used 2 coats of Minwax wax, resulting in a very silky, shiny finish. (It seriously is SO soft to the touch!)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Linda7

Mon, 11/12/2012 - 11:06

I'm very impressed with your recycled changing table--beautiful finish on a piece that will indeed grow with your daughter. The piece itself reminded me of the recycling console (pp. 86-91) in Ana's new book. Your finish would look awesome on that plan, too.

Upcycled Dresser

Submitted by naomi on Sat, 08/30/2014 - 04:18

After building my farmhouse bed and 2 new bedside table I still had my very ugly and old dresser.
It functioned really well so instead of building a new one I decided to up-cycle the old one.

I simply framed it up with some pine, painted it white, added pallet wood to the top, stained the pallet wood walnut, then added some fancy handles and now it's like a whole new dresser.

Thanks to Ana-White's website and book I have a whole new set of skills and I am not scared to give just about anything a go.

Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Walnut and White Enamel
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

In reply to by CSaintD

naomi

Sun, 08/31/2014 - 00:58

You're right, I had a ball doing this mainly because I was winging it the whole time.
This dresser was actually a hand me down when I got it about 15 years ago. I don't see the point in throwing out something that is still useful.

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