Community Brag Posts

Smaller Dog Crate with a drawer!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 01/06/2016 - 12:28

You may remember my green stratton day beds that I built a long time ago- finally I have another project to post- I am soo happy I found Ana White's website. We just got back from a 2.5 week vacation in Israel and my dogs were staying with my sister. She told me they had been sleeping in the same kennel together instead of separately. Their kennels are too small so I decided to build them one using wood I already had. But since they are small dogs, I decided to size it down- but I wanted it end table height- so I built a smaller kennel- 20"H x 19"W x 28"D. but... I added a drawer to the top to bring it to the right height. You can read all about it on my blog- link below.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
provincial wood stain.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Console Bookshelf

Submitted by jlamorey on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 12:10

A bookshelf to help with the everyday clutter in our kitchen.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$50
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Used MinWax Ebony stain and rub on poly
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Claudia

Sat, 11/05/2011 - 12:07

Glad to see someone build this plan--have been considering it, but wanted to see a finished photo. Thanks!

wpaul

Sun, 05/26/2013 - 11:04

The plan shows a total width of 39" but that's a bit too much for me (I'm mostly just wanting to store reference books next to my desk and don't need that much space). I like the proportions on your build, can you say how wide it is? (I'm assuming it's not 39", unless you have some massive countertops!)

Thanks.

Fillman Toddler Bed

Submitted by brogers67 on Thu, 10/24/2013 - 01:37

First build and totally happy with result . The excitement and smiles of our 18 months old grand-daughter was worth every effort !

Estimated Cost
$20 Aud
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Acrylic White Gloss
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Comments

JoanneS

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 13:20

Love this bed! What a super cute room for your grand-daughter! Looks totally professional, would never guess this is a first build -- Great job!

DIY Star Wars TIE Fighter Bookshelf

To bring a bit of order to my son's growing book collection, I built him a TIE fighter bookshelf. (By him I mean me, because he doesn't really care about TIE fighters. Chewbacca? Yes.) I was able to make use of some scrap lumber I already owned. Paint was the only item I purchased for the project.

Estimated Cost
$7. The only item I needed to purchase was the paint.
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Gray and Black satin paint
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Farmhouse dining table

Submitted by StevenP on Thu, 05/02/2019 - 11:08

My Wife has been after me to build her table. I am not an expert builder and finally gave in. I think it turned out great!!!!

Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
stain and clear coat
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Rustic open bathroom vanity

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 03/01/2023 - 13:22

The plumbing underneath was a bit wonky, so we needed something that was open on the side against the wall and could be built in place around the plumbing. Added a few shelves to hide said plumbing.

Comments

Entryway Locker System

I fell head over heals in love with Ana's Smiling Mudroom Project... but alas I have no mudroom in my home and no available closet to transform. *Sad Face* I do however have exactly the depth of a 1x10 between my front door and entryway wall. *Happy Face*

I modified her plans to fit a more narrow profile... (much more narrow) and also shortened it to about half the width.
I couldn't be happier with the finished product and I'm happy to share the modified plans with any of you who also lack a mudroom or any sort of entryway organization whatsoever!

Modified Mudroom Plans for an Entryway Locker System can be found here! Yay

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$40
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Zinc by Martha Stewart for Home Depot in Eggshell
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

margjack

Mon, 11/14/2011 - 05:37

It looks amazing! I love the shelves on the bottom for the smaller baskets. I'm still working up the courage to build this one!

Super Storage TV Wall

Submitted by jgettings on Sat, 10/26/2013 - 14:10

This took me about a year to complete, start to finish, but there was a lot of downtime. I started by running the wires through the wall and taking the opportunity to add a ground to the outlet on this wall.

The bottom cabinets are from Ana's kitchen cabinet base plans, but they are a little shorter, shallower and do not have a toekick cut out. My hope is that this will serve as good practice to do an entire kitchen!! I built these based on my modified plans, pulled back the carpet (there is hardwood under them that I intend to expose at some point), popped off the baseboard, and installed these as if they were kitchen cabinets. The top is 6 pieces of whitewood 1x12's "Kregged" together - I wish I had used plywood but an entire piece would still not be long enough, so that was awkward either way. There is a simple piece of molding under the edge of the "countertop". At that point, not much got done all summer and we just had base cabinets with no uppers and no doors.

More recently, I finally got more time to work on this and created the upper shelves. I just kinda winged these. A whole bunch of 1x12's, I cut 4 the height of what I needed (about 5', from the countertop to the ceiling) and I made a bunch of shelves cut to size. I wound up making more shelves than we needed, but I put shelf pin holes in the vertical pieces so all of the upper shelves are adjustable! I used a kreg shelf pin jig and it worked great. The middle shelf above the TV was cut and added after everything else since I knew it would've been more difficult to calculate the length than to just measure after everything was in. I added some molding to cover up some things that didn't quite line up perfectly and to beef up the vertical pieces (1x2's make 'em look a little wider and cover the edges of the shelves). We finally have storage for all of the cd's and dvd's!!

I was a little nervous to do the doors, but the post for how to do doors came out at a perfect time. Turns out the hardware I bought way at the beginning was pretty cool and let you adjust up/down, distance from the cabinet, and left/right a few mm each way just by turning a screw. I'm glad I went with the fancy self-close-soft-close ones! I'm also in love with the handles I found.

I had some issues with the drawers and they don't slide perfectly, I think it's mostly a squareness issue. I'm planning on getting the kreg drawer jigs before I do the kitchen. I got the fancy soft close ones to see how they'd work to see if I want to use them in the kitchen, if I can't do a better job then I might opt for the cheaper ones!

I have intentions of adding crown molding to this room and that will go across the front of this when I do. I added a 1x4 across the top that can act as a base when we finally get around to that.

Estimated Cost
800
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Lots and lots of white paint. I wound up using a spray enamel for the upper shelves in attempt to make them less sticky after finding out that latex paint doesn't really work well for shelves. I've also learned that the paint with the primer in it is my new favorite type of paint.
Recommended Skill Level
Advanced

Comments

Clubhouse Bed Build

Submitted by Mrthe2th on Sun, 01/10/2016 - 00:03

I originally got the idea to build a bed for my son when I needed to get something new for him and went looking online for beds for sale on Craigslist. I found a bed that looked like a barn and that made me search for plans to build one since why overpay for something you can build yourself?! I found Ana’s plan and knew immediately it was the one. I started at Thanksgiving and had it finished for Christmas. I can’t thank Ana and Jamie from That’s My Letter enough for such great plans. They were so detailed but easy to follow. I do all my own rehab work on my house and I am a weekend warrior carpenter so this was a really fun build. My son is about to turn 5 and is a huge Star Wars fan and so am I. I knew this had to be my theme so I bought him a bunch of stickers and a sign (couldn't help myself on this one, had to do the Jedi like my father sign) to decorate the bed on Christmas day. He was excited to get the stickers but he didn’t know I built this for him. I hid it in the garage the whole time and he never found out. So when we went to his room to see if for the first time he went nuts. My 2 year old daughter loved it too and they play in it together all the time. I had a few issues during the build with some measurements but was able to make it work. In the end I love it and so do the kids, especially my son! The window grilles take it to another level so I recommend them if you build this. I even sanded a lot of the edges around the windows and in the doorway to give it a more “weathered” look. I already have my next project chosen from Ana’s plans. I will hopefully be posting the results of the X desk build in the near future. Thank you Ana for all the plans, I will most definitely be showing this off and giving you credit every time. Chris

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
Not sure, haven't done the math yet. Probably in the neighborhood of $400-$500 but I acquired some new tools too.
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Thanks to nleonard85 for the idea to use Minwax Early American. Applied with a brush and rag. St. Louis Cardinal Red for the window grilles
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Rustic Farm Potting Bench

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 03/10/2023 - 06:24

I built this 10’ long potting bench to fit into a 12’ barn stall. It fills the need to have a work surface plus room for storage on top and underneath. The hooks provide a place to hang my many hand tools and my Bluetooth speaker.

Built from Plan(s)

Comments

Wood Tilt-Out Trash Bins

Submitted by kendaves on Mon, 11/21/2011 - 15:38

These two trash bins were very easy and fun to make. Plans were very easy to use and made the project very easy to build.

Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
No finish yet.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

spiceylg

Tue, 11/22/2011 - 07:26

This came out really beautiful! I'm thinking of building two like this for our hampers which we keep in our bedroom. We really don't have another place to put them and this is so much nicer looking! Of course, I'd have to modify it so the clothes can breathe. Certainly worth looking into...

Melissa G (not verified)

Fri, 02/24/2012 - 08:31

Seeing these 2 sitting side by side gave me an idea for our trash & recyclables. My husband & I want to make one of these for our trash, but now I am thinking it would reduce the clutter from the recyclables. Thanks for posting. They look great!

Jeff Giuliani (not verified)

Sat, 12/15/2012 - 10:54

This was a great project. Very easy to follow...until I got to the door. There are no instructions for the door and no link to a video. Now I have to try and "wing it" which I think is going to make my trash bin, which is a christmas present for my wife, look like trash. I only have this weekend to do this but maybe someone else will be saved by adding the directions for the door. otherwise, thanks for the great step by step.

murph447

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 13:31

The bins look great!  When you installed the beadboard did you just simply fasten it to the back of your door frame or did you cut grooves in your frame (on a table saw) and insert the beadboard?

Rustic X coffee table

I love this site. We needed new furniture in are house and didn't want to spend a bunch of money. Finding the Rustic x plans was a life saver.

Estimated Cost
$100
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
White paint and kona stain.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Play Kitchen

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 01/13/2016 - 13:35

I made this set for my grandchild!  Love the plans!  I modified the stove to include a range-top microwave, and included doors for the kitchen sink.

Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Dark gray, black, and white paint.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

My First DIY Farmhouse Table

Submitted by gablack83 on Fri, 05/24/2019 - 06:36

This is my first (but not last) large DIY project. My wife wanted a farmhouse style table but not the price that went with it. So while she took the LO out of town, I surprised her with this and she loved it. It's not as hard as it seem, but as a beginner, a lesson that I learned was to always cut the boards yourself to make sure the measurements are correct. Don't let a big brand named store cut your wood because, well, just because. I had to recut a few boards myself because of their lack of correct measuring. Other than that, this was fun.

Estimated Cost
$70 for wood
$100 for tools
$30 for paint and polyurethane
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Mantle

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 03/17/2023 - 14:14

The second one was before. It was the very first project I ever did all by myself. It only took me a couple of months to get the nerve to go to the store and buy everything. Then I cut and did everything on my own. 😬 I am so stinkin proud of myself.

Comments

I love my new bed! Thanks Ana!

Submitted by elisabet3 on Wed, 11/30/2011 - 19:38

While doing some renovations on our house we gave our kids the largest bedrooms while my husband and I took the smallest. We desperately needed extra storage in the Master bedroom since not even a dresser would fit. The Queen Sized Storage Bed plans were the perfect solution and the bed looks gorgeous! More details on my blog...

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$350
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Recommended Skill Level
Advanced

Comments

engineer2mommaof2

Fri, 12/02/2011 - 08:26

WOW, we've been trying to find the time to complete these same plans and seeing your results make me want to put it on the top of our list. Your bed is BEAUTIFUL!!!!

But the hanging lights next to your bed and your flooring also add to the beauty. Would you mind sharing where you got these two items? Thanks!

elisabet3

Fri, 12/02/2011 - 13:28

engineer2mommaof2: Thanks for your kind words about our bed. We love it too! The lights are mercury glass pendants from Pottery Barn. Our hardwood floors are red oak that were original to our home (built in 1939). A couple months ago we sanded them down and stained them a dark walnut. The dark color is gorgeous...but pretty hard to keep clean with young kids around since they show every speck of dirt. Good luck on making your bed. Go for it! You won't regret it!

Blue Stain Pine Farmhouse Storage Bed

Submitted by martint on Thu, 10/31/2013 - 13:11

This project was inspired and guided by the plans for the

Farmhouse Storage Bed with Hinged Footboard by birdsandsoap.

The most visible parts, head and foot board, are made of beetle-killed blue stain Lodgepole pine, locally sourced and milled.

The boxes are made of 3/4" maple plywood and rest on a frame of 1 by 2's. I am still working on the 6 drawers, which will have blue stain pine fronts as well.

The bed slats between the boxes are stapled to webbing and the first and last slat are held by dowels drilled into the supporting rails to prevent the slats from sliding around.

Knock-down design - by removing the few (non-loadbearing) screws that fasten the head/foot boards to the boxes, the bed can be disassembled into manageable/movable components.

Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
AFM Safecoat PolyureSeal BP - Satin
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Plant Stand or Side Table

Submitted by mtairymd on Sun, 01/17/2016 - 11:08

This project was made with two 2x4s and two solid wood round discs. Although it’s hard to see in the photos, the pillar has a unique shape due to the v-notched 2x4s. This design is very sturdy and should hold about anything you would like to place on it.  See Link for full build Instructions:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Side-Table-or-Plant-Stand-Made-From-2x4…

Estimated Cost
$20
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Stain
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner