Community Brag Posts

Decided to use your plans and build an entertainment center for the house. I did however change a couple of things, like it is a little smaller and I used weathered wood for the sides and front, along with deciding on not using the doors. After building this project ...I Loved it !  In fact loved it so much , I built a matching end table.  Thank you so much for the plans and ideas.

DIY Home Closet Upgrade

I built this custom desk for a customer's 6 year old son. I started with the Modular Office Small Desktop. I had to make changes to the plans because I was using 3", posts, 1.5" solid wood top and the entire desk was made out reclaimed lumber. I also added a cross beam on the bottom to make it more secure. Once we settled on the basic idea my customer said if I found something unique to go ahead with it. They were thinking a cool piece of wood or something like that, however when I found an old boat instrument panel at the used furniture shop where my wife and sell furniture I had to have it. I then pulled all gauges from the panel and installed them in a wood "back splash". I rewired the gauges to work on 120V power so one switch will turn on the gauge lights and the other will make some of the gauge neddles jump.

We just built our first set of Adirondack chairs and after sharing with our friends, we have sold a few. We are now building other stuff too!

The only change I did to the original plan is place the 1x3 on the top in the back. Makes it look more stout and clean finish.

We painted it 3 times with a nice red and bought some great cushions at a good price.

This workbench was fairly easy to make and I was able to do it by myself. The hardest part was attaching the supports to hold the two sides together without an extra set of hands but I figured it out. I made another shelf to sit on the bottom so I'd have a space to put smaller stained/painted projects to dry. I love this table, it's exactly what I needed. Supplies were purchased at Home Depot for about $50.

I took one of Ana White’s Adirondack chairs, and made some changes to the back part of it and then turn it into a two seater console chair with ice chest in the center

Norman R

I like building things for others, especially when it's something that they can't find anywhere else. In this case, my friend has lived in her home for 20 years and never could find a storage piece to fit in this niche in their bedroom. When she asked if I could build something I was ready to try!

Because the dresser is 83" tall, 14 inches deep, and 33 inches wide, I didn't use one of Ana's plans. But, the Madison Dresser could be used as a jumping off point.

My friend is thrilled with this, and I hope they can use it for many years to come.

Reclaimed wood nightstand

I built these for my son's new home. The bench seats lift up for storage. I was rushed to get them done for the housewarming/adoption party. There are things I would do better if I did another set. 

Hi Ana,
thank you for all you inspiring build plans
I have build a few of your 2x4 out door furniture plan
2x4 outdoor sofa
2x4 one arm outdoor sofa
2x4 outdoor side table
2 pcs of the essential outdoor chair for deep seat cushion.

Johan Janssen from the Netherlands

This is my most ambitious build so far. I wanted to make a really nice piece of furniture and I needed a bed so this is it. I wanted drawers and I wanted to make an upholstery headboard so I this is what I came up with. The headboard was so simple and took only a day. I searched youtube and found a video walking you through the process and was surprised at how easy it was. I built the bed with oak but I would do it differently next time. As it turns out I don't like the grain of oak and its so porous that I spent A LOT of time on the finishing part. I used wood grain filler to take away the porousness and used a series of stains and glazes to get the finished look I wanted. All in all I'm happy with the result but I think I could do it better next time.

My very first time building a piece of furniture! Thank you so much Ana White for the plans, I have so much more confidence moving forward and building more!

My husband and I are horrible when it comes to folding, so I made a total of 4 of these 5 high for our closet and they are amazing!!

Our youngest was done with his little boy bed and so we decided we should make him a bed - he picked the clubhouse bed and we went to work. This was a fun build - I used the "Kreg" Jig for just about everything. We decided that he would need a new bookshelf and thought the truss shelves would look great next to the bed. He is so proud and excited for his big boy room, thank you Ana and Jaime for the plans and tips.

With three boys ages 17, 14, and 9 sleeping in one small bedroom, an efficient bunk bed/loft bed system seemed to be the perfect choice. I used the bunk bed plans from The Handbuilt Home, but I increased the height, and moved the steps to the end. The loft bed is basically the same as the bunk beds, but without the bottom bunk. I left the top rail off the head of the loft bed, creating a space so that they could crawl from the top bunk to the loft if desired. The short side rails on the top bunk are attached to the head of the loft bed.

The beds are modular and could be stand-alone beds, but I used TimberLok heavy duty wood screws to screw the beds together at the "intersection" on the bottom rail of the top bunk and loft, and the bottom rail of the bottom bunk and loft. That makes the beds very sturdy.

The entire system comes apart for storage or if a move ensues later. One other modification gleaned from a brag post was to use spacers on the cleats of the side rails so that you can just lay the slats down without having to screw them down. What a time-saver!

Thank you Ana White for the lovely plans and to all the brag posters for the ideas.

Created using the plans/template from Ana White's monogrammed snowflake.
I decided to make a hanging B in the middle. Two small eye hooks and some thread.
Paint used was Krylon's ruby red glitter and a clear sealer