Community Brag Posts

this is a coffee table that i had build just by looking at a picture and taking measurements of my previous coffee table that i had, I'm very glad to show the table off!

Thank you Ana for the plan my husband loves it. So functional yet requires very little space. I made it a littlest wider- 38 inches overall width and 83 inches overall height.

I managed to score some reclaimed wood when my neighbours tore down their deck. I don't know that I would ever try to build any more indoor furniture from reclaimed wood because it was tough! Much of the wood was warped. I worked on this table for weeks and I was not very happy with it. I was whining on the Knock-Off Wood page on Facebook and Ana encouraged me to finish it. I still think I might build another dining table this summer but I learned a lot from building this table.

My wife liked the PB Larking High/Low table, but I didn't like the price. Took about 3 weeks of evenings and weekends.

Used 3/4" MDF Panels for sides, bottom, and top
used 3/4" select Pine for face frame
used 3/4" smooth plywood for drawer faces.
cut additional pine strips at 15/16" and then routed one edge for trim work around drawer face.
same process for right side door, but added 1 1/2" pine to trim along sides and bottom
Attached 2x4's to bottom of table and then covered with MDF panel for skirt.
Skirt is an 1/8" raised from floor to give space for carpet and not cause stress on skirt
used a jig saw on front of skirt for cutout
used decorative molding for under the table top lip, you'll need to figure out your overhang for whatever molding you use.
Used MDF for the changing pad holder. about 3 inches tall and then cut to dimensions of pad.
Topper on the right is just a miniature of the full table, from a contraction perspective.

My dimensions are slightly customized from the below.

Changing Table
Overall: 55" wide x 21" deep x 44" high
Dresser Cabinet: 15" wide x 19" deep x 23" high
Dresser Drawer (3): 31" wide x 18" deep x 7" high
Small Top Drawer (1): 11.5" wide x 15" deep x 5" high

Topper
Overall: 34" wide x 17.5" deep x 3" high
Topper drawer inside small cabinet: 16.5" wide x 11.5" deep x 5" high

First large wood working project my husband and I completed. In love with Projects and plans by Ana white !

This was my first wood project ever. No prior experience and no tools. I started really from scratch. Thanks to Ana's website I mustered the currage to take on this project. Thank you! 

I just want to leave a few tips for anybody that is an absolute beginner with wood working - things that I have learned along the way.

- First mistake. Practice your cuts with the circular saw before you get to used it. The offset of the blade thickness will puzzle you initially. Maybe I should also mention.. there is a certain way to hold a chisel. You got 50% chances of doing it right the first time :))

- The hardest thing for me was to find lumber that was in decent condition, not too wet, fairly straight and at low cost. I spent many hours in the big stores searching trough their stock. In the end one single board was a little too wet and soon after I was done is started to warp a bit. I did expect that and I used it as breadboards to prevent bowing along the tabletop.

Be aware that if your board is wet, most likely it will curve across width, especially if the section is cut through near the center of the tree. Looking through the section of the board, the outer rings are going to shrink more that the inner rings creating a bow that will push the center outward. See picture.

- If you want your boards to join perfectly you sould take them to a wood shop and get the sides straighten. Doing it by hand it will not get them right and it will take to much of your time.

At the shop you could also plane them and get them at the same thickness. I preferred to leave the imperfections on the surface of the boards but I wanted the same relative heigth along the edges, so the tabletop would be smooth across but not perfectly planed. If you are planning on taking some of the thickness off with a palm sander it will take you a week of sanding; the better solution is either using a belt sander or even a cheaper way is to get a Sanding disk that you use with a drill machine. See Diablo Sanding Disk Kit. It worked really fast for me removing material in the desired areas.

- Get some good quality Poly. It will give a professional look to your tabletop.

I tried the wood conditioner and then I stained the under tabletop with the Weathered Oak finish but I did not like the result. I let it dry and I was still not happy with it. I decided to leave the natural color of the wood and use only Poly.  Some of the better brands are Arm-R-Seal or Old Masters. I applied 5 coats of General Finishes Poly with slight sanding in between.

I hope this helps.

I also finished the bench that comes with the table and they look incredible.

The cuts/assembly takes about 30-40 hrs in total (for a beginner). The finished product was done in about a month after starting lumber hunt and tool gathering. Worked on it whenever I could and some weekends.

Dan

This night stand was very easy to make. I really want you guys to see this video. These inexpensive drawer slide mounting tools make everything so much easier. http://youtu.be/vI3jgkhxxPE

I off set the shelves because my wife wanted to be able to fit some of my sons bigger toys. I also add trim pieces to make it more decorative and painted it white. Enjoy...

I loved making this Ana White's Narrow Cottage End Table plan after seeing it here on a search. I made it for my mother's 83rd birthday. She asked for oak and a light stain (Rust Oleum's Summer Oak Stain). Used three coats of wipe on Poly and one coat of Johnson's paste wax on the top. I bought the blue knob at Cost Plus World Market. The project took me two days. Will difinitely make another one but in pine this time.

Work bench with casters came out great and already using it on my kitchen console.

My friend and I made this table. It took about 8 hours, mostly because we were trying to figure out the drill & we cut one of the wood pieces wrong and had to go get another one. We also cut all the wood with a jigsaw. Crazy yes, but it worked out ok.

This is the second project I've completed and I'm very proud of it. The design was changed just by adding four legs instead of three. It took me awhile to get the color even. Sanding between coats of the clear coat semi-gloss finish would leave white marks/residue that was difficult to clean away. I would have to restain those sections with a swift wipe on/wipe off action. This made the color deeper but also richer. During the summer months, the bench will be outside but will serve as indoor seating in the winter.

We made this storage bed for our teenage daughter. She helped! She picked out the stain, comforter, and went through different plans with me to make it her own. She learned how to use a miter saw, sander, etc. and it was a great bonding experience. It's a few different plans, and we had to make modifications, but it is immensely better quality than store bought furniture we purchased a few years ago (it's falling apart!) and it has sentimental value. We are proud of the furniture, but even more proud of our daughter. :-)

Thanks for the joy of this project! Our family of 5 just got a new kitchen table, and everyone pitched in to build it. 

I've recently started woodworking and have gathered a few tool out in my little shed (10x12) and started playing around. After finding this site and browsing the plans I came across this one and decided I'd give it a try. The leg lengths were a little shorter than what I had expected so I added casters to each leg to raise the height a little and to give it mobility. It took me longer to complete since I was doing it in my spare time and had to figure out a few things. I bought the Kreg pocket hole kit and had to play around a while with it. I also had to practice my staining since I hadn't done that before either. Also, if possible- I'd recommend finishing the slats before putting them on.. they're a pain to try and paint after assembled. Any questions or comments email [email protected] **update 4/26/12 - 2nd picture is where the island sat since I made it- finally had to say goodbye since my house is tiny-- Quick $125. First day it was posted on CL I had 5 responses- within a week and a half it was gone**

I was looking for inspiration for the grandchildren when
I came across the full size version. I have now made 3 of the 1\3 sized as pictured, in different colours. It takes longer to paint them than make them.

One of the most rewarding, yet frustrating projects done to date.

A project completed over the course of several weeks challenging the limited tool set available.

In the end, the cost of new tools and frustration of assembly was all worth it!