Community Brag Posts

This designed was modified to specifically fit a wine fridge. Same height and depth, but measuring 80" long. Drawers replaced with cubbies. All of the wood is reclaimed from wood we took out of the adjacent living room which used to be a sun room - 125 year old pine, fir, oak beadboard. 

First Project from you😊 ...total woodworking newbie and very impressed with myself and your plans...can't wait to spruce up my whole house with your projects🤩 - Denise

I made these two American Girl doll beds for my nieces. For one bed, I followed Ana's plans exactly. For the other, I used plywood and cove molding in place of the 1x3 slats.

You can find more details about the build and finish I used on my blog.

From our blog, 1885 Prospect Hill Renovation:

Annie and I have four kids.  One of the most amazing things about Annie is that three of them are not biologically hers, but she is an intensely loving and caring parent to them.  I brought them with me into our relationship and she never saw them as "baggage", but as more outlets for her seemingly unending displays of love and affection.  We bought this house, in part, because it was big enough for our family. One of the best features was this "bonus" room between the dining room and the kitchen.

Now most houses of this period have a front entryway, a front parlor, a second parlor, a side room and a kitchen.  For some reason, the builders of our home stuck an extra room that we lovingly call our "family room".  This is where the kids play.  Where they do their homework.  Where we have our family game nights.  Where we sing happy birthdays.  It is the heart of our home and we needed a table worthy of accommodating these things.

Now, Annie doesn’t like to spend money on things.  Ever.  So it was up to me to build this table.  So I leaned on my favorite website, the queen of all DIY projects, Ana White. She has plans for many great projects, and she makes them easily accessible and affordable.  My favorite was for her Farmhouse Table.  It was big and it was doable.

I used stock wood from my favorite lumber place in Western New York, Lenco Lumber.  Using my new compound miter saw, my grandfather's old dado blades on my table saw, and about 1,000 screws, I built this guy.  It is so sturdy the kids can all dance on it and it won't budge.  It is now a permanent fixture in our home and when we die, it stays behind.  

We painted the legs white and stained the top a dark red oak.  Because we wanted it to be durable and stand up to anything the kids could throw at it or spill on it, we gave it a thick epoxy bar coat.  This was a challenge.  We had to mix the two parts and spread evenly across the table, letting the epoxy drip over the edges to cover the sides.  Then came the blow torch.  Heating the wet epoxy forces the bubbles to the surface and allows them to burst, leaving a smooth and even finish.

We built a bench to match, also thanks to Ana White's design.

Finally, we found some chairs on Craigslist from a family that was moving.  They look pretty old and needed some reinforcement, but we think they look great!  Oh, and we also painted the walls to a brighter, more playful color.  Now it is truly a Family Room that we love!

We live on a 40 acre farm and I needed some great shelves to make a nice work area off the kitchen for our canning and other projects.  My wonderful husband built these for me and I could not be happier.  I put the metal bars in the back so I could use baskets more easily and I am still looking for attractive corner brackets to add to them.

Our daughter was in desperate need of storage in her room, so we decided to build her a storage bed. This was our first build, and we had many issues that we've chalked up to "learning curve," but we're pleased with the end result anyway.

We used the Twin Storage Bed plans to start, but we modified the end box so that the sides would have all open storage, and we could build a low footboard. We liked the low footboard on the Farmhouse Bed, but our daughter did not want the crown on the footboard, so we worked up a simpler design. We kept the 3-box design of the Twin Storage Bed instead of just making the two side boxes longer so that the end box has deep storage (we kept the center divider for support, but the storage is 19" deep). The footboard is low enough that it doesn't extend over the mattress (our daughter's request), but it still gives the bed a finished look and keeps the mattress from sliding off.

When we built the two side boxes and the end box, we made the mistake of cutting all of the pieces at once, before assembly. When we went to assemble, we discovered that many of the boards had issues (warps, the boards were not the same width all the way through, our cuts weren't straight -- we had trouble figuring out how to get straight cuts with the circular saw at first). We didn't have money to buy all new wood and start over, so we went ahead and assembled the boxes, and I spent two weekends fixing as best I could (lots of filler and sanding). The boxes ended up being somewhat different heights, so even though each box was level on its own, we were going to have a problem getting them all the same height together. So, we decided to add feet with leveling footers. We also ordered a set of bowed slats from Ikea to help make sure the bed would be level and comfortable.

The storage cubbies all turned out the right size on the inside despite our assembly troubles, so we can fit 12 fabric storage cubes in the cubbies.

We added trim to the side boxes to give it a finished look and to help keep the mattress from sliding off the bed. To make it possible to move the bed later, we decided to build the trim on the side boxes and slide the end box into place. We attached the boxes together using L brackets.

The footboard is made out of plywood, trimmed with 1X6 at the top, 1X3 on the bottom trim, and and 1X2 vertical trim.

The side trim is made out of 1X4 for the top trim centered (2" overhang below and 2" raised above the side of the box), 1X3 horizontal trim for the bottom of the box (top edge of the bottom trim is flush with the bottom of the cubbies), and 1X2 trim for the vertical pieces.

The headboard was our own creation. Our daughter did not want a large headboard, so we wanted to make something that was just enough to keep her pillows from sliding off the bed and to provide a ledge to put her glasses and book. When we first tried the mattress on the bed, there was a 5" gap between the head of the mattress and the wall, so we built a headboard "box" that sits on and is attached to the two side boxes. The mattress now fits without gaps so that the pillows won't slip off the head of the bed.

There really aren't any plans for this bed.  I scaled down the camp loft bed and copied the other brag post on here

We have been using a number of folding tables to do our builds and feeling the pain in our backs and frustrations in our brains for doing it.  I found this pattern and rushed to Home Depot!  A few hours later we had a workbench.  Loved it so much a day later we had two!!  We use them all the time.  Thank you Ana for such a great pattern!

I didn't really follow any of Ana's plans for this build, but it is a result of using her plans up to this point in my woodworking journey that enabled me to complete this one! I don't own a table saw, so this was constructed using a circular saw, miter saw, Kreg jig, and a nail gun. It was the first time I've had to cut and attach crown molding, and I also learned how to cope baseboard trim using a Dremel. Another first was using a router to rabbet out the back so the plywood back wasn't visible from the sides. I learn something new every build :)

I'm thrilled with the change in the room with this new project. We had two narrower bookcases side-by-side in there before, and they were about the height of the windows with a stain color that didn't match any of the other wood pieces in the rooms. This cabinet looks like it belongs in the room.

Modified plans it fit our wall.  Looks great and only took a few hours start to finish. 

Friend needed a hutch to store some overflow kitchen stuff and I needed a first project for my new woodshop. I changed the top openings to accomadate what she needed to store and went with milled lumber because I have the tools needed to finish it out.

I think it turned out great in the end, Thanks for the plan Ana!

Thanks to Anna’s plans this table came out great built for sheriff dept everyone loves it - Brian Blacklidge

This was my second project that I completed to go along with the Daybed With Three Trundle Drawers For Storage that I made for my son.

The original plans for this bed state that you need three 1 x 12 x 8's, but you actually need 4. The two middle 42 3/4" boards on the inside are missing from the cut list, but you can see them in the diagram.

I am so happy with the way this turned out! It was a little more challenging with the wider width boards--I had to force them on the line because they weren't perfectly straight. But overall, I am very happy with this.

When I drilled the holes for the shelf pins using the Kreg shelf pin jig, I used the 1" inset on the outside 2 columns, and the 2" inset on the center column. This way I avoided have holes that were drilled all the way through the board.

Between this and the storage daybed, I have really freed up so much space in my son's small bedroom! Happy building!

This project was not as simple as I expected! For this little bathroom, the mirror is offset, leaving lots of wasted space above the sink so my friend asked me to build some storage. I thought this would be a great solution that could maybe move with her later on, and it turned out pretty well. My two problems were 1- I had to cut the steel pipe to fit the space and 2- my hardware store did not sell S-hooks that would fit over the steel bar.  I used 1/2 in steel bar, so I cut it with my Dremel rotary cutting wheel. It was a bit slow but it worked and once I cut halfway, I could just bend the pipe to break it at the cut. The two cut ends are not threaded so I had them each end into one side of a 3/4 T fitting. For the S-hooks, I bought ones that were about the right size, then bent them open wider using a large screwdriver and a crow bar as a wedge. Two large screwdrivers might work as well. Instead of the straps, I used a thin steel bar, drilled through one side. I am happy with how it turned out, took about an afternoon not including all the time thinking it out! Finished with butcher block oil.

Decided to make this on a whim, and we are very pleased with the results!

My husband and I built this counter height with specs of 351/2" high x 25" wide x 48" long. We are using it in our kitchen as a prep island.