Community Brag Posts

This was my first project. We are using it in the Man Cave.

This was our first diy furniture project but definitely not our last. We were looking for furniture to put by our pool but everything that we liked and was comfortable was way out of our budget. I came across the post on pintrest and recruited my husband to do the woodworking for me. I the meantime I made the cushions and back pillows using outdoor fabric from fabric.com. The sectional is stained using Olympic Elite semi transparent exterior stain in kona brown.

We moved about 18 months ago to a house without a fireplace after having one for almost 7 years. When The Christmas dilemma of where to hang the stockings came up last year, we used an Ana White plan and built a super amazing faux fireplace. After the holidays we decided we'd install it in our bedroom instead of storing it away all year....AND we ended up liking it there so much, that's where it stayed and a bookshelf took its spot in the living room. This Christmas when the stocking question was raised I looked online for ideas and, wouldn't you know it, Ana White to the rescue again!! We are completely in love with our new Christmas shelf. Also as a bonus, we now know how to use a miter saw, which I'm sure will open up all kinds of new project possibilities!

Happy Holidays!

It took about 7 hours to complete this project. We used Ana White's Farmhouse Queen plans, with some modifications: the bottom of her bed frame is about 4-6 inches off the floor, ours is 17 inches for extra storage space. We also made the footboard slightly deeper to accommodate longer legs. Due to limited space, we built it on the bed of our truck with the "help" of our 18 month old. We love the way it turned out.

I built this to fit inside a closet that I have in my garage to store all my camping stuff. I built it 5 feet long so I only had to buy 2x4s that were 10 feet long. I also built the bottom shelf closer to the ground to allow just a little bit more space between the first and second shelf. All in all it was a very easy and fulfilling project. I was a little worried about how sturdy the shelves would be but they are very solid. Thanks Ana!

I saw this project on the Ana-white website DIY. Luckily I have a friend that has all the tools so we used the cut list & built this faux media cabinet fireplace. I wanted it to store all my media stuff & have my TV set on top instead of the boring & expensive hanging the tv on the wall route not to mention the damage to my rented apt wall. We made a few modifications we extended the top & moved the center hidden shelf up. 

Airplane swing made from pine and "A" frame made from 2x4's

We’ve been looking around for some plans for a doggy bunk bed for a while now, but couldn’t find anything that we liked so I decided to build it from scratch. This is a huge bunk bed that was built based on the size of our larger dog’s bed which is 44 x 35. This was pretty simple to build although the stairs we’re quite challenging as I have never done them before so if I can make it, anybody can.

I must stress that before I found Ana’s website about 6 months ago I could barely cut a piece of wood straight. Over this time I have made several things based on the easy to follow plans on this website which ultimately gave me the confidence to go it alone and build this bunk bed. Friends and family are shocked at some of the furniture I’ve made and some don’t even believe I made them and think I’ve bought them from IKEA. My wife has got a list of furniture she wants to make now including a TV console, an armoire and a twin bed for one our daughters. Every spare second I have now is spent is making furniture and I LOVE it.

For anybody who has never built anything and is apprehensive to do so I would just say, do it. Grab what you need and dive right in. You may get frustrated and scream a bit at first, but the reward at the end is well worth it and each project you do will get easier and easier. Be warned though. The better you get, the more people will pester you to make things for them.

Thank you, Ana.

This was made using cheap 1 x 3 and 1 x 4 furring strips for the railings and bed slats, 2 x 4s for the posts and 1 x 10 board for the stairs.

Replica of rustic X coffee table but with chalk paint 

When we started building this bed, we liked that it wasn't too tall for our low ceilings, but could still utilize the space beneath it. As we were building it, we thought we would just put a 2nd mattress on the floor, but when we measured it, we decided we could safely turn it into a bunk bed for our 2 youngest daughters. We just built an additional set of rails. Instead of buying another piece of wood for the mattress support, we used the support from an ikea bed that we weren't using. We put the bottom mattress off the ground around 10 inches.

I built this trunk for my grandson’s high school graduation, and filled it with a lot of things he might need as he begins his life in the U.S. Air Force. Here are a few hints:
• Build the top after you place the moulding around the top of the box so you can measure exactly how long and wide the top needs to be.
• Don’t forget to measure the width of the 1” x 6” boards; if they are not exactly 5 ½”, adjust the length of the vertical boards on the trunk top or it could be slightly too small.
• Because of the extra width the moulding creates around the perimeter of the box, use narrow utility hinges, piano hinges, or Beverly of bzhays used black decorative strap hinges from Amazon.com.
• I used black handles from Amazon.com: Reliable Hardware Company RH-0540BK-2-A Set of 2 Chest Handle, Black
• For a more finished top on the inside, I filled the holes with wood putty and sanded it smooth, then stained and polyed like the outside of the trunk. The kreg holes are still visible, but not too much.
• Before screwing the box together, I recommend finishing the inside surfaces first; cover the edges that will meet with painter’s tape so the glue will have bonding surfaces.

I love the rustic look most have used in their finishes, but since I used a traditional stained finish, I used the ideas from Justin of jeverette1 who covered the exposed plywood edges with scrap. Since I didn’t have that, I used corner moulding for the corners, and lattice strips to cover the top edges of the box. This gives the trunk a more finished look if you are not going for the rustic/distressed look. I notated below a week-long project - I spend a lot of time in the finishing and do so over several days. Others could certainly finish in a weekend.

I’d like to thank Ana for the wonderful plans, and Whitney of Shanty 2 Chic for the great step-by-steps. Also, a big thank you to Beverly of bzhays and Justin of jeverette1 for responding to me with my questions; you were both so helpful.

Adorable gift ready for Christmas!

This was my first Ana White project. It was really super easy! I love the way it turned out! I can play around and change photos depending on my mood or the holiday. We had them all together pretty quick. I sanded and primed them and my husband used the spray gun to paint them. I quickly learned there is a technique to that and I didn't want to screw them up! Great beginner project, now I'm hooked on this site!