Community Brag Posts

I've always wanted a Cali King bed, but balked at the one to six thousand dollar price tag for the showroom models. This one is an excellent, straight-forward build with little modification needed from the plans given. The lumber yard staff was great at selecting high quality stock once they knew to what end what the pieces were going to be used, so utilize their expertise. Tolerances are fairly tight on this bed, so measure carefully, and more than once. With the addition of the four posts and canopy frame (also provided on www.Ana-White.com ), and a Stearns and Foster luxury plush mattress from Costco, I've more than got my money's worth. Indeed, so will my children. it's heirloom quality.

Built this for our living room. It's strong enough to withstand the daily rigors of a 4 and 5 year old. I built this last year, and have done several more since then. 

For the past few years our family has been enjoying building together.  Our garage became a dumping ground for all the scraps and it got to the point where the piles became unmanagable.  We build this cart from almost 100% scraps.  The only piece that cost a bit where the casters, but we wanted to ensure that we could move the cart around in the garage  so we purchased the most heavy duty ones at the big box store.  This project took about one hour a night for a few days.  Very pleased with how it turned out.  Now that we have our garage back we can get back to building.  

I built the library book cart to organize all my toddler and preschooler's books. What we were using just wasn't cutting it; the books end up being scattered everywhere. I love the idea of a pretend library cart (I used to work in one...), and the kids can feel like they have the library in their room! They're playing "library" as I type!

This was an easy build. I used 1 1/4" screws for the 2-in castor wheels for 3 out of 4 screws per castor where I had enough depth. I also used wood glue. For the 4th screw per castor, I used 1/2" screws. This was mainly due to being all I had on hand...not sure if it was correct. We'll see if the wheels hold up with the weight of all the books! Other than those changes, I followed Ana's plans.

Oh, and I managed to create handles without really knowing what I was doing! They turned out OK. I tried two different methods for each handle, but basically used a drill, chisel, and jigsaw and then sanded, sanded, sanded after I made the cut. I think I can do better next time!

This was a lot of fun, and wasnt to difficult. I modified the existing design, and increased the size. It will be painted once my son decides on the color.....

So I LOVE this mantle. I totally can't take any credit for this project. My sweet hubby built this for me for out anniversary to go around a gas heater in our living room that I just couldn't stand to look at anymore. We recently purchased our home and inherited an old, not-so-attractive, gas heater. I couldn't stand it any longer, I wanted something to go around it to decorate ;) So here is what we have! I LOVE IT!!! 

We built this feeding area to complement the plumbing pipe open shelving we installed in our dining room. The shelves for the bowls are mounted to the wall (use anchors or screw into the studs) and the water bowl stand is free-standing. This new setup takes up much less space and is easier to clean around than the usual mat and bowls on the floor.

We built the shelves and water stand from reclaimed wood - each shelf is 8.5" x 22.5". The pipes are spray-painted in flat black. 

Tips: 

 - trace around your bowls on your piece of wood and then cut the holes out smaller than the circles you drew so that the bowl edges rest on the wood and hold the bowl in place.

 - to get a silky-smooth surface on the wood, after waxing and buffing, do a final buffing with extra fine steel wool.

See link to blog for details on the build and more photos.

I have wanted an outdoor sectional for our Atrium for a really long time, but I didn't want to spend the thousands on it that Pottery Barn/West Elm Charged. I built the entire sofa for $220, which is less than the cost of one armless piece from west Elm. (To get the pieces that I built from West Elm it would have cost $1116 which includes the extra delivery charge, but not tax or shipping.) I also sewed my own cushions to save a little extra dough (even though I'm a TERRIBLE sewer) for aprox $29 a cushion. (Their cushions are $59 a piece!) I also used leftover stain and poly that we had from some window trim we had freshened up a few weeks prior. So, total, I saved myself about $1000!

I mention that this project is probably a week long project, but that is only because there are so many pieces. In reality, I probably made one part of the sectional per day, including all of the sanding, staining, and poly.

I'm so proud to have such a beautiful piece to lounge around on and entertain this summer while still keeping a budget!

I gave away our piano and needed something to fill it's spot. I also needed some storage. I knew right where to look and eureka!! there it was, the Simple Rustic Modern Console plans.

It was inexpensive, easy, quick and perfect!! I modified it to the height I wanted and added some dividers for baskets and a bottom shelf as well.

Loving it!!!

As you can see, the theme is a little different then the original, but the storage remains! Because of the room I actually made the side drawers the full length of the bed, and put false fronts on the end. 

The plans for the table and chairs started with your designs and then evolved. The chairs are 2x2 an upgrade from 1x3s. We find them to be much sturdier. The total cost for the table and chairs is @$600 without finish. 

I used Ana's idea for the plan, but modified it slightly to stand up to my wrecking crew (aks the kiddos). I posted a step by step plan with photos on my blog if you want to use the information for yourself.

This was a collaboration between my father and I as a piece to add to my newborn daughters room.

I had seen a similar bookcase in a model home in my neighborhood and wanted it. That's when I remembered that Ana had plans for something similar on here. I used those and made modifications to suit my tastes by taking things I liked from Ana's plans and things I liked from the one I saw in the model home.

It was painted white with primer and then I painted the roof and accents with the same color paint I had used on my daughters' accent wall to make it match perfectly.

You can see photos of it from different angles and then a completed photo of it in her room.

I absolutely love this piece!

I built this table based off the plans from Rogue Engineer for an X based side table with concrete top, but I modified the angles to make the table 18" tall and 34" wide.  I also made the top from 2x8 boards instead of using concrete.  More details in the blog post.  A table base like this would cost $100 from Pier 1, but this plan helped me make my own base for about $8.  Awesome!

Toy chest made for grandson. The core made from tongue and groove boards. Lid supports hinge middle with two 90 Degree Stop Hinge on both sides.

Based off of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bnEs0qjW-A&t=24s 

I took Ana's amazing easy upholstered bench from modern to "magnifique," with a simple pleated skirt and silk upholstered seat cushion! Now our oddly shaped breakfast nook has a built-in that doesn't look so--well--built-in! Ana was right, it truly doesn't get EASIER than this :o)

We decided to use redwood because it is sturdy and looks nice. We used the steel wool in vinegar to stain the wood, which FYI, redwood turns black. We were a little worried they were ruined and we weren't going to get that rustic look. After a lot of sanding and 3 coats of clear poly they look great! Thank you so much for the plans!

Just finished up this unique TV console.  Built from reclaimed pallet wood.