Community Brag Posts

This was my first time using a plan from this site, it was my first time using a kreg jig, and pretty much my first time using a circular saw on anything that mattered.  Also my first time staining.  I'm real happy with how it turned out except for the staining! I used a stain + polyurethane in one and found it very difficult to get the color even without streaks.  Next time I think I am going to stain all my cut wood BEFORE I assemble.  I think that will let me have a nice even stain.  Any thoughts on that?

I enlarged the plan by adding 12 inches to the top and 6 inches to the width. So I added a shelf 12 inches above the top one.  It feels big and I love that.  

Another thing that worked out nicely for me,  I noticed when I was buying lumber from HD, the 2x2's were all a little bit warped or crooked, So for the four legs I opted for the premium perfectly strait and smooth pine.  It was 8 bucks a piece instead of two but worked out I think.  For the back I used mahogany pickets - not smooth, hard to sand down, but looks nice.  

Took me about 20-25 hours over two weekends.  Sanding and staining were the only laborious parts.

Nice and easy work bench to complete my garage setup.

This took me and my father a few weekends to complete simply because that is all the time I had to work on it (was the weekends). We put a lot of effort into it and made sure everything was neat and safe. We modified the original plan a bit to give some more boy feel to this bed, and we added window bars to keep my children from climbing out of them. You know boys! We also added a window on the far side of the top bunk. We should have added one to the bottom too since it is so dark, but he likes it anyway! If you want to see some step by step photos, you can go to http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151477424866465.1073741825.5…

P.S. The estimated cost was for the bed only, not the mattresses or stain

I spent a lot of time looking at photos that my wife tagged on pinterest, most from builders who frequent Ana's site.  I learned a lot just from looking.

I stole particular ideas from Ana, Tommie and Ellie, and another site that I can't find right now, but they really did the trestle / farmhouse hybrid idea first and I just modified their idea a bit.  If anyone has seen their site, please remind me so I can give credit where it is due!

I didn't really use a plan other than having a general idea of what I wanted the size of the table to be.  I believe it came out to about 102" x 44"

I built 6 chairs and the bench.

All is built out of construction grade lumber, and gets lots of compliments.

The table came together in a solid weekend, the bench took a couple of evenings, and the chairs...those chairs took forever to cut out, shape, assemble, and finish.

Took us 4 months cause we have kids so we have to work during naps and after bedtime and then we were hesitant to work on it for a while after a little stressful episode building the drawer. We had to lower our expectations for perfection when working with pine and no clamps. We're happy with how it turned out though! Reminds me of Van Gogh's "The Bedroom" for some reason. 

Made this for our 3rd daughter for Christmas. I had finials, but ended up liking the look of the crib better without them. It was so fun to build and my daughter was super excited Christmas morning! Thanks!

This project started by using the Ana-White Dress Up Tower Plans.  Modifications were made to increase storage area and to include a lazy susan base.

I built this vanity and mirror out of pine and finished it in a variety of stains to get a reclaimed look.

This was my first Anna White experience. It was a great beginner project. My husband was even impressed with the results. I was a little scared of the Menwax Ebony stain, but I applied it with a rag (several coats) and it came out very even. I used paste wax to finish off the project and it turned out great. I'm soooo proud of myself. I hope I don't sound too obnoxious, but it was just so much fun, and I was so surprised that I could build something that looked this professional. Ok, shutting up now. :-)

My first big project. It turned out great! There are a couple of issues with the plans but nothing a little common sense couldn't resolve. Also, for any beginners out there, make sure when you're going through your cut list, start with the larger pieces first then work your way down to the smaller cuts. You'll end up having to take another trip to the hardware store if you cut the smaller pieces first. Great plans Ana White! I built this as a Christmas gift for my girlfriend. She was blown away! She absolutely loves it!

~Justin~

Pretty straight forward plans.

My husband and I loved the Squared2 Chair we saw on this site and we knew that we wanted to have this design for our dining chairs. As my building experience has increased, I thought it was time to try. This is my first chair: it is not perfectly executed, but I learned a few things along the way and I've decided to buy a few tools, too. I modified the square back pattern cut lengths explained briefly on my little blog.

With another baby on the way in a few months, we decided to move our 2+ year old daughter across the hall into her first big girl room. I built big sister the Kendal Extra Wide Dresser, Traditional Wood Toddler Bed, Letter A Shelf and a Dollhouse Bookcase and matched the colors with her new comforter, lamps and princess canopy tent from the Land of Nod outlet.

This is a pretty easy project to build with the right tools. For the backing, I used beadboard plywood that I had leftover from the headboard of the toddler bed. The one tricky thing was how to actually hang the bookshelf. The weight of wood for the shelf is somewhat heavy and that's before anything even goes in/on top of it. After a few trips to the big boxes, I decided on using a heavy duty mirror hanger, which so far, has worked great. 

Outdoor Couches made from the plans on the website.  Added 2 2x4's on back top to add support when leaning back.  Also added vertical supports on the back to help with added weight.

Stained and Sealed with Natural Cedar Stain and Sealer

had a lot of scraps and put them to good use with this shelf, east to change out any art/photos my kids would like on their walls, size of frames, etc...without nailing frames, changing positioning, just re-arrange on the shelf :)

This was my first furniture build so there was plenty of trial and error but overall a good learning experience. The middle walls were made using the same notching techniques as the plan, but with one big notch and several 2x4s.

Building was the fun part, finishing was not. Started with a belt sander and after digging into the wood too many times I tried an orbital. Had to resand due to swirl marks from the orbital sander. Hand sanded from 100 grit to 220 grit, applied gel stain and noticed the wood grain had completely disappeared. Seems like the pores were too closed from the fine sand paper so took it back to 150 grit and it was all good.