Community Brag Posts

This was our first build and it turned out great!  My daughter loves all of the storage under the bed! 

Made this for my granddaughters from Ana White’s plans.

Hello, my name is Natalie Scott & this is my first Ana-White Brag Post! In the beginning, this cabinet was such a silly thing to find. I almost didn't even accept it from a neighbor, who was going to throw it out, when they offered it to me. It ended up becoming my biggest (& longest!) project yet; & the project of which I'm the most proud!

To see the complete process & transformation, go to:
http://TheVintageMagi.blogspot.com/2012/01/from-trash-to-treasure-entry…

Once I had a plan in place,
1. I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics & got a thin, plywood craft boards.They were 1/4" thick, 6" wide, & 36" long.
2. Of course, I already had the base for the cabinet whose dimensions were slightly different than the plans on Ana-white.com, so the math was up to me. After lots & lots & lots & LOTS of equations, I knew that the drawers would have to be 6" long & 7" wide, which is why I went with the 6" wide boards. Less cutting on my part would ensure more uniformity.
3. I started measuring in 7" at a time (& double-checking & measuring again) & cutting with a circular saw.
4. I used a blend of construction adhesive & wood glue to seal the plywood "drawers" to the cabinet doors. I didn't even need to clamp!
5. After drying, I filled in any large cracks that may have popped up with wood-filler & let that dry before sanding it down.

While the seal on the "drawers" was drying,
6. I painted the cabinet with Rust-Oleum's Ivory Silk Satin Finish spray-paint.
7. I also picked out wooden knobs at $0.94 a piece as well as 6 traditional-style furniture feet & spray-painted them with Rust-Oleum's Oil-Rubbed Bronze.
8. The feet had screws that allowed them to attach right in to "Heavy Duty Top Plates" that I were attached to the bottom of the cabinet.
All of these items were available at Home Depot.

9. Next, I sanded, primed & painted the doors.
10. After some careful measuring, I drilled pilot holes for each knob.
11. I added the shelves back in to the cabinet, which required more touching-up of the paint.
12. I had taken apart a wood pallet, measured the wood, & tried to think of a way to make it into a reclaimed wood top for the cabinet.
13. I cut the boards & made a layout, 4 rows of boards deep, on top of the cabinet, careful to remember the overhang. I added 4 little squares of wood, one in each row of planks, in flattering & uniform positions to complete the desired overhang effect.
14. I sanded the wood, rearranged it, & sanded it some more.
15. I glued the top in place, using the same mix of construction adhesive & wood glue I used before.

16. Next, I used STAINABLE wood-filler to fill in all of the cracks. Then I sanded again from 60-grit up to 200-grit,
17. & made sure by using a LEVEL that the finished surface was FLAT & EVEN.
18. Before it's final sanding, it needed to be extra secure; so I got out the finishing nails & put two nails in each board (except the little squares of wood, which only got one nail), one at each end.
19. I sanded with 220-grit sandpaper.

20. Getting the stain just right for the reclaimed wood top took awhile. Just when I was about to give up, paint & distress it instead, I had an idea. I took what was left (which wasn't much) of the little can of Minwax PolyShades stain in Espresso Brown & added some spoonfuls of Minwax Gel Stain in Hickory (which was MUCH easier to apply) straight into the little can. I shook the can & made a mixture of my own stain that was still a beautiful, dark color - but MUCH easier to apply. I applied 2 coats of stain, following drying-time instructions.
21. I touched up any mistakes on the cabinet with "Goof-Off."
22. I finish covered the stained top with a coat of hardening Minwax Paste Finishing Wax (applied in tiny circles just like waxing a car - "wax on, wax off!").
23. I added the decorative wood trim moldings on the side (using Gorilla brand wood glue mixed with construction adhesive again),
24. attached the finishing touches (like magnets to catch the cabinet doors & keep them shut),
25. & touched up all the ivory-colored paint one last time.

26. I used Rust-Oleum Transformations Decorative Glaze in Java Brown to glaze to the ivory-colored cabinet base (I did not glaze the stained wood top).
27. I coated the whole cabinet with a coat of hardening Minwax Paste Finishing Wax (the same as in step 22).
28. I attached the knobs,
29. & added these "Felt-Gard" self-leveling, heavy-duty felt pads to the bottom of the feet to protect my hardwood floors.
30. It went inside & was decorated, but is still not completely fit with it's final accessories. It looks great!

To see the complete process & transformation, go to:
http://TheVintageMagi.blogspot.com/2012/01/from-trash-to-treasure-entry…

Thank you for the inspiration & all the attention this project has brought my blog & business! Everyone has responded very well & I couldn't be more proud of myself & the accomplishment I feel. I mastered a lot of new tools & products on this project & am ready to start another one! Thank you, Ana-White.com!

"It was more than discovering something that I loved to do -
It was discovering someone I had always been."
~ Natalie ;-*

This was the first piece of furniture we ever built and it was a big success, although knowing what I know now, I certainly would have done a few things differently. Luckily for me, following Ana's plans don't require a very steep learning curve if you have read The Handbuilt Home! Instead of investing $1500 into the brand new table I wanted from Pottery Barn, I decided to invest that money in power tools, equipment and materials for the table, which I acquired for about $900 (I had no tools in my possession at all so was basically starting from nothing). The price of this table decreases every time I make a new piece of furniture from scratch, and in the year that I began making furniture, I have made the farmhouse bench that accompanies this table, a coffee table, an upholstered vanity seat, a kitchen island, a book shelf, lots of shelves and small tables, and I am currently in the process of making a bathroom vanity for our newly renovated master bathroom. Each project I make from Ana's plans is easier than the one before it, and I continue to feel more confident in the work and in my understanding of how furniture is built. I feel so grateful to Ana for sharing her work and for inspiring so many people, both men and women alike, to reach a bit outside of their comfort zone and develop new hobbies that they never would have imagined having.

This was a fun build.  I used common board for the the stripes and a left over piece of cabnet grade plywood for the union.  Whole thing is 37 x 19.5.  The stripes are 1.5 wide.  I painted all the pieces then sanded then down to expose the grain and give it a worn look.  Then I took a handheld propane torch to it.  I used small 1 in tin stars which were the most challenging and expensive part of it. I painted them then distressed them with sandpaper.  I attached the stars with super glue.  All in all a fun project.

I made 15 of these ornament trees for our church's Christmas banquet. We adjusted the height to 14". I locked the wire in place with 8 x 3/4 screws that were countersunk. I plan to paint the trees gold.

Super easy project....and already, hours of enjoyment by my kiddos!!

Thanks Ana for another awesome plan!

I saw this project and fell in love with it. Ive never done a wood working project before and wanted to do this all on my own so i wouldnt let anyone help just to know if i could do it. It didnt turn out perfect but i CAN NOT stop looking at it. Ana thank you somuch for theses plans!

Rustic Farmhouse Table with pocketholes and Special Walnut Finish

Make sure your wood is straight withno warping!

I bought a dining table set just for the chairs a while ago and the table legs have been sitting there ever since. The rest of the materials were scraps from the shop. I never worry about matching wood types if I'm planning on painting it. Everything matches when you paint over top of it.

The chair is something I made a while ago. I realized I didn't want to make 3 more after hours of just making one. That's why I bought that dining set in the first place.

I put together the flower storage table and the thumb chairs during the week leading up to our daughter's first birthday party. With a lot of older toddlers/kids at the party, the table served as a perfect coloring station in our basement (as you can see from the mahem/aftermath photo below). In any event, as my daughter is about to turn two, she has really grown into using the table and chairs for completing her own arts and crafts projects.

Modified top boards, 3/4 inch galvanized pipe as center support to reduce cuts needed, and casters so the massive thing can be moved.

Loved building this table. Look forward to building more! Thanks Ana!

Okay in all fairness to a woodworking site, I did not actually MAKE this shelf. However, I saw the plan for how to decoupage my scraps and thought hey I did something like this a few months back. I think I will take a picture and share what you can do with decoupage and some scraps.... did that make sense? Anyway, this is to give you an idea of something you can do!

So - found this shelf on the damaged section at Hobby Lobby for less than $20 in fact I think it was about $16 or so. It was missing 2 of the glass sections, one of the backs to the picture, and one hook. It also had some small places where the paint was chipped off. So I bought it with a great place to put it but no definitive plan on how to fix it.

Here's my rehab - filled in scratched spots with a black sharpie, it looks pretty good. Instead of trying to find glass/backs, I found some copyright free letters and had prints made of them (there is a whole folder out there on flickr of copyright free letter photos for personal use). Of course, I had to agonize over which ones to use and which had the correct orientation - I ended up with a metal stamped C, a concrete O, a wood carved a, a stitiched T, and a painted s. Then I took thin scrap board, cut them to size, and decoupaged the letters on to each board. For my final decoupage coatings, I used a small brush one way and then the other to give the product a canvas like texture. When that was dry, I sprayed it with a matte clear coat (if you don't do this over mod podge it has a sticky feel to it and dust/dog hair etc will stick to it). I put these little plaques in the holes of my shelf with tape. No glass needed when the decoupage is sealed like this.

Unfortunately, I could not find hooks to match the missing ones so I just bought new ones and will save the other 4 for some other project.

Hung it up and hung coats on it!

I made these boxes with my dad one afternoon. We had a great time! We wanted our herbs to be close to the kitchen and still get plenty of sun, so attaching them to the deck railing was ideal. I made them out of timber decking with pocket holes, and attached them to the railing with metal brackets underneath.

This was by Far The Best Sectional plans on the Net! Very Easy To Make! Thanks Anna white