Community Brag Posts

First pergola build. Plans were very easy to follow and it turned out great!

Loved making this potting bench for myself.  My hubby guided me on using the power tools & I thoroughly enjoyed getting my hands on those!!  Such a sense of satisfaction & the beautiful pop of yellow brightens up that corner of my garden even when not in use.  Great plans Ana, Thank you!!

I built it for this specific space,so I ended up shortening the length of it but also made it wider from front to back. The original plans would have run into into the door that's to the right. My old coffee table sat here, so I went off those dimensions.

What I learned:
If you do decide to tweak the plan, be sure to take into consideration that a 2x4 isn't actually 4 inches wide. The same goes for 2x6's (the bottom two shelves are made of 2x6 wood).

I made this sewing table using Ana Whites Sewing table for small spaces plan. I used 3/4" fir plywood.
I did however make changes to use continuous hinges (aka piano hinges) and upgraded the legs to 2x2's. I used folding leg brackets from Lee Valley Tools found here: http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/page.aspx?p=40035&cat=3,41306,41309

It's finished with a dark walnut stain, and three coats of water based varathane. All told this project took about a week. I had the pieces cut for me by the lumberyard, but they still required sanding before assembly. Then assembly took another afternoon. Staining & finishing took the longest, probably 3 days, since I could only work on it in the late afternoon - evening.

Approximate Costs:
$30.00 Hinges, screws, & 2x2's for legs, paint brush
$20.00 Stain & Finish (some savings here as I had some leftover from another project)
$30.00 Folding leg brackets
$50.00 Lumber Costs (this can vary wildly depending on your wood selection)

Loved building this one.

Entertainment center with Bluray/DVD storage in the doors. Based on the Cynthia media stand by Pottery Barn. I drew it up to my personal preferences using Draftsight (free 2d cad software). Used 3/4" oak for everything except for a few trim boards. It came out great, we are very proud to call it our own.

I recently resigned from my job to stay home with my kids. This gave me time to begin a long desired hobby! Thanks to this website and the awesome, easy to follow plans, I have been able to start practicing with some very practical pieces. I have been looking for extra tall stools for over five years, since moving to our current home, and have not been able to find any I'm willing to buy. They have to be special ordered and are ridiculously priced for the chintzy pieces they are. I had fun making these ones and they look gorgeous in my home.

It took me several days to complete all three, but for a more experienced person it would take much less time. I used the Kreg Jig for all holes possible. And with each stool I learned something, and each one was completed in less time than the last.

THANK YOU ANA!

Double wide trash can unit, Fall of 2015. 

Awesome front porch chairs. Added a back and tilted the seat back for more comfort!

I'd say all together i spent about 5 days working on this... but i did it all by myself and i'm a newbie! I used studs i found at home depot. My tulip legs were $8 dollars a pop and I bought a drill/kregjig and sanding paper because I've never built anything before. I hand sanded the whole thing!!!! This was my first build... but it did break once: For the center support i used two 2 1/2" screws and screwed it from the outside and the screws just ripped through the wood. but i replaced it.. put in new screws and attached little 1x2 pieces under both ends and i plan to adding 2 legs in the center. You an see in the photos i attached where the old screws were, and how i solved the problem under the bed by adding the like 1x2 pieces. I've had it for 2 weeks completed now.. and although the center support gave out once... it's been good and solid since! I hope this was help to anyone considering making this bed! P.S. just buy a sander... hand sanding is painful and boring!

This was my first project like this from website, the instructions were clear and easy to follow. I did this over a weekend all total it took 10 to 15 hours with the bulk of that going to priming and painting the wood.

The table is a little small (as is mentioned in the instructions). If I was going to make it again I might try 6 foot boards for the benches and top. I made a couple of modifications, one intentional and one unintentional. The intentional changes was bolting the frame together with carriage bolts. Others had mentioned that it was wobbly and I'm a bigger guy and didn't want to take a chance. The unintentional change is that it's an inch shorter than it should be. I was cutting the first pieces and thought it said 27 when it said 28. That wasn't a big deal as I shortened the other piece by an inch.

I'm very happy with how they turned out except that one of my benches isn't completely square. The top of the bench and table is square but somewhere in all my drilling and bolting together its off a little bit. I need to take it apart to determine where I am off and fix it.

I mentioned that it was $100 to build, it was $40 for the wood and $60 for all the other little stuff, screws, paint, primer, bolts, etc. Of course I have enough left from most of that to complete another bench or two if I just get the wood.

Thank you Ana!  the directions were right up my alley!  We have never built anything and now we cant wait to build our next piece!  we used your insturctions and made minor modications to accomodate our cushions.  We got brave and designed our own ottoman and put it on casters :-) We also added a few back support and legs.

We used one coat of deck over paint

Cushions were on sale at ballard http://www.ballarddesigns.com/ballard-basic-seat-and-back-cushion-set-w…

Quality of cushions is amazing!  they were the most expensive part.  We spent $600.00 on cushions.

Wood, putty, paint and screws about 350.

The chairs were a fun build we live on the coast , I thought what a great way to add some fun so I set up my C and C machine and made his and hers sharks chairs.

Queen- Hailey Platform Bed

This is my first build. I have always had metal loft beds and it's so nice to have something lower and not so noisy. Had to alter for a Queen- no problem.
My dad helped me out and now I know how to work all the tools pretty well. We used a countersink for all the screws instead of a kreg jig.
All that is left is to stain and I have not decided if I want a headboard yet. Definitely the first of many projects!!!

I love this bed in my son's room. They were wonderful plans that were easy to follow. The only change I made was to make the feet slightly taller so he could slide underbed storage containers underneath. My only mistake was not planning ahead for how I would attach the headboard to the frame. It ended up not being necessary because the weight of the bed pins it against the wall, but If I ever wanted to make this for someone else I would want to solve that piece first. 

Made from the Ana White. Deep seat cushions lounge chair plans with a few modifications. I used 2x6's for the legs and arms so I add cup holders and I added three horizontal back slats using pocket holes. Love the way they look!

I ended up combining two of the different plans (Benchwright, Tryde) because I wanted something that matched my Hyde Pottery Barn coffee table but that had drawers. My console table only needed to be 44" wide, so I ended up removing the middle 2x4 that was part of the Benchwright plan. I also used 1x2s for the bottom shelf because it was over a vent, and I knew that I was going to be using baskets for storage down there. I also used actual drawer slides because I knew that my console table would be used pretty frequently. The hardest part of the whole table was installing the drawers and making sure they were sliding smoothly and that the front of the drawers were flush with the front of the console table. Favorite part of the entire plan was the planket top...I love how it turned out!

This was my first project and couldn't be more pleased. Took about 20 hrs, and $120 including new materials (brushes, etc.) with borrowed tools. I filled cracks on top of table with wood putty and stained with Mission Oak; looks great, but make sure to dry wood putty with heater or hair dryer to avoid cracks if you go this route. Thanks Ana for the plans!