Community Brag Posts

This was a new project idea my wife wanted me to do. It was relatively simple to follow. I felt it turned out pretty good. I've always felt that Ana's plans were well thought out and simple to follow. Even for a beginner like me.

We have been sleeping on a inexpensive platform bed for the last 7 years and after falling in love with this website (thank you Ana, I am constantly bragging and showing your website to others) I decided to build us a farmhouse bed as my first project. I started this project back in October 2011....yes it took much longer than expected, but I have 2 kids a husband (so make that 3), a full time career in the military and a house to maintain. That and we got the news I am pregnant back in Nov!!! The head board and foot board did not take long and luckily we had a very mild winter here in NC (boo to no snow though). I decided to save some work and money by reusing the slats and hardware from my old bed to avoid buying more wood or having to get a box spring for our mattress. Unfortunately, that was my huge delay, I cut and stained my sideboards, bought what I thought would be great bed brackets and found myself with a space that was to wide for the slats and on top of that my husband managed to loose one of my brackets. Needless to say, months of sleeping on a mattress on the floor with my head board and foot board on either wall mocking us every night due to my overwhelming frustration and fear of having a colossal headboard fall on me while trying to work. I called upon the assistance of a good friend of mine (Christie you are amazing!!) to come over while my husband was out of town in May (I figured this would be a good time to surprise him, plus keep his opinions from making things take longer). So lots of how the heck are we going to do this and finding out the bed frame brackets I purchased were not as strong as they appeared (they broke!!). We got some new wood for the sides and some long bolts to get everything together and worked a whole Saturday to get it complete. Added a few L brackets to get rid of the wobble and its sturdy as a rock! It may have its flaws, but I love it and don't regret any of the time and stress it took to build it. I now have a beautiful comfortable bed to sleep in every night to patiently wait for my third little girl to arrive. It should last us for a very long time especially since I made sure that it could come apart and go back together for any future moves the military may take us.

I cannot wait to start my next project.....and hopefully it wont take as long this time ;).

This is the first thing I have ever made. I had my wood cut at Lowe's, bought a Kreg pocket hole jig and screws. I borrowed a friend's drill, sander and stain. I was amazed at how easy this was and how well it turned out.

Fairly easy to make with a jigsaw and sander. I would suggest to whomever makes one of the Charlie scooters to use a hardwood as some of the section in the handlebar area can be fragile when weight is applied. 

This was my very first build! I didn't even have a saw, so I had the lumber guys at Lowes cut my boards for me. Also, I altered the dimensions to fit my space.

Check out my blog link for more info!

My kids needed a step stool and I had some scrap wood (2x10) left over from a previous project

A new home for 8 ex battery hens. :)

ManicMick

We loved the storage of the Farmhouse bed, but loved the headboard and foot board of the Kentwood. We also wanted a twin size bed. Instead of trying to figure out the measurements to make the farmhouse to a twin size (which is shorter in length), we made it at the full size length and just bought XL twin size mattresses, which were not hard to find and now we can keep the beds even after our boys become teenagers :-)

We basically built the headboards and foot boards from the kentwood exactly as Ana's plans state. Then we built the Farmhouse storage drawers. We love them!!! Thank you so much Ana for MORE great bed plans (this is our second set of bed plans we have made!

This was a project undertaken to facilitate my current pursuit of learning how to cook, but I think it will serve me well as I study, too, holding my textbooks up. It also let me experiment a little with staining and with using milk paint (which has NO VOCs but is kinda weird to work with). And it let me put to use some scrap wood that I think I was unconsciously saving for something special.

Because I had a scrap pile, screws, a few hinges, and the finishing products, this project was Almost free...I had to buy a narrow hinge ($1.50? I think?), and I chose to buy some pretty page weights ($3 including both pendants and the chain). So...not too bad, right? For a solid book stand that has meaningful beauty to me?

Ok, so this is all scrap wood. The stained pieces are maple leftovers from my cabinet project, and the rest is a mix of pine and poplar. See the dimensions in the last photo. The paint is Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in Lucketts Green, and the stain is Red Chestnut oil-based stain by Minwax. I finished the whole thing with one coat of wax buffed to a soft sheen (my new favorite finish).

I used a miter saw for my cuts and a router for the kickstand grooves, but really a regular circular saw would've worked just as well (or better, for the grooves). It took me several days to finish this project, but there's no reason it should take (someone other than me) more than an afternoon.

This was a pretty easy build, always a plus when you're looking for more storage. I'm not sure about the darkness of the stain though; I usually go with a walnut to match the rest of the house and wanted to try something different. This seems like a bit much. Might be easier to build an entire second set vs re-doing the stain though...

This thing is a beast ! I made the top way thicker than I should have but I love it.

I made this table before the PB plans came out on the this site. I used gate hinges on the corners and 3/4" piece of all thread on the bottom. The top was poured with the High Gloss glaze from Lowes. It fits 8 all around and you could squeeze in 12 if you really needed to. All together this only cost $350.

These chairs followed the simple white outdoor chair instructions. There were a few adaptations. I used 2x3s instead of 2x2s for the legs, like in the simple white outdoor loveseat instructions. I purchased my cushions from Target, and their dimensions are different than the cushions used in the instructions, so I changed some of the chair dimensions. I created the pattern for the ottomans, but it is very much based on the simple white outdoor chair instructions.

Fun project and happy with the results. Staining instead of painting probably made the project take twice as long.

This was built off Ana's Outdoor Couch plans.  I just made some additional things to it and made it larger.

I added the vertical back supports so the cushions don't slip out the back.  I raised the seat height to 17". 

Shelves in garage

I have to admit...I'm an Ana White and Pintrest addict. I was visiting my cousins farm and saw a pile of beautiful old & weathered barn wood. She let me take a big pile home. I washed and scrubbed the wood with a soft brush to get the years of dirt off. After dried, I layed down all the wood and picked out all the neat character pieces. I freehanded a template of the headboard on butcher paper and traced it on the boards. I cut the boards and lightly sanded the edges. I brushed on two coats of clear coat. When dried my hunky hubby helped me put it all together with 1x2"s and screws. We attached it to the bed frame and there ya have it! A gorgeous traditional-rustic headboard!

I am a really beginning builder (read: this is about my fifth project ever), but it works perfectly for our really tiny, narrow bathroom. I finished it with some stain we already had on hand. Thank you so much for the building plans!