Community Brag Posts

This project took my "picture wall" to a higher level!
So easy too.

This was one of the 1st woodworking projects I did on my own. I never tiled before so it was a challenge. Even bought myself a tile saw to do it. I could not be more happy with the way it turned out and I love having it in my living room.

Brookstone desk with a white oak top and drawer that I built for my 8- yr old son. It is a very fun build.

This was the easiest and quickest build I've done yet. The more time consuming part for me was stapling down the curtains on the underside.

Inspired by the Madeline plans, I built this changing table for our impending arrival.

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 ;-*

The desk top measures 39" X 69". It extends 15" on one side, creating a counter overhang for a second crafter. The top is supported by a 1X3 frame fashioned after the desk design shared on Ana's brag post (pg. 7 as of this writing). The room has a tile floor, so adhesive-backed felt strips were placed on the bottom of the bookcase units, making it easier to pull the desk into the middle of the room should I need to access my work from both sides.

A lumber yard cut all the pieces. Next time I would use 1X12s for the two side pieces.

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

Thanks Ana for another awesome plan!

My last piece of my collection

My wife asked if I could build this, showed me the pictured. Well, I’ve never built something that big before but I’ll give it a try. I took the time to draw it all out and get all the measurements down before hand, and it all turned out pretty nice. Most importantly my wife loved it! We paid someone to paint it, because I know my limitations lol.

Bob J - Texas

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.

After I found these awesome walnut chairs on craigslist, I did by best to match the stain and build a kitchen table on the cheap for our new house. As you can see, I modified the design into a square to fit the space. I also attempted to create a unique design by making diagonal cuts with the miter saw and connecting everything in the underbelly with my Kreg Jig. My one regret is that after my palm sander broke, instead of buying a replacement, I got a little hyperactive with my belt sander. It ended up making a unique swirl design over the grain. A part of me thinks it looks cool and the other part thinks it looks ridiculous. The moral of the story is never use a belt sander on something you intend to stain.

My husband built the full size farmhouse bed for our 2 year old son. It turned out beautiful but very high off the ground. In hindsight he would've cut off about 4" from the end posts so it would be lower to the ground. Overall we are very happy with it!

I chose not to use pocket holes, but rather my new Domino joiner. Very happy with the results. My daughter is already trying to claim it.

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!