I built these beautiful corner shelves for a friend. It is a great beginner project. I used a 1x8 board but you could also use a 1x10 board. You could also build 5 shelves instead of 3. I used pocket hole joinery.
My sister needed new outdoor furniture for her deck and liked the look of the sectional. I used cedar with a clear varnish to creat this piece for her that was perfectly sized for her deck. The challenge to this one was getting it to her house about 3 hours from mine. Fully assembled it would have been tight getting it in my truck. I ended up cutting all of the boards and drilling all of the pocket holes in my shop and then assembling at her house. I have added backs to some of the pieces I have made fro others that want the extr support. I add a 1x4 laying flat across the back of the seat. The slats going up and down then have a slight angle to them which adds comfort and support. I attached the pieces to the 1x4 and the upper back rest piece in the plans.
Potting bench with a few modifications to fit our space.
Bill N
I used the armless chair plan, and altered the one armed plans to make two chaises. Then I increased the size slightly to accommodate the 25x25 pillows I bought. This took about 12 hours with one person working. I am super proud of it! Finished today, and will eventually stain after the wood has dried out a little. Thank you, Ana, for making straightforward plans that gave me the confidence to do my first woodworking project!
Andrea in Michigan
I built these chairs last summer, they came out amazing! Everybody loves them! Thank you Ana. I also built the sofa for my sun room. Pictures to come.
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 08:18
My husband made 4 of these with some slight modifications like rounded arms and back.
However the best function he added were 2 wooden wheels he attached to the back legs, we now can move these chairs easily on our deck.
Our goal was to make them look like well worn beach chairs, we used milk paint for that effect. It still lets the grain show through.
My husband built me a potting bench and I painted it with leftover house trim paint. We did make it several inches wider and added a middle 2x4” under the top surface slats to help with bowing boards. I added iron hooks for tools. Love it!
As part of my backyard overhaul I've added an outdoor shower and chalkboard against the wall of the house. There's also a small sand pit and deck area, so the shower comes in handy to wash the dirty feet. I had a few pallets sitting under the deck for years and finally put them to use. Some cuts here and there and some sanding and they look great. For the floor mat I just cut the pallet piece you can see in one of the photos in half and framed it with treated 2x4". The chalkboard is a plain sheet of 2x4' project board primed and painted several coats with flat black exterior paint. I used this over the 'chalkboard' paint because it's exterior grade. It works great, even better than chalkboard paint imo. The frame is made of the cut slats of the pallet, just glued and nailed on. The fence also is a cut pallet. I just made random cuts about half way through on varying angles which resulted in two mirrored halves of the pallet. They fit the space perfectly. I love the random look of it and may give it some paint eventually.
I'm a high school teacher and like flexible seating. I needed something that is very sturdy and can take a beating from teenagers. I used Ana's "2x4 Outdoor Sofa" plan, made it longer, added some extra braces, and here it is! My new classroom couch.
Julie Stanfill
My daughter needed a loft bed to give her more floor and storage space in her bedroom. I modified the original plans to fit her twin XL bed, which is 5 inches longer than a regular bed. I also added an extra 2x6 across the back two posts for extra support.
Cutting and assembly was relatively easy; I glued every joint and used pocket holes per the instructions. I sanded using 80, 120 and 220 grit. The finish is a Minwax "parchment" water-based stain, with 3 coats of Polycrylic. All pocket holes were pre-drilled prior to finishing.
I assembled the platform and footboard in the garage and brought it into the house as a single unit; same with the headboard. I brought in the rails separately. To assemble, I marked 1 1/4 inches from the outside post edges, and used wood scraps/clamps to align and hold the rails while securing them with pocket hole screws.
My daughter's mattress is very high; it rises only about an inch below the top of the top rail. So I build a bed-length shelf which also had the added benefit of providing a little more height/protection against her rolling out of bed in the middle of the night (see pics).
In all, I was surprised at how long this took me. Probably because I'm a novice and this was only my 2nd project. The totals are:
- Cut and assembly: 14 hours
- Sanding: 25 hours
- Finishing: 2 days
After finishing, I left all pieces in the garage for 5 days to air-out before bringing into the house.
Total cost the lumber was $125, 1 qt stain @ $13, 1/2 gal Polycrylic @ $50 per gal, and $20 hardware for a total of just over $200.
Tue, 03/15/2016 - 22:17
I am curious what your mattress size was here, please educate me as I think I will have a similar issue. I liked the shelf idea you did!
In reply to mattress size by mariad444
Wed, 09/23/2020 - 13:52
My mattress size was twin XL.
Thu, 04/09/2020 - 09:05
Nice job! Did you add just 5 inches to the length, making it 8'5"?
In reply to Nice job! Did you add just 5… by cmt2012
Wed, 09/23/2020 - 13:56
Yes, all I did was add 5 inches to the length. In hindsight I should have measured her room because the total length including the steps is about 3 inches short of the room... great, it fits, but alot of "things" drop through the slot like socks, candy wrappers, etc. Good luck!
Since I didn't clean off all the lumber print prior to assembling, I decided to prime and paint the chairs.
entryway shelf plans
A fun project to make ending with a functional product to boot! I went all out making sure that each truck/shelf would coordinate with each grandson's theme/decor in their bedrooms. Chase, who will turn one next month, has a super heroes/comics theme for his room. Therefore, I selected Captain America as the star of the big rig shelf. Red, white & blue paints, some wooden shapes and some creativity and Captain America was ready for Mr. Smiles.
I used the Master Closet system plans with a slight modifcation for the slanted cellings
I changed the plan to match the mattress and it looks great!
Project for corner of stair landing at my house. Made in an afternoon using poplar wood -- no finish, only water based matte finish polycrylic. No plan used, please let me know if you would like plan supplied.
This build is a gift for a friend who is retiring. It is made from scrap wood and left over finishes, so the only things I had to purchase were the moulding, hinges and “bling”.
Used Georgia’s Jewelry Box plan, with these mods: made it a little longer with no overhangs; added stop moulding trim around the top and bottom; added some lattice squares for “feet;” added a small sliding tray in aromatic cedar (1/4” cedar closet lining for the tray, stop moulding for the rails), and some self-adhesive rhinestone flourishes (found these at Michaels).
This would be an afternoon build. The finish took longer than the build - probably 2 or 3 hrs (filling, sanding, painting, and attaching the hinges and “bling”). It took me much longer to decide how to decorate it, than it did to actually build it ;)
Some squares of sticky-back felt were also added to the bottoms of the feet.
I’m very pleased to say that this gift was a big hit!
Fri, 10/31/2014 - 15:24
Thank you for the nice comment! :) I might build some more of these for Christmas gifts.
:)
Loved building this recycling center. Basically made three cabinets from the plans and then attached them together. Now the dog can't get in the trash and the recycling and empty cans don't gather in the counter and it looks great! I used piano hinges for the doors which makes them feel much more stable.
More difficult build then I'm used too. Modified it to fit a full mattress but I think it turned out great! It's a lot cheaper to build than most Murphy beds to purchase out there on the market. Enjoyed these plans. Thank you Ana!
We loved the Modern Adirondack Chair pattern so much that we adapted it to have a matching love seat. It turned out beautifully!
Tue, 07/06/2021 - 17:08
Did you have to add any additional supports or just make the horizontal supports and seats/ backs longer?? Love this so much!
Tue, 08/31/2021 - 14:04
Yes, I added additional supports underneath. Two 2x4s going running along the 1x10s.
I really enjoyed making this plan. Only disappointment was the red stain finish I chose, live and learn.
The plans were helpful and accurate!!
Another thing I goofed up on and learned was on the 45's on the legs, I cut along the length instead of the width at first, wasted a 2x4 lol That was a good lesson to learn though. Shouldn't happen again any time soon...
This is our 20-year-old bathroom vanity, retrofitted to resemble the Napoleon Sink Console. This old cabinet is the standard builder size from the 90’s -- 30” wide x 29 ½” tall x 21” deep – fits a 31” x 22” sink top. The 2 outside drawers are working drawers, and the 2 inside are faux (just fronts). It was a weekend project. Since the sink stayed in place, I had to figure out something for the drawers to slide on. I had 3 sticks of ¾” x ¾” S4S in the garage, so I used these and fashioned a frame to hold the drawers, and also used it on the sides of the drawers as slides (figured the frame out as I went along). I used up some scrap 1x12 to cut the drawer faces and supports at the inside back of the cabinet. Since the space was so tight, I used some scrap 1x2 as bracing attached to the original frame, and attached the added face frame to that. The doors are ½” x 1 ½” craft board and ¼” birch plywood. The drawers are 3/8” x 3 ½” craft board with some ¼” plywood on the bottoms. I re-used the existing hinges and used some knobs from a multi-pack (available from Target) and some left over paint that was on hand. I bought about $30 of materials in addition to my scraps.
Now that I’ve got this one under my belt, it’ll be easier to do this in the other 2 bathrooms. I’ll probably use some 1x2’s instead of the s4s if I have to go out and buy the materials for the next one, it’ll just have slightly different measurements.
