Community Brag Posts

On a rainy morning in early January 2015, my wife and I were sipping our coffees and starting to get ready to take on the day. It was a Saturday morning, so we didn't have to go to work. We had moved into our house about a year ago so a few of our rooms were still a little bare and simply acted as play rooms for our daughter.

I walked out of my office, and looked over to the empty dining room which was immediately adjacent. Coming from a large Italian family, most of my childhood took place around a large dining room table at my grandmother's house outside of Philadelphia, PA. This empty room just didn't seem right. I decided to do something about it.

I remembered walking around Restoration Hardware seeing this amazing farmhouse table that was around $2000. Way out of our price range for a simple dinind room table. It also didn't come with any benches or chairs. It would have cost me around $2600 when all was said and it just gave me some severe heartburn.

I stumbled upon Ana's site here and decided to look around a little. Low and behold almost the exact same table was featured here. After getting over a short panic attack about building a piece of furniture that we would be using quite often I headed to Home Depot, got the materials, some new tools and got to work.

Not only do I think it turned out awesome, it was an amazing stress relief. Two weeks later and bought the Kreg Jig and built a matching bench. These pieces are so solid I could drive my car onto them. Thanks, Ana for the confidence to get this done the right way and save me about $2000.

Onto my next project, a jewelry armoire for my wife's valentine's present.

I tried to follow the plans as well as I could. I had the sheet of plywood and paint already. So I just had to buy the screws and coset rods. It was  around $40 or less! 

This was my first attempt at building furniture, and I could not be any happier with it. Definitely a learning experience for me and my husband, but totally worth it.
It has it's imperfections (some of the shelves are a little lopsided) but I built it!
We desperately needed a new bookcase, and I have the hardest time picking things out.
We are very happy with the results. I saw a similar concept shelving unit in a store for over $100, and it was smaller!

I modified this plan to use wood that I had and also a piece of kitchen counter top that was left over from my daughters new house.  

We used Anna's outdoor Sofa plans, which were very easy to read. For wood, we kept costs low by using pressure treated wood, and staining it with Minwax Colonial Walnut stain. We did use the lumber cutting service at Home Depot- only $15 for the cuts, and it made the project time very quick.  The cushions were from Lowes, and throw pillows were purchased the previous season at Homesense. We are so happy with how it turned out. Thanks, Anna!

Bench was an experiment. Wanted to see how the style looks in the kitchen. The wife loved it, so onto the farmhouse table.

Thanks so much for the plan!

Thanks for the easy to follow plans!

My very first project using the Compound Miter Saw. Easy Cuts. Easy assembly. Cost was about $1.50. I think I am going to make kits (as suggested in the sister plan) for a couple of birthdays coming up!

Papa Dana's version of Mimi's Coat Bench!

This was my first project!  I learned a lot while doing it, and I look forward to building more projects in the future!

Instead of mixing pine and cedar, I used all cedar.  I mounted the panels to the legs flush at the top so that I could add the trim pieces.  Finised with Cedar Timber Oil.

Trim and all cedar increased the price to about $35 each.  Of course cedar prices are really high right now.

When we moved to our 3 bedroom apartment from our 4 bedroom townhome we knew having a place for all my daughter's stuff was going to be an issue. Finding this plan was the answer!! We extended the "porch" so we could put her bookcase up there and her tv. It's her pretty purple princess bed. = )

My husband wanted a table next to the grill and he wasn't going to build one after working on our deck for 2 weeks. I thought to myself maybe I could build one that had a built-in cooler. Of course, my source of inspiration came from Ana White. I had to detour a little from her exact plan to accommodate our need. We had a basement egress window coming right at that corner near the grill so we would need a table that cover that area perfectly to make a good use of space, hence the measurements and plan had to be altered a bit. Ana White’s plan has 2 built-ins, ours has only 1. It turned out great and we enjoyed it ever since. Now if only the weather just got warmer!

My girls originally wanted a bunk bed but I didn't want to give up the storage that comes with the twin bed (it's an Ikea bed that has a lot of storage underneath the mattress). This loft bed was the perfect solution. I chose not to build a ladder as they use the lower bed and window sill, without any trouble, to get to the top. This was my first build.

First I'd like to say THANK-YOU Ana for this incrediable site and for all the work that you do.  You are an inspiration to us all!  

This was my very first project.  I have been stalking this website for about a year working up enough courage to build something - anything for that matter!  Finally my husband bought me a great Drill / Driver for Christmas and VOILA!  I am putting it to great use.  

My son's room is rather small so I opted to eliminate the stair leading up to the landing area and just added a couple of 2 x 4 for him to climb up to the landing area

I love it - He loves it.  Before I could never get him to play in his room or sleep throught the night without coming into our bed at 4am.  Well let me tell you...Since I built this bed last week he sleeps like a charm and actually wont leave his room!  Hhahaha