Community Brag Posts

Hello There! 

This was my attempt at the Family Tree Nesting Birds sign that Ana made. I ended up painting everything instead of doing the foam for the leaves, but I just love how it turned out! I used old pallet wood instead of new lumber and gave it a really good sanding before staining and painting.

Gave it to my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas, and it was a huge hit!

Thanks Ana!

I used the Ana White Farmhouse Table plans.  I made the matching bench with a backrest.  For the top of the table and the bench seat I used a royal plum stain.  I'm female, 54 years old and I do woodworking "Like A Girl".   Enjoy

My daughter needed a simple desk for her room. I had leftover purebond plywood from another project and a bunch of 2x4 scraps from the Reuse Hawaii store. This made for an inexpensive desk. I based my desk off the simple trestle desk but made changes as needed to accommodate my materials. I used the plywood as the desk top and added some 3/4 flat trim around the edge. I used a 2x4 instead of a 2x6 to attach the legs to the table.

This was a quick project and my daughter loves the fun color!

I made this desk for my sister ( it is 3 metres long - sorry I am an Aussie dont know what that is in inches).

I glued 3 metre radiata pine together, planed, sanded, stained and varnished with polyurethane.

I made 4 sawhorses and then joined two of them together to make shelves.

Very happy with the result

My boys had been begging me for bunk beds, but they were all so expensive! These were easy to make. I made these while my husband was away for military training. There are a lot of comments stating that you need more wood. And you do. The shopping list doesn't account for the 64" side rails. I ended up buying 11 of the 1x4 boards and that took care of everything with minimal left over. Lets see....what else...oh! When you are bolting the beds together, make sure you put a screw where there is another rail to catch it. The screws listed are long enough to go through the posts.. I had a lot of fun making these beds. My boys love it. I love this site and will be looking for more projects to get into!

     These were built to demo the Sunday Trinket Box plan using 3 different wood types – 1/2" thick craft board, 1x scrap wood, and cedar 1x.  On the 2 that I made with 1x boards, I used some ¼” hardwood plywood scrap for the inner lids, which kept the top nice and light and worked very well.  I think I prefer this for the inner lid when working with the 1x material and would recommend that for the build.  My craft room work table looked like a mad scientist’s laboratory with all the cans and tubes of finishes I’ve been trying out, and projects at different levels of completion.  

     The craft board box is finished with 1 coat of Rustoleum Stain + Poly in Walnut (the kind in the tube, I had picked this up at Michaels to try it out), and 3 coats of gloss polycrylic.  The radiata pine craft board took this stain really well, even without wood conditioner.   The inner lid for this one is the same ½” craft board used for the box.   The pull for this one is a rectangle of cedar, with a light coat of Varathane stain + poly in Walnut, and a coat of gloss poly.   Cost:  Wood:  $8.47 for craft boards, Finish:  $0 (used finishes already on hand).

     The scrap wood box is finished with 3 coats of Clark & Kensington semi-gloss in Crushed Peanut, a stencil design added on the front in gold craft paint, and a DIY pull made from a ¾” wide “slice” of the ½” thick craft board, topped with a scrap of ¼“ x 1 ½” poplar craft board, super-glued and pin-nailed together, and finished with 2 coats of gold craft paint and 2 coats of gloss polycrylic.   The pull is attached with crystal clear super-glue.  Cost:  $0 for wood (scrap), $0 for finishes (left over), $4.99 for the stencil (which I am re-using) and $4.99 for a pkg of 4 stencil sponge brushes (also re-using these).

     The cedar 1x box is finished with 3 coats of gloss poly. The knob is another DIY – a ‘slice’ of the 1x cedar, topped with some ¼” aromatic cedar, glued and pin nailed together.  This received 1 coat of Rustoleum Walnut Stain + Poly on the top part and 2 coats on the bottom part, topcoated with 2 coats of gloss poly, and was super glued to the top.  The inner lid for this one is a piece of ¼” plywood, glued and clamped in place.  The front design re-uses the stencil, in the same Rustoleum Walnut as the pull.   Cost:  Wood: about $5 worth of a cedar 1x8 (cut down to size on the table saw).  Finish: $0 since the finishes were already on hand. 

    These were a super easy and quick build – I built and sanded all three in an afternoon.  I’m sure the finishing could all be done in a day too, but I spread mine out a few minutes here and there as I had time to work on them, while changing my mind several times on the pulls and embellishments.  These were all given as gifts.

This was just the right table design for our history home built in 1880! Love the plans and easy to build!

I saw this serving tray on Ana's site and it looked like I could build it with the wood and materials I had laying around in the garage. Other folks had made some nice versions of the tray also, and it looked like something we could use around the home.
I was right on all accounts, except I had to spend about $1.50 for the 3/4" dowel.

The overall dimensions are 27" x 131/2". Tray dimensions are 21" x 12"

The frame is attached to the tray with countersunk 1.5" wood screws and buttons covering the holes. I added the brass round-head screws to each corner to give it an industrial look. Glue was used only on the dowel handles and the buttons. Otherwise no glue.

I also distressed the top edges a bit to give it a used look. With time it will get is own look but this is a star

I changed the plans a little bit to add on the extra shelf on top as well as making the shelves an inch narrower than the plans. The project was actually pretty easy and really only took me about a days worth of work.

My husband and I built this together.  It was a fun project!

We needed some sturdy side tables since we have 3 boys who like to climb. I saw these and thought they'd do well at our house. I will say that next time I make any sort of table I will invest in some better wood. I got the cheaper wood and found out that getting it to be square was a problem. But I made it work. I would have liked to stain them but I ended up having to paint them because there were some gaps on the top I had to fill.

This was my bed handed down by two other siblings growing up a number of years ago. It is a Jenny Lind which I cut the foot board in half, attached to the head board, used the side rails for the frame on the front and sides and attached with my Kreg Jig. The underside frame was from left over pine trim from a window project and the seat was from leftover paneling from a bathroom remodel. I painted the bed with a satin black spray paint and left the seat as is.

I love this plan. I made this for my toddler and he loves it! My daughter is too small to climb on but she's always trying. She loves it too.

I made a bench from head/foot boards left from a bed I made many years ago that was taking space in our shed. When I searched for trestle table diy, I knew this was just what I was looking for. Thank you for sharing your ideas!

This is my first ever build using Ana White's awesome plans! I stuck to the plan mostly, but used 4.5 lag screws and joist hangers like others had suggested. Oh, I also used a 2 inch board in the middle of the headboard and footboard, since my HD only carried 7.25" 2 X 8's. I had a couple of hiccups.....the headboard fell down in my garage and some boards got tweaked out of place, but I think I was able to sufficiently cover up the aftermath with wood filler and paint :D I really wanted to do this project by myself (sort of a "I am woman, hear me roar!" kind of thing, but it would've been a lot easier to have a helper.....just some advice :)

Really liked Ana's 20 second tidy up table, and wanted to try to have something like this for my son. Then saw the activity table at RH and tried to replicate it down to the exact same finish. Made small changes here and there such as adding 4 individual drawers, different wood dimensions, etc. He loves it and uses it lots for his Thomas the Train Set. Thank you again Ana.