Community Brag Posts
Hutch
I built this hutch from Ana's book. I made a few modifications to the plans. The stained top and stained back planks are from reclaimed wood. If you build this hutch be sure to choose white knobs. I my opinion, its what makes those hutch pop. If anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer them. - Brad
Comments
In reply to WOW by Ana White Admin
Wed, 06/12/2013 - 18:15
Thank you Ana. I love your
Thank you Ana. I love your book and your website :)
Tue, 10/28/2014 - 07:25
If you can help..
Hello! I am currently building this console table and hutch. At the moment, I am stuck on attaching the console legs to the side aprons. The legs are not sitting flush with the side aprons. Did you have this issue with your 2x2's when attaching them to the side aprons? If so, how did you fix this issue? The directions say to attach flush to the aprons but mine won't be flush on both sides, only one.
TeXas Kitchen Island
This kitchen island should be your next project. My wife wanted me to build an island for so long, but I never thought I had the skill to get it done. I can truly say this was only my second woodworking project and it was pretty simple. I learned a lot along the way and made a modification to the drawer rails. The key to my success was the Kreg jig. In the end it was a blast to build and I couldn't have done it without Ana's plans.
The rolling kitchen island is the central point of the kitchen now, even though we have 75'sf counter space to use. It seems to be used by everyone in the family whether it's getting something out of the fridge or using it for serving. Well worth the effort..
MODIFICATIONS: I made two small modifications to the project.
One was the casters. Instead of the plate casters I installed threaded stem casters with a T-nut in the bottom of the legs. The casters are adjustable so it's easy to keep level. The second mod was the drawers. I initially built the drawer with wood rails, but was not happy with the drawer falling to floor, if you pulled it out to far. Living in a humid climate, I could see the original rails swelling and then the drawer would be hard to operate. My solution was to add metal rolling sliders. I had to remove the 2 x 2's on inner cabinet and the 1 x 2s on the drawer itself. I added 1 x 2s on the inner cabinet, mounted 12" metal sliders ($5)) on the 1 x 2s and screwed the other half of slider on bottom of drawer. It may require a small shim behind sliders to make it fit perfect though. I provided photos of this mod. My drawer works perfect now. There is no dragging, no falling out and no wear.
Distressed finished:
Paint; Behr Ultra, Cream color, lightly sanded with spec. walnut stain over paint then 3 polyurethane coats. Top had 4 light coats of poly coat.
Hall Tree Storage Bench
Hi Ana! This project was pretty much inspired by ALL the great things you build on this site, as well as from watching a 'Fixer Upper' marathon (hence, the white color and shiplap). Last Christmas, I promised my sister that I'd build her a hall tree since she's now up to 10 grandkids and needed more hooks for all those coats and hats. Unfortunately, I also came down with a WICKED case of vertigo, so no power tools for yours truly. : (
Well... The vertigo finally cleared up, so it was time to get out my trusty ol' Kreg Jig and fire up the tools.
This project started with 2 4x4s. I cut 17 1/2" off each, then used the long pieces as the back and the sort pieces as the front legs. Then I built a rectangle (shored up by some cross supports) out of 2x3s and used those to attach the back legs together with pocket holes. I did the same thing with the 2 front legs, then attached the 2 sets of legs together with shorter pieces of 2x3s that framed up the side.
Next, I added a front to back support to the underside, and then attached the bottom of the seat on top of that. I built the front, back, and side pieces of the bench section by cutting a couple of 8' x 8" x .5" planks to size, and attached 2 pieces to each side by gluing and nailing them to the frame. Then, I rans some shiplap up the back (glued and nailed to the back frame) and topped it all off with a mantle.
For the seat, I used a 12" project board ($11 at Lowes for a 6 foot section) because I love all the knotty details and nail marks. I framed it out with 1x1 and attached with pocket screws on the underside. I finished that piece by staining it in Rustoleum Dark Walnut.
As for the rest, I just framed the shiplap section with leftover 1x1s, then sanded and stained the whole piece with the same Dark Walnut stain (so that something would show through after distressing). Finally, I applied 2 coats of Rustoleum Linen White Chalk Paint (LOVE that stuff!), distressed it, and topped with one coat of Minwax 1 Coat Poly (ALSO love that stuff), and added some hardware and country do dads from Hobby Lobby (Rustic Hooks, 'Bless This Home' Sign, Decorative Doorknob, and "Mitten Clip" for wet mittens and gloves coming off little hands) . What do you think? ヅ
Paper Roll Dispenser
This took me about 20 minutes! I love the look of it and that it can just be left out when the kids aren't doing art. A great little item to add to keep the kids busy and inspired. I made a couple of mods from the plan. I used glue and nails instead of pocket holes and I did that bottom board flat instead of on it's side. I also used a little bigger dowel, and bought two rolls of paper on Amazon for $14.I'm giving this to my daughter for her birthday with some fun art supplies, so I think it's a great gift idea for any occasion for those crafty people out there!
Doll House Bookshelf
My first project from this website. Made it for my daughter's first birthday! Had a fun time with it. Caulked the joints for a cleaner look, it came out great.
Princess Castle bed with storage
Our daughter has a very small room. She also LOVES disney princesses. So I wanted to build her a princess castle bed.... but how do you fit a castle bed in a 9x11 bedroom?
There were some plans on Ana's site (good plans), and others on-line. But many of these plans had the bed on the TOP of the castle, and we were concerned with her trying to make her way down if she needed to in the middle of the night.
She also loves her Disney princess canopy bed that she has now... so if I could somehow build the castle around that bed, we'd be set. Which is exactly what we did.
I reviewed several pictures online, and then designed this bed with Sketchup (I LOVE that tool).
There is storage in the stairs, in the towers on the front down below, and in the back up on top. I also put rope lights inside around the ceiling over her bed for that 'Night light Princess glow."
There is also enough room on top for her bed if she wants to put it up there at some point in the future.
The idea for the decoration came from another poster who simply used the Vinyl Disney princess wall decals.
She loves it. Plus its big enough for daddy to read stories to her up in the loft at bedtime!
I've posted the plans on the sketchup warehouse... here is the link...
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=65f7fb029052c660cb6c…
If you can't find it with that search the sketchup warehouse for 'castle bed.'
Comments
Sat, 07/27/2013 - 16:17
Well done!
Nice work. We worried about the height for our three year old, and if I were to build another (hah!) I would definitely make it lower. Carpeting the stairs is a good idea, I think I'm going to do the same. You've done well to cram everything into a small footprint. We're house-shopping now, and the tape measure comes with us. Gotta have 2.8m in the kid's room! Decals are great. My daughter went off hers for a while - nothing breaks your heart like a kid saying they want to give away something you worked really hard to build, even if you know they don't mean it. My wife put on some big wall stickers of a tree with squirrels and birds and suddenly she's in love with it again. Princess indeed (eyeroll).
Sat, 07/27/2013 - 20:53
Thanks- it was fun and the next project is..
Interesting your commented today :-) I am doing a similar project for my son for his 3rd birthday (this weekend) making a Lightning McQueen garage for his Ligthning McQueen bed...
Thanks for your comments... the castle project was fun. Its been fun to be able to even do these things now that I've visited Ana's site. And yes- I know its going to be a bummer when they no longer want the castle, or the garage (I had my son's bed in his garage tonight and not knowing better he hopped on the bed and jumped and bumped his head bad... now he's scared to have the bed in the garage- AND ITS NOT EVEN DONE YET!)
Thanks again..
Wood Deck Chairs
This was my first solo build project and my first time using a power saw. I was terrified but determined because I've been wanting to make these chairs for years. After failing to convince my husband to make them for me, I decided to make them myself and I am so glad that I did. I am so proud!
I fell in love with the fabric first (Premier Prints' Suzani Chocolate and a striped fabric called Veranda Chocolate for the bottom) and then picked a stain to match. I chose to reinforce the sling by sandwiching the outer fabric with a layer of heavy duck fabric. I also made pillows, which protect your head from that upper wood support.
Also, I ordered some special connecting bolts and nuts made by Rockler that someone else mentioned in their brag post. Unlike the hardware mentioned in the original plan, these bolts are flush with the frame on both the inside and out so the chairs can fold completely flat. Here are the links to them on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Statuary-Bronze-Connector-Bolts-8-Pack/dp/B001DT3…
http://www.amazon.com/Cap-Nuts-Connector-Bolts-pack/dp/B001DT3G9O/ref=p…
The inner frame did need slightly larger holes (3/8 inch, I believe) to accommodate the cap nuts.
Comments
Fri, 05/22/2015 - 09:43
Beautiful!
These are just beautiful. Nice job! Thanks for such a nice write-up with all the additional hardware information.
Second Rustic X Console table build
After being forced to sell my first build by an admirer, I decided to do another and distress it rather than stain it. Turned out really nicely.
Barnwood wall
Dear Ana White: Please stop posting cool - “must do” projects on your website … you’re killing us.
After we saw Ana White’s posting for her pallet wall http://ana-white.com/2015/02/free_plans/pallet-wall-hgtv-saving-alaska , we knew we had to augment our guest bedroom with this concept.
Before we began this project, we really didn’t have any idea how expensive “rustic” was or how complex “random” could be.
Mostly, we used 1 type of reclaimed barn wood and stained it with 3 different colors as well as using the natural un-weathered side to add color contrast. For added variety, we used some leftover reclaimed barn wood from a previous project spattered throughout the design.
This was really a fun project. Barn wood is very forgiving and user – friendly. Each piece of barn wood is unique in itself, very much like a snowflake, from being weathered in the elements.
We finished the room off with closet sans door, picture frame & nightstand.
The GOOD news is that we are now out of reclaimed barn wood and we can’t build anything else.
Thanks, Ana! You have helped us make our guest bedroom a special place for our visitors.
Leaning Ladder over toilet shelf
Built this for one of my children for Christmas!
farmhouse table
All natural table for six. We changed it a little using 4 x 4 for the legs and 2 x 4 for the sides.
Husky Farmhouse Table
This is one of my favorite pieces on Ana's site. I knew the minute I laid eyes on it I had to build it. I hope you guys enjoy it half as much as I do.You can read the full details of the build at my blog here:
Comments
Thu, 06/20/2013 - 16:00
Gorgeous table!
Love this! You did a wonderful job, and the finishes are awesome! Also I read your blog post, what a great idea to give a new life to those bedposts and use them for your table legs.
Squared2 Full-size Headboard
This is from Ana's Squared2 headboard plans. I made it for my Mom and she loves it. I adjusted the width to fit a full size bed by taking a few inches off each side. I found some right angle clamps at an estate sale that were invaluable in putting all this together. It would be very tricky getting everything just square and lined up with just regular clamps. I was worried about it being a little flimsy with all the small pieces, but it seems pretty sturdy.
Bird's Mouth Votive Candle Holder
My wife asked for a homemade votive candle holder for the holidays. Searching online, I found that the general design concept is a board with holes in a straight line. Since the desired design is for a holiday centerpiece on a table, I chose an octagon shape. We think it turned out very nice! My kids even gave it a "that's pretty cool" which is an upgrade over their comments on my previous projects :).
Bench
Loved making this instructions were so simple. I love how it shows how much wood and what cuts are needed
Comments
Lego Table with matching end tables
This is the lego table my husband & I made. It was a fun project to build & we liked it so much we had to make some end tables to match. We used the same design just scaled everything down for the end tables. Making them was no problem but painting them was a different story. We started out with a latex primer & paint, & found out that was a mistake. The latex paint is just too soft for furniture. So we went out & got some oil base paint and sprayed them. With lots of sanding & repainting we finally got them done.
My first DIY project
I was inspired to try this after reading all the comments and being discouraged by the high price and poor quality of commercial sandboxes. We followed the instructions and it was super easy! I'm a complete novice, so if I can do it, anybody can.
After cutting the wood and sanding it, it only took about three hours to assemble the sand box. I then primed and painted it the next day taking about 3-4 hours. We also attached a landscaping barrier to the bottom with a staple gun to prevent weeds from growing through the sand. We used 10 bags (50 lbs) of play sand, but you could get by with less.
So far, it's been a big hit with my three-year-old son.
Simple Outdoor Dining Table
This was my very first project wood building project. I was very pleased with how it turned out. It's not perfect, but I have learned some tricks for my next project.
I wanted the older look, so the top planks are all boards cut from pallets (not very easy to take the pallets apart). The rest of the wood was purchased, with the legs cut from treated wood.
All parts were coated in 2-3 coats of spar varnish.
Skill level, I would say is intermediate, with the lining up all of the separate boards and the pocket holes making it a little harder than beginner project, in my mind. BUT, remember that is coming from someone who has never built anything.
Time was a little longer because of using the wood from the pallets. Removal from the pallets was difficult and time consuming. The boards then required extensive sanding, and then several coats of spar varnish before building to be sure that ALL surfaces were covered, since the wood was not treated.
Very glad that I did it. I like the imperfect top (most of it), with the nail heads down the middle (not functional, just kept them from the skids), and the worn top.
I completed the project myself, with a little help from my dad at the end, putting the legs on. Just using screws didn't sound strong enough, and the bolt locations were a little tricky with the locations of the pocket holes on the inside.
Plan to make a bench, next, but maybe not the matching one. I think a project with fewer cuts and attachments is next in my future.
Comments
Fri, 06/05/2015 - 14:17
Great job!
This looks super! Love the pallet boards on the top, and how you preserved the old wood look. Congrats on your first project!
Mars Map
This was a time intensive gift made for the husband for Christmas. Found a really cool Mars Map that's in print here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/387457074/mars-map-8x8-letterpress-redwhit…
That we saw in store at the amazing Boys Fort in Portland. Decided it might be cool to make a wood wall hanging from it, and woodburn the image.
Traced image onto wood with graphite paper, then took versatool from Michael's and woodburned for the next 20,000 hours : ) It was a ton of work, but in the end, a completely one of a kind, personalized gift that I know he'll love on his office wall. Real conversation piece. Cool stuff!
Christmas Stocking mantle
I made 2 different-sized mantles, one for my daughter’s house (taller and wider) and one for mine.