Community Brag Posts

I used Ana's plans and Hillary's suggestions to build this extra large buffet.  It took probably 25-30 hours if you consider the extra trips to Home Depot and Lowe's because I didn't yet have the proper tools.  I used Annie Sloan's French Linen as my base coat, Old White as my dry brush coat, Annie Sloan Clear Wax throughout and Dark Wax in the crevices.  This was my first big league build, so I had to recruit a skilled neighbor for assistance with the drawers and doors.  My two recommendations would be to ensure the piece is square at every step, and to cut the wood as you go.  Don't make all the cuts at once because there will be adjustments.

I used Ana’s plans to make my queen sized headboard. I used 1x8’s for the verticals and changed the framing a bit to only have one piece of wood on top. I also left out the 2 extra board on the back to save some cost. I glued and nail gunned each vertical piece to the top and bottom 1x4. I attached the assembled center to the 2 posts with pocket screws and small L corner brackets for stability. I also adjusted the height of my project to come to approximately 64 inches tall and the bottom of the inner picture portion, where the mattress reaches the headboard, to just hit the top of that 1x4 so we never have missing objects that have fallen behind the bed. I did use the green pressure treated lumber for the 4x4’s and they stained just fine. I also added a farmhouse style X through the center. I ripped my top 2x6 on both sides to be approximately 5 inches wide, so the rounded edge of the worn lumber is now square. I stained this in minwax dark walnut then went over with a second color coat of minwax classic grey. My apartment isn’t big enough for the sides and foot board but someday if we move, I’ll be able to complete the entire bed set.

Norwegian version.

Wood sizes in millimeters:
Can be bought from Byggmax, Monter or Coop Obs bygg for example.
36x48mm
48x98mm
48x148mm

Lessons learned: Dont buy cheap tools and make sure the wood is straight.

My husband built this bed for our 4 year old son and let me say its just perfect! His room is on the smaller side and this made a huge difference for him to have more play room. When my son seen it his eyes filled up with tears he was so excited! My husband built this bed on a Sunday afternoon. He torched the wood along the grain, and then over a period of a week added clear (he used 3 coats as the wood just soaked it up pretty good ). Highly reccomend this project!

I built my new sofa!
I am so happy how it turned out. I had to translate all the instuctions in french, and modify the dimensions to adapt them to the lumbers I found in my country (France)
I had to change inches in centimeters too.
It was just a little difficult but I built it!!!
Thank you so much Ana, I am one of your fan.

First time I designed a piece of furniture.  Made out of pine.  Slat top and bottom with book shelves on both ends.  Joints held with glue and pocket screws.  Minwax pre-stain conditioner.  Two coats of Minwax Provincial stain.  Three coats of polyurethane.  

I used the plans from the website and added a few extra features that we really wanted .we made the tracks for the sliding doors ourselves and got all the hardware for really cheap. Also, added leds on upper/lower shelving to give to a really cool look at night. All in all, we didn't spend more than $350-$400 on this awesome piece. 

My hubby and I built this for a fundraiser. A few challenges along the way, but lessons learned for future projects!

Built this for a customer of mine. Love this bed, it's our current personal frame also. Paint is behr ultra white. Ty @ana for the plans

Built the console (without the hutch) and my wife wanted another one a little diffrent for the other wall so I modified the plans a bit and made the second one. this was our first "distressed" paint job. I think it turned out great!

My husband built this as my Christmas gift. It couldn’t have turned out any better. We shortened it to 75 inches and added a butcher block top to match the floating shelves and island in my kitchen. The plans were very easy to follow. We did have to spend quite a bit of time planning out the barn door track, but it was worth it.

I loved that I used strapping, or furring strips, for this bead. The topper wood is a 2X4, but every other 8" piece of wood cost between $1.25 and $1.99 each. Yeah! Of course, for that price, you have to know you will be sanding the heck out of it. We had a metal frame for this bed but I wanted a headboard. Because it was going against a wall with a 45 degree angle, I had to make it a lot shorter than I wanted. I made it just tall enough so both pillows, when stacked on top of each other, did not fall off the back. I just love it.

Although I know the original idea for this plan was to save space, I ended up building a bigger version. I loved the design and overall look but wanted something with more counter space. My husband does property maintenance, and is always coming home with scraps of wood he salvaged from work. I dug through his wood pile for 90% of the wood I used on this project. I repurposed most of the accessories and bought the rest (including the hardware) from the dollar store. I spent a total of $38 on the entire project! I absolutely love how it turned out and can't wait to see the look on my daughters face on her birthday!

I kind of took this project to the next level.  I have never built anything like this before, some shelves and minor wood working projects but I wanted this piece to be really special for my wife who requested I make this for our family room.  I made it out of solid poplar and used birch plywood for the sides.  I decided to dovetail the drawers and recess the drawer bottoms.  The entire frame was assembled using biscuits, dowels and glue rather than screws or nails and it took me 6 weeks to complete but I didn't work on it daily.  The project cost me about $450 in materials but it was worth it.  

I wish I had used joined wood for the sides rather than plywood because it did not take stain well (blotchy).  I upgraded the drawer slides to side mounted ball bearing made by Amerock that I got on Amazon for a great price.  The stain was custom mixed from two standard Minwax stain colors I used oil based semi-gloss on the top and water-based semi-gloss on the remainder.  I had some experience with doweling and biscuits but had never dovetailed before.  I purchased the Porter-Cable 4212 kit and opted for the through dovetails for added strength.  The drawers barely needed glue, and it was very easy to use!   I mounted the top using figure 8 fasteners which was another first for me but I highly recommend them.  The hardware I found on Amazon at very reasonable prices compared to big box stores but couldn’t find a silver colored label holder so I purchased brass and used Rust-Oleum Flat Antique Nickle to get them to match the pulls. 

I am a beginner at this but feel that this was a great project there was only one error in the list of materials to cut but other users have already identified that.  I anyone has questions on this project I will be happy to help! 

We built our daughter a cabin bed from the Ana White websit.   Plans were for a twin size mattress and we converted the width to accomodate a full size mattress.  After completing the Cabin bed and installing the full size mattress is when we discovered that the plans have an error in the length of the the cabin bed.  Plans call for 71 inches in length when 75 inch lengths are what all mattresses come in unless you are getting an oversize one which measures 80 inches in length.  The good thing is we purchased a 9 inch memory foam mattress which compressed enough in lenght to fit.