Community Brag Posts

This was my first project. I already had a large ottoman, but it didn't hold anything. So I broke it apart for the box frame, added a bottom and hinged the lid. I was able to reuse the padding and upholster the pieces with sale fabric from Joann Fab ( love that store). Than I attached the fabric with a staple gun. Since it's in my bedroom, I like to keep wedding photos and such inside. Plus my 2 year old cannot open it!

First project for upcoming annual craft show. Guessed on cost as we bought 2x6s and 2x12s on clearance and ripped them down ourselves for a cost savings. Used beadboard for the chalkboard because I got a slightly damaged 4'x8' sheet for just $3.95. Have to say that it's not the smoothest so I'd definitely go with something like luann next time. Still cute!

That last picture shows the second batch I made for the following year. I modified the plan to simplify it for me and use less materials by making it just one-sided.

Gas pump cabinet with bookshelves.

I let my kindergartener  choose the color, so we have a pink sandbox! I live that this has a full lid, as the sand generated a lot of interest from our chickens! Plan egg followed as written, with a few minor detail changes, love it! Note, 320 pounds of sand was a just right amount for this sandbox!

I finally did it! I purchased mattresses for our two girls (2 & 4) which have been just sitting on the floor for a while. Wanting to build some simple frames just to get them off the floor I ran across Ana's site. Oh boy! This site is amazing! We have a small house with very little storage so when I saw the storage daybeds I was smitten! The extent of my power tool comfort zone is dimensional lumber and a compound miter saw. Not plywood and definitely not the table saw, so I was a little leery about starting this project. In the end, I tackled it and am so glad I did! Even used the circular saw! Full disclosure, there's probably nothing square about the thing (see additional photos), but like mulch in your garden, trim covers a multitude of sins! I learned a lot and will take my time measuring and squaring for the next one. Also, as some readers commented, I would prime and do at least one coat of paint prior to assembly (that part was definitely time consuming). I also wanted the storage to go all the way back to the wall so I didn't include the center piece of plywood but instead trimmed down a 2x4 to a ~2.5" width and glue/screwed in into the plywood at the top center under the top piece. So far so good! On the finish, I wanted a distressed finish and started using a dark walnut stain but did not like how much it adhered to the paint as well as the sanded down edges. When I picked my daughter up from pre-school that day they had been doing flower rub pictures. I saw that the centers of the black-eyed susan’s and cone flowers came out a beautiful brown color. So when I got home my daughter and I went out and cut some old flower stems and we finished the other two cubby cubes that way. I think it turned out really well! I didn't end up top coating it with anything, I liked the scuffed up paint look. A big THANK YOU to Ana for doing all this work so we can too!

After finishing the farmhouse queen bed, I was eager to start another project. I needed bedside tables and I came across plans for the mini farmhouse bedside tables. After the building the first one, the second one went much quicker. Very happy with the results :)

Thank you so much for the plans! Very excited for how it turned out!

We modified the farmhouse table and bench to make a table for our daughters apartment. We made the table 54” long which turned out to be the perfect size for the apartments dining room space.  You may also notice we built a dog bowl table to match the farmhouse table style.  Love the design!

OK, first off this is not in any way, shape or form the Ana White plan for the Reclaimed Wood Headboard. However, I had to include a plan link and it IS a headboard made with reclaimed wood. So yea, air quotes. Second, I apologize for the poor quality photos of my recent brag posts. The digital camera is gone so these are iPhone specials. On with it now. This is my quick and dirty way of making a headboard, and kind of cheating. All you're looking at in these photos is some 2X3s and 2X4s around an old door to the root cellar in my basement. That's right, for once my main source of building material was not a pallet. As I took the door off the old rusty hinges and cleaned off the dust and cobwebs it occurred to me that this was probably original to the house from 1920. With that kind of history in mind the only thing I could do was take a saw to it and hack off 18 inches, oops. The 2X3 posts on the side were actually supports for a shelf that was made from a door(more on that to come). That shelf was actually found in the root cellar the door was for, this house has been pretty beneficial to me so far. The 2X4 top is from a pallet and aside from a 2X6 at the bottom to attach it to the bed, that's it. After that it was simply a matter of some oops paint on the trim(that would be the red) and a bit of sanding once it dried. The white is simply the condition the door was in.

I made this little table for my sister-in-law. She needed a specific size to fit in between some bookshelves. She is going to put a lovely fish bowl on top. It cost me about $10 for the wood and paint. I modified Ana's plans for the "simple, cheap and easy console table" to fit the space.

I built a narrower version of the farmhouse table with a few modifications to be used as a temporary dining table, and eventual home schooling desk. I used 5/4 boards for the top and for the apron in order to get a smooth top and have a beefier support. I used a 4x4 for the cross brace with a half-lap to give more support to the stretcher and to stabilize the legs.

I designed this Printer Stand in a style to match the Easy Three Cube Benches I had already created for my craft room.  I built the box out of whiteboard plywood and used good pine 1x2s for the legs and trim.  I added doors made from trim, luaun and sheet metal.  I thought it would be cool to have the doors be magnetic and also chalkboard.  I cut out the door inserts from luaun, then bought an inexpensive piece of galvanized sheet metal, cut the sheet metal to the size of the luaun and glue it on.  Then painted it with chalkboard paint and glued them into the frames.  This project only took a day to build the basic box with trim.  The doors took a little longer, and it took about a week to get it sanded and painted.

Built this for my 2 yr old son. It's adorable!
The only trouble we have is that when he climbs in it wants to tip forward, a weight or stake into the ground on the back cross brace would probably solve it.

I wanted a fairly simple project to get started with, something I could make use of around my home and to help me get familiar with my new power tools - well, this project did the job nicely!
I'm extremely happy with the way the planters turned out and have already had other people asking me about them as they would like some too.
These planters worked out fairly expensive for me as the materials were extremely good quality and very heavy duty in size, I think I could get away with using slightly less robust materials to bring the costs down next time.
I had difficulty finding finials for the planters so I used some wooden turned eggs that I already had from my collection of pyrography blanks.
I can't wait for my next project now which will be a little more ambitious. I absolutely love Ana's website and can't wait to see what else I can make.

Great instructions, easy weekend build.