Community Brag Posts

I liked the apothecary plans and loved the look. My wife really liked it and needed somewhere for our daughter to keep her toys. For our anniversary I told her I would redesign it and make it as she liked. This is what we came up with and I think it turned out great. We used full overlay door to prevent the visible lines on the original and are really happy with the results.

We were replacing the floors in our house so we decided to build a closet mud room. We used the plans for the smiling mudroom and altered them slightly. We didn't end up building the partitions because the left and right seats would have been too closed in. We installed bead board on the back wall and used moulding on the shelf and bench. The only hard part was that we had to actually assemble the shelves and bench in the closet because they wouldn't have fit in once built! The Kreg Jig was extremely helpful and well worth the purchase.

this was the second table built using Anna's fancy x plan. The first used regular 2x6 pine boards for the top and was given to my son for a housewarming gift. This second I built for my wife and changed up the top by using 1x6 pecan we had milled and then I planed down myself. The outer edges were left with a live edge to give it more rustic character. I used slotted "L" shaped metal about 6" long to secure the top of the table to the supports underneath, to allow for any expansion in the boards. I recently made a new kitchen island to match.

The Breakfast Nook is a small space with doors on either side.  The Bar-Stools are a little bit "higher than normal" and they have an obtrusive arm.  Very comfortable for sitting; but, cannot have an apron on a table or bar.  Needed room for 2 stools on each side.

To meet all these requirements, end up with a table that's long-ish, narrow, and tall.  Desired dimensions:  58 L x 28 W x 36.25 H.

Problems:  (1) worried about it being "wobbly" (tall & could not have an apron on the length); (2) needed to fit those bar-stools between the legs.

Solution:  I "merged" the plans for the Farmhouse Table with elements of the Truss Beam table for structural integrity.

Top is typical:  used pocket-hole jig / screws (Kreg) to join three 2 x 10's.  Final Width:  27.75".  Cut even with straight-edge and framing saw (used a 60 T Fine-finish blade - nice!).

Set the end stretchers into the legs; attached with brown-colored deck screws.  Attached length-wise stretchers to the end stretchers with deck screws.  Could have used pocket-holes; but, this way, it's symmetrical and everything matches.

Added 45 degree supports for stabililty - used combination of pocket-holes and deck screws.

Base is sized so that top has a 1.5" overhang all-round.  

Attached the top to the base with pocket-holes / screws - to top end stretchers and legs, and top length-wise stretcher.

I built the farmhouse table and needed a farmhouse bench to match. The building plan helped make it so simple and I couldn't have done it without the inspiration of Ana White. I used leftover 4x4"s for the legs and then pretty much followed everything else that the building plan said.

I've tried to document better at: http://www.tommyandellie.com/Site/Home/Entries/2011/6/14_Farmhouse_Benc…

Modern Farmhouse Dining Room Table (with pocket hole) and 2x4 chairs with plans reposted from morelikehome.net.

Surfed the site for the right plans and dove right in. Thank you for the inspiration all!

My brother and I built this table in about 4 hours over two days (finishing took longer) shortly after I purchased my first house. We needed a dining room table, and everything was super-expensive that we liked, so I luckily came across Ana's site and found this bad boy. I had never built anything in my life, but my brother had a little woodworking experience and, very importantly, some tools, so I ordered the legs from Osbourne Wood, got the rest from Home Depot and got building! We've gotten so many compliments on it. Thanks, Ana!

This table was fun to build, but took me a looonng time. Things I learned doing this project: First, when the pros tell you something can be put together in a few hours, they do not mean for mere mortals. Second, good staining really requires you to know your wood. I had several pine boards with a very pink undertone that made it impossible to get the color I wanted. I had to restain this twice. Third, this console table can support at least 130 pounds! 

Inspiration for this project came from the original Restoration Hardware table's price, which was way out of our budget. We found the plans on this site, and then the brag post from http://tommyandellie.com/?p=2582, which convinced me to give it a try when we moved to our new house.
I pulled some ideas and techniques from a couple of different areas - one was the idea from American Woodworker to use a straight-edge and a router to joint the edges of adjacent boards so they match perfectly, or as close to perfect as possible (see one of the pictures). After a few false starts it worked out very well.
One other big change was to use 4x4 pieces for the legs and cross-braces - especially on the long cross-brace. With two kids (6 and 3) and a third on the way, I knew they would want to crawl under the table to play, and sit on the beams - and I was afraid a 2x4 wouldn't hold up to their weights. I've VERY happy with the result - that base is not moving or flexing at all.
Finally, I learned a TON about what NOT to do! Apparently after doing the dry fit and having everything fit well, you should not sand the parts of the boards that fit together or suddenly they will be loose! Also, wiping off the stain after the suggested amount of time IS a good idea, after all! Finally, we ended up using pine boards with fir 4x4's, and I wish we had used all fir as I think the grain pattern was nicer.
All in all, though, it was a great experience and I can't wait to tackle another project!

We were looking to make a king size storage bed in the farmhouse style, but couldn't find anything that was exactly what we wanted, so we stole pieces from several plans and ended up with this! 

Farmhouse Media Center

Good plans and easy construction. Thanks!

So This project was a little harder than I anticipated, but thanks to Anas' Rhyan nightstand plans as well as Kimbers project on the "not so Rhyan nightstand" I was able to get these done. A special thanks to Kimbers for several consult emails as well as some tips on getting materials at cheaper prices!!

I often got cheap material in the scrap area of the orange box. There actually was some good stuff there if you go early and get it before the contractors do! 1/4 sheet of 3/4" birch plywood for 4.01$

For this project I used the rattle can. I've had it suggested to me for other projects but was never willing to try it. It worked really well. No brush strokes but the down side is that it hid nothing!!!

Bathroom mirror made from 1 by 6s and a 24 inch by 20 inch plain mirror.

A few 2x4’s and some old fence boards. 

Danish oil - walnut. 

My wife and I picked this out as our first somewhat complex piece from Ana's site to make. Most of the table is made from left over 1x4s I had from a fence we made. I only needed 2 1x12s as we didn't make the drawers as deep.

Because I cut down the 1x4s for the legs (and didn't examine the plans in detail first) I made them 3 inches wide when the ones in the plan are only 2.5 inches wide. This made for a few adjustments, such as the middle two drawers being a bit narrower.

The fronts of the drawers are normal height, but the boxes are only 4 inches high inside (so they don't fill up with as much junk, lol).

The 1x12s were only 11 inches wide, so I laminated some 1x2s on the sides to make it wide enough.

I think it really turned out well and we're already planning some complimentary pieces for our living room.

Counting the left over wood from the fence it probably cost around $50 including the stain and polyurethane.