Community Brag Posts

Bookcase

Submitted by Mcpotsie on Thu, 12/11/2014 - 15:34

here is my version

Finish Used
Polyurathane
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Front porch planters

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 01/07/2021 - 20:21

Followed your plan but added extra 1 x 2 trim to the sides, feet made from 1 × 3 and 1x 3 trim around the top

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$35 per planter
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Cedar Naturaltone Behr Waterproofing Wood Finish
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Seasonal And Holiday

Mantel Moulding Headboard - Pottery Barn

Thank you for the plans! I love the way my headboard came out! I couldn't figure out how to cut the on piece of moulding to get the angles to work, but I think I resolved the issue nicely with the blocks for it to die into.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$250 - $300
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Farmhouse Table - Wedding Gift for my sister

Submitted by nschric on Mon, 12/15/2014 - 05:31

This was a fun project that my Dad and I had the opportunity to work on together. We were able to locate an old barn that and recently been blown over (farmer gladly told us to take whatever we wanted). We salvaged the wood, hit it with a little sand paper that provided the true rustic farm house look. With some modifications and a biscuit joiner we were able to fit this together. All in all I think I spent a total of $6 on the lag blots for the legs. 

Estimated Cost
$6 and some free wood from an old Ohio Barn
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Unfinished - to be determined later
Recommended Skill Level
Advanced

Play house bed with storage stairs

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/16/2017 - 17:17

Made in 2014 from the playhouse bed plans with the storage stairs as well.

Estimated Cost
$200 for materials + paint +approximately $50 for the bottom bunk we added.
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Primer + paint
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Ana White inspired Wine Rack

Submitted by JameyD on Wed, 01/13/2021 - 10:24

I created this wine rack from an Ana White wine floor cabinet.

Estimated Cost
$450
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Minwax Golden Oak
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

snowflake and Christmas tree from scrap wood

Submitted by CSaintD on Tue, 12/16/2014 - 13:21

I made a couple of decorations from my scrap wood.   On the snowflake, I had some extra parts of 1x2s laying around so sized this down to 20" and used those.  The tree is just a bunch of different types of wood I had left over.  This was really fun to do. 

It took me a little over a day as I had to paint and wait for it to dry before I could assemble.

Thank you for the ideas and plans.

Estimated Cost
Free as I used scrap wood
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Tree - most wood left unfinished, a few painted with craft paint.
snowflake, main body white craft paint with metallic silver on top.
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Comments

Rustic Bookshelf

Submitted by wacman on Sun, 03/19/2017 - 14:10

So, after having built the rustic console and rustic end table, I was staring at the blank space in my room and the stack of books and decided that I could fix two problems with just a slight adjustment of the console plans.  Basically the structure is exactly the same for the top, "legs" and shelves, but then instead of running 2" x 2" trim, I did 1" x 2" and 2" x 4" at the base (mostly to keep the dust bunnies as bay).  The other significant difference is the ends, which I paneled and trimmed out rather than doing the open "X".  And then ran tongue and groove paneling along the back to finish it out.

As with my other rustic builds, I left off the metal trim (again, for now at least) and distressed the top and face with a rotary wire brush.  The texture on the top of this one turned out really wonderful.  I hate to even put anything on top to hide all that grain.  Price was a little more too, mainly for the extra 1" x 12" x 6' and the pack of tongue and groove panel boards.

Estimated Cost
$100
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Minwax Special Walnut with a layer of poly on top
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Hall Tree x2 with Bench

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 01/18/2021 - 10:08

My kids outgrew the original locker I built for them. Plus we have adopted 2 kids through foster care. So my wife asked for a new locker. I found this design on the website and determined we needed 2. Then to make it better we wanted a bench to connect the 2. So I built a 3rd bottom of the locker and adjusted the measurements for the space we had. Turned out amazing.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$300
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Liv's Playhouse Kitchen

Built this play kitchen to go in Liv's new Playhouse, also courtesy of Ana's plans. It's about 1" too wide to sit on the floor so we raised it up on a plank so it rests on the studs. A co-worker told me I can get replacement knobs for the stove at Sears and plan to make a trip there on my next break. The faucet is a real one my mother found in her basement from their bathroom redo. She loves it! We "bake" cupcakes from the sandbox in her new house everytime we're outdoors. She did, however, request a microwave after we'd finished the whole thing! This spring I hope to make one. I see that Pottery Barn Kids sells them for over $50!! You know that's crazy if you've come across Ana's website :)

Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

ACM

Wed, 02/13/2013 - 16:49

This is so adorable! Love the colors. We were thinking of making one for our granddaughter to keep at our house. You've inspired me.

REALLY Chunky Table

Submitted by Slowtwitch on Fri, 12/19/2014 - 23:34

Looking for rustic outdoor table ideas, I came across Ana's website and the Providence Table and benches. When I saw it, I knew this was what we were after. After some more browsing I came across the 4x4 truss beam table and decided to rather go with the chunkier table. Although I’ve done a few woodwork projects, this was the most ambitious to date, especially considering that I only have a few hand held tools.

We live in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa - we work in metric, so all dimensions needed to be converted. Also, our locally available wood sizes are different to timber sizing in the States, i.e. we don't have 4x4 (100mm x 100mm) or 2x4 (50mm x 100mm) available, so it was a bit of a challenge to decide what to go for. In the end I decided to use 75mm x 50mm rough cut treated construction pine. It was cheaper, and I could end up with a REALLY Chunky table if I glued 4 pieces together! In order to do this, I need to amend the plans as if it was made from 6x4 beams.

So I started the process of cutting the 75mm x 50mm timber to rough sizes, gluing the pieces together, sanding the joints, filling the gaps with glue/ sawdust mixture and re- sanding for each member of the table! I took my time with this and did a bit each day after work. It was interesting watching YouTube vids on this build - the guy starts with perfect 4x4 timber pieces, cut them and assemble. For me just to get to the starting point took quite some effort, but I knew I would be very happy with the more chunky look.

Other challenges I did not fully appreciate when deciding on the REALLY Chunky size, was the cutting of these thick pieces of timber using hand held tools and how to join them!! You don’t get very long small drill bits for pilot holes, so ended up using self-drilling screws. Unfortunately the longest length I could find was 120mm (8.66inch) - so I had to counter sink them really deep into the timber - this was quite tricky!

Other things I did were to lower the original design table height as recommended by other builders on this site so I made the table height 750mm (29.5inch). It worked out very well for small children as well for adults (I'm 6ft2). Table length I made 2.4m (approx 8ft). For the table top I used 220mm x 50mm (8.66 x 2 inch) timber, once again due to the restrictions of locally available sizes. I also change the spacing between the legs in order to fit the benches under the table (1600mm opening to fit the 1550mm benches).

For the benches, I once again had to decide what timber sizing to use. I wasn't keen to go through the process of forming 6x4's for each bench member for 2 benches and also felt that it would look just too chunky for the short bench legs. So the design ended up being a hybrid between the providence bench- and the chunkier 4x4 bench design, using 2 pieces of 75mm x 50mm to create 100mm x 75mm (4 x 3.5inch) legs.

Other changes made to the bench design was to make the bench height 450mm (17.7inch), amend the overhangs of the seat, and change the overall length to be able to slide the bench in under the table.

The altered height of the table and benches really worked out well and we sit very comfortably at that table.

We used chalk paint for the finish, but as you can see, we're still deciding on colour choices and final look of the top.

Estimated Cost
$200 - 250
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Grandy console

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/21/2017 - 06:13

I took a different direction on the doors instead of using the barn doors I used old wooden windows in place of them. 

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Adirondack chair

Submitted by Moser on Wed, 01/20/2021 - 19:10

This was my first”big” project beyond doing your blanket ladder and a noodle board. This build was a lot of fun and I have people interested in having me make these chairs for them. Thank you so much for the plans and all that you do. Best wishes for a great New Year

Farmhouse table

Submitted by Miaya39047 on Sat, 02/16/2013 - 21:15

The table took us about 6 hours to cut and put together. The cost was about 65.00. I used the walnut min wood station and did 2 coats. Lots of coats of polycyrlic. Love this table.

Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Hall Tree

Submitted by Texjan on Tue, 12/23/2014 - 12:28

I built this for a friend as a surprise for his wife.  I used hardwoods and took my time.  I recommend using pre-stain conditioner.  The stain used  is Minwax Red Oak.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$320
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Minwax Red Oak
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Children's Farmhouse Table and storage chairs

I built the children's farmhouse table and 4 storage chairs for my 2-year-old twins.  I followed the plans exactly, except the addition of some minor details using my router:  I gave the table top a nice edge using my Roman Ogee bit, rounded the front and side edges of the seats for comfort using a 1.5" roundover bit, and rounded the inner corners of the back on both sides and the top and bottom of the back rests with a 1/2" roundover bit.  I bought a roll of drawing paper from Ikea in the children's section, and it will be attached underneath using a removable dowel so we can pull a sheet of paper out from under the table for coloring or to use as an easy-cleanup paper cloth if they eat at this table with their cousins!

Finish Used
The table and seats were stained using Varathane "Weathered Grey", and the chairs painted using Rustoleum satin paint in "white". I also used 2x coats of Varathane Triple Thick polyurethane on the table top & seats
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Modern Craft Table

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 01/23/2021 - 19:30

My husband just used Ana’s plans to create my Dream craft table.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$250
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Counter Height Pub Table

Submitted by adecesare4 on Mon, 02/18/2013 - 10:59

After searching for a table i liked in stores the ridiculous prices for real quality tables made me just resolve it by building one myself. I have three boys under 10 so i knew I also wanted it to be sturdy and resistant to as much wear and tear as possible. Therefore I chose to use oak for this project...although more expensive it is so much harder and will hopefully last longer :)

ok, so I used some examples that Ana posted and some customer projects and combined them to create this table. I also made stools to match and so thankful I did (another brag post) because they are very sturdy with no tipping factor like regular store bought stools.

I probably spend a total of $600 on the table and 6 stools, but it was swell worth it and you cant buy a table like this in the stores for less than $1200 and that is with crap laminate wood that chips and then its ruined. So I feel this was a smart investment (plus I get the enjoyment and fulfillment of making it )

I did not finish painting the leg portion yet, but love the way it is turning out...I did by the Kreg jig finally as well and it is well worth the investment! so much easy, and secure joints.

Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Rustoleum Traditional Cherry
Minwax Polyacrylic
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Loft Bed

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 03/26/2017 - 19:28

First "big" woodworking project.  A lot of fun and my daughter couldn't be happier 

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Paint
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner