Community Brag Posts

pallet wood covered sand box

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 02/21/2017 - 12:29

I used the same plans as posted but I tweaked them to work for the pallet wood that I ripped and sanded and stained with outdoor polyurethane. I also moved the short boards in so the box is smaller and added beams to support the bench separate. Because of Florida bugs and ants I also screwed a painting tarp to the bottom and punctured it several times for drainage to try and prevent bugs and weeds. The plans were so simple and I had so much fun making this.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
50$
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Just sanded and clear satin polyurethane outdoors coating. The product will look different depending on the pallet wood used.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Stocking Stand

I paid $5.99 for this entire build... that was the lighted garland! All other materials I had leftover from previous projects. We have extended family for Christmas so 13 people/dogs are here each year. I made 14 'hooks' just in case any family are added, and these were old brushed nickel drawer pulls that I replaced on my kitchen cabinets. I couldn't be happier with the outcome and now I can simply store in the attic each year and not have to use command hangers all of over my walls and mantle. This turned out beautifully!

Quick note: I had to drill into the back for the drawer pulls (hooks) screws because the long screws I had in previous installs wouldn't go all the way through. I predrilled the smaller hole for the screws all the way through then countersank the hole with a bit the size of the screwhead so it would disappear into the 2x4 and come out far enough for the knob to attach.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$6 (used leftover materials)
Estimated Time Investment
An Hour or Two (0-2 Hours)
Finish Used
Mission Oak Stain
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Comments

Master Bathroom

This was a bathroom remodel. We installed new windows new tub new sicks. Made a tub suround and tiled the whole bathroom with marble tile. Lots to watch for on projects like this. Yu need to watch for tile spacing and gettin everything square. Also watch your cuts. Get fast setting mud for yur walls the slower it sets harder it is to go up the wall. Crown molding watch your angles we used cheater blocks in tge corner one thts what the guy wanted and liked. The pillar is fasted into a rough joice and the bottom is also fastend same with to each ends of rhe wall. Then wrap with trim. Its a long process thtll test your patients but yull get it start small and then go big

Estimated Cost
500+
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Stain and high gloss finish
Recommended Skill Level
Advanced

Snowflake

Submitted by ctay on Wed, 11/19/2014 - 19:36

Made this snowflake for my front porch for the holidays. Easy build and inexpensive. 

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
10.00
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Stained dark walnut with white dry brushed over
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Stacy daybed

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/24/2017 - 21:28

Followed the plans exactly. Seems sturdy and looks great. Our exchange student will love her new bed! Thank you!

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

Stocking Stand

Submitted by mpjacob08 on Thu, 12/10/2020 - 06:34

So fun! Directions were easy! Can also be used as Backpack hanger if you put a little bit longer feet on them. I bought the metal hooks from Walmart.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$18
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Jacobean Minwax stain
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Comments

Seasonal And Holiday

Farmhouse Table

Submitted by shackrock on Sat, 01/26/2013 - 08:12

Based off of the Ana White design w/ pocket holes. This was really our first big project, so we made plenty of mistakes. Some lessons learned:

1. Pick non-warped wood to start with!
2. Clamps are pretty important to use when screwing into your kreg jig holes. It is REALLY hard to keep things flush without some strong clamps. Biggest lesson learned!
3. Always do your polyurethane coats in 60+ F temperatures. I did one coat when it was pretty cold, around 40 degrees. The liquid ended up beading and it was extremely hard to get out, eventually I just put many more coats on and called it a day.
4. Sand, sand, and sand some more!

This build is very rustic, but next time I think I could build a pretty perfect one. We're going to use this one, I like how rustic it is.

Estimated Cost
135
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
1 coat of water-based wood conditioner, Some dark MiniWax stain (2 coats), 3-4 coats of water-based polyeurethane.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Guest Bedroom Closet

Submitted by muses44 on Sun, 11/23/2014 - 08:07

Modified width to fit the closet.  Prep work of sanding and painting took longer than we thought it would; assembly inside the closet was simple but definitely a challenge in the small space.  At 81", the top shelf was higher than intended so had to remove front slat in order to be able to use it - will make the next one slightly shorter.  But love the final product and am now on a mission to get all the cheap wire shelving out of the house!

Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
white paint; filled in the screw heads with wood filler.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Loft bed

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 02/27/2017 - 08:44

What a fun project.  Took me a week and about 40 hours to complete. Made some modifications, used 4 x 4 posts and made the bed area a little bigger.  

Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

First Piece of Furniture Ever

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 12/13/2020 - 20:51

So, my skills have been as a cobbler, handy kind of guy for decades. Rough shelving for shop/garage basement storage etc... I've always done all my home maintenance and repairs so I'm familiar with a lot of stuff in and around the house. However I've never attempted a finished piece of furniture before. As always, I love the build and hate the finishing process.

My daughter had a pretty new mattress that she loved which was 13 inches thick and her celling is the standard 8 feet. Consider these kind of things before you build this design. We did and the plans were altered a little bit. We'll be building the bookcase later and either buying or building a desk as well. She can set up in bed with several inches above her head and there will be plenty of room over her head in a standard height office/computer chair underneath. All I basically did was; add a few inches to the height of the legs and uprights for the guard rail (4" I think), increased the head, foot, back and guard rail top planks from 1X4s to 1X6s. Which changed the dimensions of some of the spacers too. She isn't sure she wants the top rails on it but I think I'll put them on later.

We made our own bunkie board for firmer support, which also raised the thickness about 1/4" over just slats.

Details: Ladder fits tight between the leg and the guard rail. Glad I got those dimensions right. We'll be using Velcro to fasten the ladder to the bed (it's that tight, it'll be fine and she's 14yrs old). This way we can take it off easier to clean, move etc. Glue and screw everything you can except the long boards that will allow it to be broken down. Glue them and you'll never get it apart without breaking it. I used Titebond III on everything else with lots of clamps along the way.
On the front and back of the ladder treads I simply smeared some filler in the joints to smooth them out. You can see the result in the pictures. There is one closeup of the finish so you can see how it turned out doing it the way I did. If you want is smoother then a 220 sandpaper finish is what was called for on the clear finish, which I didn't do.
I also said it was a weekend project 10-20hrs. Had I bought better wood and did an easier finish it would have been. My learning experiences/errors made it longer than that for me.

Lessons Learned:
1. Buy better wood! If you want a better finish buy better wood. By the time I was finished filling, sanding, filling again, sanding some more... I used almost a whole quart of filler to make knotty pine smooth. Just buy smooth wood, I'm tellin ya! Hours of work and dry time. Again, if you want a good finish, then you need to shellac knotty pine so the resin from the knots doesn't bleed through. Better wood might have added 5-10% to the materials cost but saved several hours and would have looked even better that what I achieved. Better wood and you could cut the shellac ($15 per quart) if you didn't want the two tone distressing.

2. Check the actual board dimensions. For outer facing pieces I bought some better wood with no knots (radiata pine). These were for the outside pieces on the legs. They were just a bit wider than the common boards that were sandwiched between them... more sanding and filling to get a nice square smooth finish. It also made clamping and gluing them together harder before the filling and sanding could even begin. See number 1 above. lol

Anyhow, I'm not afraid of building furniture anymore and my daughter loves it. OH, yes now we have to repaint her room and accessorize for the ocean cabin look. More projects with my daughter. YAY!!!!

Thanks Ana

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$400-500
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
In order of operation: Wood putty for knots and filling in marks. 120 grit sanding each coat. B-I-N Shellac-Based White Interior Primer and Sealer, for sealing knots and prepping for even paint application. Light sanding again with 120 grit. Behr Designer Collection Chalk Decorative Paint (color: ocean boulevard). 220 sanding thru to wood in some places for distressed look. One thick coat of Varathane Triple Thick Polyurethane (clear matte). The matte did preserve the chalk look while making it smooth and easy to clean. I didn't sand after the Varathane though it called for light sanding with 220 grit between each coat (if you use more than one) and a light sanding after the final coat.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Camp Loft Bed w/ Stairs

Submitted by marievilla on Sun, 01/27/2013 - 14:22

My husband built this bed for our son by combining 2 of the plans from here. The Loft bed and the Camp Loft Bed w/ stairs. We knew we wanted to build a loft bed for our son but liked the idea of the platform w/ stairs so it wouldn't block his window. We also wanted to incorporate a bookshelf for his growing collection of Legos to display as well as books, etc. The next project to add to this will be the desk for underneath. I'll add pictures when we build that. Instead of using 2 x 4's for the top rails of the bed, he improvised and created his own version of a panel for the top. I love how it turned out!

Estimated Cost
$200
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Fully sanded the furniture down, then applied 1 coat of Minwax American Chestnut Polyurethane & Stain in One Gloss Finish. After allowing it to dry overnight, we applied a second thinner coat.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

bxrsnkds

Mon, 06/10/2013 - 22:25

absolutely love this, just what I would like to have for my son! Thanks for the inspiration :-)

CandiD

Mon, 07/01/2013 - 05:14

Just love this, I'm hoping to do something similar in a full size for my 9yr old daughter. She feels a bit sketchy with a ladder so the stairs will be better and I love using my Kreg jig so not having to piece together the supports sounds good to me!

ladder shelf

Submitted by DanGraves on Wed, 11/26/2014 - 09:17

I have made several of these now and love them.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$20.00
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
I used paint on one and stain on the others.
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Comments

Game Cabinet

Submitted by Wifey on Wed, 03/01/2017 - 11:48

We have very little storage in our house and wanted someplace to store board games. This works great in the dining room. I made the hardware using patio door rollers and used my jigsaw to cut steel and aluminum bars to fit. I hammered the ends of the track in a curve and put a track on the bottom of the cabinet to keep the doors more flush against the cabinet. I spray-painted all the metal and bolts to match. It is 36" high, 13" deep and 63" long. I didn't use the center board in the front because I wanted to accomodate for larger games.

Estimated Cost
About $200
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Behr paint and satin poly on top
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Sewing Table

Submitted by lexaroo on Sat, 12/19/2020 - 11:08

I used the sewing table plans from Ana's sie to make a sewing table for my mother-in-law's birthday. She loves it. the plans worked great. I did upgrade the legs with some Locking table leg extensions from Amazon. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06VTJZHS6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_tit… I also used pocket holes instead of just screws. If I made another one I would use a thicker piece of lumbar for the legs maybe a 2"X 2" instead of the 1"X 3" I'd used.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
50
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
General finishes Java Gel or Expresso
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Bunk beds that transport when needed

This bunk bed project was absolutely perfect for a small cottage bedroom for our son. We selected this plan when noticing that this could essentially be built as 4 flat sections and easily transported.

We were able to construct the bunk beds prior to owning the cottage and were then able to move in and bolt together.

Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Interior latex paint.
Recommended Skill Level
Starter Project

Comments

Sirocco

Fri, 03/19/2021 - 01:12

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From a pile of wood to an beautifull extendable x leg dining table and benches

Submitted by mobe00 on Sat, 11/29/2014 - 05:18

My girl wanted a long sturdy extendable x-legged dining table and benches for our big family and guest for our new house. Extendable from 2,5 meter to about 5,2 meter. Sorry for the picture qualities. Can post pictures later when the table is placed in the new house. Right now its in the basement waiting to be moved ;)

 

 

Estimated Cost
Norwegian prices are not the cheapest ones. but from NOK to US dollars its about $300 for the materials. made out of 2x6 and 1.5x4
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

FARMHOUSE TABLE AND MATCHING BENCHES

Submitted by dking1157 on Sat, 03/04/2017 - 08:14

Using the plans for the farmhouse table, I took them and modified a bit and this is what I have come up with...so far... many more projects to come!

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

SMALL GABLE ROOF GREENHOUSE

Submitted by Ledopmi on Wed, 12/23/2020 - 06:07

I was planning on building a greenhouse some time next year but I just happen to see this by chance and fell in love with it. I've always built from my own designs but when I saw this I decided to purchase the plans. I couldn't be more happy with it. Right now its doubling as a feed room. I wanted a solid foundation so I build a floating deck to mount the walls on. The deck added quite a bit to the total price.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$1384.94
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Paint
Recommended Skill Level
Advanced

Comments

fancy x desk

Submitted by jamesryan9 on Fri, 02/01/2013 - 01:31

I chose to make this great looking desk out of Walnut wood. So, obviously its not the $55 dollar fancy X desk that Ana White has posted, but it does share the same design. We were looking for a heavy, sturdy, and large desk for our office and I simply added linseed oil to bring out the natural beauty of the Walnut wood. Thank you so much Ana for giving me the tools I needed to complete this project. Feel free to email me or message me if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions. [email protected]. Thanks

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$400
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
I applied Linseed Oil and followed the directions on the back. I let it soak into the wood for 5-10 min and wiped off the excess with a cloth. I sanded some areas very fine and reapplied the linseed oil in certain places until I found the look I was searching for.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Combination of the Emme Twin Bed and Farmhouse Storage Bed

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/07/2017 - 20:25

I used elements of both the Emme Twin Bed and Farmhouse Storage Bed to create this perfect bed for my daughter. Thank you so much for your fantastic plans Ana!

Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
We used a soft pink paint/primer in an Eggshell finish. I applied two coats of paint and sanded between coats.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner