Community Brag Posts

We moved about 18 months ago to a house without a fireplace after having one for almost 7 years. When The Christmas dilemma of where to hang the stockings came up last year, we used an Ana White plan and built a super amazing faux fireplace. After the holidays we decided we'd install it in our bedroom instead of storing it away all year....AND we ended up liking it there so much, that's where it stayed and a bookshelf took its spot in the living room. This Christmas when the stocking question was raised I looked online for ideas and, wouldn't you know it, Ana White to the rescue again!! We are completely in love with our new Christmas shelf. Also as a bonus, we now know how to use a miter saw, which I'm sure will open up all kinds of new project possibilities!

Happy Holidays!

We’ve been looking around for some plans for a doggy bunk bed for a while now, but couldn’t find anything that we liked so I decided to build it from scratch. This is a huge bunk bed that was built based on the size of our larger dog’s bed which is 44 x 35. This was pretty simple to build although the stairs we’re quite challenging as I have never done them before so if I can make it, anybody can.

I must stress that before I found Ana’s website about 6 months ago I could barely cut a piece of wood straight. Over this time I have made several things based on the easy to follow plans on this website which ultimately gave me the confidence to go it alone and build this bunk bed. Friends and family are shocked at some of the furniture I’ve made and some don’t even believe I made them and think I’ve bought them from IKEA. My wife has got a list of furniture she wants to make now including a TV console, an armoire and a twin bed for one our daughters. Every spare second I have now is spent is making furniture and I LOVE it.

For anybody who has never built anything and is apprehensive to do so I would just say, do it. Grab what you need and dive right in. You may get frustrated and scream a bit at first, but the reward at the end is well worth it and each project you do will get easier and easier. Be warned though. The better you get, the more people will pester you to make things for them.

Thank you, Ana.

This was made using cheap 1 x 3 and 1 x 4 furring strips for the railings and bed slats, 2 x 4s for the posts and 1 x 10 board for the stairs.

This is inspired by pieces I've seen here, though I sketched it out on paper myself to make sure it would suit the limited space in our room. I built the simple piece to match our bed (made from Ana and her reader's plans, see my photos below).

Originally, I planned to include cabinet doors, but with the limited space we have, this is better for us.

For nightstands, I stained plain wooden crates I had in the basement. Still working on how to hide the cords.

The baskets under my bed are from Bed Bath Beyond. The baskets in the "dresser" are from Target.

Sorry about the poor photo quality.

This was a pretty easy project, but I had to adjust the vertical legs to accommodate the sloping garage floor. I drew a  horizontal line for the top edge then measured to the floor at the spacing I wanted the vertical legs. I used these measurements to cut the three vertical legs. It’s level and straight, even though my garage is sloped. 

I've used Ana's plans for several builds in my house and this one was so much fun to build. I love the way it turned out and think it looks great! Thanks for all the great plans Ana! Keep them coming and I'll keep building. :) 

First time building furniture and enjoyed the project.  I used better lumber as I wanted to avoid paint but it turned out well for my first try.  Thank you Ana White for a good set of plans.

Not too bad of a project but had to a good bit of guess work so I could changed the plans for a queen size bed and flip in on its side.

We wanted to add some storage to our Ikea Kura bunk bed. We needed to adjust the size of the day bed by a couple of inches but worked awesome. Looks like one finished bunk bed.