I’m a first year teacher of construction class at Waterloo High School in Illinois. We recently used your Small Cedar shed instructions with some modifications for a class project. It’s a bear getting cedar right now, so we used T1-11 for the outside and 2x4 for the frame.
This sand box was very easy to build and it works great. The only thing I would change is cutting the "arm rests" at 7 1/2" instead of 6 1/2". I did that for the second set of arm rests (when I downloaded the plans many weeks ago the cut list was wrong). It made putting that section together a lot easier.
I easily spent more on the hinges (at $5 per hinge x 8 hinges) than I did on the wood itself.
My 1 and 1/2 year old loves playing in it and now I need to build a toy box for him to put all of his sand toys in!
Sun, 04/29/2012 - 00:06
It's been zen-raked! haha.
Those little benches are adorable. I wish I had seen this plan before I built ours.
Mon, 09/17/2012 - 10:29
I just want to say that I asked for my husbands help, and his advice increased the price significantly.
He does not like to paint, and will spend the extra dollar to purchase pressure treated wood. So I sent him with my materials list and the wood he purchsed was $60.00, plus $22.00 for hinges and $10 for a box of deck screws. Actually, I am a artist and had wanted to paint the project to look like a big frog.
As a first time chicken farmer, I have four chickens now fully grown. It was 29 degrees in Iowa this morning, wondering if I should wrap the lower portion of the coop on three sides with visqueen, and should the roost windows be covered? I have straw bales to roost on and add where needed . I don’t plan to heat the coop . Any help will be appreciated.
Well this was first project my hubby and I tackled together. He actually let me use the power tools. The plans were great! Loved having a shopping list! I made the cushion s myself. I have to say, I wish I had made the couch and chairs the size of cushions available at Lowes . AFt e r you buy foam batting fabric and chording I found set at lowes for a lot less but I am so happy how it all turned out . Thks for providing plNz!
The project was used using the same plans but I extended the floor to be 6 feet wide vice 4 feet the additional 2 feet provided the perfect amount space I wanted. I also added an extra windows to get cross ventilation. I also insulated the coop and put paneling on the walls and lenolium on the floors. I dropped the back wall sheeting 1.5 inches for additional airflow since the shed doesn't have a ridge vent. The plans are easy to follow and easily adaptable.
Thu, 07/02/2020 - 11:29
Great job! We are getting ready to build a coop for our chickens which arrive in 3 weeks!
I recently published my first foldable farmhouse table last week here: http://ana-white.com/2013/06/foldable-farmhouse-table The first one I made was very heavy because I used 2x6 tops and 4x4 legs. I decided to make another one that would be lighter and easier to transport. The plans are basically the same just instead I used 1x6 for the top and put 2x4s together for the legs. I also shorted the length by about a foot. The only issue with making the table shorter length is that the legs don't fold completely flush. You could easily make the legs short enough to fold flush, but then the table was a little too short from the ground up for us. The same as before I simply used kreg joints to join the top boards together. I then made a 2x4 frame and attached it to the bottom. I made each of the legs separately by joining 2x4s together and sanding everything down. Everything was stained before putting the legs on using Miniwax Dark walnut stain. I used 2 coats of Miniwax water based clear coat to seal it. A notch was cut out on each of the bottom 2x4 supports on the legs and I glued in a small piece of wood cut to size. These are so I can put in a 2x4 support board under the table so that the legs do not fold in on themselves when it is standing up. The legs are just attached using door hinges you can buy in packs in the hardware section. Be careful when screwing into the 1x6 top not to use too long of screws or else you will over screw and have them come through into your table top. Table design was by Amber Veatch Designs and photographed by Andi Mans Photography
Tue, 07/07/2015 - 06:41
We have built something very similar and we have a good bit of wobble at the top, even though the stretcher down the center of the table is holding solid in there and secred with clasps. Were thinking of some sort of sliding pin into the top of the leg to the apron. Anyone run into this before?
I used Ana's plan as a base.
I changed it from 8x8 to 8x12, made the 4x4x8's to 4x4x10' for a higher main platform and swing platform, and added a 12' long monkey bar set to the other side. Also, an 8' climbing wall and a plank walkway to accompany the two slides.
For the clubhouse, I used Hardiplank 4x8 sheets for the siding and an EZ-Framer kit for the structure itself.
The slides I purchased from Lowes, monkey bars from Amazon, and the swing frame braces from Amazon as well. The swing kits I got from ebay.
Followed the instructions in the original blog. I would like to thank Ana for the blog. It was the inspiration I needed. This project was challenging for a rookie like myself. The plan is basically the same as the original post from Ana.
Materials:
4" Vertical MDF primed boards
3" Horizontal MDF primed boards
Our wall has texture so we had to use tempered board to make it nice and smooth.
Half inch plywood for under the bench seat.
2x4 for the bench frame
I ordered furniture quality Black American Walnut from a sawmill for the floating bench (not cheap but worth it). I stained it with one coat of Watco Black Walnut just for protection (took 10 minutes to do super easy) let it dry for 24 hours at least.
Challenges:
1. The wall on the right side of the bench did not have a stud just a corner stud, I was not going to risk this bench support so I put the bench support on the one corner stud and installed a hidden strong tie: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-Strong-Tie-CF-4-15-16-in-x-6-in-Con…
This provided the support that the missing stud would've. Now the bench is structurally sound.
2. Walnut uneven cuts from the sawmill, I had to use a plane to bring the planks closer together didn't want huge gaps.
3. Outlet in the way. City code mandates to remove outlet leaving access to it. We decided to build above the outlet making the bench a bit higher than we wanted it but still worked out, now we still have an accessible outlet under the bench.
Thu, 12/30/2021 - 11:21
Thank you for sharing, that looks amazing, just shared to our Facebook page:)
This was the second piece of furniture that my husband and I ever made. We had built a coffee table that had a lift up top so that we could eat dinner on the couch and store all of our board games. Once we tackled that, I thought we could conquer the world (even though the table was pretty basic). So when my now-husband was about to move into his first apartment without a roommate and I saw it as an opportunity to decorate my own place (even though I wasn’t living there). Luckily,he agreed it was time to get rid of his tiny Ikea TV stand that was probably 2ft off the ground and not a great height for a TV, and agreed to build this awesome TV console with me. To this day, it’s still my favorite piece of furniture in our house.
Sat, 11/09/2019 - 14:12
Love this, needing one in my front entry way. How long did it take?
I built 3 of the square picnic tables, as we have a large extended family. I enjoyed the project and the results. I did end up adding a cross brace and some metal clips, they added a little more strength for the table when it was full of people.
Thank you for sharing your plans.
Rick
The concept of hidden boot storage at the back is genius!!! I knew as soon as I saw your plan that I needed that in this space! Thank you so much for what you do!
Fri, 01/22/2021 - 11:42
May I ask how you would assemble if you wanted the hinge in the back as in this picture?
Thank you.
Wed, 08/25/2021 - 04:51
Hello, can you tell me how to find the plans for the Mudroom Closet makeover? I’m interested in doing the one pictured on this page.
Thank you
Had some old skis I've been wanting to make into a chair. The Home Depot plans worked perfectly for the base. Cut the back brace a bit longer to fit the skis
I wanted to create a loft bed for my daughter so that she could have space underneath to play since her room is small. This was the perfect solution! I went ahead and added a stair rail so she could feel a little safer coming down the stairs (she is 4 yrs old). She loves her princess bed and what's best she wants to sleep in it instead of with mommy and daddy! This was my first wood working project.
Thank you Ana for you Fireplace design as it was exactly what I needed! We’ve lived in our house for 3 years now and I’ve wanted a fireplace ever since. Your plan was perfect and with a few modifications I made it come to life. My 9yr daughter as I was almost done building thought there should be a shelf for books and movies below the fire place. It gave me the idea of adding storage on the sides. I had already had the idea of the mantle storage and just used a floating shelf idea and made that. This was a lot of fun!! It took me a little over a week to build. But can’t wait to build something else for our house… like the mudroom!
Amy
Thu, 12/01/2022 - 16:07
Oh my goodness, you knocked this one out of the park! Amazing job, thank you for sharing.
Sun, 01/08/2023 - 19:02
That looks awesome! My husband and I are planning on doing this as well. I do have a question, as I see you have carpet just like us. Did you cut out the carpet where you built out, and if so how did you go about that, or did you just build on top of it?
Entire wall fireplace built-in!
Made the outdoor sectional. The coffee table was made out of left over pieces!
Wed, 10/02/2019 - 09:54
So smart to make the coffee table out of the spare pieces.
Looks amazing!
Built the nested grill station just in time for the 4th. So much fun building this, thanks Ana so much for the inspiration! Chris
My honey built this farmhouse potting bench in a few hours. I needed it to store all the junk that was laying on the ground. It's so cute!
Very easy instructions. I love the way they turned out. I used all 2x4's that I had left over from another project. I burned the top pieces and painted all other pieces. Love your easy instructions. My first time making furniture.
Thanks
Yvette
Comments
Ana White Admin
Sat, 03/25/2023 - 09:14
Great project for your class!
Very fun and job well done! Thank you for sharing.