Community Brag Posts

Bedroom Dresser Cubbies / Media Stand

Submitted by Debi G on Wed, 07/27/2011 - 14:08

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.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
Built from leftover materials (Baskets $5.99 each)
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Minwax Provincial (one coat) and one Minwax water-based poly coat.
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Debi G

Wed, 07/27/2011 - 14:09

I was trying to show that these pieces are a set, but instead the photos look pretty random.

Debi G

Sat, 12/10/2011 - 07:41

Sorry I haven't logged in in so long--the bed follows plans for the king Stratton, combined with the reclaimed wood headboard. The headboard is attached to the wall. We can slide the foot bench part out to hide presents behind, which is really handy (though heavy) to do.

Fancy Farm House Bed

Submitted by jlouki01 on Sat, 08/24/2013 - 18:27

My son has been wanting a bed for a while now, We threw out his falsa-wood bed and I decided I liked this plan. I think I got the entire bed built in a few hours. There were a few details that would snag a rookie wood worker but just be creative in finding solutions. This bed is designed to be rustic.

I uploaded a very cheap assembly system that I used. I think total cost was less than 5.00 for two bolts and a couple washers.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
150
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Rust Oleum Black with burnished edges. Treated edges with Walnut stain.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Bookshelf

Submitted by TMW on Wed, 10/07/2015 - 13:05

My wife really liked the look of the original project. I didn't like the like the construction methods used in the original plan. I changed the dimensions to suit our space and created dadoes for the shelves to rest in instead of pocket screws. I attached the front frames using biscuits and I eased all exposed edges using a chamfer bit. Sanded to 220, then stained and 4 coats of lacquer.

Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Satin and Lacquer
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Cedar deck box

Submitted by JMG on Wed, 07/06/2022 - 19:47

I had to modify these plans to use what I had on hand. I used left over cedar fence pickets (planed down and sealed) and adjusted the size to fit all my outdoor cushions. Overall dimensions are 49" wide x 28" deep x 26" high. I also used 2x4's instead of 2x2's because that is what I had in my shop. I added 1x3's around the top to fit snugly instead of using hinges (again trying to use what I had on hand). We get A LOT of rain in the summer so hopefully the cushions will stay dry. I also added some screen left over from the screened in porch to the bottom before adding the "floor" to keep bugs out. I just stapled it to the frame before adding the floor boards. I did add a piece of treated 1/4" plywood under the top in hopes of keeping the rain out.

Built from Plan(s)

Comments

My Ikea Lack Inspired Bookshelf

This was my third project, but it is my favorite to date!

Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
2 coats of Benjamin Moore Natura paint in Banana Yellow
2 Coats of poly acrylic
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

joyreneeb (not verified)

Tue, 09/20/2011 - 12:16

Can you give a price estimate on your project? Looks great, btw!

In reply to by joyreneeb (not verified)

CapriciousElle

Fri, 09/30/2011 - 21:21

The lumber was about $25 and the paint I ordered online with a few other colors, but it is listed at $21.99. I only ordered a quart. Everything else I already had around the house. I hope that helps!

Beach dresser

Submitted by dmather82 on Mon, 08/26/2013 - 14:43

This was my second project. Just finished today. I've never done anything like this before so the drawer slides specifically were difficult. I ended up picking up a kreg drawer jig and it was a piece of cake! I initially wanted a minwax water based blue stain but the small amounts of wood filler residue on the drawer faces would not accept the stain and in a period of frustration I broke out some leftover blue paint. Luckily I think it looks better!

Estimated Cost
$200
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Semi gloss blue paint
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Complete kitchen gut and remodel

Submitted by bsbdays on Sun, 10/11/2015 - 07:33

I completely gutted this kitchen to the studs. I built the cabinets and island with the help of Ana's plans. I installed tongue and groove knotty pine flooring I distressed it and installed 17 th century Common Rosehead Nails in all the butt joints and then stained it. I just finish building a faux beam to install in center of vaulted ceiling but have not installed it yet. Even though I selected intermediate skills, I have never built cabinets or installed flooring you can do this as a beginner. I just started doing wood work, I have been an aircraft mechanic for thirty years.

Estimated Cost
The complete project also including appliances and granite counter tops sheet rock, paint, insulation and everything was less than $10,000.00. I probably saved $30,000.00 doing everything myself. It took about a year long working in the evenings and weekends.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Farmhouse Queen Bed

Submitted by bcarter_1 on Tue, 10/30/2018 - 04:11

I;m just learning how to do things with wood. I made this for the bedroom update last year

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

Comments

Fire Wood Shed

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 07/17/2022 - 16:14

This is smaller version of Ana’s Firewood shed. We just need to load it with wood! It’s about 4 feet long, 2ft wide, and 5.5ft high. I so appreciate all the great plans available to the public! Thanks.

Built from Plan(s)

Comments

Simple Oudoor Dining Table

Submitted by kmatt55 on Wed, 08/03/2011 - 17:15

I know, I know...Where are the legs? Unfortunately, I have to store this until December while our multi-family mountain house is being constructed. This way I can store it up against a wall and save a lot room in storage for more Ana White projects. FYI - The legs will be white 2x4's about 29.5 inches tall. For the top I used 1x4 cedar slats spaced 1/4 inch apart. As for the painted white frame, I used treated pine. Why spend money on nice cedar if I am just going to paint over it, right? The contrast of the white and natural cedar was appealing to me for some reason. I used Thompson's clear wood protector/water sealer on the slats to prolong the natural cedar. BTW, if you can build the simple outdoor bench you can definitely take on this project. The two are not very different. I'll have to take pictures of the finished table with legs when I haul these up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and upload them again. Thanks again Ana!

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$100
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Semi gloss white, Thompson clear wood protector/water sealer.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Kitchen Island

Submitted by Tonyjoe on Wed, 08/28/2013 - 18:22

For my island we wanted a place to put the trash can so it was out of the way. We added a wider board to brace the side the can would go on to keep stuff from falling into the shelf area. Took my wife and I about 12 hours total to make.

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

Rustic Console Table

Made from scrap lumber. Used a multicolored pattern instead X. Also took out the 2x2s on the shelves.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Paint
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Console table

Submitted by Kplum on Mon, 11/05/2018 - 17:32

finally done

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
150
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

First Furniture Console

Submitted by cjohnston on Sun, 08/07/2011 - 14:10

This is my version of the Balin Console, presented by Ana White.

I used knotty pine for the wood and finished the piece first in two layers of walnut stain.

Over the stain, I painted two layers of Vast Sky blue by Sherwin Williams.

To finish it off, I used a polyurethane satin finish varnish--two coats.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$200.00
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Stain the piece with a dark colored oil based stain--2 layers.

Rub a candle on the corners and edges where you plan to sand to give a distressed appearance.

Coat the piece with 2 layers of polyurethane paint.

Use fine grit sandpaper to sand edges to give a distressed vintage look. The candle wax applied to the stain will protect the wood from the sandpaper--sanding will only remove the paint layer and leave the stain layer intact.

Cover with two coats of a satin finish varnish to protect. Make sure there is plenty of drying time between the varnish layers--2 days +
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

debandtom25

Fri, 08/12/2011 - 04:38

It's a very impressive looking piece. It would catch my eye if I saw it in someone's house. Great job!

windjamer812

Thu, 03/22/2012 - 23:25

You did a wonderful job on this project. It looks like it came straight from a 1930's country kitchen.

Easy Peasy Workbench to Get the Job Done

Submitted by logansam54 on Sat, 08/31/2013 - 16:14

This bench was made from the plans for the Workbench to Get the Job Done....and we did get it done. About $50 in lumber and a few hours work. The only change we made is we used 3/4" plywood for both shelves to only use one piece of ply. Next to paint it turquoise! Thanks to my friend Richard Ramirez...he did most of the work! Next I'm going to make 2 more not as wide and without the bottom shelf so I can roll my shop vac under one and my trash can under the other.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$50
Estimated Time Investment
Afternoon Project (3-6 Hours)
Finish Used
Final finish will be paint
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Medickep

Sun, 09/01/2013 - 06:45

If I may make a suggestion, you could screw a 2x4 flat to the back, which willow you yo drills holes across it for screwdrivers, chisels punches and what not!

Camp Loft Bed with Stair, Junior hight.

We had a really great time building this bed. Even our son could help (kinda). A very easy design and evan simpler to follow. We hit a small snag when makeing the deck, only cause we did'nt know we had to gap the 2x4s...but it was easily fixed by adding one 2x6. and taking away one 2x4. The plans state its not weight tested...well i am a larger woman and it held me just fine. ^_^ Our son loves it! He is five years old and this is his first big boy bed. When i saw his little face light up it was worth everything. Thank you for the great plans and for the family time we enjoyed as we all joined into this project.

Estimated Cost
The lumber i would have cost us $80 at home depot. (we got a discount from a friend so the lumber cost us $20.) with you only cause prices fluctuate and you don't want to be caught unprepared. we bought 5, 50 pack of screws at about $5 each....I'm sure you can find them cheaper...The paint we used was from wal-mart. At $11 a gallon and supplies, paint would come out to $20. All around $125 is the price you will spend spent on making this bed. But i suggest looking around. in our town we have a used building supplies store and several other resources that cut costs.
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

DIY Snake Puzzle

Submitted by mtairymd on Fri, 11/16/2018 - 14:37

This is my take on the classic wooden snake puzzle.  Purchased ones generally range in size from 2" cubed down to key chain size.  This one is 4.5" cubed.  Although time-consuming and somewhat mind numbing, it wasn't very challenging to build. However, you will need to pay attention to the build and assembly instructions.

 

Drawings & Build Instructions: https://www.instructables.com/id/Wooden-Snake-Puzzle

Solution: https://youtu.be/JpehfwloYIE

Estimated Cost
$5
Estimated Time Investment
Day Project (6-9 Hours)
Finish Used
Paint and Oil
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

My very first woodworking project!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 08/12/2022 - 07:31

Just bought myself a miter saw and this was my first ever woodworking project... had a lot of fun putting it together. I opted to build the back the same as the sides rather than just putting the piece of plywood as suggested in the plans (and shortened the length of the drawer accordingly), so I could add a surge protector/usb port with extension cord in between the trim boards since the outlet placement in my bed is horrible and requires pulling out the bed from the wall anytime we need to plug something in. Took a bit longer than anticipated, with never having built anything before, but now that I know what I'm doing I expect the 2nd one to go much quicker!

Comments

My wife's new Craft table

Submitted by MattB on Tue, 08/09/2011 - 23:29

This is actually my third project from your site Ana.

I acctually decided to make this table ten inch wider since my wife has a loooooooot of crafts :)

This project took a little longer then I thought.
It was my own fault!!! I thought I would safe some time and get some of the wood cut buy the clerk at Home Depot. That turned out to be a really bad idea. Most of my cuts were uneven and even after I gave the clerk the exact measurements, a few of the boards were up to 2 inches too long. At the end I had to buy two more boards because I had to cut peaces away to have straight edges.
Lesson learned!!!

I love building wood furniture. And I already got my next plan from your site that I'm going to build.

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Cost
$160
Estimated Time Investment
Weekend Project (10-20 Hours)
Finish Used
Valspar-Dove tail white(Eggshell)
Behr- Surfer(eggshell)
2 coats of clear Polyurethane Semi-Gloss
Recommended Skill Level
Beginner

Comments

Guest (not verified)

Wed, 09/07/2011 - 04:18

awesome job! im in the middle of making one of these at the moment. but just to be a tad different i have put a small cutout hole on the top, theres a little bin that sits on the shelf under it, so all i have to do when ive finished with all my paper cuts is swipe it down the hole! hehe how nifty. oh and where did your wife get the black cricut machine?? lol

Display Cabinet

This is similar to a display cabinet I found online. I got the dimensions and created my own version. We added a under cabinet light to the top to give it a little bit of an elegant look. We changed it up from the original one by adding beadboard to the back and the door inserts. The shelving on the top and bottom are adjustable for different sized display items.

Estimated Cost
$200
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
This is sprayed with latex paint and antiqued with briwax light brown color.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Balustrade Coffe Table in Driftwood Gray

Restoration Hardware inspired balustrade coffee table.  

Built from Plan(s)
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
Driftwood gray (weathered gray, whitewash, ebony)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

In reply to by Ana White Admin

Wilsonorahem

Mon, 01/02/2017 - 15:31

Thanks!  I've made a dozen of these over the last few years for friends and paying customers.  One major modification that I've made is to use tongue and groove instead of pocket holes.  I also use a sliding breadboard end to allow for wood movement.  If not, you get cracking and separation during the various seasons.  I can try to take photos to include in the plans during my next build if you're interested.   

j9keller

Tue, 10/27/2015 - 15:52

I love the stain. Could you give details on how you got the looK? Thanks!

In reply to by j9keller

Wilsonorahem

Mon, 01/02/2017 - 15:33

Sorry for the delay.  I never got notifications for these comments.   I use minwax gray first.  Then I whitewash using whatever white paint I have laying around mixed with water.  Finally, I dry brush with minwax ebony here and there to add depth. 

melissafontes

Thu, 09/15/2016 - 11:42

Could you please tell us how you did your stain?  I have a table ready to stain and would love to achieve this color.