Community Brag Posts

I loved making this Ana White's Narrow Cottage End Table plan after seeing it here on a search. I made it for my mother's 83rd birthday. She asked for oak and a light stain (Rust Oleum's Summer Oak Stain). Used three coats of wipe on Poly and one coat of Johnson's paste wax on the top. I bought the blue knob at Cost Plus World Market. The project took me two days. Will difinitely make another one but in pine this time.

I designed and built these beds with the help of my husband and daughter. We spent about $350 on the materials and about 4 days in the Texas heat to build it. My kiddos absolutely love them, especially my 7yr. old. His is the loft bed with a ladder system and a bookshelf, and area to play underneath. The bunk bed is for my 18yr. old and my 14yr. old, so it had to be extra sturdy. We built everything out of 2x6s except the bookshelf. It was built from 1x12s and plywood.

We made this storage bed for our teenage daughter. She helped! She picked out the stain, comforter, and went through different plans with me to make it her own. She learned how to use a miter saw, sander, etc. and it was a great bonding experience. It's a few different plans, and we had to make modifications, but it is immensely better quality than store bought furniture we purchased a few years ago (it's falling apart!) and it has sentimental value. We are proud of the furniture, but even more proud of our daughter. :-)

Made our own twist on the leaning ladder shelf. Turn the side boards of the selves around, causing the shelves to looks like thick boards. 

My dear husband built the bed and I painted it. He found that it was easy to make. Thank you Ana, we love it. We are waiting for our new mattress!

I bought two sets of Restoration Hardware cushions on clearance and they worked out great. I had to adjust the measurements a little bit but that went pretty quickly. I came up with a plan for the tables to match the couches.

The tables are both 30x30. This way I can use them as 2 tables, one large table, ottomans or seating.

I LOVE the cushions. They are 6.5 inches thick and were dry 3 hrs after a rainstorm. There was no way I could have sewn something cheaper.

Thanks for the plans Ana!

One of the most rewarding, yet frustrating projects done to date.

A project completed over the course of several weeks challenging the limited tool set available.

In the end, the cost of new tools and frustration of assembly was all worth it!

Girls table was too small, especially when they have friends over. We have a little nook that this will slide right into in the living/dining room. The bottom has drawers, they just were not completed when i took the pictures.

Made these chairs from plans found on the Kerig Jig website. I added the cup holders for convenience and lowered the seats by 2 inches to account for our short legs. Chairs were stained with an outdoor fence treatment that was tinted with a light grey color.

I've been looking for a storage solution for the area next to the driveway we use as our main entrance. The area opens to the kitchen, dining, and living rooms. We had a computer desk here, but it just ended up piled with junk all the time and backpacks and jackets ended up on the floor.

I fell in love with the smiling mud room plans as soon as I saw them, but it took a while to convince my husband we should try to build it. I used the Smiling Mud Room plans and modified to add the computer desk section since we couldn't move our internet cable. It didn't have to be really big since we don't use the desktop computer very often.

I still need to find baskets for the shelves and I'm planning to make a fabric skirt to cover the computer and cords. My kids already got out their old backpacks to test it out, so hopefully they'll use it!

We bought the Kreg jig as recommended and now my husband is planning lots of new projects just so he can use it.

I modified the Rustic X plans by removing the X's on the sides and using 1x3in slats on the shelf.  They were made for a beach condo so I wanted a more open look.  I wanted a white washed finish and after trying several ideas from the internet I came up with this process:  First, I used rags to rub on Minwax Special Walnut stain as lightly as I could.  Second, I diluted latex satin white paint, at least 50-50, and brushed it on a small area and immediately wiped it off with a clean rag.  I used Minwax Polycrylic as my protective layer.

Followed Ana's plans as directed but made the headboard four inches shorter by shortening the legs only on the headboard.  We used low profile boxsprings (2 twin XL @ 5 inches thick) and king size memory foam mattress which was 10 inches high.  The clearance at the bottom of the side rails is 6 and one half inches high.  Total cost of lumbar was about $300. We had stain on hand. Kreg jig screws brings the total to about $315.

The moment I saw this I knew it would be a perfect teachers gift for my daughters teacher. She loved it.
This was only my second project, the first being the 10 dollar ledges. I'm glad I tried a smaller project before tackling the farmhouse bed. I think it helped with just knowing how to assemble a project a bit better.
I used my Kreg Jig and it worked marvelous! Also I ended up not having a jigsaw so I just cut the top at a 35 degree angle with the miter saw and rounded the edges a bit with the sander. I was going to add handles but the top goes up enough that it's easy to manuever without. I also wanted her to be able to fit it in anywhere and was worried that the handles sticking out would just get in the way.
Overall I think it turned out great. Her teacher loves it. Thank you Anna for such wonderful plans!!

Krista

This projected turned out great! I admit, it was a bit of a stretch for me. This was the first project where I had to use the Kreg jig. Yikes! That takes some time getting used to! I chose to stain my Kennell/End Table with Minwax Red Elm. And that took the longest! Everyone always makes it look easy to stain something, I still haven't gotten the complete hang of it after project 50, and the waiting between coats is for the birds. But, I am happy with the overall end product! Thanks Mrs. Ana White!

My neighbours had noticed the things I build and asked if I could build them a nice bench. I had some very nice pieces laying around that I thought would be amazing to laminate for the top. After completing the top which was alot of elbow grease, I needed to build the base. I cannot for the life of me find the link, but I know it was from Shanty Chic. It is absolutely beautiful, one of my best pieces of work.

Got a piano for free that has no bench with it. When I started looking up dimensions, I realized traditional benches are a little short if you want to sit and play with someone else. The size of this plan works perfectly and can store music. Best part is that if we ever get rid of the piano, we will have a nice entryway bench.