Community Brag Posts

My younger brother, John, and I built this bench during the weekends during the first few months of "back-to-school" as a way to spend time with each other. This is a variation on the simple outdoor bench by Ana. Our mainframe was built of regular 2x4s and the slats with pine, while the legs and the exterior wood was of cedar that was leftover from when our parents built our log home 20 years ago. Since we used the cedar, we also had to wash the logs with special logwash, and wait for them to dry, so our project took a little longer than most. Due to the staining, which was the stain used on our house we ended up putting a light clear coat over top of the stain since we didn't want it to be rubbing off on our clothing during use (since it's not typically used as furniture stain). Our Dad did have to help us a bit with the log legs that needed to be cut with a chainsaw and he sandblasted (he's a stone engraver by trade) the wood to make it look a little more weathered and "rustic." Overall it was fairly simple and my brother and I are both very pleased with the outcome, and this project has driven me to start making my own simple bedroom furniture when I move out for graduate school!

I have been looking for something to add extra seating to my deck while also filling an awkward corner that I have never been able to find prefab furniture to fit. This build reminded me a lot of the large X bench that Ana made for her cabin (that I also built for my front porch.) It is super simple and so sturdy. I can't wait to sew cushions for it and build the second half.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the finished product, but these are the table tops I built for couch tables in my basement. First time working with resin, I learned a lot!

Buildermomma

I used the Farm House Headboard plan to make this headboard. I had to mix the stain to match a dresser I already had. I used a mix of Minwax pecan, red oak, and jacobean stains for the base coat and then Minwax red chestnut for 2 additional coats. I then used 2 coats of fast drying poly to top coat with. The wood is pine stud grade. I did modify it a bit by adding an additional vertical cross member in the center and I had to add a 1" x 12" at the bottom because the style of the bed frame. I built it in an afternoon but it took several days to stain and top coat.

I built one for my kids and one for a nephew. I ordered the 10" x 10" Lego plates from Amazon. The sides and top are made from 3/4" plywood and the bottom is 1/4" plywood. The overall dimensions are 26 1/4" x 13 5/8" x 11 7/8" (not counting the top circles). I used a 4" hole saw to cut the circles then glued/nailed two together and used wood filler to fill the hole created in the center of the circles by the hole saw.

Other than changing the dimensions, I followed the original plans closely. The images in the original plans have 2 plates that are 15" x 15".

When cutting the circles, I clamped/screwed a scrap piece of wood under the plywood to produce much cleaner cuts.

I did paint the inside bottom white to make it easier to see the bottom and small pieces. I also drilled a pair of holes on each side to add rope handles.

Loved making this.  Took less than 2 hours, not including painting, which I haven't done yet.  Plans were easy to follow but I couldn't find a cut list which would have made the trip to the lumber yard a little easier. I used some scrap wood and some new so very reasonable to make.

Sofa with 2 ottomans and 2 side tables.

Vinny M

This was a fun and easy project to do. We really like how it turned out and how it compliments the room. For the bottom shelf I used four 1x6 boards instead of a single 21" wide plywood board. For that worn look, I took a drywall rasp and chewed up the corners and edges. Staining was a two part job. The first coat was called weathered gray. After it dried I lightly sanded it with 180 grit and applied a second coat of dark walnut. The gray subtly shows through the walnut. If I had it to do it over, I may have applied a coat of ebony stain to the corners and edges to make the color less even. I did very little sanding on this piece because I wanted a rough texture, but I did enough to make it sliver-free. The project cost about $80.

Farm house two toned, rustic twin size bed. 

Sewing tables are quite expensive, the cheapest I've seen was about $160. I decided to make one myself. I spent about $30 for all the wood, bolts, and nuts that I used to make it.

Basically the same idea, I added doors with antique hardware.

Don H.

In getting my boys (ages 8, 5, and 3) started in woodworking, I decided to try this bench. We had a ton of fun building it together.

As you can see, I beefed it up a lot - using 4x4's for legs and recessing the frame into the legs themselves. The boys did all of the sanding and assembling and 80-90% of the cutting. I was just there as training wheels. It took much longer to build with the 4 of us than if I had done it myself. I estimate I could have done this in 3-4 hours. Group effort made it about 20-22 hours.

My 5 year old was the one who campaigned for the arched backrest. I think that they did a great job, and just wanted to share.

A lot of detail and time spent in painting this, but I am very happy with how it turned out. I used wider boards for the top to accommodate the hand drawn and painted flag. So glad that it is finally done!

This was my first attempt at doing a project with a drawer. It definitely took time to make sure everything was level so that the drawer would side in and out smoothly. You can't see see it in these pictures but I used bead board in place of the plywood on the back and on the sides. I also used 1x8s glued and screwed together instead of the 3/4" plywood. I can't take credit for the finish on the project though. My wife is the one in charge of making my projects look great. She's the one that did the fun antiqued finish on the side table.

Got the plans from this website and built the table for our family room!

As always, we were super inspired by Ana White designs and wanted to tackle the media console project but add a little bit of our own farmhouse flare.  This project was stained with apple cider & white cider vinegar and topped with ivory spray paint.  Details are up on my blog, Sincerely the Smiths!   Thanks for all your inspiring projects Ana White, we love getting to see all the awesome things you do!