Community Brag Posts

We were in need of a dining room table--we were hosting Thanksgiving and finally wanted a "grown-up" table! We are huge fans of Restoration Hardware, but not their prices. The Shanty plan was exactly what we were looking for! We love the table, the size is great for our dining room--we left the top at 8 ft. The finish is also what we were looking for; it is something like a weathered barnwood look, though now that the dining room is painted it comes across more steely blue-gray. Still, it is exactly what we were looking for.

We also made an accompanying bench, which you can see peeking out from behind. That has not made its way to the staining process yet, but we are now in the process of building the sideboard and hutch, so we'll just stain everything at once.

It was our 3nd project using Ana's plans and we love it!

My fiance and I built this for my seven year old daughter's Christmas present. I have built several pieces of furniture before but this was our first major building project and I'm proud to say we made a great team!

We didn't make any major changes to the plan, we just chose to leave the wheels off the bottom and we added two boards across the back of the attic rooms so we would have something to attach the back too. We were lucky enough that this project coincided with my dad have his roof replaced and he had spare shingles, so her doll house has real asphalt shingles! They were actually a lot easier to add than I expected, we simply scored the back of the shingles with a knife and then they cleanly broke apart. We used a staple gun to attach the shingles we would be able to layer so you couldn't see the staples, but for those where the staples would have shown we used a hot glue gun.

The only issue we had was moving it around without my daughter noticing because it's so big! My fiance and I actually scratched up a door frame trying to sneak it under the tree after she went to sleep because it's so large (totally my fault, apparently I need to work out more). Other than that everything went smooth and it was fun to build and so exciting to watch my daughter freak out over Christmas morning!!!

Adjusted the plans to 7' length to fit room size. 

Put this together after Christmas. Not too difficult of a project. Decided not to put casters on to save a little money. Can always add them later if needed. I think if I created it again I'd make more space for the rolls of wrapping paper and smaller space for the trays. We have a lot of wrapping paper.

This planter was so easy to build! super cute, fun, spring project.

After completing the table and being very happy with it, I had an overabundance of confidence making this bench. That probably is why it was so frustrating when things didn't go so well.

I made a few errors but two really stick out to me. The first was making the pedestals too much like the table pedestals. I screwed and glued an extra piece of wood on top of the bench pedestals (just like there is on the table) before I returned to the plans. This was not an easy fix and involved crowbars, chisels and cutting the heads off of stripped wood screws. Lesson: READ THE PLAN!

The second error relates to why the bench is a shade or two darker than the table. We used the same can of stain, but neglected to use wood conditioner. It appears that the wood conditioner (or our failure to mix the stain well enough) on the table made the stain much lighter than we expected. We have since fallen in love with the table's color; however, the bench came out the color we had originally expected for the table, which is much darker. We are going to do a test at some point to determine whether it was the wood conditioner or just the poor mixing that lightened the table. One other possible explanation is that we got the wood from a different place. This wood did seem a bit softer, in case that makes a difference. As a result of this color difference we are going to literally sit on it (the bench) for a while and decide whether we will strip and re-stain the table. It seems easier to re-do the table darker than lighten the bench since all we would need to remove is the poly. We're not in a hurry though. We might end up liking it well enough like we did the table. The bench almost matches our son's highchair, so it almost looks intentional. Lesson: TEST THE STAIN FIRST!

Fixes and stain-color aside, the bench was not terribly difficult to make and the plans (when I bothered to read them) were very easy to follow. I'm looking forward to bringing these lessons to the next project. My wife is requesting Adirondack chairs. Fortunately for us both, Mrs. White has shared some very good looking chair plans. Stay tuned.

Thanks for the inspiration!  This was my first full blown creation and my wife loves it.  Cannot wait to do more!

This is my Son's crib that I built about a year ago.  I have the plans for them but I need to get on my desktop to get the plans.  But it's built to be a convertable crib like the expensive cribs you can buy.  If i remember correctly I had less that $150 in material.  With all the sanding and it being the first time I had made one I had about 100 hours into it. 

Hello There! 

This was my attempt at the Family Tree Nesting Birds sign that Ana made. I ended up painting everything instead of doing the foam for the leaves, but I just love how it turned out! I used old pallet wood instead of new lumber and gave it a really good sanding before staining and painting.

Gave it to my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas, and it was a huge hit!

Thanks Ana!

I used the Ana White Farmhouse Table plans.  I made the matching bench with a backrest.  For the top of the table and the bench seat I used a royal plum stain.  I'm female, 54 years old and I do woodworking "Like A Girl".   Enjoy

I was looking for a desk with sort of a "campaign furniture" style feel to it, and came across Ana's plan for the X Desk with Drawer.

I made a lot of changes from that starting point, some of which worked well, some of which didn't. In the end, my desk varies pretty drastically from the original, but I definitely have to give credit for lots of helpful tips and inspiration from Ana's plan!

It's a little rough, but it's one of my first real builds, so I'm pretty happy.

Note: picture does not show spreader on back legs, added afterwards. Drawers are out while guides dry, they normally sit flush with front face.

Made from pine, with poplar edging on front. Mostly pocket hole joinery. Finish is a light version of the Minwax Dark Walnut (looks lighter in picture than real life.) Lacquer coating. Pulls are from Home Depot.

To give it an antique, campaign look, the edges are roughed up a little, the finish is left a little streaky/worn, and the holes for the drawers were cut out of the board by hand, and then hand-fit to the drawers.

I made this desk for my sister ( it is 3 metres long - sorry I am an Aussie dont know what that is in inches).

I glued 3 metre radiata pine together, planed, sanded, stained and varnished with polyurethane.

I made 4 sawhorses and then joined two of them together to make shelves.

Very happy with the result

Wood tilt out trash can cabinet made from this plan, with some changes. I did a fancier cabinet door, along with a top that overhangs on the sides as well as the front. 

Inspired by many projects here on Ana's page, my "Mega Mom" board is not just a pretty face, it's also great at multitasking. It helps calm the chaos and juggle the daily influx of papers with the same ease that it manages a quick message or coats.

The "Mega Mom" board has a chalkboard, shelf, and hooks for coats. It also has letter bins for important papers, a magnetic board to hold the family calendar, additional hooks for keys and a bucket to hold chalk or loose change. Our ceilings are 9' and I'm 5'10", so I made it big and hung it high to make the best use of the space. The finished board measures 37 1/2" wide by 30 1/4" tall. If you like what you see, you can find a materials list and more detailed drawings on my blog http://theelusivebobbin.blogspot.com/2013/03/plans-for-mega-mom-board.h…

     These were built to demo the Sunday Trinket Box plan using 3 different wood types – 1/2" thick craft board, 1x scrap wood, and cedar 1x.  On the 2 that I made with 1x boards, I used some ¼” hardwood plywood scrap for the inner lids, which kept the top nice and light and worked very well.  I think I prefer this for the inner lid when working with the 1x material and would recommend that for the build.  My craft room work table looked like a mad scientist’s laboratory with all the cans and tubes of finishes I’ve been trying out, and projects at different levels of completion.  

     The craft board box is finished with 1 coat of Rustoleum Stain + Poly in Walnut (the kind in the tube, I had picked this up at Michaels to try it out), and 3 coats of gloss polycrylic.  The radiata pine craft board took this stain really well, even without wood conditioner.   The inner lid for this one is the same ½” craft board used for the box.   The pull for this one is a rectangle of cedar, with a light coat of Varathane stain + poly in Walnut, and a coat of gloss poly.   Cost:  Wood:  $8.47 for craft boards, Finish:  $0 (used finishes already on hand).

     The scrap wood box is finished with 3 coats of Clark & Kensington semi-gloss in Crushed Peanut, a stencil design added on the front in gold craft paint, and a DIY pull made from a ¾” wide “slice” of the ½” thick craft board, topped with a scrap of ¼“ x 1 ½” poplar craft board, super-glued and pin-nailed together, and finished with 2 coats of gold craft paint and 2 coats of gloss polycrylic.   The pull is attached with crystal clear super-glue.  Cost:  $0 for wood (scrap), $0 for finishes (left over), $4.99 for the stencil (which I am re-using) and $4.99 for a pkg of 4 stencil sponge brushes (also re-using these).

     The cedar 1x box is finished with 3 coats of gloss poly. The knob is another DIY – a ‘slice’ of the 1x cedar, topped with some ¼” aromatic cedar, glued and pin nailed together.  This received 1 coat of Rustoleum Walnut Stain + Poly on the top part and 2 coats on the bottom part, topcoated with 2 coats of gloss poly, and was super glued to the top.  The inner lid for this one is a piece of ¼” plywood, glued and clamped in place.  The front design re-uses the stencil, in the same Rustoleum Walnut as the pull.   Cost:  Wood: about $5 worth of a cedar 1x8 (cut down to size on the table saw).  Finish: $0 since the finishes were already on hand. 

    These were a super easy and quick build – I built and sanded all three in an afternoon.  I’m sure the finishing could all be done in a day too, but I spread mine out a few minutes here and there as I had time to work on them, while changing my mind several times on the pulls and embellishments.  These were all given as gifts.

This was just the right table design for our history home built in 1880! Love the plans and easy to build!