A princess castle bed

My first ever woodwork project! Thank you Ana white!
My first ever woodwork project! Thank you Ana white!
My daughter loves her new bed, thanks Ana!
The plans were well thought out and very easy to follow. I did make a few changes/modifications that others might want to consider.
I used select pine boards to cut down on the amount of sanding necessary prior to paining, however that boards have a fairly sharp edges. Because this is a kids bed and play area underneath I rounded off all the edges with a 1/4" round over bit in my router. I love how it turned out!
I also added two 1x3 supports to the long 1x2 top back rail. I did this for two reasons, first was the 1x2 seems a bit saggy and didn't seem like it would hold up too well to my 6 year old up there. Secondly, it match the front rail nicely. Speaking of the front rail, I also changed the vertical supports from 1x4s to 1x3s. The 1x3s match the 1x3 posts and look much better IMHO.
When I built the ladder I was struggling with the gaps left by the 1x3 stair treads when I placed them in the 1x3 sides. Finally I decided to use 1x4 treads, again rounded over with a 1/4" bit. These larger treads overhang the 1x3 sides by about 1/2-inch and look very nice.
Finally, instead of screwing the ladder to t 1x8 bed frame, I bent 5" corner brackets into a "J" shape and attached them upside down to the top of the ladder. The upside down "J's" hook over the top of the 1x8 bed rail and allows the ladder to be easily removable yet is still securely attached to the bed for use.
Mon, 01/23/2012 - 14:12
Wow!!!! Saw a similar bed at a kid's furniture store for about $2,500 in NYC. Thank God I came across this site before plunking down that amount of cash.
Well Done!
Sun, 02/26/2012 - 21:47
Is this bed as tall as the original design specified? For some reason it seems shorter to me. We have a ceiling fan in my childrens' rooms and average height ceilings. I am concerned with making something too tall.
Thanks.
Wed, 07/11/2012 - 07:59
Mary - No, I had to shorten the bed by about 3 or 4 inches because our ceilings are lower than 8' in the basement. The only real challenge with changing the height of the loft is re-working the step spacing on the ladder.
We built this media console because our old TV stand was pretty much a safety hazard for our soon-to-be mobile baby. We found a good plan in The Handbuilt Home and modified it to our dimensions with the help of Sketch Up. We couldn't be happier with the final product!
Found 120 year old mahogany hardwood flooring at The Old House Society that provided the table top. Built the subframe and legs per the standard plan. Then attached a 3/4" ODF plywood deck. Strip hardwood was nailed to the top with 1" finishing nails thru the flooring tongues. Cleaned the hardwood, applied 2 coats of shellac and 3 coats of satin polyurethane. The modification to use the strip flooring was the most tedious to get a tight fit. The antique, aged and stressed flooring gives the table a real antique look. Build time was @ 8 hours. Applying the finishes took several days of drying/curing before use. My wife loves it and I am proud of the final project.
My husband and I have enjoyed building this coffee table together. This is our 2nd Ana white build together. So glad we found this website. Thank you for creating these step by step plans, we're excited to build more beautiful furniture for our home.
Tue, 10/01/2019 - 21:02
Amazing! So excited to see your coffee table build!
We followed Ana's plans but went 1 ft taller on the pony walls to increase the height. We are so impressed with how it turned out. I'm excited to grow plants in Northwestern Ontario.
Fri, 05/26/2023 - 19:43
It looks awesome and love your pup! Thank you so much for sharing.
So easy to build and soooo functional. The plans include both the bench and the shelf, but I just didn't have any room for the bench or I would have built that too.
My wall was too short to fit the original shelf, so I modified this to work with the space available. It's about 10 inches shorter and only has two cubbies.
This is a great starter project.
Fri, 01/13/2012 - 15:53
I really like that. I'm going to have to make one. Nice job.
Easy bench to build with my son! added double legs for more stability, just glued two together and followed all directions.
We had a great time making this desk! I was so thankful for the inspiration and now I have a new favorite spot in our home.
I followed the plans pretty closely. I always wanted to get into woodworking and once I bought a house I finally had the space! My wife wanted a farm house table and rather than spend $500+ on one I told her I could build it. Luckily that turned out to be true!
Wed, 10/02/2019 - 09:49
There's so much character in this table! Love it!
Hi I was tired to see the magpies and flickers destroying the nest and kill the sparrows After days of research i came up with this model that i tested last summer and believe me, it was successfully accepted by sparrows This year i made bunch of them, some different models till i get to the yellow one style that is perfect I really loved it and i'm here sharing it with you guys I will share plan for this bird house in my Instagram next week (June 12)
I mostly followed the directions as provided. My only changes were using hickory instead of pine, it is a nicer wood and it only added $6 to the project. I also put non slip pads on the bottom of the bottoms and used 14 feet of fabric in place of curtains. It is a very quick and inexpensive project that my kids have been getting a lot of enjoyment out of.
Mon, 02/06/2012 - 18:01
where or how did you make that cool mini/toy "tree house" in the background!!?!
I made it a little different, with a small door on the bottom as a little storage.
I loved making this for my kid, and as my first project ever I feel very proud of it.
I don't remember the exact amount of hours it took because I had little time to work on it (maybe 3 hours/week) so it took quite a bit of weeks to complete but it was really easy and fun! :D
I like how it's tall enough for my 2 year old to play standing, before we had a plastic one that was very very short, also it's sturdy enough for climb on it. xD
By the side I made a super easy, varnished, cupboard, following the same main steps from the stove, I only didn't put a front door and added on one side a towel holder and on the other side a small shelf/bar table
This was our second dresser build, but the hardest. I don't know why we had so much trouble with the tracks but we did. We cheaped out and bought the cheapets option and then decided to wrap them out and by the more expensive option - which would of saved us so much time in the first place.
We took the farmhouse bed with drawers plan and made it into a twin bed instead of a queen for my six year old son. He wanted it to be Batman blue, and we even got his own bat signal on the headboard!
Slight mod, table added from wood picnic table that the sectional replaced.
I saw Ana's plans for the farmhouse bed a couple years ago I think and have wanted to build one ever since! My husband and I were moving over to Oregon from Scotland though so our timing wasn't quite right... in the end though, I waited until I was 8 months pregnant to do it! We raised the footboard to be about bar height (hung our stockings from it at Christmas) and used carriage bolts and routed out the 4x4 posts to make the bed modular. We also used a forstner bit to drop the screws and plug cutters to make a nice cover up for them... If I could do it over I would have used wood conditioner first before staining to achieve a smoother stain job, but we like how it took to the wood a bit crazy-like in the end. Obviously, night stands are next. :) We LOVE this bed! Thanks Ana!
I made this doll closet to go along with the canopy bed. It came out great! I put some pictures of the build on my blog.
I used the pattern and instructions on how to re-size from http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com.es/2013/01/chair-upholstering-tutt…. I then built the base using 1x1 and part of a wood closet rod I had left over and drawer bottom material from Home Depot. I know those descriptions are not super informative but it's just materials I had around the house. Once the base was built I used Ana's instructions from the doll mattress tutorial to sew the bottom and back cushions. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from the build but I intend to make her a couch when I have time so hopefully I can add some pictures of that to give an idea of what the frame looks like.
I followed the kitchen cabinet building plans to build all new upper cabinets up to my ceiling. I built all new drawers with soft close drawer slides also and built the refrigerator enclosure cabinet.I did the entire remodel myself including the new doors out of MdF.
Wed, 10/02/2019 - 22:53
What a phenomenal build! Thank you so much for sharing photos!
Tue, 11/05/2019 - 10:41
We are so thrilled to let you know your entry WON the Best Brag contest! There were many amazing entries, and it was tough to choose.
Look out for an email from us shortly!
Tue, 11/05/2019 - 11:41
Oh my gosh!!! Serious?! I can’t believe it! Thank you so much!
Lots of fun building all of this - very easy to do as well. Built a coffee table, 2 end tables, 2 console tables, and the book case. I changed a couple things up like doing 1x4 instead of 2x6 for the tops, and used the advice on aging/oxidizing the boards as well.
Wed, 06/14/2023 - 10:21
These look amazing and I love your finish choice! Thanks for sharing.
Comments
terri717
Sun, 09/22/2019 - 12:32
What plan did you make this…
What plan did you make this from?
In reply to What plan did you make this… by terri717
Ana White
Wed, 09/25/2019 - 15:25
Heres the plans https://www…
Heres the plans https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/castle-loft-bed-stairs-a…