Ana-White.com

Get Out Of Jail Free Card

Ana White — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:21:05 +0000

Man was it ever a great feeling to put the last sheet of drywall up in the Momplex! There were a few hundred sheets, and some of those sheets were 54" wide and 12' long, so this is a huge accomplishment for us! Thanks for keeping us encouraged throughout!

With the drywall hung, it's time to finish the drywall with mud and tape.

Jealous much?

Toy or TV Armoire Drawer Insert

Ana White — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:43:53 +0000

Free plans to build a drawer insert for an armoire from Ana-White.com

About Project

Author Notes:

Hey DIY Friends!

Remember last week when I teamed up with my friend Whitney from Shanty2Chic to create a new plan for you for this toy armoire?

Well, guess what's inside?

A drawer insert!

And of course we got you covered with the free plans right here!

But before we get to the plans, please take a second to go visit Whitney at Shanty2Chic for more details on how she built this drawer insert - aren't those little chalkboard labels cute?

Thanks Whitney!

Plans follow!

Modern Vertical Slat Top Console

Ana White — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:28:36 +0000

Free plans to build a modern style console table out of 2x4s! Plans from Ana-White.com

About Project

Author Notes:

Hi everyone!

Do you remember Jeff from A Touch of Arkansas

Of course you do - Jeff is the designer and builder of this amazing Fire Truck Bed (plans here).

Well, Jeff saw some cool looking wood benches

and snapped some photos and wrote me asking to work on plans for a console table in the same style.

I love how this console turned out!

With the slatted top and legs, it could work great outside too!

Of course we've got you covered with the free plans following, but first, please take a second to go visit Jeff at A Touch of Arkansas for lots more photos and details on how he built this table and finished it.

Thanks again Jeff!

Toy or TV Armoire

Ana White — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:05:28 +0000

Free plans to build a toy or tv armoire from Ana-White.com

About Project

Author Notes:

Hey DIY Friends!

I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! We sure did!

It wasn't moving day as we'd hoped :( but we did take Mom out to dinner to soothe things over. I think she still loves us.

Speaking of amazing Mom's - my friend Whitney from Shanty2Chic wanted to add storage to her daughter's room, so she built her daughter a toy armoire!

I was so honored that Whitney asked me to work with her on these plans, and we both love how this piece turned out!

Here's from Whitney:

Although the size is a bit intimidating, this build is very basic! I had the armoire built for around $200 which is amazing compared to the original $1300 price tag! My little girl loves it, and I love the added storage!

Thanks Whitney! Of course, you have to go visit Whitney at Shanty2Chic to see her step by step building process and get all the details on the supplies and tools she used, and how she finished this toy armoire!

We'll also be adding a drawer insert for even more storage and organization inside - so stay tuned for those plans! Enjoy the plans following!

Collapsible Potting Table

Lady Goats — Thu, 09 May 2013 18:42:22 +0000

Build a collapsible potting table or BBQ area to provide an extra outdoor surface that can be stored away in the off season.

About Project

Author Notes:

Hello Everyone! Gina here from ladygoats.com! Today I get to share with you plans for a potting table that I built for my oldest. The table can also be used for a beverage/snack station when hosting get togethers, or for storage of pool supplies. The best part?

It's collapses into it's 5 1/2" wide top to be stored away in the off season.

Following are the plans, but make sure you check my blog post here for more information, and make sure to read through the comments for any changes/updates.

Downstairs Drywall

Ana White — Thu, 09 May 2013 18:23:49 +0000

I am so proud to tell you that we have indeeded finished putting up all the drywall in the Momplex!

You know the upstairs has been done for quite a while.

But then we stopped and put in an above the floor heat system in the upstairs. We kept the downstairs free of drywall to hook up all the water lines to the upstairs heat system.

But that wasn't the only thing keeping us from finishing up the Momplex.

Biggest hurdle?

The weather. Normally, spring comes in April in Alaska for us.

X Book Caddy

Ana White — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:38:22 +0000

Free plans to build a Land of Nod Good Read inspired book caddy. Your kids will love putting their books away at just their height at an angle. DIY tutorial from Ana-White.com.

About Project

Author Notes:

Super sweet plan treat today!!!

You did ask!

My friend Gina from Lady Goats built this X Book Caddy - of course inspired by the Land of Nod Good Read Book Caddy (retail $149) - from solid wood boards for less than $20!

I love how this little book caddy is right at the little one's height, and places the books at an angle so they are easy to put away and take out.

Well, I want you to hear straight from Gina how easy these were to build - and see more pictures and construction photos and details on the finish - so please take a second to go visit Gina here.

PS - Love the bookshelves in the background? Of course those are DIY too - plans are here!

Husky Farmhouse Table

Ana White — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:49:13 +0000

Free plans to DIY a farmhouse table with store bought table legs. Plans from Ana-White.com

About Project

Author Notes:

Hello DIY Friends!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Can you believe it is still snowing up here in Alaska? I can't either, and I tell you what, I am ready to be working outdoors on projects. If you get a second, point your fans north and blow some of your hot weather toward us, will you?

We have been busy getting the odds and ends complete on the downstairs of the Momplex (I'll be posting an update for you later this week) and then finishing up the drywall downstairs. I've been told to order flooring, doors and moulding - how crazy is that? I know we aren't getting Mom moved in by this weekend (sorry Mom!), but we are feeling so great about how things are moving along (haha I'm not trying to be punny!).

You know we've been working double time now, right? That's right, we took on another job. Darn little nieces are just too cute!

Well, of course, I'm going to be building (or helping build - my sister wants to build her own furniture too!) furniture for my nieces as well. And I've already been working on projects in my spare time.

I was just thinking about something as I was putting together these photos. I often get magazines asking for "amazing before and after photos" to showcase my work, and I kinda give them a funny look and say, "but my before photos are a pile of 2x4s."

When we build furniture, it's not always about dramatic room transformations. It's not always about magazine-worthy after photos.

It's about this:

Our befores-and-afters are about making our lives better. Having a place to eat dinner. Getting mattresses off floors, corralling toys into toyboxes, books into shelves ....

But I won't tell you a lie ... making something pretty doesn't hurt either :)

My sister and I put this table together surprisingly quick - in just a few hours. She wanted a "planked top" look made of 2x6s, so that took a little longer to get the top really flat and level (no rocking plates on this tabletop!). We love you belt sander. You could be smarter than us and use tongue and groove for the top. But I promise you, you won't get an arm workout like we did.

I gave the legs an authentic old world finish and will be sharing that tutorial with you next week - it's actually a pretty easy finish to achieve!

And of course, we got you covered with the free Farmhouse Table plans following!

Also giving a shout-out to the folks at Osborne Wood for providing the legs for this table. The legs are just massive, and retail for about $50 a leg for the legs shown. You will be shocked at how giant these legs are! Thank you Osborne Wood!

Our Weekend Gig - New Flooring

Ana White — Fri, 03 May 2013 18:11:04 +0000

Last Christmas, our family got a very special present.

My sister, a mother of three with a newborn baby, and her husband, finally found the perfect house. After a year of looking, after almost buying a house "just to get into something" - the perfect house for their family became available.

When we went and looked at the house, we were amazed at how well built it was, how well layed-out it was, and just how perfect it was for our dear little nieces to grow up in.

And the house was just a five minute walk from the Momplex, a bike ride from our own house.

Sounds to good to be true, doesn't it?

Of course it is.

Here's the catch:

The house isn't quite finished. It's finished enough to live in, but not finished enough to get a regular mortgage on.

Proud Auntie Note: Can you see my sweet little nieces? I am so thankful they have this beautiful home to grow up in! Those are the same little nieces you see throughout this blog.

So my sister had to get a construction loan that will convert to a regular mortgage when the house is completed. In the meantime, she's paying a high interest rate on the full amount of the home. In other words, every day this house is under the construction loan, she's paying double the interest and no principle.

So getting this house finished up is a top priority for their family.

But here's the problem.

My brother-in-law works seven days a week.
My sister works full time.
My newborn niece has severe food allergies and is very difficult to care for, consuming all of my sister's time.
They've called on contractors, but for different reasons, the house isn't being worked on.
Things just aren't getting done.

Meanwhile, the Ram and I have been busy working on the Momplex, trying to get the Momplex wrapped up and Mom moved in. We are so darn close.

The Ram and I talked about helping my sister out - they've certainly helped us out quite a bit over the years on our cabin, our house, and my brother-in-law has helped out on the Momplex too - but we both agreed that we just don't have the time to commit to getting my sister's house done on top of our current work load.

Well, five months went by .... and they haven't been able to find a contractor, and they haven't been able to find the time to tackle the projects themselves.

Soooo ..... welll .....

You already know how this story goes, don't you?

I know, you totally saw that one coming, didn't you?

One of the first things on the list is removing temporary carpet and installing permanent flooring in the living room. The rest of the house has finished flooring - it's just this main room.

Bye bye temporary ugly orange carpet ....

Under the carpet, the floor hadn't been cleaned for flooring, so we removed all the mud splotches. Can't have uneven spots under laminate flooring - the joints will pull apart.

When you do a heated floor with gyp-crete, you border the area with boards in doorways and stair landings, and then fill inside the border with the pipes and gyp-crete. The Ram ground down the joints to make a level surface for the flooring to float over.

And then we went through the entire floor area and checked for any nails popping up or other problem makers.

Then my sister started vacuuming up the mess we made. This is my newborn niece with the food allergies. The food allergies give her a terrible rash and I can only imagine a tummy ache too, so she's held all day. This is how my sister get's housework done.

We wonder if the old carpeting with pet stains/hair could be contributing to the allergies because the allergies seemed to have gotten much worse when the moved into the new house.

Don't worry, we've got fans blowing, doors open, and the kids have been outside for the grinding.

But now they want to help!

This flooring doesn't come with foam underlayment, so it has to be layed down first, separately.

That's the other Uncle J, who also helped out on putting the flooring in. He's also been helping out with lots of other things too.

The foam underlayment has a sticker, so you just layer and stick the ends together.

This foam underlayment is designed for a heat floor, allowing the heat to transfer up, but still giving the floor a little bit of a cushion underneath.

Baby likes it!

The actual snapping the flooring down and putting into place went really, really fast.

It's the 10% at the ends that take up 90% of the time.

Helpers don't hurt either!

But then we got to the fireplace. What to do here?

It's hard to see from this picture, but the fireplace is not a straight rip cut on the boards. It actually varies quite a bit.

So I used this marking tool to find the pattern of the rocks.

It's actually called a Contour Gauge - it's $10 at the Home Depot and will save you 10 hours.

And then trace that pattern on to the flooring.

I got a whole process down of lining up, marking, tracing, repeating, and this went really fast too. The Ram took my marked boards down to the garage and jigsawed about 1/4" in from my marks.

Seriously, how can you not want to rip out old carpet and put in new flooring for that almost crawling cuteness?

We had to cut a little loose around the fireplace just to get the flooring to snap in, but it looks really good, and we'll go back and fill any gaps with grout from the fireplace, and the fireplace will look like it was installed after the flooring.

Then there's just the little section past the fireplace ...

And it's done!

I think I've figured out what makes this guy such an awesome DIYer.

He's fearless.

I'm always worried, what if we cut this wrong? We'll waste a piece of flooring. What if we start wrong and don't have enough left on the end ... what if??? I'm always questioning myself (I think that's why I love plans and furniture so much!).

But the Ram? He just goes for it. And if things don't work out, he figures it out.

My sister and I talked about this too. If she had the time, she's more than capable of whipping this floor out. We are all capable. But it's fear of messing something up that inhibits us.

I can promise you, there's one piece in this floor that shouldn't be there.

And you are looking right at it.

A good carpenter can hide anything, right?

I believe that's the key to DIYing. You just gotta go for it, do your absolute best job, over-prep beforehand - but when there's a challenge, don't give up, just keep at it until you get things right.

And don't forget - it's about the smiles.

So I guess we now have a weekend gig too. But you already knew that didn't you? Darn it, I wish those little nieces were just a little less cute sometimes!

Have a great weekend! You know where we'll be!

XO Ana

Bedside Charging Table or Nighstand

Ana White — Thu, 02 May 2013 20:15:20 +0000

Free plans for a bedside charging table or nightstand from ana-white.com

About Project

Author Notes:

So before anyone says it, no, we don't have five phones that need to charge every night.

And no, we aren't planning on adding two (more) kids to our bed ... and the one currently sleeping in the middle does not have a cell phone.

So why on earth did I drill five charging holes in this bedside table?

You got me ...

Maybe it's because when you see an opportunity for convenience, you take full advantage of it.

The mere idea of having a dedicated charging station built right into my bedside table or nightstand made me go a little crazy with the spade bit. Can you blame a girl?

This kind of order to cord clutter isn't a dream you can just go out and buy. It's something you just have to DIY.

And you might as well dream big, right? So why not add a secret compartment in the back that flips up for mounting a power strip to plug all those cords in?

Why not?

I was amazed at how fast this little bedside table went together. For those of you that follow me on instagram, you can testify that there was no more than 46 minutes between when this photo was taken ...

And when this photo was taken ....

And then, well, I got hungry, got sucked into pinterest, (Note to self - don't get on Pinterest hungry ever again) had to get the kids from school ... so it took me another day to get those doors done and a back put on.

And then the stain .... how to make brand spanking new boards look old? That did take some time - not trying to be punny here! - but not years and years and years.

But all in all - I have to say, this project is one of the simplest and easiest projects I've done in a while (for a full piece of furniture anyway). It's because this little bedside table doesn't have a face frame, so lots of steps were saved there.

It's also pretty little - not quite table height, but perfect for a bedside table. If you are thinking this would make a great console, I'd definitely make those sides 3" taller (for table height) or 9" taller (for countertop height).

That's the great thing about DIY - you are the boss of your project and you can make your project fit your needs!

Enjoy the plans!

XO Ana