How I did it: I knew I wanted to build a piece of furniture, but I wasn't sure what. I'm in grad school, and time is very limited, so I didn't even think I was ready to build anything. While randomly surfing the web, I saw a picture of a headboard that someone had built, and clicked on the link to www.ana-white.com, where there are hundreds of free plans for furniture pieces. My parents recently moved to the area and have a garage and tools, and I was on a winter break from school, so I decided to do it. I say it took 5 weeks, but that's working for only a few hours each week. I'm not sure what the total time was.

Lessons & tips:

• Wood glue will hold your furniture together for life, but if you don't clean it up properly as you're applying it, you won't be able to stain where it seeps out from in between the pieces.
• Use clamps to hold your pieces together after you apply the wood glue - you'll get a much more solid hold.
• Go easy on the stain - better to do multiple coats than to over-apply and have it drip (that's hard to sand out!).

Resources: www.ana-white.com

Feb 13, 2011, 03:03PM PST | 2 comments | 6 cheers