DIY Plans Make Home Goods, Such as Chairs, a Sofa or a Table, Cheap - By: Ana White

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - Self-taught wood worker Ana White says DIY wood workers, even ones who have not done it before, can make six complementary pieces of patio furniture for $150 or less.

This includes the wood frames for a full-size sofa, two end tables, two lounge chairs and a coffee table, all crafted from solid wood.

All four of the original plans for what she calls the Simple White Outdoor collection are available on her website, ana-white.com, for free. The plans include step-by-step instructions, exact dimensions of the finished product, an itemized shopping list and a list of every cut for every board in the project. Armed with the information, you can learn how to build a table in two different sizes, lounge chairs and a sofa.

Solid wood, handmade wood furniture provides durability, functionality and high-end designer furniture aesthetics. In fact, these plans were inspired when White was browsing through the designer Nantucket Collection from Restoration Hardware, an American furniture chain that offers home furnishings.

"You could buy cheap furniture online or off the warehouse floor like that and spend thousands," White says. "Or you could make it yourself for much, much less."

White's website has thousands of free wood furniture plans, and she posts new projects on her blog each week. She picked up wood working in 2005 when she and her husband decided to build their own home in Alaska to save money on building costs. According to White, DIY projects make getting home goods, such as chairs, a sofa or a table, cheap.

In 2009, White discovered blogging as a way to share her detailed project plans with readers and other women interested in wood working. Part of the site is full of advice and encouragement from fellow wood workers on the forums, which can help keep the project from stalling out. The brag blog features reader-submitted photos of completed projects, many of which might inspire new modifications to the original project plan.

The community is a good resource for finding out the basics of getting started in wood working, learning how to choose good quality lumber for projects and how to be safe when using power tools.

Dozens of expensive power tools are not required for White's furniture plans. Many of the basics are probably already on hand, such as a measuring tape, square, pencil, safety glasses and hearing protection. A few things you might not already own that you'll need, or at least want, are these eight tools: Kreg Jig, drill, circular saw, jigsaw, nailer, sander, level and countersink drill bit.

"Even if the patio furniture projects mean investing in some good quality, multipurpose tools to do the project, the bottom line is still less than retail, plus the tools can be used for future projects," White says.

With so many project ideas in White's plan catalog to choose from, you're bound to find something to add to the to-do list like this solid wood bed plan, the first wood working project White made.

Not only does wood working provide a sense of satisfaction, the finished product makes a great conversation piece- not to mention bragging rights whenever visitors ask where the furniture is from.

About Ana White
Alaskan homemaker Ana White started her blog ana-white.com in 2009, sharing do-it-yourself wood furniture plans. Within 18 months, her readership grew to 500,000 monthly visitors and two million monthly impressions. She continues to offer free project plans and has become a fierce competitor with more established wood working websites that have traditionally been a male-dominated industry. She has been featured in Woman's Day, Fresh Home, Popular Woodworking and Home Design, as well as newspapers around the U.S. and many prominent websites such as HGTV.com and Apartment Therapy.

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About the Author

If you would like to learn about Ana White and her DIY furniture projects and free furniture plans, or you want to know how to build a table, call at (310) 954-9520.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Ana-White/176235

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