About Us
Hello there!
Meet sisters Ashley & Whitney, two power tool-wielding DIY queens, on a mission to create beautiful and affordable furniture, turning houses into homes.
Self-described coffee enthusiasts and treasure weavers, we transformed a hobby into a dream career.
The self-taught carpenters we are, love to share our journey online to inspire other people to “pick up that scary tool and go!”
We are also hosts of HGTV’s Open Concept, and designers of the Shanty2Chic Home Collection exclusively at At Home Stores nationwide.
As seen in:
Whitney here!
A little background about me and what started this whole process… I am a single mommy to 6 wonderful and crazy kids, 3 of them now young adults. My youngest son Jed has profound autism, which also made me an autism mama.
I have attempted (not always achieved) almost any craft. I have found along the way that I love, love the process of building a piece of furniture from raw wood and my power tool stash, of course.
I love Jesus, my family, my tools and coffee.
I am blessed to work with my sister and very best friend. We like to have fun, try to get a little work done and also stay out of trouble 🙂
I love to teach others and give advice on all things DIY and I love learning as well. I’m lucky to be able to share this experience with Ashley!
Hi there! I’m Ashley
A proud mom of three incredible kids and newly married to my amazing husband, Noah. My two oldest are now grown and out on their own, and in 2023, my youngest daughter and I made a big life change. We sold the only home she had ever known—the home I personally designed, built, and poured my heart into over the course of 10 years—to downsize and begin a fresh new chapter together.
Just like before, we started from scratch—no furniture, just a vision and lots of inspiration. Last summer, Noah and I tied the knot, and ever since, I’ve been busy turning our new house into a home through furniture building, creative DIY projects, and plenty of love.
I’m deeply passionate about Jesus, my family, and my work. As a dedicated teacher and maker, I believe that anyone can learn to use tools that might seem intimidating at first. My mission is to empower others to build confidently and create spaces that truly feel like home.
I’m am incredibly blessed to work alongside my sister Whitney—it’s a joy to share this journey with her every day.
Our Story
We have always tackled new journeys together. We both coached competitive cheerleading before building furniture.
After moving into larger homes, we were challenged with filling our homes with beautiful pieces on a budget. That led us to dumpster diving and rehabbing furniture that others had tossed away.
We started our website in August of 2009, just sharing our tips for refinishing furniture and styling our homes, to help others. That quickly led to teaching ourselves how to build furniture from scratch. We started building with a hand saw and a drill and quickly added to our tool collections as we gained experience.
We now have hundreds of free plans and how-to videos to help new DIY’ers tackle their own home designs. You don’t have to spend a fortune on retail furniture to give your home a cozy magazine look!
Our goal is to make every plan easy-to-follow, use just a few basic tools and we build with pine, framing lumber, and plywood to create beautiful custom pieces on a small budget! We always say if we can build it, so can you!
Where to find us
Follow us anywhere! You can find our free furniture plans and DIY tutorials here on our website.
You can find our how-to videos over on our YouTube channel!
You can also find our projects on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Come follow us over there as well!
We absolutely LOVE seeing the shanty projects you create! Please tag @shanty2chic in your photos and stories so we can celebrate your successes with you! Happy building!
What you will find on this blog
Here you’ll find all of the free woodworking plans and how-to videos that Ashley and Whitney created to make their houses homes, from simple home projects to entire rooms of furniture. Their goal is to provide free, easy-to-follow plans with accompanied how-to videos to inspire you to pick up that scary tool and create your dream home.
While you are here
Check out these amazing projects.
