Thank you for visiting! I hope you stay a while, pick up a few things, and share what you are working on as well. I dabble in pretty well all things design and diy here, but my passion is building. Whether it is a full scale home renovation or a new dining table, I am happiest when covered in sawdust (and surrounded by family, of course!) I am passionate about working with reclaimed materials and constantly learning and improving in my methodologies. I love to design lasting, functional, and beautiful pieces. If I can share with others and hopefully play some small role in empowering others to pick up a power tool and get started, then so much the better!
At the core of building and renovating is a desire to create, to improve, and to beautify objects and places around me. Likely you share that love and also have a never ending list of projects! Hopefully you will find this a good place to inspire and be inspired!
Who am I?
Some random facts:
*I have a masters degree in history, specializing in early American history.
*I taught for a few years, working mostly with at risk youth and in special education. I also taught community college for a time.
*I adore good literature and am a total prose snob.
*My husband and I flip homes for living.
*I can quote most of the movie Clue and large portions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I am especially prone to both while working on renovation projects in the wee hours of the night.
*I don’t really like to cook and strongly dislike baking.
*I currently live three miles from the exact spot I stood in at 12 years old and told my parents that I wanted to live here someday.
*I love the rain and rarely get tired of it.
*I never miss a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth.
*I love to hike.
*I’m a country girl at heart and love having lots of space around me. We have a tiny farm here in the suburbs with Nigerian dwarf goats and a growing flock of chickens.
*I met my amazing husband, Eric, when I was 31. We were married five months after our first date, and within the next 13 months we had our first child, purchased our first home (together), and moved to a new town on the beautiful Oregon coast.
Over the next two years we remodeled our coastal home from top to bottom while Eric worked full time, I taught part time college, and we had our second child. We then sold that home, moved back to the home we started in together, and are now working to give it a little more design style. Fun fact: Eric moved this home to its current location and completely remodeled it before we met!
We build, upcycle, decorate, renovate, and usually have sawdust tracked all over our floors. Family is very important to us, and our kids are involved in everything we do. And though I may be the face behind this blog, my husband is my full partner in it all.
