Growing up in my family’s hardware store in Ohio, I learned pretty quickly that you don’t need the most expensive, high-tech gadget to get a job done right—you just need to understand how things actually work. I see so many…
I still remember the first tiny studio apartment I moved into after graduating from SCAD; I was so proud of my degree, but I was absolutely losing my mind trying to fit my life into four cramped walls. I’d look…
I remember standing in my parents’ hardware store back in Ohio, surrounded by the sharp, stinging scent of fresh sawdust and heavy-duty chemical solvents, thinking that “going green” meant you had to throw everything away and start over with a…
I remember sitting on my workshop floor three years ago, surrounded by the sawdust of a failed mid-century dresser restoration and feeling like my entire life was just as splintered and unfixable. My hands were shaking, not from the heavy…
I remember sitting on the floor of my childhood home in Ohio, surrounded by my dad’s old hardware catalogs, feeling completely overwhelmed by a stack of financial papers that felt just as heavy as a bag of wet concrete. It’s…
We’ve all been there: you’ve spent your entire evening tackling a big DIY project or finally getting that vintage dresser sanded down to perfection, only to realize you’re absolutely exhausted when it comes to dinner time. The last thing anyone…
I still remember being a kid in my parents’ hardware store, watching my dad mix up solutions for customers, and I can tell you right now: you do not need to spend a fortune on those neon-colored, hyper-scented bottles under…
I remember sitting on my workshop floor, surrounded by half-finished furniture projects and a pile of expensive, unused gym equipment I’d bought on a whim. I felt like such a failure because I couldn’t just “willpower” my way into a…
I was standing in the middle of my workshop last Tuesday, surrounded by half-finished furniture projects and a stack of receipts that made my stomach do a nervous little flip, when it hit me. We’ve all seen those polished, “aesthetic”…
I still remember the absolute chaos of my first attempt at working with epoxy—I had sticky residue all over my kitchen table, a cloud of bubbles that looked like a science experiment gone wrong, and a heart full of doubt.…