Hi, I’m Sarah!
I’m a wife and mother of two, an experienced woodworker, a serial DIY’er, and a home design enthusiast. In 2019, after living in 12 addresses in 15 years, my husband and I started building our forever home. We moved back to Kentucky, where we’d both grown up, bought thirteen acres, and assured our families we were never moving again. Our custom home build was, what I call a semi-self build. We worked with a contractor, but had freedom to DIY whatever portions we felt comfortable enough to tackle. From running our own water and electric lines to installing wood floors, building custom vanities, and much more, we’ve worked hard to create a home that is uniquely ours.
The question I get most often is, “How did you learn to do all this?”. The truth is, nobody taught me how to build a custom closet or fireplace built-ins. I must admit, my dad is a builder and a true craftsman when it comes to woodworking, so I grew up watching him. But, my journey started with a simple need and a desire to learn.
In 2010, I found myself as a stay-at-home mom to two kids, living in a builder grade, new construction home, in a city I wasn’t at all familiar with. I had previously worked full time in commercial and residential construction and found myself missing that sense of satisfaction I got from working. I also had a new home with lots of space and no budget for furniture to fill it up. So, rather than buying a kitchen table, I bought a miter saw and built a table! While that table is still standing today, it really wasn’t a great build! lol! But, I didn’t know that at the time. I only knew that I BUILT A TABLE and I was incredibly proud!
That table sparked a fire. Not only did I love the end result (the table), I loved the process, the sense of completion I got (because let’s be honest, as a mom, my work was never complete!), and the satisfaction of saving lots of money. I realized that with some basic woodworking knowledge, and the right tools, I could tackle projects that I’d only dreamed of having done in our home. With each build (and each home, really), my skills improved and my desire to learn the craft grew.
Fast forward ten years and multiple homes later, I found myself with lots of extra time (thanks, Covid-19) and a long list of projects that I wanted to complete for our custom build. And that’s where I’m at now, slowly checking them off – usually with more than one project going at a time.