I have always known that Josh has great skill with anything he sets his mind to. Anything he does, he does well. Anything he does well, he becomes a master in. Like most high school aged boys, Josh enrolled in wood shop in high school. There, he learned the basics of bringing out the beauty of wood (ask him about accidentally using his teacher’s front door for a project!). Over the years I’ve known him, he would occasionally create projects that struck his fancy, but the hobby did not become serious until around 2018.

After we got home from his surgery in Dallas, Josh needed something to occupy his time while he was home recovering. He started creating beautiful wood crosses. He gave most of them away as gifts. He made me a beautiful sign to hang in the kitchen. He made a couple of display shelves for sentimental pieces in our home.

Once we moved to Texas, he really began exploring his talent. If there was a piece of furniture we saw at an antique store or estate sale, he would investigate how it was made. As we needed shelves or unique decor for our new home, he would make them.

There were a few functional items we needed. For example, we wanted to cover up the area where we store our trash can so it couldn’t be seen from the street. So Josh built a fence.

The puppies love nothing more than to terrorize our poor old man, Rockee. When he is sleeping, they run in and on and over him and lick his face. He does not enjoy this behavior. He just wants to sleep, and he’s earned it. One day I said, “I tried to build a wall with the laundry baskets and my work chair to protect Rockee from the puppies, but it didn’t work.” The next day, Josh came in from the garage with this:

He created three hinged panels that I can set up around Rockee’s bed by my work desk so puppies can’t get to him. We also use them as a corral chute to keep us having to chase them from the back door to their kennel! That’s what I call double duty y’all!

Our pantry had barn doors installed when we bought the house. They used closet bi-fold doors for it. It looked nice but just didn’t fit with everything else in the house. They just seemed like an afterthought and not well executed. The closet doors were white, there was nothing else white in the house. They were also installed upside down. Once Josh pointed that out, I couldn’t un-see it. We had to do something.

We thought painting the doors brown would help. It didn’t. So, off to Home Depot we went.

These new doors completely transformed the kitchen. I never even realized how much of a statement those doors made.

As Rockee got older, he started falling off the bed at night. After years of pushing different types of furniture against the mattress and putting blankets on the floor to cushion his fall, Josh built a solution.

Josh’s most recent project (and I’m pretty sure the one he is most proud of) was to build a garage door. When the original owners built this house, they opted for a carport instead of a garage. Instead of a back wall, they planted oleanders. Oleanders are everywhere down here, which is so baffling because they are super poisonous. We removed the oleanders as soon as we found that out- and Josh built a fence along the back door opening. The front was still wide open. It was hot in the summer and cold in the winter. And anyone (or anything) could just waltz in whenever. We looked at purchasing a traditional garage door. As with everything in this house, the opening is an odd size so we would have to have a custom door made. To the tune of $19,000. No thank you. So guess where we went?

A few days later…

The side doors open out, and the center door rolls on casters to the inside of the garage.

As a finishing touch, we had a sign made with our logo. We worked with the greatest company on Etsy. They do amazing work and they were so patient with me and my 4,000 questions! You can view their Etsy shop here or their website here.

I have to say, I am glad that the previous owners neglected this property as much as they did. There have been so many things that needed improvement. Making these improvements has allowed us to put our personal touch on each and every part of our home. And this has all been in only 18 months! I can’t wait to see what Josh’s creative mind comes up with in the next 50 years. Because we’re NEVER MOVING AGAIN. Ever.