The last time I traveled to France, I was neither a mother nor a woodworker; I was a newlywed and a journalist. This spring, two decades after that honeymoon, I returned to Paris, where I realized that, as a middle-aged mom in construction, I view the world through a new lens. For example, looking at … Continue reading Post Card from Paris
Knowing that I spend a weird amount of time measuring things, my nephew Sean gave me a second-hand book for Christmas that contains just about every measurement conversion you can think of. Not just garden-variety inches-to-feet manipulations or polyglot Imperial-to-Metric translations. I'm talking 864 pages of small-print equations to calculate granular and arcane equivalencies. How … Continue reading Share a Few Words
Once upon a time, when I was in technical college, I won a car. I'll tell you all about it some day, but for now let me just say I highly recommend winning a car. In fact, here's a chance to do just that: Nashville Tree Foundation is raffling off a 2019 Subaru Forester...get it? … Continue reading Forester for the Trees
In my work at a design/build/handyman firm, I've come to regard icemakers—the kind that sits independently, under a countertop, for example—as Public Enemy No. 1. I can't count the number of times I've had a variation of this conversation: "Hello, this is Carrington." "Yes, hi, I'm calling because my hardwood floors are buckling." "Do you … Continue reading Rage Against the Ice Machine
Nashville artist Susan Shockley, longtime curator of the Parthenon Museum, makes surrealist drawings that often incorporate images of strike plates. Yes, strike plates, the little metal thingies on door jambs, that door knob assemblies bump against and click into. Susan is delightfully secretive about the meanings of recurring shapes in her work, as you can … Continue reading Consider it Handled
If a man with a hammer sees the whole world as if it were a nail, you’d expect a remodeler to give you a thousand ways to remodel your house. Instead, Ridley Wills, lead designer at The Wills Company (where I work), asks a thousand questions: What do you love about your house? What do … Continue reading Homeowners Will Love (or List!) this Class
My dog is living her best life. According to @lulu_fox123 on Instagram, a terrier's life is equal parts snuggling and cuddling, with frequent interruptions to be adored and spoiled. Today, she emerged from under the duvet for just long enough to get a manicure. @lulu_fox123 is not much for getting her nails clipped, because she … Continue reading Crossroads Campus: A Day in a Dog’s Life
The egg holder on the window sill above my kitchen sink has been bleakly empty for the last few months. While my backyard hens molted and staged an egg strike, my family had to eat store-bought eggs, like regular schnooks. A few days ago, as we wrestled egg cartons in and out of the refrigerator, … Continue reading The Best Holiday Gift
Yesterday, for the first time in my new career, I parked in one of the Pro spaces at Home Depot. You know the ones, up front, reserved for contractors and professional builder types? It reminded me of the first time I filled in a bubble on a form declaring my occupation as Writer. That is … Continue reading Who Do You Think You Are?
Occasionally, you stumble across a straight-faced piece of journalism that reads straight-up like something out of The Onion. For example, I just read in a remodeling publication that the 2019 Color of the Year for a particular brand of residential roofing shingle is... drumroll please...Black Sable. The completely irony-free article explains that the "Color of … Continue reading Shingle All the Way
Build Me Up, Buttercup 