After wrapping up the past year having built a TON of playhouses for MiniPlayhomes, as well as some client and personal builds, my wife Desiree and I decided it was finally time to take a vacation. We had some friends move to Texas this past year so after a little planning we hitched up the travel trailer and hit the road!

We had a great time visiting our friends and checking out some of the touristy Texas stuff, which included the massive Round Top Antique Show (which happened to take place on my birthday) and of course, the Magnolia Silos.

Unfortunately, the Round Top Antique experience was pretty disappointing. We live in California where everything is already so so so expensive and the antique stores all have the same old stuff, so we were excited to check out this big antique show with multiple locations up and down Highway 237 and hopefully score some cool finds at reasonable prices. Well, the main location, The Big Red Barn, did have some very interesting stuff. A lot of seemingly rare items in surprisingly good condition, but then you look at the price tags and oooooooh doggie! I mean, I understand the pricing on some of the items but wow, we might as well have been shopping in the Bay Area, CA at those prices! And don’t get me started on the price of food at the food trucks, lol!

We did come home with a few small items that I’m sure we could’ve survived without, but what we were hoping would be a treasure trove of awesomeness in Texas turned out to be a lot overpriced rusty junk (literally) and a lot of mass produced imported junk. There was also a lot of high-end (aka insanely expensive) interior decorating stores with things like an $11k rustic wood door that was falling apart. I dunno…not really our cup of tea. MOVING ON!

Even though there are a couple nice neighborhoods in Waco , it’s pretty much still a pit, but we were excited to get to the Magnolia Silos. I think most people have seen an episode or twenty of Fixer Upper by now, and doing a quick search online you can find maps/addresses of some of the homes featured on episodes of Fixer Upper. One of which is Clint Harp’s home and his shop/store is right next door. Since he’s a woodworker and I’m a woodworker, we thought it would be fun to check it out. We roll up and we can’t tell if the shop is open. According to the internet, it should have been open but it kinda looked like it was vacant. I get out of the truck and walk up to the door to see if I can find any info and oddly, it DOES look empty. There was some cardboard boxes and a roll of packaging tape laying around…lights off…and what in the what?!? There’s somebody in there! What in the what?!? It’s Clint Harp! The weird part is he looked miserable and was sitting on the floor leaning against his wall looking at his phone. Another visitor had pulled up right next to the front door near me and there was no way our motion would not have caught the attention of somebody inside, but Clint didn’t even look up. So, something had his head preoccupied and another quick search told us he just sold his property and one of the articles we read gave us the impression that he’s “over it”. So whatever, haha!

Anyway, back to the good stuff. Chip & Joanna Gaines are definitely loved by people all over the place. I think they’re great and really fun to watch and even though I don’t put much stock in what celebrities do or say, I have to admit from the moment we pulled up to the Silos I started getting a feeling of inspiration. Almost like creative butterflies in my stomach. I can’t super duper explain it but just walking into Magnolia Press and seeing the attention to detail in the design and style of the whole shop got me excited. As we walked the grounds of the Silos, it was really fun to see this little world in person after only seeing it on TV for so long.

While we were in Waco we had lunch at Magnolia Table (be sure to make those reservations ahead of time!) and this is no exaggeration…hands down the best meal we ate during our 10 day trip! Not even kidding. Chip…Joanna…if you’re reading this…you guys have an excellent team preparing the food at Magnolia Table. So so so so good. Just like at Magnolia Press, the attention to design detail at this restaurant was top notch. To finish off the day, of course we had to treat ourselves to some goodies from the Silos Baking Co. and once again…a home run…nay…a bases loaded bottom of the ninth grand slam.

Anyway, like I mentioned, I can’t quite put my finger on it but something about visiting the Silos started getting me motivated. Maybe it was the attention to detail. Maybe it was the styling of the little boutique shops within the grounds. Maybe it was all the love that has been obviously poured into this whole Magnolia project. They definitely have a great story. Do I have a story? Me? I dunno….I’m just a regular guy who:

• Worked at Michael’s Arts & Crafts in high school but wanted more so I:
• Cold-called a local video production company to see if I could come check out their studio which led to:
• Me getting an unpaid internship by the end of the first day which led to:
• A paid part time position the following day which turned into:
• A full time position a couple months later that went great for over 3 years until:
• I was offered a new position that would’ve given me more responsibility and more pay so I:
• Quit that job to start doing my own video production stuff and married Dez and I ended up making double what I was offered before I quit. Then:
• My wife and I started Zelo Photography (shooting 25 weddings per year) which, oddly enough is also what started to really get me interested in woodworking and making stuff but after 15 years our wedding bookings started slowing down so I:
• Backtracked and got a part time janitor job at my church and while I didn’t realize it at the time, the Lord’s timing with this was of course, perfect because:
• C0v!d hits and all our weddings basically canceled or postponed but I was still able to work my shifts at church and then:
• I was blessed with the amazing opportunity to build the new cross that would hang front and center in the remodeled worship center which confirmed to me that:
• Building…making…creating….is what I’m supposed to be doing with my life.

So I ask again….do I have a story? Me? Well, as our visit to the Silos is coming to a close and we’re racing around trying to get a few last-minute photos before they kick us out and lock up the gates, I turn and look up and see the following mural:

I saw that huge text mural and that was it for me. I knew that I needed to really start getting serious and figuring out how I want to use all the skills I’ve learned and various tools I’ve accumulated over the years. I have photo/video skills and I have photo/video tools. I have builder/maker skills and I have builder/maker tools. How I choose to combine all this to make more of a living with it (and finally part ways with janitorial work) will take some hard work and some creative thinking but that’s the kind of challenge I feel I’m ready to tackle.

With a new burst of inspiration and motivation, I got right to work when we got home from Texas. A lot has been getting done around here. Dez and I love working on our personal home projects like pouring concrete sidewalks and walkways and cutting down trees and building a new fence, which are projects that have been on our minds for quite some time. Now they’re finished. And since we had so much concrete on hand, I did some concrete form experiments with rigid foam insulation which I cut out on my cnc. Some failures, and then some success.

Speaking of cnc projects, I finally upgraded my Carbide Create software to the Pro version and started trying out some 3D carving projects and getting more familiar with my cnc in general. The cnc is definitely one tool I cannot see myself NOT having now. I’m finding so many ways to use it not only for fun projects made entirely on the cnc, but it’s also great to make custom parts or jigs to use in regular non-cnc projects. Additionally, if you haven’t seen the awesome feature wall I did in our home office, I encourage you to check out that video here.

One cnc project I’m really excited about is my own brass logo badges. They’re only 1-inch diameter and once the brass has been machined I paint over it all with Testor’s black enamel and once that has dried I sand the surface and all the high spots of the brass are revealed while the black enamel stays untouched in the low pockets. I can now create a shallow pocket somewhere on my furniture pieces and embed this badge! I do have a branding iron with my logo, but I feel it has a tendency to look a bit clunky and a little too big. This badge is classy and in my opinion puts the finishing touch on a piece of furniture. And since we’re talking about furniture now, I’m excited to be 2 steps away from finishing my first floating tv stand/entertainment unit. This thing is a pretty sweet mix of simple casework and creative cnc details. Stay tuned for more details and photos in an upcoming blog post.

Since returning from Texas I also re-activated my Zelo Side Tables in my Etsy shop and have already received a couple new orders. While the orders have been for walnut versions of the Zelo Side Table, I’m also finishing some other versions that I’m very excited to share with the world. If you follow me on Instagram you may have already seen a sneak peek of them in progress but that’s nothing compared to how they’re looking in real life.

I have friends who know how much I enjoy doing this stuff, and recently a couple of them have suggested I submit something to the Design In Wood exhibit at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar this year. I’ve never given much thought to that because I don’t even go to the fair when it rolls around and since I don’t usually go, I always forget that they even have this exhibit. But now I’m excited and since I have these “special edition” Zelo Side Tables nearly complete, and the entry deadline is coming up quickly, I decided I WILL submit my Zelo Side Tables for consideration. I’ve also heard interesting things about what an accepted entry could lead to. Prizes…purchased pieces…custom orders…who knows. So we’ll see what happens and I’ll let you all know if I get in!

I’m very excited about my overall progress in the shop lately and I’m just as excited to see what will come out of the shop as the year progresses. If you’re not already following me on other platforms you can do that using the following links:

Thank you all for letting me share my thoughts and updates. See you again soon!