Hi, I’m Karlynn!

I work full time in health communications by day and moonlight as a DIYer by night. Prior to COVID, I didn't really think about my house. It was a landing place for toys, running clothes, and laptop bags. Once my husband and I started working from home full-time during the pandemic with our kids doing virtual school, I started looking around at my space and wanting something more. My New Year's resolution for 2021 was to start creating a home I loved with my own hands.

When I was in middle school, my parents bought a pre-Revolutionary War farmhouse at auction. The house needed a lot of work and every weekend was spent at the house stripping paint, knocking out walls to expose hidden fireplaces, and peeling off ancient wallpaper. My sister and I were both given kids’ tool sets to keep us busy and we wandered the 10 acres looking for the perfect spot to build our treehouse. Years later, that tool set came with me to college. I was the only woman in the dorm with a hammer. I won’t say I was popular because of it, but I did get quite a few stops at my door from other women saying, “My friend told me you had some tools and could help me hang up my shelf.”

That is not where it all started. My husband and I rented for a long time and I didn’t have a need or a desire to update anything. When we bought our house, my mom started giving me tools as gifts. At first I just shoved them into the basement, but once I started my DIY resolution, I was so thankful for all the equipment I already had to get started!

Here’s my message to anyone thinking they don’t have the right space or the right tools – You don’t have to have a huge house with a garage/workshop to start creating. You don’t have to have a huge renovation budget. We live in a townhome and I buy tools as I need them. I’m creating a space I love one project at a time.