TRACE GRAFTS
This is Mike, and Rach will be writing on his behalf though he obviously gets the final say. He writes for a living in his day job so he can be excused.
Mike's first foray into woodworking & DIY was at school when he made this amazing cupboard for his DT GCSE; we still have this in our house and it's particularly popular with kids for some reason (opening and closing tiny doors?) and for housing paperwork.
Since then, the interest in woodworking took a bit of a backseat when sports and uni made more of an appearance/took over. Fast forward a decade or so when we were renting a place in Greenwich with a garden a few years back, and space for the woodworking bench renewed his interest.
Spurred on by Rach's demand that we salvage any bits of wood we can and turn them into something, and Mike took up the saw and sander once again.
Woodworking aside, Mike's also handy at relaying floors (check out the Reno section of the blog), sanding entire floors and designing loft conversions.
HARRIS CRAFTS
I'm Rachel. I've been passionate about making things ever since I was a little girl and I made a 'house' out of shoeboxes for my toy mole, "Moley" complete with bespoke handrawn paper rug. Cute.
My crafting journey is very much a WIP. I've been an on off knitter for a long time. My first foray into knitting went terribly, the scarf ended up looking like a triangle ( I was aged 8 after all) and I abandoned knitting until my early twenties.
I recently learned how to crochet by self teaching, making a tonne of mistakes on the way - choosing both simple and complex projects to practice on. My latest new obsession is embroidery.
I also love to paint, make/upcycle things and repurpose anything that fits the aesthetic of the house.
I'm the one behind the scenes of the DIY-ing, making cups of tea, fetching stepladders and screwdrivers, and generally fangirling Mike.
Though we have corporate jobs, our shared hobbies and interests lie in making and salvaging items, upcycling, designing spaces and making bespoke items for our home. We both grew up enjoying making things & DIYing - maybe it's no coincidence we both did DT Resistant Materials and first bonded over an interest in designing things!
It was this that meant we bought a bit of a blank canvas of a house in need of renovation back in 2019. Think beige carpets & white walls - with massive potential. Enough of a project without being too overwhelming.
Four years in and we still have loads of projects to do, both big and small, DIY and contracted out. We wanted to document the journey through all the ups and downs so this is the place to follow the goings on at Trace Harris Towers.
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