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 cabinet for his DT GCSE; we still have it in our house where it’s particularly popular with kids for some reason (opening and closing tiny doors?) and great for housing paperwork.
Since then, the interest in woodworking took a bit of a backseat when sports and university made more of an appearance/took over. Fast forward a decade or so to when we were renting a place in Greenwich with a garden and – more importantly to Mike – the space for a woodworking bench, and his interest in making furniture was renewed.
When we moved into our doer-upper a few years later, and spurred on by Rach’s demand that we salvage any bits of wood we can and turn them into something, Mike took up the saw and sander once again.
Woodworking aside, Mike’s also handy at laying laminate tiling, fitting kitchen sinks, 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 hand drawn paper rug. Cute.
My crafting journey is very much a WIP. I’ve been an on off knitter for a long time. My first knitting project was not a success; the scarf ended up looking like a triangle – I was aged 8 after all – and I abandoned knitting until my early twenties.
I learned how to crochet a couple of years ago 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 & needlepoint.
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 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 GCSE (niche) 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 – massive potential. Enough of a project without being too overwhelming, we thought. At times it definitely has felt hugely overwhelming.
Five 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 – and I’ve been harbouring a desire to write for a while – so this is the place to follow the goings on at Trace Harris Towers!
