What do you get when you combine love of DIY with a retired physician, a retired nurse/office manager, a math teacher, a former attorney and two preschool age kiddos? A three-generational three-ring circus of projects, recipes and activities for kids. Welcome to Creatively Home. I’m Tiffany, a DIY’er from way back and the ideas gal of our project crew. I’ve recruited (and/or bribed depending on your perspective) my parents (nicknamed G-Pa and Gigi) and husband Dean into joining me on DIY adventure after adventure.
Our interests are diverse, from woodworking, to gardening, to concocting tasty recipes, to sewing. As my math-minded husband noted, the Venn diagram of our crew’s interests creates a beautiful flower with loads of overlapping circles. In common at each intersection is a joy of learning, creating, tinkering and sharing our love of DIY with our kids – and now with you!
Growing up on a small farm, the DIY lifestyle was ingrained at a very young age. We learned the value and necessity of making use of what we had and how pretty much anything can substitute for a hammer (rock, shoe, screwdriver handle…). Before staying home with my kids (in what feels like a previous lifetime), I was a lawyer. I still find ways to put my legal training to work – where once I analyzed legal issues, these days I analyze how to improve our home or create custom decor for the kids’ rooms. Only now I get to use hot glue!
We started Creatively Home to document the transformations, large and small, around our home and capture moments working together to dream, create and make. Surprisingly, not much has changed in our approach to projects since those farm days – we try to make use of the materials and tools we have, reuse, repurpose and keep a good sense of humor if something goes wrong. We strive to keep things simple – nothing beats a project involving spray paint, a drill, duct tape or cardboard.
A little background on our Creatively Home crew:
G-Pa and Gigi are retired medical professionals, but busier than ever. They started DIY’ing about the time the term DIY originated. Well, they aren’t quite that old, but grew up cooking, making, building and fixing for themselves. G-Pa loves tinkering with new recipes and mastering countless hobbies including grilling, photography and making toys for the kids. Gigi can sew pretty much anything we dream up and enjoys teaching her grandkiddos to bake and craft.
My DIY happy place is creating a practical solution to some random issue around the house, like designing a mermaid-penguin to fill my daughter’s birthday wish or adding a pop of color to an otherwise boring bookcase. Add in a clever storage solution and I’m over the moon. Luckily, my husband Dean thinks my DIY nerdiness is cute! During his down time, Dean is becoming quite the gardener, wood worker and cook. He’s consistently entertained by my ideas and happily tackles the varied projects that the kids and I dream up.
Many of our projects involve and revolve around our 4-year old son and 6-year old daughter. They are the inspiration, designers, crafters and helpers (if you don’t mind re-doing things multiple times). At their current ages, the kids primarily watch and handle “safe” tools (while supervised) like screwdrivers and grout floats. One of their favorite activities is design; they love to draw a creation and then guide us in making their vision a reality.
Join us on our DIY adventures, and hopefully pick up some ideas and tips while you are creatively home. We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us at [email protected] and follow us on social media.