How The Hands That Shape Got Its Name

   In 2018 we were desperate to escape apartment living and finally decided to get serious about searching for homes to buy. A relocation to Minnesota a couple years prior had thrust us into apartment living, and we had gotten tired of sharing walls and laundry facilities with noisy neighbors and having the hardwired smoke alarms go off at 2am throughout the entire building. 

   In June a listing popped up that piqued our interest. It was only a few miles to Matt’s work, had acreage, and a large pond. We almost didn’t make an appointment to see the house because everything we looked at was swiftly bought up and usually for way over asking price, but with so few homes coming with more than a ¼ acre, we were intrigued.

 We met the realtor at the house that evening. Another couple was wrapping up their appointment as we showed up. The house and grounds needed some major TLC, which was obvious from the listing photos, and I was keeping my fingers crossed that the couple leaving would be discouraged from making an offer. That night, over Thai curry and spring rolls we decided to make an offer, which was accepted. 

   So at this point you’re probably wondering what does all this have to do with naming The Hands That Shape? Well, the house we bought was originally built in the 1870’s, at least part of it was, and added onto in the 1940’s and 1970’s. Supplied with an endless list of house projects I thought I would start a blog documenting the renovation of our home and call it The Hands That Shape. I even went as far as to secure the domain.  As fate would have it, work and DIY house projects didn’t really leave time for blogging, and if i’m being honest we still have a lot of projects that currently sit 90% complete and more that we just haven’t started.  So with the home renovation blog put on the back burner, I moved on, and after the birth of our son in 2020 I knew I would need something else to help fill the little bit of free time that remained.

 In early 2021 we put a deposit down for a laser cutter and while waiting for it to arrive we mulled over possible business names. We kept coming back to The Hands That Shape. It still seemed to work even though we were going in a new direction, and I had after all already secured the domain a couple years prior.