Here you will find home inspiration, DIY tutorials and a glance at my two passions, woodworking and interior design. Think you can't build a piece of furniture, or rework one you already have? Think again. My step-by-step tutorials are fun and inspiring!

 

I am a mom of two fantastic children, and a wife to my wonderful husband, Matt. But this is not all that defines me. I am a self proclaimed "street builder" from Maryland. I coined the term "street builder" because I am completely self taught in most of what I do. I have had the benefit of being surrounded by some pretty talented home designers and home builders for many years. I learned a lot of what I know from being around the homebuilding and design biz. I assisted in designing and custom building a home that was nearly 9,500 square feet! I have also helped design and build two other homes, and am proud of our recent beach front home bargain hunt total renovation completed a year ago. I have a bachelors degree in Television Journalism- but my real passion is using my eye for design instead of chasing a news story.

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The "Sawdust" in my name comes from this: 

 

After I found myself as a single mom, I started changing my first home by redesigning a good portion of it. Taking care of fixing plumbing, electrical, caulking, painting, adding trim and mouldings, making chandeliers, furniture, sewing curtains, retiling, rearranging and then rolling that into a business. Over the years, I have helped many friends, businesses, churches, and families rearrange their interiors, refinish their furniture and come up with lookbooks for their homes. Even on vacation, I find myself building lighting fixtures and helping come up with home design solutions.

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So, this has become my passion! Building, designing and helping others develop an eye for what works in a home and what doesn't. I dream of design and woodworking - love to walk through homes, love to visit models, even in my spare time I will look at homes for sale and in my mind redesign their homes in order for them to sell...staging essentially. I love creating my own designs, repurposing dumpster trash and consulting and helping homeowners make the best out of their homes. My late grandfather was a lifelong lumber dealer and in the later part of his years I enjoyed talking with him about lumber, projects and power tools. Then I inherited a good majority of his tools which I call "my antiques" creating a pretty impressive shop -- you know for a girl! After about two years into teaching myself to build things - my dad insisted that I get some "professional" woodworking training and signed me up for a woodworking class- in which I learned how to do some cool stuff like how not to cut your finger off on a table saw. But the majority of the class I just kept interrupting and irritating the teacher by asking "Why can't we do it this way?" or "Why can't we do that by hand?" or "Is that step really necessary?" I started asking the teacher questions he could not figure out like how to do a 90 degree inside dentil crown moulding joint. He had no clue- but I figured it out. I decided....no more classes I am teaching myself! ​

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And the "Lipstick" part...

 

I came up with the name for my company by one day sanding a project in my shop while wearing lipgloss and mink extreme lashes and thought..."how many people get sawdust in their lipgloss? Who actually wears eyelash extensions while working in the sweltering heat?" Uh... turns out only me. I can be found wearing hair extensions, a spray tan and gel nails all the while working hours in my shop building furniture. - that’s me - the "Woodworking Diva"!

 

I have donated many projects to charity and for auction. I enjoy my biggest passion - woodworking. Turns out a lot of sweat equity can get time consuming, so I started consulting on the side- I felt more satisfied helping others with their design dilemmas. Please enjoy my site - hopefully you will be inspired to complete a project or hire me to help make your place look great or to collaborate and build a custom woodworking piece!

 

Follow me on all of the socials, I’m mostly active on Instagram!