Why Are You Moving?
For the last few months I’ve been dropping hints about an impending move to Colorado. Recently the hints have become overt statements and if all goes well, we’ll officially be in Colorado before Thanksgiving. Because I seem to get the same questions via email daily and during my Friday Live sessions, I thought I’d write up some answers here on the site to avoid repeating myself and to prevent speculation.
Why are you moving?
To put it succinctly, kids change everything! Nicole and I never really LOVED living in Arizona. It was a means to an end, the “end” being running a successful business in an area with a reasonable cost of living. When you work all day and play video games all night, being stuck inside in the air conditioning for eight months out of the year isn’t that bad. But ever since my son arrived in 2011, priorities have shifted and our biggest challenge is finding indoor activities that allow the kid to burn off his seemingly endless supply of energy (otherwise he chews the furniture). Those indoor activities usually cost money which gets old quickly, considering all we really need is an afternoon at the park. And now that we have two little ones, things are going to get worse before they get better. So now that we have kids, we crave the same 4-season climate we grew up with.
Why Colorado?
Colorado is beautiful and has plenty of outdoor activities. The weather profile is what we’re looking for and many of the cities have exceptional school systems. And aside from that it comes down to our collective gut. There’s just something about Colorado that appeals to us and it’s where we feel we belong. It doesn’t hurt that we have some friends in the area too.
What about your shop?
The Dream Shop was fun to build and work in. It was a really cool experience. But in the same way I like to say Home is wherever my wife and kids are, my Shop is wherever my tools are. Doesn’t matter if it’s an 1800 sq. ft standalone building or 1-car garage. Woodworkers always figure out a way to make things work. So I’m not emotional about it at all and truly look forward to a future garage conversion. The house we are hoping to buy (we are currently under contract) features a 4-car garage at about 1050 sq ft. That’s not too shabby! But it will require a little downsizing, a little creativity, and a little extra work to get the shop up and running in that space. If I am ever feeling nostalgic about the old shop, I can always watch the Dream Shop build video.
How will this affect TWW and the Guild?
It won’t affect the Guild at all. I’m going to finish the Grandfather Clock project before I lose the shop and my new shop will be up and running before the next Guild project begins. The free site might see a slight decrease in content since that’s what I usually focus on between Guild projects. But I do plan on documenting the garage conversion so who knows, maybe I’ll have more content than I expect.
Did the shop affect the house sale?
When you have a big shop on your property, it can be a blessing and a curse. It’s not livable space, so you can’t add it to your square footage and that means it doesn’t do much to raise the overall value of the property. And if someone doesn’t have a use for the shop, it might be a deterrent. On the flip side, if someone does need a shop space, it could give the house a competitive advantage. So it really just depends on who’s looking at your house and what they want. But there’s really no way I’ll recuperate my investment in the shop. Good thing I’m sleeping on a bed of Honda money (that’s a joke).
Oh and if all of this moving talk sounds familiar or perhaps you’re hoping I’ll document the move, you might want to check out these videos:
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