Well, goodbye, trusty old shop space. Matt moved into half of this space in November 2007. His family had moved from Houston to Portland in April 2007. After spending a few weeks hunting (unsuccessfully) for a good shop space, Matt landed in the hospital for two months, battling Guillain-Barre Syndrome. (At that point, he felt a sense of relief that he hadn’t signed a lease on a work space.)
Matt spent another two months at home, recovering and trying to do some semblance of work from home. Once he really felt ready to get back to work (physically, emotionally, and mentally), he quickly (and miraculously) found this shop space, just a few blocks from his family’s condo in NW Portland.
He was worried the space was too big for his needs, but his father-in-law—a CPA who had worked with countless small business owners over the years—said a too-big space would be better than a too-small space. That turned out to be wise advice.
A few years later, in 2013, he started renting his shop space’s adjacent garage, doubling his workspace. It has started feeling snug over the past few years, but not enough that Matt—quite possibly the world’s fiercest opponent of change—really considered moving.
Well a few months ago, our landlord sold the building, and the building’s new owner had big plans for Matt’s shop space. So after nearly 15 years, we’re moving.
Our new space is a few blocks away, still making it convenient for Matt to walk to work (even on snow days). It’s in the corner of a historic building in Portland’s Pearl District. The new shop is full of quirks and character and (hallelujah) SPACE.
It’ll take time to get situated and start to feel like a home-away-from-home. But we’re excited about the possibilities. Meanwhile, thank you for allowing us to get nostalgic for a moment. Now excuse us while we get organized, plow through our backlog of projects, and, last but not least, sneak in some summer fun.
p.s. This empty space sure makes our old shop space look enormous! We’ll post pictures soon of the new shop!
