We recently connected with Kat Houser and have shared our conversation below.

Kat, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

I truly hope that what I leave behind changes people for the better. I would love it if my furniture became family heirlooms, my art became something that moved even just one person, and the houses I build hold so much love and warmth that they never want to sell it. The table in my house that I sit down at every morning was the table I had breakfast at as a kid. My father ate breakfast at it as a kid as well. It’s something I absolutely can’t imagine my life without. That’s what I hope to create for someone else.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I always knew that I loved working with my hands, that there was something soothing about it. I started off working as a chef for many years. The one thing that made me happy, that kept me doing it for so long, was being able to work with my hands every day. From pulling food from the dirt, to setting it on the table, I was happiest creating.

When I was finally able to try wood working, I immediately fell in love with it. Taking something that had fallen from the forest, and creating a space for people to gather. I knew I had found my calling. I didn’t have any experience, so I volunteered to work for this company for free, so I could learn the basics. Other than that, it was all self taught. It took a lot of missteps, tutorial videos, trail and error, but bit by bit, I began to understand woodworking.

I was building furniture for five years before I added home restoration and renovation to my endeavors. It started off with a desire to learn how to build tiny homes, in hopes that one day, I would build myself a house. I dove into learning everything I could about restoration/building. I took a job as a carpenter for a contractor, who taught me some of the deeper parts of home building: cabinetry, built-ins, hardwood floor restoration, etc. I have always felt that the journey to learning your craft is a never ending one, and that every opportunity to advance and hone your skill set is one to be grateful for.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

There are a couple of things that I think are important for maintaining high morale. One of the most important ones is to stay positive. So many things can (and often do) go wrong during projects. It would be easy to get frustrated, throw your hands up, and at times, even give up. It’s imperative to get back up, have some perspective, and try again. Being able to have that kind of resilience will bring so much success to a project.

Another one is to foster an environment that allows for growth. I’ve found that the more people are encouraged to learn, to have creative liberty, the better the work tends to be. I have worked for people who have allowed me creative exploration as well as people who shut it down, and I can tell you without a doubt, I flourished in the spaces that encouraged me to experiment.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I was a chef for ten years before going into woodworking and carpentry. I had graduated from college with my degree in Psychology, when I realized how much I loved working with my hands. I had loved learning, but I knew I didn’t want to continue going to school, so I immediately went into cooking, asking a chef back in Texas if he would take me on to teach me. I fell in love with cooking, and how having a good meal could change your entire day/perspective. It was a way to help people while working with my hands. I loved cooking and the outcome, but I wasn’t in love with the industry itself, or the environment it fostered. Woodworking had always appealed to me, even when I was younger, but I had never had the opportunity to try it. I asked a carpenter who was a regular at the restaurant where I worked if I could work for him for free. He agreed to take me on, and it took me by complete surprise just how much I loved every part of it. I worked for him for three months, learning basics, before a friend of mine offered her garage for me to work out of. I continued to cook for another two years, while also woodworking in between my shifts. I just couldn’t get enough of it. After the second year of doing both, I was encouraged to switch over to carpentry and furniture building full time, and it was the best decision of my life. To this day, even when it isn’t for a client, you can still find me in my wood shop most mornings, creating and falling even more in love.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.retoldrenovations.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retoldstudiodnvr/