For 11 years, I have been a card-carrying member of the Happy Wife, Happy Life Club of Oregon. My membership recently culminated in the creation of a new garage, where once lived a decaying concrete pad, too small for even one mid-sized car. In an eternal effort to give my wife happiness, I drew up plans for a structure that would 1) allow us to park our cars off the street, 2) maintain the aesthetic of the beloved 1909 Dutch colonial in which we live, and most importantly, 3) provide space for entertaining. (That the new building might also provide me a workshop did not go unnoticed.)

Over the course of the following summer, I (with some help from excellent sub-contractors), constructed what you see in the photos.

The sliding barn doors, which I built in the upstairs shop, open to enlarge the patio. This came in handy when rain threatened our first outdoor cocktail hour. 

The doors also reveal a roll-down screen, on which we project my wife’s favorite dancing game. The Backyard Dance Party has become a hit in our neighborhood.

Also satisfied with the final product is my dog, who has learned to wait patiently below the second-floor window, as one never knows when a ball might come flying out and need to be caught.

Various projects, such as the barn doors, a dining room table, and a window seat, have emerged from the second floor barn space. Someday it will become the shop of my dreams, but for now, it seems to be making my wife happy just as it is.

And you know how that makes me feel.