Shome sweet shome

Bill and Cindy Bardsley are building themselves a new and innovative place to live where they can live and Bill can work on his craft projects without stepping foot outside.

This residence is cleverly coined a “shome” or combination shop home.

Cement was poured at the end of September, and construction began on Oct. 19. Bill hopes they will have the house completed by the end of July.

The Bardsley’s, along with help from relatives and friends, are working on the shome’s construction, so it’s taking a little longer than expected. Bill says that even though it takes longer, it saves them money in the long run!

“I’ve been looking at them for the last four or five years,” he said, referring to photos he’d seen of other shomes. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

The house is 40 feet wide by 50 feet long with 16 foot sidewalls. It is a three bedroom, two bath house, with the living space on a loft that sits 10 feet above the shop area.

The loft is 1,200 square feet, and the kitchen and living room areas are about 800 square feet on the main floor. The shop area is about 1,100 square feet and will hold all of Bill’s tools and works in progress.

He has incorporated an open space into the main floor which he hopes to fill with a pool table someday.

In their last home, Bill kept his stained glass work in the basement, and woodworking was in the garage space.

“It will be nice to have it all together and in one spot,” Bill commented.

His shop space will contain all the necessary tools to complete his crafts, such as table saws, miter saws, routers, router tables, grinder, glass saws, a variety of hand tools and other various tools needed to create his works.

Bill does a lot of crafts involving woodwork and stained glass, for example he makes his own cabinets.

He also incorporates his stained glass work into his woodworking, making lamps with stained glass and other unique items.

The Bardsley’s are currently working on putting up walls in the bathrooms and bedrooms so they can begin wiring.

They hope to move into their new shome in a month or so, when the house will be equipped with just the basics: a bathroom, heating of some sort and a safe space to sleep.

Once the golf course opens up again for the 2020 season, Bill will be spending a lot more time at work than on the shome’s construction, so that could potentially delay when the house is complete.

Regardless, Bill is excited to finally have all of his crafting located in one convenient area where he can work on his projects in peace.