A studio, not a contractor

Nell Wren was a residential designer tired of drawing rooms that came back from contractors 40 percent over budget. Marcus Wren was a carpenter tired of building from drawings that ignored how houses actually go together. They met on a job that was failing for both reasons, fixed it together, and got married two years later. Wrenhouse was founded in 2009 on the theory their marriage had already proven: the design argument and the budget argument should happen at the same table.

Seventeen years on, the studio is twelve people: designers, project managers, and carpenters under one roof on Sparrow Lane, with trade partners we have worked beside for a decade. We do around fifteen projects a year, on purpose. Enough to keep our crews busy year-round; few enough that Nell still draws the first sketch of most of them and Marcus still walks every active site weekly (all details fictional, illustrative of the demo brand).

The name is Nell's. Wrens are small birds that build extraordinary nests, several at a time, fussed over until they are right. She maintains this is a design philosophy. Marcus maintains it is a description of their garage.