We’re Emma and Alex, and in 2019 we bought our first house. Then shit hit the fan. In the next few months, us newlyweds started the green card process, Alex was diagnosed with cancer, and we learned we had a baby girl on the way.

It was a crazy time with a lot of unknowns but we found that building shelves and painting walls was keeping us busy and giving us a creative outlet we could do together in a stressful time. That sounds very deep and introspective but in reality it was a lot of just-off measurements, steep learning curves, endless groanable puns and treating ourselves with Thai food after a long, laborious day.

Fast forward two years and, with Alex cancer-free, Emma a permanent U.S. resident and two babies in the world, we’re still just as passionate about making our house our own with little improvements and DIYs here and there.

If you’re a brand interested in working with us on a project, please send us an email at emma@shoemakesnew.com – thanks for being here!