Built a Django App for an Art Business from a Nursing Home — While Quadriplegic

Launching a fully functional, client-facing SaaS-style web application is challenging for anyone. Doing it from a nursing home, without the use of your hands, while navigating quadriplegia — that's something else entirely.

In this post, I want to walk through the project that kicked off my professional portfolio: a production-grade business management system built in Django for a high-end art moving company. This app was built entirely by me using a stylus-driven, voice-assisted coding setup — and it runs live today, handling client intake, work orders, scheduling, invoicing, and more.

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Project Overview

Name: EJ Art Mover
Stack: Django, PostgreSQL, Bootstrap 5, Crispy Forms, WeasyPrint, jQuery, Docker, Heroku
Audience: Internal crew + clients of a small art moving and installation business
Purpose: Replace scattered tools (text/email/Word docs) with a centralized, secure, and elegant business dashboard.

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 Key Features

This isn’t just a brochure site. It’s a full business operations platform with several major modules:

1. User Authentication

• Secure login system with Django’s custom user model

• Role-based views for authenticated staff

• Session-based security and CSRF protection

2.  Client Management

• Add, edit, or delete client profiles

• Store contact details, address, and billing info

• AJAX-enabled modal to add clients without leaving the work order page

3.  Work Order System

• Create and update work orders linked to clients

• Support for job description, estimated cost, invoiced status

• Event scheduling with dynamic modal interface

• Attach notes and file uploads (e.g. photos, insurance docs)

4.  Scheduling + Calendar

• FullCalendar.js integration for drag-and-drop scheduling

• View work orders in month, week, or day formats

• Link between calendar and work order detail pages

5. Attachments + Notes

• File uploads for each job (artwork images, insurance, etc.)

• Internal job notes for workers

• Crispy-form rendering for cleaner UX

6. Invoice Management

• Generate invoices dynamically

• View paid/unpaid/overdue jobs

• PDF rendering via WeasyPrint

• Status toggles and inline updates via AJAX

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Architecture

The app is broken into modular Django apps:

• accounts: custom user logic and auth

• clients: client profiles and creation

• workorders: job and event tracking

• invoices: invoice generation and status management

• calendar_app: frontend calendar view + API sync

• pages: dashboard and static views

This modular structure supports long-term scalability and testability. I used a relational PostgreSQL database with Dockerized services for consistency across local and production.

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DevOps + Deployment

The project runs in a Heroku-hosted Docker container using:

• Docker for local dev parity

• Whitenoise for static file management

• Heroku Postgres for production DB

• Gunicorn as the WSGI server

• Environment variables via .env and environs for secure config

• WeasyPrint installed as a buildpack for PDF generation

• Custom heroku.yml for Docker-based deployment

All production settings are managed in a separate prod.py file for clarity and environment control.

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Special UX Features

One of the big priorities was smooth worker UX on mobile devices. Many workers are checking jobs on the go, in between pickups. To support that:

• Mobile-responsive buttons and modals

• Large clickable elements with Bootstrap spacing

• Client and event modals that don’t reload the page

• Calendar and list views that sync seamlessly

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Technical Highlights

Some fun under-the-hood work:

• AJAX form submission for new clients and events (less friction)

• Crispy Forms with Bootstrap 5 layout

• Select2 integration for searchable dropdowns

• Hidden formsets that serialize scheduled events into Django’s backend

• Dual submit buttons to support different job actions: “Save only,” “Save & Invoice,” “Save & Complete”

• Event form rendering + deletion with dynamic indexing and JavaScript logic

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What I Learned

• How to write modular, production-grade Django apps

• Handling circular model dependencies via related_name and on_delete=models.CASCADE

• Dockerizing a Django app for both local and cloud use

• Using FullCalendar and WeasyPrint in real-world scenarios

• Making user flows intuitive, especially for non-technical users

• Creating graceful failure states and error feedback

• Handling date and time data accurately for scheduling

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The Human Story Behind the Code

I built this app over the course of several months while living in a nursing home. At the time, I was learning to code using two styluses, voice commands, and a completely reimagined workflow. What began as a learning project became a production tool used daily by a real business.

This wasn’t just a software project. It was a comeback project.

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What’s Next?

This application was just the start. In the next blog post and YouTube episode, I’ll dive into a radically different kind of project: my viral AI image generation app — built with Django + React + Hugging Face, all in three weeks.

This time, we’re blending faces with history using Replicate’s SDXL and face-matching APIs. From moving fine art to generating it — I’m just getting started.

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