A 120 Day Volunteer Makeover  Helping 2 Former Foster Girls

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HEADBOARD or HEADACHE?

THE BEFORE:

Once again—my treasure hunt was successful.  Maculene was in desperate need of a headboard to anchor her bed.  As it was, Mac had wheels on her mattress frame so every time you sat on the bed it would slide—but things were about to change!  Although this headboard was too big for her small bedroom, I did eventually find one that was better suited to her bed and style of her room.

THE AFTER:

The  curves on this smaller headboard added a nice feminine touch to Mac’s bed.   Mac’s first reaction when I showed her the dingy headboard we were going to paint was “yard sale find”. Hah—it’s amazing what treasures you can find at yard sales!   And I am always thrilled to see what paint can do to make an old piece of furniture smile again!

PILLOW TALK!

Later, I helped the girls layout their pillow designs and let them sew the pieces together.  We started on the easiest and smallest sewing projects first ,then it was onward to the larger sewing projects such as the bed-cover and curtains.  

P.S. The girls were really starting to enjoy seeing the fruits of their labors and they suddenly realized that someone actually makes and designs all that “stuff” we buy at stores!  We were making great progress!

A 120 Day Volunteer Makeover  Helping 2 Former Foster Girls

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MACULENE’S BEDROOM  MAKEOVER

THE BEFORE:

Drab, dull and crammed full of stuff.  First things first!  Maculene had to clean out her closet and drawers before we could begin—Later, 4 suitcases of clothing were donated or stored elsewhere.  Next paint the room, find a headboard and some decent furniture so she could store her things.  Then the fun part:  design the sewing projects and start decorating!  Oh and that lamp just had to go!

THE AFTER:

Taa-Dah!  After lugging the 3 sewing machines back and forth, week after week–(special thanks to BabyLock for the sewing machine donation!) –the results were delightful. 

It was so fulfilling  helping each of the girls design their own rooms, teaching them how to sew their own bed-covers, curtains, pillow covers and even recovered the lampshade.  

To polish the room off,  I purchased 2 shaggy bathroom mats to make it more cozy for Mac’s feet and to brighten the room.  The walls went from beige to bright white.  I love this room makeover!

A 120 Day Volunteer Makeover  Helping 2 Former Foster Girls

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DRESSER MAKEOVER

THE BEFORE:

I was fortunate to find this used bedroom dresser–a bit dingy but it had a nice mirror and overall was in great shape for Maculene’s BEDROOM makeover.  The challenge was getting the piece out of all the piles of other furniture surrounding it—then cleaning it and sanding it!

THE AFTER:

Wow, what a difference.  Even small details like painting the original hardware in white really makes this dresser a stand-out piece!  And the best part was Maculene loved the finished results and so did I!  Glass accessories were found at Goodwill for just a few bucks!

A 120 Day Volunteer Makeover  Helping 2 Former Foster Girls

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Furniture Makeover!

THE BEFORE:

Here’s a shot of the LIVING ROOM CABINET I found in the my treasure hunt. It was the prefect size and added much need storage space to the small LIVING ROOM.  This piece was buried under 2 bedside tables I would later use in the bedroom remake.

THE AFTER:

A little bit of paint and stenciling would do the trick.  I decided to paint the open shelves with the wall paint just to add more color to the piece and stencil in some white to break up the blue.  Above the cabinet is original art I made for the girls overlaying die-cut scrapbook papers that I overlaid on top of each of other.  Accessories were thrift store finds from Goodwill!

A 120 Day Volunteer Makeover – Helping 2 Former Foster Girls

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OUT WITHTHE OLD COFFEE TABLE

In this LIVING ROOM before shot—the coffee table was as big as the sofa and really didn’t add additional function the room.  So out it went into the garage along with the large lamps, wall art and other side tables.

LET’S MAKE A NEW COFFEE TABLE

After another treasure hunt in the garage, I found would would ultimately become not only a coffee table—but additional seating for the girls and their friends.

COZY AND COMFORTABLE

After making a top for the table, and painting the frame,  I helped the girls cover it with batting and more fabric (that I bought for $1 a yard).  The girls especially liked working with the staple gun and were very proud of their work.  Whew–I was due for a rest!  Another successful project completed!  More to come!

www.KathyPeterson.com

A 120 Day Volunteer Makeover Helping 2 Former Foster Girls

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LET’S GET CRAFTY AND MAKE ART!

The dynamic duo helped me stretch artists canvas onto a wooden frame we primed and painted.  This would be some of my original artwork to cover the window in the LIVING ROOM that looked out into the garage.  Mac is hiding on the left and Christina is having fun on the right.  They never knew that someone had to stretch the canvas to make art until that day!  Another designer lesson learned!  They were truly enjoying the makeover process.

Here’s a quick snap shot of the artwork I did to cover the window and create a focal point. The day I showed up to paint the artwork–the girls had been out late the night before and just weren’t in prime shape to help out—oh to be young again!!! Here’s a quick snap shot of  what I painted!

SEWING PROJECT:
The girls and I each made a pillow for the sofa.  I put the girls on the spot when I asked them to design their own pillow—but with a little direction, they did a great job!  The sofa was another great campus garage find in the perfect color.  We were making progress—only 4 more rooms to go.

A 120 Day Volunteer Makeover Helping 2 Former Foster Girls

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LET’S PAINT THE WALLS and FURNITURE!

Maculine took the helm at painting walls!  She was so good at it however,  Christina had a harder time controlling the paint brush.  So Christiana’s job was to spray paint some of the accessories.

Here’s Christina spray painting an old lamp I found.  You can see what a nice little duplex campus these kids lived on .  Mac’s and Christina’s duplex is the one in the background.  We were making progress–one makeover at a time.

MORE OUTREACH—

In between painting the projects, I still had to do a lot of outreach for product donations if I was going to finish this project with a bang.  We were going to sew almost all of the bed accessories, curtains and more so 3 sewing machines were needed—thanks to BabyLock–this dream came true.

Next I needed some floor covering to anchor the rooms and to cover the beige tiles—Thanks to Rugs Direct—this also came true.

And of course–we’d need lots of craft supplies to do all the artsy crafty projects I had in store for the girls—-Thanks to Michael’s Craft Stores–this came true!

THE LONG HAUL

Teaching these 2 former foster care girls how to sew, paint, make art and more was challenging at times.  We all 3 had different work schedules and I had to haul 3 sewing machines and all the supplies back and forth traveling about 20 miles each trip because their tiny little duplex was too small to store the supplies and equipment we needed for the MAKEOVER.  But it worked out just fine plus I got a great work out!

Next post—we make our own artwork.

A 120 Day Volunteer Makeover Helping 2 Former Foster Girls

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PROJECT CHAIR # 2 of 2  BEFORE

Here we are in one of the garages filled with furniture for the picking!  Underneath all the stacks of goodies, I found this rather masculine chair.  It had gold edging and a torn silk seat cover—but I could see the potential.

Before painting began on this chair makeover– I asked Maculine to clean and tape off the chair and then prime it.  While outside working on painting some other pieces of furniture, I notice Maculine wasn’t around–where was she?  I went into the duplex only to find her spray painting primer INSIDE the kitchen area with all the windows closed–it was like walking into a room of grey paint mist! This was a lesson learned— indeed for this young lady that you never spray paint furniture indoors unless you have good ventilation.  NOTE: the best location to spray is outdoors.

PROJECT CHAIR #2 of 2 AFTER

It never ceases to amaze me what a little bit of paint and fabric can do to upcycle a piece of furniture.  I was only allotted a small amount of fabric donated so saving every scrap piece was essential in this CHAIR MAKEOVER.  Sewing strips of mix/matched fabric in the same pattern actually made for a much more interesting upholstery job.  And the girls were amazed at the results.

A 120 Day Makeover Helping 2 Former Foster Care Girls

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Houston, we have blast off!  I felt like the space shuttle blasting off when I got the go ahead from both girls and their house mother to begin this 5 room duplex makeover.

Then reality sunk in—how was I going to arrange my schedule over the next 3 months on this volunteer makeover and I needed a plan for the layout and product donation outreach.

THE CALL FOR PRODUCTS and MEDIA OPs

My outreach began by making a contact list of potential media outlets to cover the story and potential contributors.  My first few calls went out to Amy Butler Designs for her fabulous fabric prints(Amy is an incredible designer and fellow design friend), Waverly Fabrics for solid fabrics and Behr Paints for contributions.  To my surprise I had instant results.  Behr sent me their color fan of paint chips and after color selection was made, Behr was very prompt and shipped me all the paint.  Both  fabric companies sent me a great selection of fabrics based on the paint colors.  I could only hope that the additional outreach I needed to make would be as easy.

THE COLOR PALETTE–LIVING ROOM, KITCHEN

To create a cohesive design throughout the duplex, I decided to  use green, aqua and pink.  The 2 former foster girls–Macalene and Christina and I had made the decision to use aqua and green in the LIVING ROOM,  the adjoining KITCHEN, BATHROOM and HALLWAY.  MACALENE’S BEDROOM would be aqua and white and CHRISTINA opted for a pink and green  for her bedroom.  The project began with the Living Room—room by room and chair by chair……

PROJECT CHAIR  —The BEFORE  #1 of 2:

On the campus of Villages of Hope where the girls lived, was a gold mine of donated furniture in the garages of the 4 duplexes.  I was on the hunt for a coffee table, sofa, additional seating and accessories.  The chair above was original to the LIVING ROOM and I wanted to upcycle it because it was a comfortable piece.  Paint and fabric made all the difference—and it was fun teaching the girls painting techniques, sewing and upholstery tricks!  This was also a good lesson on how-to recycle furniture!

PROJECT CHAIR —The AFTER  #1 of 2

My next post will include CHAIR # 2 of 2.

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THE BEIGE LIVING ROOM –The BEFORE

As a design expert, I LUV to help empower and inspire others about designing, crafting and creating a beautiful living space.  And a while back, I opted to help out 2 former Foster Care girls ages 18 and 19 to remake their 5 room Duplex.  At the time I didn’t realize that Foster Care children age out of the system when they turn 18. This really touched my heart and I knew I needed to make a difference with 2 very special girls.  This new series of blog entries will take you though many, many How-To projects that I hope will inpsire you to re-make your own living space—or better yet—help someone who’s in need.

120 days Later—-THE AFTER

DAY ONE–MEET THE GIRLS

When I first walked into this little duplex, the first thing that hit me—there was NO color but lots, and lots of beige in every room.  I wondered, would the charitable housing project called Villages of Hope allow me to do a makeover that would bring color and excitement into these girls living spaces.  Secondly, all the drapes were closed, it was dark and the girls buried themselves into their private bedrooms–with outside locks so no one could enter unless you had a key.  I knew at that moment –I had to make a difference in these girls lives.  So I sat down with Christina and Macalene, showed them some colors swatches and asked them if they’d like to learn how to sew, make art, paint, decorate and all sorts of other creative skills.  With big smiles from each of these adorable girls–the answer was YES!

TEAM WORK–Go Team!

So we made a deal that we would work together as a team and I would teach them how to make home accessories, etc and I would coach them to help in the design decisions.  We had a deal!  The kicker was—NOW —I had to do a huge outreach to suppliers and manufacturers from the craft and home decor industries to gather up product.  I did not solicit $$ from anyone or any company but had such an incredible response to this outreach—otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about this.

So now you’ve read the the first page of a DIARY OF A DESIGNER—This was  a 3 month journey.  I hope you enjoy as I post about this wonderful design adventure and I’m looking forward to sharing all the wonderful projects to make this duplex a home!

Kathy Peterson Inspired