AND AN EVEN BIGGER THANK U!
I’m so happy to be sharing these pictures with you all. Your support was such a gift (I already LOVED getting the mail). Your generosity and kind words that magically appeared are cherished.
So just to refresh your memory, this is what we started with…
A lounge room for young men ages 18 to 21 who have aged out of the foster care system but in need of vocational and life skills. The United Methodist Children’s Home, located in Decauter, Georgia, provide these services to these young men and women. They are well aware the privilege and honor it is to live here. And what a lovely message the church and Room Service Atlanta are sending in return: you are worth it!
Here’s the inspiration. I was crazy for that shade of red (btw I think would make a beautiful exterior color on a home or lake cottage). I wanted reds, stripes, paisley, Mr. John Robshaw’s block print, antique brass, black, masculine and thought this picture was it.
Tah-dah.
I didn’t go full out on the red like my punk ass should have and went with a different color on the walls. Thank you so much to Glidden for donating all the paint!
Photo by Paul O’Mara
I’d fallen for the whole house so I painted the ceiling a similar color, Forrest Khaki
I repurposed, repainted the wooden sofas and had all the cushions recovered in a stripe fabric, donated by Long’s Upholstery. I picked up the cheetah and paisley, on the fly.
The red ghourd lamps were donated by Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams and go BAM. The buffett was donated by our family friends and repainted a high gloss black making sure that gold hardware would yell look at me. I’m somebody special.
Located on the campus of UMCH is a thrift shop and we had free reign to whatever treasures we could uncover. I discovered the beautiful gold mirror there. The book ends were donated by a client and I painted them the ceiling color.
I spent a few trips to the goodwill, collecting old bibles and my amazing assistant Courtney recovered them in brown craft paper (just like high school). I had this vision that I would write in block print “the greatest story ever told”. But I ended up with an organic block print on my art wall so decided to be fancy and tried to paint in cursive.
To this day, one of the things that amazes me most about my Mom’s artwork, is how perfectly she could paint her name in cursive…
This was a picture Mom’s cousin sent me of a painting Mom gave her in the early days. “This is my oldest personal are possession – beautiful”. I may not of ever known it existed if it weren’t for this blog.
(which reminds me, I’ve got some work to do on their dining room). I’ll work on that when I get to Flat Rock. A fine time to get started.
This antique brass lamp was a goodwill find with a burgundy and gold shade, which I painted black. Here you can see a close up of my hand-painted drapes, which were a lot of fun to make.
On to the focal wall…ever notice all the incredibly bad art at the goodwill, but the beautiful brass frames? I do and think awe man, what a waste. I had the bright idea to buy some and spell out some love on the wall….cause love is all you need…
Photo by Paul O’Mara
I spread them out on the garage floor first to get a feel for the size and scope and when I found a pattern I liked, I marked each letter on the frame with a post it, so my airhead wouldn’t forget.
It was a process.
But SO worth it. I was very happy with the result. I changed the majority of the mattes, by using black cardboard, but when I came across a color I liked, I kept it.
The light fixture was a score at Homegoods for $40! My college roommates paid for it four times over with their donations.
The drapes were also a process, in that, I changed my mind three times. And my airhead struck again. I didn’t get the note on the free fabric donations from a great vendor but like to think I probably wouldn’t have found anything to match 😉
First I started with a lined burlap that matched the ceiling and it didn’t quite gel with the wall color. Then I thought wouldn’t it be cool to find some thick flannel fabric, in a good plaid and/or nubby wool blankets to hang from clips? Something soft and thick to contradict the tile floor. But struck out there. Finally I decided I wanted to paint something and had a Jackson Pollock moment, barefoot, in my p.j.s. painting on the garage floor the morning of install. My neighbors are like, oh lawd, what she up to now.
They worked out but I would still like to try hanging navaho print blankets as drapes, or better yet, recovering a chair or the sofa cushions in them in a future project. The hardware was Better Homes and Gardens from Walmart.
In a previous post I’d written about an old steamer trunk I’d picked up for the coffee table, but sadly, was too large for the space, so on the fly, grabbed two of these slipcovered stools from IKEA, along with the seagrass rug. Of course the chunkier IKEA rug I wanted was sold out the day I went. J.V. move on my part. I know better.
Sweating and clamoring to put them together and make it back for my children’s last day of school, I ran out of time and couldn’t paint the paisley block print I’d hoped for (I should of stayed and finished my vision because I ended up missing the bus and all the fun that ensued). Next time I’ll start two weeks earlier. 😉 It just hit me, that four of these IKEA stools, together in a square would be a nice ottoman for a small space with limited seating, double duty, topped with a big tray.
So there you have it! Another Room Service Atlanta project under the belt. I’m always so grateful to be a part of this project and your support is
double whammy. Thanks so much for reading. If you’d like to see all the other amazing spaces, my friend and RSA co-founder Dayka, did a great job of linking to
everyone HERE, and pics from our
amazing wrap party HERE and
Miss Sherry’s post on it here. Have a wonderful night!
Jen
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There are so many things I love about this project!! The framed letters, the old wrapped Bibles set together with a message, the actual space in which you created and the amazing young children of God’s that will live in the space. Beautiful. Inspiring. Thank you for sharing:)
Jennifer…you did a fabulous job!!! Putting together the next post!