0 MEMPHIS: st. jude children's research hospital

On our second day in Memphis, Brizo brought the Blogger19 group to St. Jude Children's Reasearch Hospital. This was our chance to tour the amazing facilities set up for families and children being treated at the hospital for childhood cancer.


We had breakfast in this beautiful pavilion and learned about some of the incredible advances in treatment that the hospital is creating for children battling cancer. We also learned about Brizo's partnership with St. Jude in their Dream Home Program. They are a national sponsor for this huge fundraiser for the hospital!




Next we toured the Target House, which is where families of patients live for absolutely during their treatment at St. Jude. Target generously gifted two larger multi-family housing buildings to the hospital, and various celebrities have donated their time and design talent to filling the common spaces!




There is a wall of elephant drawings (the elephant is their "mascot") created by the 100s of celebrities that visit the hospital each year.


My favorite space in the Target House is the Shawn White lounge! He and his team created such a cool space for families to share.




The room was full of cool little details that made you want to stay in it forever.


After the Target House, we toured the actual hospital and the research facility. The team at St Jude has done an outstanding job of taking the stigma out of being in a hospital and really created a space where kids can still be kids.


I wasn't able to take very many photos out of respect to the patients and families that were receiving care, but here are some shots from the fun activities we did with the patients! Their little spirits just lit up the room. It was such a blessing to have a little time with them!





I got to do some coloring with the little lady on the left in this photo, and let me tell you, she is a future boss! haha She gave be very direct instructions on how to create the perfect masterpiece. So much fun.




We learned that it takes 1.8 Million dollars a day to operate this amazing facility. Make a donation to St Jude Children's Research Hospital now! CLICK HERE Thank you so much to Brizo for giving us this unforgettable experience!

0 why I will never support goodwill again

Sometimes we see something that bothers us enough to make us pause but not enough to make us speak up about it. Such was the case for me about a year ago when I was doing my normal rounds at a Goodwill store in the Atlanta area. As I was perusing one of the racks near the perimeter of the store, I heard what appeared to be a manager speaking very intensely to one of his subordinates. The store design was set up with a tall half-wall which separated the shopping area from the receiving and sorting area. What I heard was coming from this blocked off receiving area. The manager was speaking loud enough that his voice traveled over the wall and smacked me in the ear. I don't remember the exact words he said, but his tone was as if he was speaking to a disobedient dog and the words basically summed up to calling the intended recipient an idiot.

What I overheard was enough to make me stop what I was doing and frown. I did not, however, do anything about it. At the time, I thought, "Maybe that manager is just having a bad day..." and remembered that there is always a bad apple in the bunch. Since then, there have been a few more times when I went to a Goodwill store and behavior or working conditions stuck out to me.

But after seeing this video, posted by one of my Facebook friends, I have decided to no longer support Goodwill stores with donations or my money. I cannot support a company that calls themselves a non-profit and pays disadvantaged/disabled workers pennies per hour while their leadership makes 100s of 1000s (in some case millions) of dollars!

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This really hit me deeply as I am such an avid thrift store shopper. (About 60% of my wardrobe is thrifted!) You may remember that I even dedicated a Design Talk webisodeto it. And being that Goodwill is probably THE most popular thrift store I feel like in promoting the fun of thrift store shopping I have inadvertently helped their business. What they are doing is disgusting to me. The gentleman in the video said it best, by paying these individuals next to nothing to come to work everyday, Goodwill is telling them that they are not worth it. Every human deserves to be compensated fairly for their work & especially those who have limited capacity to make more. I will no longer be supporting Goodwill, and I encourage you to do the same.

Here are some of my favorite thrift stores in Raleigh that you can enjoy instead:

Cause for the Paws (benefits SPCA)
1634 S Saunders St
Raleigh, NC 27603
(919) 755-8906
http://cfpaws.com/

Father & Sons Vintage
107 W Hargett St
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 832-3030
Father & Son on Facebook

0 salvaging the salvation army

When I was in high school, I used to volunteer with my church and give monthly birthday parties to the residents at the Salvation Army shelter in downtown Raleigh. It was such a fun way to give back, and the residents absolutely loved it. Many of them had never had a birthday party of their own, and just to be able to have some decorations, cake and FUN during their time of transition makes a huge difference.

So recently when we were challenged to come up with a community service project in one of my classes, I decided to do a little plan to revamp the community room. Our group decided to call the project "Salvaging the Salvation Army". Here's what I came up with


How awesome would it be to actually make this happen? Unfortunately, I couldn't find a photo of what the room looks like now, but trust it's desperately in need of an upgrade or two. I may not be able to get this makeover done right now, but I'm definitely going to keep it on my list of goals.

In the meantime, if you are interested in volunteering or donating to Salvation Army, you find more info HERE.

3 umch room reveal + see it for yourself!

I can't thank all of you enough for your generous monetary donations and moral support throughout this project! I spent every day I had off from Pottery Barn last month working on this project, and I am thrilled with the way it came out.


I wanted the room to be cozy, youthful and still masculine. Thanks to the awesome donation of the bed from Room & Board, and the cool lamps from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams I already had a lots of color to start with! I donated my own orange wingback chair when I found that awesome Pottery Barn pillow on super clearance. I often start a room design based off of one piece, and in this case, this colorful chevron pillow was it! The color scheme and the texture reminded me Southwestern style. Since I didn't have an actual client to design for, I created a "character" in my head. I imagined a young man who loves all things country, is an adventurer, but is temporarily in the city.


Using that theme, I warmed up the clean sleek lines of the donated furniture & lighting by painting the room a soothing mocha color with chocolate trim. Adding in the vintage chair, wood elements, and original art painted on reclaimed window panes made it feel like he moved in with things that have been loved for a long time.

Below you can "shop the room"! I tried to highlight where I purchased the things you see, but if there is something you see that I didn't mention, please ask! I found some STEALS while shopping for this room, and I don't mind sharing sources.



Want to see it in person?? You can come by today from 3-7pm and see ALL of the amazing transformations.



Again, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who contributed; even if it was just pat on the back. :)

SPECIAL THANKS to Dorothy Burke, Will V., and Caroline Buttimer for your hands on help!

And to all of these generous financial supporters:
Ishea of Six Twenty Seven
Linwood McNeill
Shae of Afroniquely You
Rhonda Bellinger
Julian Gravansande
Maxine of In a Fab World
Christopher & Marnita Edwards
Gloria Mittman
LaVonde Driver
Pamela Holt
Deidre Cooper
Oreno Hooker
Willette Morman

I could not have done this without you all!

4 room service atlanta room design sneak peek

THANK YOU x 10000 so much for the generous donations I've received thus far for my Room Service Atlanta room! In a little over a week I've already raised nearly $600 towards transforming this space for a deserving young man. In addition to monetary donations, Erika & Dayka have been working hard to gain product donations from our premier sponsors! I'm so thankful to say that my room will feature a brand new bed from Room & Board, as well as two lamps and a rug donated from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. I scored some AMAZING pieces from Pottery Barn that will finish out the room, like the pillow you see featured above. I'm also donated a wingback chair of my own that I thrifted a couple years ago. I love this chair! But I no longer need it and it will fit perfectly in the space so I am giving it to the cause.

Beyond creating a beautiful functional space for this young man, my aim is to show that you can mix modern pieces, with older refinished pieces to create a really eclectic look. I want to bring in lots of color while still giving it a young masculine feel. I'm also doing some original artwork for the space that I can't wait to show you all in the reveal! :)

Again, thank you so much for all of the donations and I can't wait to share the final look! I'm still in need of donations to cover paint & painting supplies, bedding, extra linens, hangers, storage bins and more. If you'd like to make a donation, click the button below.

20 deserving design delivered

I'm so happy to share with you all the makeover I did for one resident of the Nicholas House as a participating designer for Room Service Atlanta.


After shot:


Before shot:

The original orientation of the bed didn't allow for the best flow of the room, and the dresser that was in the room literally was falling a part.


That's April Denise - a God send - working on the awesome credenza she generously found & donated. It was a crucial piece in the room! You can also see the paint colors that I chose in the room clearly in this shot. I wanted the room to feel taller and brighter so I added this sherbet orange to the area above the chair rail, and a warm grey to the bottom.


I spray painted the shade you see in the background with a faux ombre effect. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but it fit perfectly in the room!


We added tons of storage; and I even took the extra efforts to sort through and put away some of my residents clothing and linens. I felt that it wad the least I could do, being that I couldn't put a ton of expensive things in the room.




April & Sonja (above) were both huge helps to me, and I'd never met them before last week! They gave their time, money, skills & muscles and im so grateful! Also Lakeitha of Home to 3 Duncan Boys shared her donations and much support. Thank you! Lastly, but certainly not least, Chandra was there with me on the first day, scrubbing down the room, moving that HEAVY furniture and painting the walls. Thank you so much. I really couldn't have done it without these ladies and those that donated as well, like Mustard Seed Collective.

This experience was so incredible because it was such a challenge and a lot of hard work but instantly rewarding at the same time. I know that the residents appreciate everything that we were able to do and I can't wait for the next project!

3 heart of haiti

Last month at the Lavish unconference, I was introduce to an amazing initiative from Macy's to help rebuild the disaster torn country of Haiti. As many of you know, the people of Haiti are a proud people; their history is a story of triumph in dire circumstances. They did not simply a hand-out, but rather a chance to work to rebuild their own. Many of the artisans in Haiti began producing beautiful pieces from the rubble left after the devastating earthquake that hit their home exactly one year ago today. Soon after, Macy's decided to partner with these artists to distribute their work through America in hopes of bringing some dignity and cash back to Haiti.


The line is called Heart of Haiti and the pieces are gorgeous!





These pieces and more are all available on Macys.com and in stores nationwide. They are all affordably priced and one of a kind, handcrafted pieces. As you take some time today to remember those still affected by last year's tradegy, consider giving back while getting something beautiful for your home at the same time!

3 fit for a princess

The always fabulous Kim Myles recently made over a young girl's room for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. What an honor to be able to grant someone's wish using your talents!


Kim & Miss Claire - who gets to live in this fabulous room! ;)



I love that she created a beach theme without looking cheesy. The colors and the accessories compliment the scheme without screaming BEACH.


Love this rug that looks like sand! And every girl needs some purple, pink and ruffles right?

Kudos to Zgallerie for donating $1000 worth of goods to make this happen! See the before pics and get details on what Kim used here. And leave her a comment while you're there! ;)


Photos via Kim Myles Blog