I am on the board of RESA Atlanta, which is the Real Estate Staging Association and we spearheaded a community project with H.O.M.E. (Helping Oppressed Mothers Endure). H.O.M.E. is a non-profit organization that offers help to single mothers facing hardship through the gift of furniture. The mothers could be going through divorce, domestic violence or just in need of starting over. We learned about this wonderful organization last year and we knew we wanted to work with them in 2024.
We found out that we were helping a mother with two daughters. One was 13 years old and one graduated from the University of Georgia and was entering graduate school. The rental house did not have any furniture, so they needed everything. I volunteered to be the point person, but our whole group worked hard to gather donations of furniture, art and decorative accessories.
On the day of the installation we had several people helping to move furniture, hang art, hang curtains, make beds and put the beds together.
Mother’s Room
I captured one of the RESA members putting the bed together.
I love a good gallery, so I took the Goodwill canvas on the left and framed it in an old gold frame. Then I took a page from a calendar and used a Goodwill frame that already had a green mat. I added a Goodwill round gold plate and a small gold mirror I’ve had for years. To round it out I hung gold wall art from one of the board members.
Her favorite color is purple and she loves butterflies. I had some fabric that looked like butterfly wings so I made a pillow for her bed and the picture above the bed is a digital piece of butterfly art I got from Etsy and used an old frame I already had.
Here is the finished room for the Mother. The chair is a side chair I’ve had for years and can’t even remember where I got it, but I reupholstered it. Then I threw on a Kantha quilt I got from Etsy and I added a floor lamp that my son donated. The President of RESA Atlanta, Dawn Wallace, had this cool fur rug that I thought would be wonderful to go under the side chair.
Graduate’s Room
The daughter in graduate school loves black and gray, Anime and K-Pop so we made sure to get her some art to represent both of those. The little side table I found on the side of the road years ago and I always thought it was so cute.
She also loves crochet so I made her this throw and put it over her desk chair.
Here is the complete room. She couldn’t believe it! She loved the UGA blanket, the Anime art and the cool table and bar stools we set up for her.
Teenager’s Room
One of my good friends, Jennifer, gave me this desk a while ago and I was trying to figure out what I would do with it. I knew the teenager needed a desk, but I thought it might be too old fashioned for her.
Once the teen said she wanted a vanity and I knew this one had a pop-up mirror, I thought it would be perfect. But it needed to be in a different color.
I scuff sanded the whole thing and then went off in search of a color.
I ended up finding a beautiful teal color at Lowes in a chalk paint which I had never used before. I’m sorry I didn’t take any pictures of the process, but you can see it below on the left along with the chair that came with the desk. A very handy man is putting the bed together. I was so happy to have this help because putting beds together is not my forte.
On her dresser is a mod podge canvas I made at the last minute of paperback book pages because she loves reading.
Here is the finished room. A goodwill picture I got for $1 is above the bed along with a Lack side table from our President. The bedding was from Currie Rose Interiors, whose co-founders are on our board.
Living Room
This oversized piece of art has been with me since my son was little but I thought it was time to let it go. Originally it was a wall hanging on a wooden dowel, but I ultimately had it framed.
We went from empty living to this. The sofa was donated by the H.O.M.E. organization and all else was donated by RESA Atlanta.
Here’s another shot of the sofa wall.
Another angle shows the fireplace wall. One day while walking my dog, I came across the mirror and the coffee table. I took them home and cleaned them up. The top of the coffee table had stains that couldn’t be sanded out, so I painted it black.
Dining Room
I bet you can guess that I love making art since I talk about it so often. I think you can make art out of just about anything. I took a page from a calendar and cut off the white borders.
The print was too small so I decided on a piece of fabric that complemented the print and used that as a sort of 2nd mat.
Here is the finished print, which the mother absolutely loved. The dining room came out so beautifully.
Here are our RESA board members as well as Darnell, who is a member of RESA Atlanta. Me, Karla Giltner, Dawn Wallace, Laura Currie and Darnell Minor.
It was a very hot day in Atlanta and we were all sweating by the time we finished, but it was so rewarding. The family came in and saw each room and loved everything! I felt like we were on HGTV. Haha.
I hope we can do more of these projects because it’s so much fun to use your gifts to help someone else and this family was so appreciative.
See ya next time.
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