WWSSW: After

Taaaaaaaaaaaa - Daaaaaaaaaaaa!!

View: Doorway

The Esplanade House is a facility that only built what they needed.  They have every square inch accounted for and is used daily.  This room in particular, is used for EVERYTHING!  Potlucks, parenting classes, staff meetings, girl scout meetings, CPR/First Aid Training, holiday parties, memorial services,  group therapy sessions, and whatever else you can think of ... a real multi-purpose room.

In the before shots, furniture was scattered all over, plus, the storage of all extra chairs where stacked in the corner.  In doing this make-over, we helped get the ACTUAL storage area organized, so we could use it for what should be in there - all those extra chairs!

Also, this project came at a great time because they were due for their annual carpet cleaning, as well as, a fresh coat of paint on the walls.  So our volunteering motivated their own "to-do list" of projects, and working together make the impact even greater!

Because of the intimate and private meetings that often happen here, our team decided to set up the room in a more "living room" layout.  Its much more of a circle than before, where everyone can see everyone.  In the before shots, the sofas were lined up against the walls.  It seems you'd have to shout in order to be heard.

The other issue that needed to be addressed is the amount of seating; this is for the events that are not so private.  We added tables behind the sofas for 3-4 extra seats each.  And if there were still more people, we added larger pillows which could easily be used as floor pillows.

Kids Corner

In the back we put together this Kids Corner.  This is a family facility, and all of us parents know that if the kids are bored, they will find something to get into.  Better they have some toys!  Here we have puzzles, books, floor pillows, cars, paper & pencils.  

Kid's Corner

AND OH MY GOODNESS Look at this tree!!  My friend Nicole painted this "Tree of Life,"  Didn't it turn out great?!  She took our inspiration picture and copied it almost identically.  If you're in NorCal and need a painter, this is the gal you call!  Contact me for more information.

Tree of Life

Tree of Life

Throughout the tree, she stamped words of hope and inspiration.  You will find words like: LOVE, TRUST, HOPE, FORGIVE, LAUGH, and PEACE.  This tree does speak words of life over everyone that enters.

View: From Kids Corner

From this angle you can see the "teaching center."  In the BEFORE shots, the projector screen and the dry erase board were on 2 different walls.  So in order for this circular seating arrangement to work, it had to be centered to 1 focus.  We added a credenza with storage baskets for the teachers to utilize, and then moved the bookcase close by for extra storage and reference.

Here's the best part -
We did not spend 1 penny!  Everyone involved volunteered their time.  We found many items just sitting in storage.  The facility has an on-site donation center and we were allowed to utilize that.  We recruited and received donations from local businesses, along with local friends & family.  Not 1 penny!!


A BIG THANK YOU to The Esplanade House for allowing us to come in!  We do hope you love this new space, and can use it for even more activities.  Congratulations on 20 years!
ANOTHER BIG THANK YOU to the team who put this together!  IAHSP NorCal Chapter ROCKS!

More BEFORE

Here are more BEFORE pictures of our project.  Hmmmmmm, not sure what to say about it.  Clearly, it needs help!

View: Doorway

The very first request from the Director herself was "GET RID OF THAT SOFA!"  OK, we promise!

The tree on the bulletin board is our inspiration ... hint hint.

This last picture shows the room finally emptied with freshly cleaned carpets, a new coat of paint on the walls, and the beginnings of a mural on the wall.  Hmmmmm, what could it be?  Stay tuned!

WWSSW

World Wide Staging Service Week is coming up next month.  The NorCal IAHSP Chapter I belong to has decided to participate this year, and we'll be working with The Esplanade House here in Chico, CA.

The Esplanade House has been helping people get back to clean and sober living for nearly 20 years!  People from all walks of life who get caught up into drugs, lose their kids, no job, no money (or worse) sometimes just coming in with only a backpack of items.  The Esplanade House is dedicated to getting lives turned around and help create some stability.  They are miracle workers.

They have a large room that is used for everything!  Although the space we will be working with needs to remain as a multi-purpose room, the theme is directed for the group therapy sessions that happen here, and that is HEALING.  People need a safe & friendly place to open up and share deep dark wounds of life; this is where my team and I will come in.

Looking at the picture below, anyone can tell just rearranging this furniture could make it more peaceful in there.  Its  chaotic and almost hard to look at, isn't it?
This is a little different than a staging project, more of a makeover really, but we are still the right people to do it.  With our attention to the details, all the various uses of the space will still be readily available and look good doing it.  Therapy is a sensitive process, and although the "patients"don't see anything wrong now, I bet they (and you) will tell a huge difference when its all said and done.

Here is a sneak peek of a before shot:

We will need a TV area, an exercise corner, group therapy area, and keep it kid-friendly.

What would you do in here?

If you'd like to contribute, please email me for more information.  Any donation is very appreciated and will most definitely be put to good use here.

If you are outside of northern CA, check into your local IAHSP chapter and discover how you can help.

Stay tuned for more before and after pictures!