Transition House Makeover: RESA gives a HAND UP to the Cridge!

Cridge Transition House for Women Hands Up! Project 2014

Our RESA Vancouver Island ( Real Estate Staging Association) group connected with The Cridge Centre for the Family this year. With our 3rd annual Hands Up! project we were once again looking for a way to give back using the abundant array of resources, local connections and the plethora of talent from our group of designing women in Victoria. 

The Cridge Center for the Family has been serving Victoria since 1873, the oldest continuously operating charity in Western Canada. The Cridge Transition House for Women provides safety for women and their children who are escaping violent or abusive relationships. These women are fleeing sometimes with only the clothes on their back. The house gives shelter and support for up to 30 days, along with counselling, information, advocacy ,connections to community supports, and outreach services. Every woman and every child deserves safety and shelter.

The house is old ( 101 years old in fact!) with great character but like so many social service houses, there is always a dire need for upgrades, maintenance and supplies. Sometimes non essentials that make a house feel like home get pushed to the bottom or off the list completely due to budget constraints and cut backs. The Cridge provided a wish list of some items and updates that would really help with the comfort of the house and in turn help these women feel safe and secure.

We connected with Island Savings Credit Union and with their amazing cash donation through their GIFT program we were off to the races. We <3 ISCU!! 
Trades donations were secured along with paint and painters, landscapers, all new lighting, electricians, fabric for drapes...this list goes on and on! Even dinner for the house on installation day.

Here are some before and after photos of the a few of the rooms were able to give a little update to. Its really hard to capture the makeover is photos...in person the house "felt like a home"... goal accomplished!

Dining room: A great refresh with paint , new dining chairs and a 

wonderful newly built and painted storage hutch

Before

After

 Living Room: 
Fresh Paint, new drapes all around, new pillows 
and a refresh of the layout

Before

After!

Before

After!

Kitchen eating area: We refreshed the space with paint & new memo boards. 

Before

After!

Entry : functioning but not so welcoming.

Before

After!

Outside Entry: :(

Before

After .WOW!

Bedroom:

This is where Moms can stay with their kids in a private secure room.

Before:

After! New flooring, paint and drapery 

Art donation by local artist Pauline Dueck

Installation day! Ladies at work ( but its kind of play too!)

 Fruit Bouquets from Edible Arrangements!

 A few of us RESA members at the end of the installation day...still smiling. 
Such a great project and worthy endeavour.

This project could not have been completed without the generous donations (financial, goods and labour) from our amazing community partners. 

Please recognize visit and patronize these local retailers trades and

 businesses when you have a chance! 

We THANK YOU all!

Island Savings Credit Union gave us the jump-start we needed to begin on this years project with a cash bursary from their GIFT program. They also provided 

us with some hard working volunteers . www.iscu.com

Island Savings
Capital Auto Glass
Illuminations Lighting
Sherwin Williams
The Brick
Home Depot
Fabricland
David H Moore Cabinetry
New Heights Contracting
Rain Coast Painting
Design District Studio
Edible Arrangements
Crooked Goose Bistro
End of the Roll
London Drugs
Garden City Tree & Landscape
Gorge Electrical
Heirloom Linens
Rona
Pauline Dueck – Artist
Beth Melhuish – Artist
The HOUSSE

Another special Shout Out to The HOUSSE’s Murray Cuff (Handy Mur!) who spent

the day hanging mirrors drapery rods and a million other bits.

Thanks Mur!                                         

** Our VISSR group is transitioning to 
RESA- Vancouver Island (Real Estate Staging Association). 
Watch for many more projects and community initiatives.

LIKE and follow us on Facebook. www.facebook.com/RESAVancouverIsland

Cheers!
~ Tracey

A Corner Fireplace Makeover

We recently worked with super awesome client up Island in Nanaimo with a common but not so super awesome ache and pain....what to do with an uninspiring and awkward 

CORNER FIREPLACE !

The Rx?  Let there be light!

Corner fireplaces are hard to work with. They take up valuable floor and furniture space while directing the focal point away from what is usually the conversation are -  more often  dictating that the furniture all be directed to that awkward corner! If the fireplace has to stay  

 put (which was the case here) then at least it needs to shine as the focal point 

and really gel with the rest of the room.

Here's the fireplace before....awe Sammy the Jack Russell cute! :) but the rest , 

well, not so cute. The dark ceramic just doesn't have much life.

And now....

Simple stacked tile from City Tile and Inside Edge Tiling ( in Nanaimo) 

was installed over the existing ceramic.

 A new mantel built by Bruce Mede from Adonai Millwork . 

A fresh coat of paint throughout brightened up everything! 

 Benjamin Moore Pale Oak OC-20

                                                  Remarkable ReDesign

                                                   Remarkable ReDesign

This was still in process but gives an idea of whole room layout.

                              Remarkable ReDesign

Heres the rest of the living room and entry that was freshened up with new furniture and lots of sparkle.  Loving the soft greys silver and blue. Pretty! It was a treat to style this space as every "thing" went together and all the extra bits were laid out on the kitchen counter for us to pick and choose. Lucky!

Here are a couple other nice corner fireplace options that may help get you thinking.

                                                                  Houzz.com

Well thats an entertainment unit!

This stone keep the space warm yet up to date.

And a super contemporary corner!

Lots of options , sometimes its paint sometimes its tile, sometimes its a reno! 

We always say love where you live and how you live in it!

Cheers everyone!

~Tracey

Townhouse Turmoil! ~ Styles By Stacey

Stacey recently worked with a client in her townhouse complex...a busy family 

(with a home based arborist business) drowning in stuff.

 From big budget to no budget its usually just fresh set of eyes and rolling up

 your sleeves to get things back on track - looking and feeling like HOME. 

 Heres what she did to help them get through it and find some calm .

Townhouse Turmoil

Styles By Stacey

~Stacey Kaminski

This 4 bedroom townhouse desperately needed an overhaul. The rooms were bursting with clutter, there was little storage and the furniture layout in each room was very poor, making for very confined spaces! Room by room I tackled the trouble spots only purchasing a few key storage and small decor items.

 Furniture was repositioned to provide an open space. The ottoman works great for storing toys, pillows, and blankets. Desk along the back wall creates a great work space for crafts, puzzles or homework! 

 Bedroom Before : Uninspiring space to say the least! 

...and after

 Furnishings were repositioned, allowing for more pieces to be brought in. Added a small boudoir table -  perfect scale flea market find!  Refreshed it with a coat of paint left over from the laundry room. New bedding, drapery and desk ... done!

'Pretty in Pink' Another bedroom: Lots of sparkles, room to play then it can all be put away! Added a lot of plastic storage bins for all the bits and stuffies hung in a shoe organiser.

Laundry Room: Love the new paint colour; Cloverdale Misty Harbour 8346. Open shelving installed for easy access, punches of colour with the art and done. 

Master Bedroom: This is a small room with a lot of pieces so to make it fit the dressers were placed side by side. The floating shelf above the bed was jazzed up red paint. New drapery and lamps and a distressed wood headboard to be installed soon... 

then this rustic comfy room will be complete!

Great work Stacey! Reusing what they had and using it in a better, more organised way will sure help to keep the clutter at bay! ( & costs very little!)

Happy Mom ...happy family :)

Built-ins and baskets are my go-to storage friends! 

Any fool-proof clutter busters ? Share!!

Cheers

 ~ Tracey