Furniture Bank: The Afters

 This past week has been rough with the hurricane.  Watching the news and talking with friends and family in NY/NJ/PA/CT has me feeling a mixed sad bag of emotions  and honestly there was nothing I wanted to post about that didn't feel insignificant.  My heart goes out to everyone that lost their home, or worse a loved one.   We were very lucky here, only having a tree hit our roof.
On a positive note...  of all weeks,  I can't begin to tell you how glad I was to be knee deep in a fundraiser.   I painted my brains out and was temporarily distracted from reality. The Coalition for the Homeless/ Furniture Bank Event was Thursday night and it had a great turn out.  I want to thank everyone that came out to support it, and I was so excited to meet some of my blog readers.  Especially ones that live around the block!  (It makes me feel a little better to know some of my neighbors might actually read this blog and know the real reason why I am spray painting for hours on end in my driveway, and not some crazy lady with a paint fume addiction.)
Hey, its the crazy lady!
A big high five to the North Shore Association of Realtors who sponsored the event.  The focus was to raise awareness of the MCH Furniture Bank.  I can't tell you enough how important this program is. It supplies families transitioning out of Homelessness with furniture and household items that they could not afford otherwise.   You can help just by picking up the phone to arrange a pick up of your old furniture.  Click here for a list of acceptable items and contact info if you are in the Massachusetts area.   Items you no longer want will give someone else a fresh start and the creature comforts that make a home feel like home. 
The event was held in the Furniture Bank warehouse in Lynn, MA and it featured three design groups in a room challenge.  Each group got to choose pieces from the Furniture Bank, and had a few weeks to transform them with a little paint and elbow grease.  The items were then assembled into a room in a one hour challenge, and later raffled off.
Our finished room: via Cheryle & I in accessorize mode I was joined by my O'verlays partner Cheryle Rhuda, and good friends Phyllis Tracy and Julie Richard (both of whom are sweethearts and repurposed pieces for the event too).  me, Phyllis Tracy, Susan Wornick (the evening's MC), Julie Richard (Shelter Interior Design)
 We had lots of back up help too, Cheryle's daughter and her friend Nikki and even my Dad (aka MacGyver) jumped in to help with the set up.  It was crazy and a lot of fun!

The evening flew by and I realized I didn't get any individual after shots of pieces because it was just too busy, so I am hoping some friends snapped some.   In the end all the items got raffled off to new homes. Cheryle and I with the winners of our Greek Key desk and my painting,  Liz Larson and Robin Blake... 

Lots of high gloss spray paint went into the pink bookshelf, the white/gold desk,  and white tall shelves. 
Here they are before: (pink bookcase)
After:
A big thanks to my new design buddy Lucy Dearborn over at  Lucia Lighting for providing our lighting.  If you in the Boston area and need lighting, they are AWESOME!!! Go, I command you. ( Design tip-we added IKEA Capita legs sprayed gold to the bottom of the bookcase to give it height)
 Desk:
Bookshelf: Afters:
So as promised, I will be offering up tutorials for many of these projects.
Here is the line up for next week's posts:
Monday 
Tuesday Wednesday (the only before of the mirror I had, its beside the frame) See you then!  Have a great weekend!