Apr 21, 2011 by Sara
One of Ms. Winfrey’s (aka Oprah’s) favorite quotes is by her good buddy Mr. Nate Berkus:
“Your home should rise up to greet you.”
I must have heard her say it a thousand times last season.
But what if you don’t have a home? What if you live in a shelter?
Until recently, this never occurred to me.
I’ll admit, I’ve been distracted by my own home and trying to make it presentable and have it rise up (BTW Nate, I’m still working on that one so if you are free, please swing by). So I was truly inspired and grateful when I learned about 2 amazing designers who did think about these questions and decided to DO SOMETHING about it. Enter Dayka Robinson & Erika Ward, co-founders of Room Service Atlanta.
Some backstory if you will… I’ve never met Dayka, but I’m a huge fan. Somehow I stumbled onto her blog, Meditations on Life + Style, and was instantly hooked, she offers up lots of before & after pics which to me, as someone who fast forwards through TLC programs just to see the big reveals, are the crème de la crème of DIY design. She’s also a very generous with her tutorials for when it comes to explaining how to restore thrift store finds. This has given me great hope that I might one day be able to tackle these chairs (which I still haven’t done by the way – ugh!).
She was also one the first people to ever comment on my blog and while she probably doesn’t know this, it gave me the courage to dive in with both feet. So thanks Dayka!
Ok anyway… back to Room Service Atltanta!
Room Service Atlanta gets sponsors and designers together to donate their products and talents to help transform shelters into beautiful and welcoming spaces. The designers donate their time and also work to source the furniture that will be placed at the site. What a beautiful application of one’s talents and passions coming together to help others have their ‘homes rise up to greet them’. I just absolutely love this.
At their current project, Room Service Atlanta has brought together 15 Atlanta-based designers to help transform Nicholas House into a warm and inviting home. Here is a picture of one of the rooms they are going to transform:
Nicholas House Room - BEFORE source: Life + Style Meditations
They start the first install next week and I can not wait for the AFTER photos!
There are many hands on ways you can help Dayka & Erika with their organization’s mission, click here to find out about them or if you’d like to donate please click here.
I’m just so in awe and inspired by this and I love good stories about good people doing good things. Don’t you?
read more
