designHop club makes a difference at Etanim's home

See videos and photos to follow the latest redesign by the designHop club.

Dear Dana,

Please pass on to the designHop group a very sincere thank you from our little household. You can only imagine what peace it brings to now have such a lovely living room. We are still so very excited about it. Please thank everyone who came (in spirit or in person) for their wonderful contributions. We are most grateful.

Sincerely, Chantal, Etanim, and Mario

Etanim and son Mario live in a beautiful home they share with Chantal, their housemate and friend. Etamin is a single mom and works hard to keep a home nice for her son. Recently she received furnishings from St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store in St. Louis. She got wind of our designHop group and invited us to use her newly acquired furnishings to create a warm and inviting living room.

Nine amazing women, Mario, and two darling babies completed the transformation in just four hours.



We pulled the covers off of beautiful furniture hiding from view. Etanim thought two fabic chairs did not work together with the sofas, so she hid the offending chairs. We told her they are beautiful, keep them uncovered! An area rug stored in my basement was re-purposed to the room and helped pull the furniture together.

Ann Brown donated the oops paint -- cheap, but very nice paint at Home Depot. Check them out. For just $25 Ann bought five gallons of Behr brand paint in a perfect buttery cream and one gallon in a warm sage green. The buttery cream paint is enough for Etamin to continue painting the stairway and halls. We used the sage paint on the fireplace wall.

While most of the group painted, Julie Koch and Christie Hutchins settled in the dining room where they kept two sewing machines humming to make window treatments. They created the simple, easy pattern on-the-spot. Way to go ladies! Throw pillows will be made later by Etanim and I'll post follow up photos.

The whole evening came off with minimal planning. The only instructions that went out were photos of the room and a call for donations of paint. We executed with whatever came together: paint, sewing machines, fabrics and talented women fueled by Etanim's tasty homemade salsa and treats.

Thanks to Kara Johnson for the videos!

The living room BEFORE:


The living room AFTER the designHop ladies did their magic:






See more photos of the group on Chantal's blog post -- click here.
So whose house do we hop to next?