Share the Joy REVEAL

This is a sponsored post written on behalf of World Market's Share the Joy campaign.

What an amazing, exhausting, and rewarding week this has been.  Last week I told you about World Market's Share the Joy campaign (click here if you missed it). Basically, in honor of Share the Joy, World Market challenged me to come up with a community outreach project they could sponsor. In other words, how could I Share the Joy? I immediately thought of local foster homes since I tutored there in high school. Central Florida Children's Home, a local foster home in need, became our target.

The Central Florida Children's Home is a non-profit organization that has been open 40 years. They run 100% on donations and volunteers and currently foster 15 children ages 2-16. There is a house mom and dad (dad is Hiram) and Natalie, who keeps the office in line. These 3 people keep this safe, warm, loving home running.

Asking for Help

When the wheels started turning and plans started to fall into place, I realized I would not be able to make a truly impactful difference alone. I needed help. That's when I went to fellow local DIY bloggers. Katie and Jon from Sew Woodsy, Lauren from The Thinking Closet, Christine from First Home Love Life, and Wendi from H2O Bungalow all jumped at the opportunity (on really short notice!) to make a difference without reservation. Have I mentioned how awesome the DIY blogging community is?

Let's Do More

After the help was lined up, Katie and I both thought, why not see if we can do more. World Market was already providing so much, we decided to reach out to other companies to see if they wanted to lend a hand too. Holy generosity! Thanks to 3M we had plenty of ScotchBlue Painter's Tape to go around, drop cloths, and office supplies. Thanks to our local Home Depot we were able to paint the entire space and do some repairs. Thanks to RYOBI we were able to assemble all of the furniture, hang curtain rods, remove switch plate covers, and install lighting without killing our wrists! And thanks to Homes.com and ForRent.com we were able to purchase all new lighting, a new fan (full tutorial on that here), and decor. I get goosebumps even typing that!

So it was set. The plan was two full days repairing, revamping, and remaking the offices of the home (a separate building just behind where the children live). This is the place where foster parents come to be interviewed, where fundraising happens, where the day-to-day office tasks get done, and (as we found out) where the older kids sometimes come to get some homework done. Since 100% of the little "free" time and money the house mom and dad receive go to the kids, the office just got left behind. Evidence...

Work It!

So are you ready for the good stuff??? Let's get to it.

Have you ever wondered what it looks like when DIY bloggers descend on you for a whirlwind weekend? Like this. #Ithinktheresroombymyfeet

Let's head in the front door.

And the view as you look to your right at the desk Natalie and Hiram share since his office was never finished.

Here's my husband (who stayed 2 full days to help his crazy blogging wife... love ya babe!) and Wendi from H2O Bungalow patching the walls (30+ holes!) and cleaning the windows in Hiram's future office.

And if you turn back and look towards the front door, here's the view.

So the office was cleaned out and we began removing the "1980's furniture" as Natalie lovingly referred to it. We patched the walls, Jon and my husband Jamey fixed a broken window pane and toilet, installed missing baseboards and new lighting, Katie replaced the air filter (post here about that), Christine's husband replaced the rusted AC return vent, we fixed a hole in the floor,...

and painted until our arms fell off. The colors are Light French Gray and Gulf Winds by Behr.

Here's the whole dream team (Brady Bunch Style) hard at work. Lauren, Jon, Jamey (my husband), Katie, Me, Tony (Christine's husband), Wendi, Christine, and Mark (Lauren's husband).

We completed so many projects in just two days it's pretty mind-boggling! Just a few more pics, then the "afters". I promise :). On day two there was tons of furniture assembly, a ceiling fan install, curtain rods to hang, frames to paint, pin boards to cover, a DIY lamp project, and tons of clean up!

The Finish

And then it happened. After 2 full days, we were done. Without further rambling...

DIY chalkboard wall over two Verona Bookshelves and books donated by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Hiram's new office. A combination of existing furniture and a Konrad Desk and Zane Pedestal Table.

The new conference table and break area... mixing old and new again. The back wall stencil is the same one I used on my living room curtains from Royal Design Studio.

New Verona Buffet paired with custom shelves made by Jon and original artwork by Lauren.

Even better than the "afters" were the reactions from Hiram and Natalie on their new space. Relief, joy, and excitement.

As Hiram told us, "Being with the kids is the easy part.  All of the extra stuff is what's hard". We were told over and over "you don't know what this means to us" and "this is huge for us". Honestly, going into this even I didn't realize what an impact we were making. I'm so thankful to World Market and our other sponsors for enabling us to Share The Joy at the Central Florida Children's Home. I can't think of a more deserving group!

So now that you've seen what a few bloggers pulled off in a couple weeks, what could you do to Share the Joy? Provide stocking stuffers to a local children's home in your area? Make up a gift basket for the local fire station? From November 8th - December 6th, Cost Plus World Market is giving away a $5,000 American Express Gift Card + $5,000 for a charity of your choice each week for 4 weeks. Can you imagine?! You win $5,000 and get to give $5,000 to charity. For a chance to win, become a fan of World Market on Facebook and click here. Even the simplest things can have a big impact.

A few more for pics for good measure. The DIY light fixture from a $6 Goodwill shade and fabric from onlinefabricstore.net by yours truly.

Looking over the conference table to the break area.

Natalie's area. She insisted Hiram get the new desk from World Market and she have the existing furniture... so we made sure she got the new Pakshi Bird of Paradise curtains from World Market.

To read Lauren's post and see her awesome reveal video, click here.