Making Over A Room With Love And Kindness

--by etseth, posted Mar 3, 2011

I wrote earlier about my gift home makeover project - Etseth and I would like to tell you about a very special family that I have recently done a makeover for!

The mum of this family, was a victim of severe domestic abuse 12 years ago. After years of the being subjected to violence, she summoned enough courage to leave, she moved from England to Wales with her three children and moved into a woman’s refuge. Further down the line, she met someone, got married and they eventually had two more children.

Their two oldest have moved out so they are left with three children who are 14,11 and 9 years old. My project was to plaster the lounge/dining room. Whilst I was doing this project, their oldest daughter returned from serving in Afghanistan. Unbeknownst to the family, the daughter had spent lots of her army pay to take the family away for a 2 week holiday. As the family are on a very low income they would not otherwise have been able to afford a holiday together.

Just as they were leaving to go to the airport, my apprentice and I were on the last bit of plastering (they thought it was going to end there) of course it wasn't! ;) I had arranged for skirting boards to be installed and for the whole room to be decorated!

I also went a tiny bit further than that!! During my time there, I had become friends with their daughter Anne-Marie, a very beautiful girl inside and out, but I could sense a very low self confidence. When I saw Anne-Marie’s bedroom, it shocked me to my core... and still does thinking about it. I decided we had to do something about it. But it would have to be something special, as a new coat of paint would not do anything! She was sleeping on a fold up camp bed, had dirty bed linen, the walls we damp, the wallpaper was sagging and the carpet was dirty.

We took out all the furniture, stripped the wallpaper and took out the carpet – the smell was so bad ( it stays with me now). We started from this blank canvas and we re-built and strengthend her furniture, put damp seal solution on the walls and then painted it in her two favourite colours (pink and purple). We installed brand new carpet tiles on the floor (also pink and purple) in a chess board effect. My mother and father in law bought her a new bed, my wife bought her new bed linen and we finished it off with a t-shirt and posters of Enrique Iglesias!!!

So all was set for her return - and none of the whole family knew that this was going on, so when she finaly saw it, she freaked, she absolutely loved it!! I think for 1 split second I was above Enrique! :)

This bedroom was not just a visual change, it turned out to be so much more. It seems her low self confidence was down to being bullied terribly at school, to which I had no knowledge of, and when her mum said "what would them bullies say now if they could see this room" made my decision to do the room 1 million percent correct. Personally, this has been my favourite and most worthy project to date.

There were two conditions though - i) keep it tidy :) and ii) she has to write to me 5 times within 3 months to let me know of 5 good deeds that she has done for someone else to pay -it-forwad. I’d left her five stamp addressed envelopes – and she has already sent me three in the last two weeks! At this rate, she’ll help the whole Country! :)

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Posted by etseth
Mar 3, 2011
Comments (16)

Readers Comments

luv4all wrote: wow, this is so good. you have been so thoughful, did so much work and spent money too on a family and little girl who all needed it so much.
the biggest we can give to someone is that of encouragement, self confidence and love. Indeed, this was your best project i would say. May God bless you.

unknown wrote: You are a sweetheart. Annie Marie has been lucky. Wonderful ...

MakeSomeoneSmile wrote: That is very kind of you and something I am sure they will all appreciate for a long time. Nice going! :)

vibegirl wrote: How generous of you and your family...having your own space feel good to you is very empowering...wonderful!

wooka85257 wrote: Such a gift of your heart can only continue to give from the hearts of others. I am sure anne marie will give from her heart because you filled hers to overflowing. What an amazing gift!

Ollie wrote: Thank you for sharing such an amazing story. You gave this family such a wonderful blessing. To ann marie it meant the world an then some. Paying it forward helps more than one soul at a time. May god bless you all.

Tina wrote: You're an earth angel.

dreamgirl wrote: I have just read your story. What a wonderful thing to do! Having read about how you started (which brought tears to my eye), then something good has come out of something bad. Keep up the good work. You are bringing so much joy into peoples lives. You are an inspiration to us all!

I was born and brought up in the uk, but now live in calgary canada. One of the best things i like out here is that people in calgary are always helping others and paying forward so i try to do the same as much as possible. It can brighten up a very dull day both for the giver and the recipent.

May god bless you always.

thebigkind wrote: Oh my gosh - so cool that you did this! Thank you for helping someone so in need and making the difference that you did.

1golddragonfly wrote: This is such an amazing story! Thank you so much for sharing you most favorite and worthy project yet! Bright blessings to you and yours!

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