Above, Liam's Miracle Makeover features a "Tron Station" under his new loft bed. See the makeover here.
Thank-you to all for your interest -- and the entries we have received so far. We are convinced that design-lovers have the biggest hearts for "giving back" to be found! Just a reminder that you have about 12 hours to send your submissions via email. Best wishes to all.
Following-up on recent media inquiries, we would like to direct those that are interested to our right sidebar for a brief logo list. The work of Kelee Katillac has been featured widely on television networks, the internet, in-print and syndication. For a bio and team listing go to The Design Gives Back Team. If you need a press kit or would like to speak with our media rep, email us at the top right.
Post: DGB Media
Host & Founder: Interior design expert Kelee Katillac has spent over twenty years transforming homes and lives. She is a leader in holistic design and has pioneered color therapy. Katillac has been a guest on CNN, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Discovery Channel, Pure Oxygen, The Family Network and many others. Katillac's work has been featured in the pages of USA Today, House Beautiful, Better Homes & Gardens, Designer Builder, Country Home, Body & Soul, The Utne Reader and hundreds of other publications worldwide. In addition, she is the author of two award-winning books including House of Belief: Creating Your Personal Style and Kids' Rooms for Believing & Belonging. Katillac founded Design Gives Back to help those in-need -- or critically ill -- to have furnished, functional, and hope-filled homes. She has been the national director for Habitat for Humanity's House of Belief DIY Workshop Series, and is currently the Inspired Home Expert for Guideposts: America's #1 Inspirational Magazine.
"The remarkable story of a woman who says your home should be more than a place that stores your things...but a place where your child feels loved and supported, and a place that reflects who they are and who they want to be.”... Kelee Katillac... House of Belief... its beautiful."
~ Oprah Winfrey
Television Production: Design Gives Back Media includes talent and experience from director Sam Sullivant. He has worked on productions for The Oprah Winfrey Show, Extreme Home Makeover, American Idol and others. His corporate video resume includes Ford, Hallmark, Applebees, McDonalds, and Colgate, to name just a few. Sullivant brings cutting-edge technical skills and a warm story- telling perspective to lead our video production team.
Fundraising Council: Fund development and charitable oversight is an important part of our projects and our team members from Pelofsky and Associates are responsible for these tasks. Lisa Pelofsky is the President and CEO of the company and heads all fundraising efforts for Miracle Makeovertm projects. Pelofsky and Associates has been providing fundraising consultation and counsel for over 20 years. The firm manages capital campaigns, annual giving efforts, special events and other fundraising activities. They have raised funds for many worthy causes and are experts in the area of healthcare related services. Pelofsky has worked with celebrities such as Magic Johnson, Sally Field, Mary Tyler Moore, Betty White, Nick Cannon, Johnny Damon and many others.
MIRACLE MAKEOVER SNEAK PEEK ABOVE: Liam Grady, age 8, is Charlie's brother and roommate. Liam is a hoot. Just a total hoot. He is profound, kind, and funny. The chalkboard above a desk -- made from Lowe's sawhorses -- provides a place for his daily "Liamisms" that keep the whole Grady family laughing even in a time of hardship. Eric Thomas, skilled craftsman, made the desk top and our window awnings too! The challenge with the makeover for Charlie -- who is suffering from brain tumors -- was to make the room about each of their personalities, goals and dreams. All in a 14' x 14' space. The result is a miracle! You will need to be here for the video reveal starting this Friday August 12 to watch it and be inspired. Maybe even laugh and cry -- the good tears -- just a little. Here is how you can help kids like Charlie and someone new to also receive a MiracleMakeover by participating in the MiracleMakeover Blog Party this coming week:
The host for the MiracleMakeover August 12-18 Blog Event is:
Here at www.designgivesback.com where the reveal video will be playing. Anytime someone leaves a comment we will donate $1 to Friends of Kids with Cancer or another makeover recipient.
4) There will be four other MiracleMakeover bloghosts (three with linky parties) that you can link to as well-- with your post. The comments left at these help earn donations too!
5) Our goal is 5,000 comments or the equivalent across the web. Together we can do it! We did last year for Colette's MiracleMakeover.
6) If you write a post and let us know via email we will donate an additional $5.00 in your name to our charities!
Meet Liam Grady on this Sneak Peek Video.... You will just love him! Click on the link below:
Metamorphosis Monday Fans: Susan is posting for the MiracleMakeover on Monday the 15th. It would be so kind if you could include our link in your post for that day!
DIY TIP: Note the clothes-line wheels(couple dollars each) we adapted above, for art display for Charlie's coloring pages (see the video link, above, for more on that, too). The wheels are also from kind Lowe's -- one of our sponsors.
WELCOME TRANSFORMATION THURSDAY FRIENDS. PLEASE BE PART OF THE MIRACLE MAKEOVER PARTY!
Posted DGBMedia Team
Every week of the year, Beverly of the How Sweet The Sound Blog, sets a place at her table for hundreds of bloggers to meet on the weekend and share their posts. She calls her event Pink Saturday and she is dedicating the weekend of August 12-14 to the MiracleMakeover Video Reveal Party for Charlie Grady and his family. Beverly, and the other bloggers, shown here, hosted last year; they gathered hundreds of blog posts to share the MiracleMakeover story and video reveal. Many of you wrote posts sharing something positive, uplifting, mystical, or down-right miraculous. We filled the internet with a week of "light." For each comment that was left Design Gives Back donated $1 to another future makeover. Well, that project is now complete and we are celebrating Aug.12-18 with the reveal. Beverly and friends helped us start a cycle-of-goodness. Now, it is time to continue on and all become "Charlie's Angels" next week with our posts and comments that will seed another makeover for someone in-need and help Charlie's designated charity Friends of Kids with Cancer. Please join in the effort. Beverly, since you are camera-shy let the roses above represent you!
Sherry of Country Wings in Phoenix is also hosting a MiracleMakeover Party post. You have to see, hear and feel her creative posts to believe them! She is the Ms. Ziegfeld of blogging. Especially, when she really cares about a cause....her posts will make you cry and laugh all at once. She is sure to have an amazing post about Charlie and his family. Stop by, be moved and leave a comment. We donate $1 every time you comment from August 12-18 about the MiracleMakeover Reveal video and project . The money goes to help those in-need.
Artist (and kind soul) Erin Houghton of The Painted Garden has donated one of her amazing bicycle paintings for the giveaway! Also we will have:
a $50 Mastercard Gift Card
a $100 Hobby Lobby Gift Card
a $200 Lowe's Gift Card will be included in our prizes.
Charlotte and Ginger of BloggerSpirit are MiracleMakeover Hosts for August 12-18 at the weekly blog event Spiritual Sunday. You can create a post about something positive or uplifting and join in by linking to their party to celebrate Charlie's reveal. Your comments and posts will have a donation made on their behalf by us to Friends of Kids With Cancer. There will be a hundred or so posts at Spiritual Sunday August 12-18.
Susan of Between Naps on the Porch will be posting for her event Metamorphosis Monday in honor of the MiracleMakeover Reveal Party. Her Monday, August 15, linky event features projects and DIY transformations. Join her party, link to the event and over here with your uplifting post. Let us know and your post will count and earn donations in your name from us!
The Charlie's Room Miracle Makeover story is featured this month in Guideposts: America's #1 Inspirational Magazine with 8,000,000 readers all seeking true stories of hope & inspiration. Two subscriptions to Guideposts are in the giveaway!
8/7 3 P.M. Breaking News: Just posted http://www.blogguidebook.com
Post: DGB Media Team
(July 20, 2011) Kansas City, Missouri
Lowe's has made a MiracleMakeovertm for Charlie Grady, an eight year-old in chemotherapy, extra special. The home improvement retailer provided everything from Valspar paint to trim moulding and lighting. Lowe's Lake St. Louis, Missouri staff helped on-site, as well. The colorful new room and makeover process have brought hope and happiness to the whole Grady family.
"Lowe's provides a level of service and personal attention that is unusual in today's home improvement marketplace. It feels like an old fashioned hardware store where folks are friendly and caring," said MiracleMakeovertm design host Kelee Katillac, adding "Their products are the best. I love working with the Valspar color-line. Having a broad color chart to draw from to create healthy and positive environments is important in helping folks get well. That is the power of color."
The Charlie Grady MiracleMakeovertm will appear in the August issue of Guideposts Magazine and on television and internet venues nationwide through September -- National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The non-profit partner is Friends of Kids With Cancer.
Design Gives Back provides rooms for hope, health and happiness for those in-need. Projects help deserving individuals and families, as well as, the non-profit groups that sponsor them. Through inspiring video episodes and print stories you can see healing rooms for those who are sick, art therapy workshops for kids-at-risk and hope-filled homes for struggling families, to name only a few Design Gives Back projects.
For more information email [email protected]
Posted: DGB MediaTeam
Shown Above: The Glamorous World of Jonathan Franc Furniture
When I founded Design Gives Back, many years ago, it was to create a trademark that would train, certify, and support the interior designers and design-loving volunteers that have been the fashion-forward boots-on-the-ground in affecting the hopes, health, and happiness of those that need better living conditions. Together, we have outfitted homes for struggling families, created rooms for foster kids, healing nests for women with breast cancer, and joyful senior's center "family rooms." Now, more and more designers are hearing the call and rising to the Design Gives Back mission.
Last year's Design Gives Back Award recipient, Enchanted Makeovers, led by Terry Grahl, offers design help at shelters for battered women; providing comfortable spaces. Kamonda Phillips, in the previous post, just designed a suite for The Ronald McDonald House and also led an intercity creative workshop for disenfranchised kids; working all of last summer, using only the funds, and materials she could gather together. Volunteer Sherry Mirador teaches sewing workshops so poor teens will have the ability to put together a home that is functional and creative. Kim McCole of Daisy Cottage blog fame has so beautifully demonstrated that Goodwill is a retro-style treasure trove and has encouraged us to rely on the creativity in our hearts rather than the money in our wallets. Rhoda, the intrepid DIY loving classic designer from the Southern Hospitality blog did a super lovely makeover at a homeless shelter. There is a recently formed group in Atlanta called Room Service Deserving Design Delivered, and they do much the same.
Some of you resourceful designers collect furniture from the curbs to remake or to use in workshops. Many of your Saturdays have been spent in Habitat for Humanity neighborhoods and on build sites, getting paint covered or saw dusty alongside the new residents who are there earning their homes through sweat equity hours. It has been my delight to teach workshops, certify those that want a more holistic design approach, and lead national projects for interior designers and design volunteers, who feel the call to "give back." In the book House of Belief, I shared the DIY interiors program I started in 1997 for Habitat to provide skills and inspiration for the new owners to turn a house to a home. I found -- through that endeavor -- that you generous souls are many and your hearts are huge.
Recently, the high-design furniture company Jonathan Franc has heard the Design Gives Back call as well. Meredith Xavier of the Ligne Agency has launched a PR campaign called Design Gives Back -- it has a ring to it :) -- to bring attention to the furniture that ten designers are promoting. Jonathan Franc will make the pieces upon order and donate a portion of the proceeds to a designated charity. Good idea! I hope they take many orders and give lots of money to good causes. So, I say "yes" to the fabulous Jonathan Franc company, allowing them to gently use our trademarked moniker for their campaign until December 31, 2011. After all, the most important thing is to allow designers to "give back." Like those I mentioned earlier. Because, the world really needs them.
In an upcoming post I will be showing the designs of the Jonathan Franc Furniture Campaign.
Posted: Kelee
Lowe's Colors
Top to bottom:
Weathered Glass
Bamboo Reed
Farmer's Market
You may remember the wonderful interior designer Kamonda Phillips of Geopology Designs I featured previously. She created a summer workshop series based on my book Kids' Rooms for Believing and Belonging. Well, now she has taken her practice a step further and designed a suite for the Ronald McDonald House of Charlotte. "My goal was to make it soothing and peaceful," she said. The living room shown above reflects those intentions. The background colors were the same throughout the project. So, the designers had to work to personalize the space. I have included some of my favorite Valspar colors on the left that are in Kamonda's palette. The addition of orange red as an accent color is "energizing" to body and spirit. Great job Kamonda-- you have earned your Design Angel wings! Making you an official DGB Designer Affiliate. Big Hug! ~ Kelee
To learn more on DGB Designer Certification email us at: [email protected]
