Alma Project Weekend

By Kate Riley April 30, 2012

Hello all, hope you enjoyed your weekend!  Like we’ve been planning for months, we spent ours at our house we adopted this year, transforming the playroom and doing a lot of other painting and sprucing too.  I’ve mentioned before that this project is near and dear to our hearts, it’s the opportunity to give back and use our talents and we feel a calling to do this. 

We started the weekend knowing all the community spaces were in need of a fresh coat of paint.  In search of a great neutral, we started by trying out samples on the wall.  Notice my ultra scientific method of marking the first initial of the paint color swatches :)  We all agreed that the middle one was best, which was ‘Sand White’ by Glidden. 

choosing paint

 

Glidden generously donated all the paint for this project – we went through four gallons and a quart of green for the back of some bookcases, thank you so much Glidden for your donation!

glidden paint

 

Last year when we made all the improvements in our first adopted home, we did it all on our own, but this year we had some help and it made all the difference.  It makes me teary thinking about how the best kinds of people are those who give their time to help those in need. Let me introduce you to some of those amazing people that helped out this weekend. 

First up is Warren, he’s the head of the COTS (Committee on the Shelterless) housing program and Warren has opened the doors for us to come into the home and make these improvements.  He was the one who set us up in the first house and has continued to support our ambitions of adopting a home every year.  He gave up his weekend to help us and is quite the Jack of all trades and has a heart of gold.  He helped with all the electrical, paneling, installing new bookcases and countless other details. Thank you Warren for all that you do!

warren and shelves

 

Friday was all about painting and thankfully we had a crew of ladies who were totally on board with it! All of us showed up in our painting clothes (from left to right: Kim, Kjersten, me and Laurie) were able to finish the playroom and hallway with two coats of paint.  These ladies are incredible.  Laurie gave two days of her time, and was there for the “wallpaper adhesive debacle” which is a story I’ll tell later this week.  She’s headed to Europe for three weeks with her kids this summer and I’m a little upset she won’t let me stowaway in her luggage. 

painting ladies

 

Kim from The Money Pit also was there for two days, and over the weekend I learned so much about how amazing she is.  This talented mom of two has moved all around the country from North Carolina to San Diego, fixing up houses wherever she lands and this girl can hang drywall.  I pink puffy heart Kim.  She blogs about her life and projects around the home at her blog, and I’m now her biggest fan.  I love ladies who aren’t afraid to DIY and make things happen, Kim is one of those amazing people!  

kim painting

 

There’s my sweetheart who was also helping out all weekend, doing what he does best, lookin’ handsome while hanging trim.  :)

mr cg

 

Here’s lovely Victoria, who volunteered on Friday and Saturday and was such a great help, painting the entry and the backs of cabinets and helping to hang the (sneaky peek!) wall map in the playroom.  

victoria and wallpaper

 

Here’s sweet Brittany from Brittany Makes and her boyfriend Antonio.  Total painting geniuses, they knocked out two coats in the living room in a matter of hours, thank you!

brittany and antonio

 

Brittany and her sweetheart painted the entire living room and at day’s end we said our goodbyes.  I snagged this picture from Brittany’s blog, because we laughed how after a day of getting sweaty with DIY projects we shook our hair out like Farrah for the picture!  Brittany is so fantastic and super talented too, be sure to visit her blog, she’s so so sweet!

kate and brittany

 

Together all of us sweated, and caulked, and assembled furniture, and hung paneling and trim, and bonded and painted until we couldn’t paint any more.  It was a great three days and we accomplished so much.  I can’t rave enough about these amazing people and their hearts and all the time and elbow grease that they gave into sprucing up a home for families in need.  

Coming up, a playroom reveal that you’ll love.  I’ve got to edit the photos and do some accounting to round up the total dollar figure for the makeover, but that’s coming up next! 

 

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17 comments

  1. Are you sure Brittany isn’t your sister?! Wow, you two sure look alike. :)

  2. I was the one who thought you were about 30, and I still think it after seeing your picture! Great work, btw.

  3. I love how you are able to adopt a home each year! It is such a great thing to be able to do and right in line with your wonderful blog and talents.

  4. The Alma Project is my FAVORITE part of your blog. I get giddy when I see them b/c they’re so inspiring & it makes me want to do this, too.

  5. Oh Kate.. you are the sweetest lady ever! I had such a TOTALLY WONDERFUL time working with you. Thanks so much for doing this, getting it organized and giving back to the families that need it most! I was so excited to meet you and would do it again in a heartbeat!! I can’t wait for the big reveal!

  6. Kate! You rock! Thank you so much for driving this whole project. You’re truly a role model. I had such a wonderful time working beside you and all these wonderful people. I wish I could have ditched my day job on Friday to meet the other ladies! My man had a great time too! I’m excited to see how it all turns out, and definitely count us in if you opt for volunteer weekend round 2 :)

  7. How cool to 1) be able to help others and 2) to have fun with some cool people while doing it! Looks like you all got a lot done and looked fabulous while doing it! Love the Farrah hair. ;)

  8. Such a great project Kate! What a nice group of people you had volunteering their time this weekend. Looks like you got a lot done and had fun doing so. I was so sorry to miss it but will be there with bells on next time!

  9. Thank you for sharing. You are so wonderful to introduce us to these wonderful people and new blogs or websites to visit. It is so wonderfully positive to know there are people who care and share with others and with those in need. Bless you and your crew!

  10. WOW – great job you guys! Thanks for giving credit to all these wonderful people and new blogs to visit!

  11. Oh Kate… that is SO A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

    Totally lovin’ it… lovin’ all y’all….

    and I puffy <3 Kim from the Money Pit, too. I am one of her newest fans, she is simply amazing.

    Puffy <3,
    Joanne

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