life improvement

***Update: To vote for our project  text LIFE66 to 62345. You can vote once a day until January 20th! Thanks for all of your support!

As a part of our big Life Improvement Project, IKEA has decided to give each store $10,000 to make a difference in their local community. The premise of the project is for co-workers to partner up, choose a worthy organization, figure out their needs, and show our steering committee what we would do with 10 grand. From the collected submissions, the store would then vote on which project they wanted to see the money go towards.

To be honest, I didn't think too much about joining the effort until my good friend Brandeis (a.k.a. our marketing, networking, project manager extraordinaire) who is all about saving the world, asked me to join her in developing a project to submit. And let me tell you, I am so glad that she did because not only is Brandeis a natural go-getter, she really wants to make this world a better place, and her positive energy is constantly rubbing off on everyone around her. I'm so glad that we decided to tackle this together.

The organization we decided on is called the Gateway Center, which is located in downtown Atlanta. Not only does this homeless shelter provide tangible resources to those in need, they also provide many invaluable services such as additional temporary and permanent housing solutions, mental health counseling, and job training.

A portion of our $10,000 went towards a children's area that was in total need of some sprucing up. Brandeis and I agreed that it could possibly help our chances of winning the project if we included a rendering of what one of the areas could really be.

Of course the Life Improvement Project also serves as a way to expose our community to the IKEA brand, so we specified all of our own products.

Here is the Children's area in it's current state. We definitely want to introduce new, clean products

and add a touch of whimsy to this lack-luster space.

I simply can not thank Brandeis enough for asking me to be apart of this project. It really helped me tap into some skills that I haven't used in a while (like CAD, 3-D modeling and hand rendering). I really felt like I was using what I learned in school to potentially make lives better. I mean, isn't that the point? Don't we all want to change the world? Interior Design is my passion, and this project made me remember how important it is to stay on my grind. Now we wait to see if our project gets chosen. Keep your fingers crossed! :)

***Update: To vote for our project text LIFE66 to 62345. You can vote once a day until January 20th! Thanks for all of your support!