Hometown Habitat News

Sponsor of the Month: Villages Home Decorating Club

sponsor of the month_ april 2017

The Villages Home Decorating Club is a social club comprised of over 650 residents living in The Villages who love learning, creating and sharing home decorating ideas and activities.

In 2013, the club decided to put their expertise into action and partnered with Habitat of Lake Sumter on their first outreach project, furnishing a home for a Vietnam Veteran in Wildwood.

Since then the club has sponsored an additional three families in Lady Lake and one in Fruitland Park (with a babies room!…so fun!), providing each one of them a unique and beautifully furnished home prior to their move in date.  The club is looking forward to partnering with another family in Wildwood later this year.

 

When I asked current President, Diane Carter, how the process works this is what she shared:

“For each home, we pull together a small working team who clear their schedules for weeks dedicated to planning and shopping.  The team draws inspiration from the new homeowners vision, color preferences, and any existing beloved furniture and accessories.  They pepper the family with lots of questions and then fill in the blanks with exciting new surprises along with welcome donations and fabulous consignment finds!

Once the home closes, we have just one day to decorate it for the Big Reveal – quite a feat that includes moving furniture, installing window treatments, placing accessories, and running to the store to purchase a forgotten item or exchange something that didn’t work as planned.  Our goal is to ensure that the finished project feels comfortable and inviting and that it truly fits the homeowners’ own unique, personal style!  When we attend the Habitat Home Blessing with the new happy family, we often see former recipients as well – hugs all around make us feel like extended family!”

Since their wasn’t a home close enough for the club to work on this spring, they were delighted to present a check for $4,000 to provide a built-in microwave oven for each of the twelve homes in the Veterans Village.  The outreach project was started by Past President Holly Baumgartner and VP Ellen Broedlin, but the tradition continues on under current leadership-  A big thanks to Dianne Carter, Kat Rankin, Shirley Bertram, Pat McDonnell, Barb Dubois and Maria Day for your continued dedication to serving our community!