Post updated with the final reveal photos: 21 NOVEMBER 2017
For the last few month I have been working along side Lana, stylist and lifestyle blogger from Lanalou Style, on a very special community project – we have created a haven for S-CAPE and we would like to thank you for your help!
Lana and I are both passionate about beautiful spaces, so when approached by S-Cape to help transform their safe house into a inspiring space for young adults we jumped at it!
You may be wondering who or what S-CAPE is? Let me start with some facts, did you know that there are approximately 27 million people who are trapped in slavery at this very moment? Did you also know that only 1-2% percent of these 27 million victims are ever rescued?
S-Cape is a local non-profit who works with these 1-2% of rescued victims to provide a place of safety and restoration for young women coming out of trafficking and sexual exploitation. S-CAPE also provides individualised therapeutic programs, skills development and services to empower and equip their residents to reintegrate into society. They currently have two safe houses in the Cape Town region. One house operates as a first stage home for residents with the capacity to have eight ladies living there including a room for a mother and her child. The second house is a transitional one which the ladies have the opportunity to move into and be more independent as they prepare to move out of the safe house and live on their own again.
This second home desperately needed a makeover! S-cape relies on donations resulting in a mismatched environment. They wanted to reinvent this space and make it an inviting, calming and inspiring space for these women and thats where we (and you) came in…
Lana and I had an overwhelmingly wonderful response to her blog post, thank you to everyone who has donated, keep scrolling to see where and how you have made a difference!
I have just updated this post with photographs of the complete space along side the before photos and a few mood boards of how we hoped the overall space would look and feel, what you think?
Entrance Hall.
Our first step was to declutter and repaint all the walls and ceilings and Prominent Paints came to the rescue.
Before:
After:
Livingroom.
The living room really came together thanks to some generous donations – a TV unit and standing lamp from Vamp as well as scatters, rug and ottoman from Superbalist.
Before:
Inspiration for the space:
After:
Study, off the living room.
We gave the study nook a fun pinky peach accent wall and removed all the mismatched shelves. We added lovely wooden floating shelves and a repurposed pegboard. Plantify donated all the hanging plants which also make such a difference to the space.
Before:
Inspiration for the space:
After:
Bathroom.
There wasn’t too much we could do in the bathroom but just removing all the pink made a huge difference! We had plenty of bath towels and bath mats donated which was lovely and thanks to a lick of grey paint and round mirrors, the bathroom now has a much more up to date feel.
Before:
Inspiration for the space: light, bright and fresh! With not a touch of pink in sight!
After:
Counselling Room.
We gave the Counselling Room a duck egg blue accent wall and repurposed one of the shelves that had been in the study. The table and bedside unit were repainted and bold cushions from Handmade by me added a fun touch.
Before:
Inspiration for the space:
After:
Kitchen.
The kitchen was probably the worst space before and considering our lack of budget, I love the final look! By adding quirky decals from My wall tattoos we instantly lifted the space and gave it a younger and more contemporary feel. Simple kitchen blinds replaced the ugly green curtains and a peg board was repurposed to conceal the electrical board. Cute fabric pots from Zana matched the decals perfectly and kitchen towels from The Cotton Company added a classic touch.
Before:
After:
Bedroom.
The bedroom also had a huge refresh mainly thanks to all the neutral elements from Superbalist – curtains, rug, throw, lamps and laundry basket. Scatters from Zana and Handmade by me finished off the look and we created a simple cork pinboard.
Before:
Inspiration for the space:
After:
This has been an incredibly rewarding project for me, it feels so good to give back and to use my talents to enhance the lives of others! If you would like to continue to support S-cape, see how you can contribute here. Every little bit helps!
A very BIG thank you to each and everyone of our sponsors. We had zero budget and relied solely on donations – this would not have been possible without you:
Prominent Paints / Superbalist / Vamp / Handmade by me / Zana / My wall tattoos / Plantify / The Cotton Company / Suzi Wallinder / Leila Badshaw / Emma Philips / Vivian Raath / Ellie Lawrence / Nicole Dalton / Nicole Costa / Liz Collins / Andrew McPherson / Nikita Bandli / Anna Weylandt / Megan Kenney / Gail Kenney / Nadia van der Mescht / Leigh Pietersen / Nicole Costa / Caroline Hickson
and finally to the talented Lana, you have been wonderful to work with! Thank you for including me in this project.
x
Written and compiled by Melissa Lawrence.
Photographed by Lana Kenney and I.