A FAMILY IN NEED BRINGS A COMMUNITY TOGETHER

One of my biggest fears is fire...a fire that would take away my home and all the things that I treasure.  On November 11, 2012 a fire made a small Abbotsford home inhabitable for an elderly couple and with no insurance, the community came together in a BIG way.  You can read the story http://www.theprovince.com/life/Generous+Abbotsford+volunteers+give+burned+Connor+family+spectacular+Christmas+gift+rebuilt+home/7735307/story.html

Thanks to this lady (my partner in crime from the Million Dollar Neighbourhood) I was honoured to be one of the many volunteers organized by the Abbotsford Police and Fire Departments to rebuild this home.  As part of the decor team, I was one of a small group of people who designed,  picked colours, shopped, collected donations and did our very best to create a beautiful home for the Connor family.

On reveal day, many people toured the home before the family arrived but I just thought you may want to see some inside scoop photos!  The whole house was rebuilt inside, furniture and decor was donated and just look at the amazingly beautiful built-in unit that was created for this family! 

This is a view from the living room into the kitchen.  Even the coffee table was created using an old window from the original home...Love it!

 

This is the master bedroom

And this is the second bedroom.(sideways!!) The house is small but very cozy and filled with memories and love.  The love from the many generations that have lived on this property and the love of the community who rebuilt it!

 

Welcome home Connor family!

 

 

CHAIRS FOR CHARITY, THANK YOU!

 On October 25, 2012 The Passionate Home was excited to host it's second annual CHAIRS FOR CHARITY EVENT benefiting the Langley Christmas Bureau.

 We auctioned off 21 chairs, each reclaimed, restyled and redecorated by a local business or blogger.  The public had a chance to bid via silent auction throughout the day with a live auction at 7pm.

 Each chair was a unique piece of art and we are so very thankful for each and every one who took the time to be a part of this event.

 Hopscotch

 4 the love of wood

 Mini Manor

 Once Again Furniture and Upholstery

 Wraggity Bonbons

 Jentiques, Brick & Mortar Living and Kathleena Thomas Design

 Thank you Elinor for creating this great bar stool to display the autograph's of the BC Lions!

 Whatever Lola Wants Lola Gets

 I did one too!

 The Nostalgic Nest

 Vintage Encore

 Everyone enjoyed a little homemade treat thanks to my good friend Susan!

 And for the second year Starbucks from Langley Crossings has also supported our event!

 The Passionate Home team would also like to thank Jim of CAN-AM Auctions!

 It is all about the people, not only the ones who created the chairs but also about the ones who came to bid on them.  So nice to welcome Mayor Jack Froese and his wife Debbie representing Langley Township and a HUGE thanks again to Councillor Jack Armold for getting all the BC Lions on board and for representing Langley City. (lucky me!)

 Kristy and George of 4 the love of wood were HUGE supporters of this event and for that we are truly grateful!

 Langley has an amazing business community and we love Sonya and Brian of Forever Yours Lingerie and Lucy's!  Thank you for being a part of our community and for being the BIG BIDDERS of the evening! (we love you!)

The 2012 Chairs for Charity Event was a huge success for so many reasons.  I would just like to mention a few other bloggers who donated chairs: Condensed Love Home, Robyn's Vintage Nest, Ugly Duckling Transformations, Vintage E, Second Chance Furnishings, Flo Interiors, Sex and the Suburb and Hodge Podge.

Together as a community we raised $2800 for the Langley Christmas Bureau! 

Thank you and we hope to see you all again next year!

Meet Our Chairs for Charity Chair Donors

For our second annual Chairs for Charity event we thought we would look to the amazing community of DIYers here in the lower mainland for some assistance. As it turns out, our fellow upcylcer’s and bloggers were happy to jump on our chair-ity fundraiser and have graciously agreed to donate one of their own creations for our auction event on October 25^th.

We’d like to introduce you to each of them and have included a link to their blog or Facebook page for you to check out. We even have a few before pictures to share; we can’t wait to see the after pictures!

• 4 the Love of Wood
• Bricks & Mortar Living 
• Condensed Love Home
• Flo Interiors
• Gray Rose
• Hodge: Podge by Markova Design
• Kathleen Thomas Design
• Mini Manor Blog
• The Nostalgic Nest
• Robyn’s Vintage Nest
• Second Chance Furnishings
• Sex and the Suburb
• Stimuli Magazine How’d She DIY That
• Ugly Duckling Transformations
• VintageEncore
• Whatever Lolo Wants Lolo Gets
• Wraggity BonBons

It wouldn’t be quite right if I didn’t jump in on the DIY action, so I’ve started my chair. We also have the BC Lions on board for another year; their chair will have a seat autographed by the entire team!

Last, but certainly not least, we would like to thank Starbucks at Langley Crossing, for their generous support again this year. Starbucks will be at the auction event serving up beverages to our guests. 

Check out some of the before images:

 

Click here to RSVP to our Chairs for Charity Event

A PROUD TOUGH MUDDER

What is TOUGH MUDDER you ask?? Let me share this video with you to give you an idea!

 A group of 6 people meet in Seattle.  Some meeting for the first time, some life long friends.  Here we are the night before...Deborah (my life long friend), Melissa (our token American), Randy (general back watcher), Sally (high school friend), Mike(my husband) and ME!  Deborah and Mike are already seasoned Tough Mudders after their experience together earlier this year in Whistler. 

Barbed wire, electrical shock, mud up to our waists, 12 foot walls to scale over...and this is fun? You bet! The second obstacle is the Arctic Enema (huge tub full of ice that you have to submerge your head in and swim 3 feet down, under a wall and come up the other side....and get out as fast as you can!  Brrrr...this is where I am asking myself, "What am I doing?"

The one obstacle I was most worried about was where we had to jump from a 17 foot high platform into a man made pool of mud and water!  I was worried that once I got to the top I would have time to think myself out of it.  Thanks to a not so friendly Marine yelling at us to jump, there was no time to think.  Deborah, being the true friend that she is, took my hand and we jumped together.  This obstacle went from being my most feared to my most memorable!  Thanks for being my friend Deb!

Well, after 4 plus hours of running, jumping, swimming, climbing, carrying, swinging, slipping and sliding... we made it to the finish line. I am a TOUGH MUDDER, but I am not alone...

There really are not words to describe what happened out there but what I do know is that what started just a few short hours ago has changed us all forever!  Overcoming fears, challenges, working together with our team and with strangers, believing in yourself and having the faith in others. 

I am not alone...we are ALL TOUGH MUDDERS! 

 Please take a moment and read Deborah's post on our event,.http://deborahkriger.com/ToughMudderSeattle/ 

She just did an amazing job describing what it was like to be a part of what may be one of the "toughest event on the planet"!

(picture from City Farmhouse)

I hope you all are enjoying your journey! xo

SWEET SALVAGE MARKET ~ THE MOVIE!

August is INSPIRATION MONTH at The Passionate Home

It's been one year since we first experienced the wonderful world of Chalk Paint™ Decorative Paint by Annie Sloan. Over the past 12 months we been inspired to Reclaim, Re-style and Re-decorate like never before.

We are celebrating Chalk Paint™ by Annie Sloan for the entire month of August with discounts, contests, workshops and more. Come and be inspired - we look forward to seeing you!

WORKING ON JACK WITH THE GIRLS!

 CREATE A BEAUTIFUL LIFFE WORKSHOP SERIES 

 brings you a "Union Jack Dresser Painting" class by Kristy of 4 the love of wood!

 I was so excited to take part in this workshop as I have always loved the look of the Union Jack!

 It was a good thing we were not enjoying a glass of vino with this workshop as we used a lot of tape and did a lot of measuring!!

 We added tape and we took tape off, but finally the FUN started and we got out the paints!

 It was at this point that we decided to change up the traditional colours and try some Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan in Graphite and Coco...Do you love it?

 Step by step, our dresser started to take shape

 We love it!

 Thank you so much Kristy for sharing your expertise with us!  It was a great way to spend an afternoon and I can not wait to try this on my own!

Jack and the girls!  Happy creating everyone!

To learn about other workshops available at The Passionate Home, please visit our workshop page!