Because of high medical bills and time constraints, many parents cannot afford to give their child a special space to call their own.

Special Spaces is a non profit organization focused on making a difference in the lives of children with life-threatening illnesses by designing and creating their dream bedrooms.

How the Process Works

Once we choose a child to receive their dream room, a team from Special Spaces interviews the child to find out their  favorite colors, themes and wishes.
Our team starts planning  to make their dream room come to life from fresh paint, pillows, wall decorations to custom shelves and decorations, our team of volunteers and sponsors complete all room designs in one day.

Who Funds Special Spaces Rooms

Special Spaces has only one limitations, their budget. With the help of  local business corporations, churches, synagogues, and family groups-a child’s room is made possible.

How to Sponsor a Child’s Room

Please call Jennifer Swain Executive Director  865 659 8531

specialspaces.org

Louis’s Story

for Special Spaces.Org

After many years of trying to conceive, through invetro fertilization,  on April 26^th 2005 Louis arrived.

Shortly thereafter, Louis’s grandfather had a stroke and came to live with the family.

Then Hurricane Wilma came and took most of the roof off of their home.  With no electricity and mold growing,  they were forced to  move out for 7 months, living in motels and apartments while the home was made habitable. The insurance company only paid for ¼ of the partial repairs done and they were left with tremendous debt. In 2008 Louis other grandfather lost his battle with colon cancer.

Deciding to spend Louis’s 4^th birthday somewhere special, the family decided that Disney World was a perfect place to spend three days before mom started her new job. Unfortunately 6 days after returning, Louis was rushed to the hospital and after days of misdiagnosis, went in to emergency surgery where a tumor on his colon was discovered as well as a spot on his liver. Three days later it was learned that Louis had stage 4 Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.    Mom was allowed to work from home, then suddenly terminated because of the situation.

With a large scar and the port he needed near his heart for his medicines, Mom told Louis that he needed this to fight the germs.   Louis then decided to be an army guy fighting “germies”

When Make A Wish asked him what he wanted, it was an Army themed play set.  He was given dog tags and a medal from a soldier who battled in war. Inducted into the Army, Louis treasures the day they knocked in his door, told   him he had 5 minutes to get in uniform and report in the back yard.  Now Louis and his dog, a labradoodle donated by a breeder through a therapy dog owner at the hospital, have fun playing in the back yard as an Army guy and faithful companion.

Now in remission and 5 years old he struggles with intestinal issues and is often in the hospital for testing, but rarely complains.

Referred through Chris Evert Children’s Hospital to Special Spaces, my first visit with the family was of mixed emotions. A beautiful family  needs our help, I am asking for your help.  Despite little furniture, no bed, or funds, the optimism of this family makes me want to do more than originally planned. We are asking for the help of our community. Here is what we need to make their future bright  as wonderful as ours.

RED=has been requested waiting for reply
GREEN= request fulfilled

WISHLIST

Update: August 4, 2010
Luis Goff

Note to everyone.  I am so excited at the response we have received. thanks so much

Lexis Nexis team is creating a fund raising  project for Louis. will keep everyone posted.

1. Sheer weaves roller blinds & wood blinds urban interiors
2. Drapery Hardware urbaninteriors
3. drapes   (Rita) Installation  andrews installation and in rest of house
4. small desk  & Bed   found
5. Installation of new  electric boxes in  home    HUGE!!!!!   C & F  Electric
6. Art for walls (ART connection) the hug
7. paint EJ Painting Lexis Nexis  team is coming out to help paint   Thanks team
8. Help with painting EJ Painting& Lexis Nexis Team Boca Raton
9. New Base boards & Door Trim  (Material & Labor)  +TZ Enterprises
11. Custom bedspread       RitaMaries Drapery
12. Bed side light
13. Laminate flooring Lumber liquidators 125sf
14. Cornices for bedroom   Karen and Don Upholstery
15. Install broken tile in kitchen Jorge
16. New BBQ & cover   shamus and friends
17. Graphic Art and Blog      Audria

18. Bedding     purchased
19. Dog Bed   Judge Jill
19. Landscaping, front fence, repair front entry  donations =$2500.00  Details Landscaping will help with deisgn and work
20. repair of A/C in a 2000 Chevy Astro Van

21. Install new flooring   Renewit.com  flooring company

Wish list

• 3 wood kitchen chairs
• New or great condition leather sofa
• Floor Lamp
• Table Lamp

Louis Loves

• Jim Carrey
• Michael Jackson
• BBQ steak , potato and corn
• Video Games
• Making art and crafts

Please call me, or email me and let me know how you are able to help.  A donation can be made

We will be having a one day installation, a party and representatives from the hospital all ready to welcome Louis and his family the day of the installation.

Sincerely,
Candace Hillier
Special Spaces Volunteer
Ft Lauderdale
Tel:  754 235 8591
urbaninteriors@gmail.com

Special Spaces.Org

5201 Kingston Park 6-122
Knoxville, Tn 37919
Tel: 865 659 8531

Anywhere from one-half to three-quarters of Americans say they participate in the environmentally virtuous act of recycling. I am one of them. Or at least I try.

The problem is that every time I open the cover of my big brown curbside recycling bin, I am confronted with an intimidatingly long list of “Don’t recycle” items. Yogurt tubs, microwave trays, clamshell containers from delis and salad bars, and disc-shaped hummus containers are all don’ts. I guiltily toss them into the trash, even though I live in hippieish Boulder, Colorado.

Most communities will recycle only plastic beverage bottles, which are marked with an often minuscule and impossible-to-read No. 1 or No. 2 on the bottom. There is no profitable aftermarket for plastics that are stamped 3 through 7 (such as the don’ts mentioned above), which are in smaller supply than the 1s and 2s that house soda, water, milk, and other drinks. But for many everyday folks, plastic is plastic, and t hey “recycle” it all. Sadly, all the things not labeled 1 or 2 get pulled out at the recycling facility and are trucked off to a big, smelly hole in the ground, where they will deposit their petroleum-based chemicals into the soil for the next 500 years.

In an age when Wal-Mart and GE are rhapsodizing about saving the environment, why haven’t we moved beyond this sort of profligate disposal? The problem is that businesses don’t want to take responsibility for making it easier for Americans to do their part.

While some 52% of paper, 36% of metals, and 22% of glass get recycled, only 7% of all plastics do, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Recyclers blame the plastics industry for this state of affairs. “They have not stepped forward to take responsibility for the end-of-life management of their product, the way glass, metal, and paper are trying to,” says Eric Lombardi, executive director of Eco-Cycle, Boulder’s recycler. “Get rid of the 25 types of plastic. Let’s narrow it down to a few that can be easily recycled.”

Plastics makers, of course, lay the responsibility at the feet of the recycling companies. “What we would prefer to see is an increase in the infrastructure at the local level,” says Steve Russell, managing director of the plastics division at the American Chemistry Council, the trade group representing plastic manufacturers.

Even food manufacturers that are committed to doing the right thing often get stuck. Stonyfield Farm, the Danone division that thinks of itself as a very dark shade of green, considered switching from its No. 5 yogurt tubs to No. 2, but it concluded that doing so would actually significantly increase the amount of plastic needed to make each tub, because No. 2 resin is less durable. And even more frustrating, if Stonyfield switched, most communities wouldn’t recycle them anyway — turns out that No. 2 tubs can’t be mixed with No. 2 bottles because they’re made from different chemicals. That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about the convoluted and inefficient world of plastics.

There is some good news. Sort of. Cities such as Boston, Fort Worth, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Cleveland have started recycling the unpopular 3 through 7 plastics, even though in some cases they’re doing it unprofitably to prevent topping off near-capacity landfills.

The less-good news is that recyclers have begun selling big, unsorted piles of plastic to Chinese companies. There have been some reports that employees in Chinese recycling facilities are exposed to toxic fumes from the materials they are recycling. Which means that my recycling options just got a whole lot more complicated. Some choice: noxious chemicals in the soil versus the health of Chinese workers. It really isn’t easy being green.

Another one of my more recent projects.  Combining the large Chinese armoir and the 2 side panels covering the windows that for some unknown reason where placed near the ceiling, helped to utilize much of that empty space.  The panels I found have openings which allow light to filter through and give a great effect.

The Strada is in downtown Ft Lauderdale. The building was designed and built well. I have worked in many condos in the last few years that were thrown together as inexpensively as possible. This was not case with the Strada.

Some 100 million unused cell phones gather dust in drawers each year in the US recylcing them would conserve enough energy to power nearly 200.000 homes for a year. to find out how to recycle yours  visit epa.gov/cellphones.

An alternative to this is to dial their 1 800 clean up  (toll free hotline)