You’d be amazed what a coat of paint and a few new decorations can do – and that’s the idea behind Manuela Ferguson’s yearly room redecorating contest.
Ferguson is the owner of Stylish Abode Consignments, a consignment shop in Dumfries, and The Staging Fashionista, a real estate staging company in Woodbridge.
“Every year I do a free room makeover contest, and it’s something that I do because it’s a talent I have, so in order to give back because I’m blessed, I go and do a free makeover,” said Ferguson.
This year, Ferguson decided to redecorate one of the bedrooms in the ACTS Beverly Warren Shelter in Dumfries.
For each room makeover, Ferguson uses $500 of her own funds and original pieces in the room for redecorating.
“They have to describe why they’re deserving of getting the makeover, this isn’t just a makeover to make your house pretty, it’s actually for a deserving or individual…and the housing [coordinator] from the ACTS shelter entered, and when I saw her entry…I thought, ‘You know this would really be something nice, because it affects so many people,’” said Ferguson.
The ACTS shelter is a temporary shelter that provides services and housing for 30 days, while families get back on their feet, according to Ferguson.
“It’s a temporary shelter for people that are [victims of] domestic violence, or…they’ve been evicted, or they’ve got some hardship and they don’t have any place to go, for 30 days [ACTS] houses them…it’s really helping people in our own community,” said Ferguson.
For the bedroom redecorating, Ferguson did a fresh coat of paint in the room, and added wall accents and new bedspreads and decorations to make the room brighter for the families that stay at the shelter.
“I wanted to make it colorful, vibrant, and you know something just as little more lively, so when people come in it’s a little bit more appealing, because they’re already in a bad situation,” said Ferguson.
After spending time working in the ACTS shelter for the redecorating, Ferguson decided to go a step further and offered to redecorate the shelter’s living room space as well.
“I just feel like I need to do it…I just feel that it’s an uplifting thing for people,” said Ferguson.
