“Trading Spaces” on the Learning Channel is so popular on the cable network because everybody wants a posh, professional “redesign” of his humble home to show off to guests.
Thus, Marie McBridge, the new executive director of Guest House in Alexandria, said, “I felt like I was on ’Trading Spaces’ when I walked into the house,” of the gussied-up transitional home for women who are coming out of prison. “It’s amazing; I honestly thought I was in a different house.” The building was on the brink of foreclosure with $175,000 in debts, was hidden behind overgrown trees and bushes and was falling down. After helping incarcerated women get back on their feet for nearly 30 years, the only facility of its kind within a 150-mile radius shut its doors in February 2003.
Thanks to a regional collaboration with Habitat for Humanity and a group of generous community leaders and designers, contractors and home-related businesses such as Marlo Furniture, the Friends of Guest House will open its doors for a unique, pro-bono designers’ showcase this weekend and next.
About $50,000 still must be raised for Guest House. A basket will be placed in the foyer for those wishing to make a $10 donation to view the designers’ showcase this weekend, starting this afternoon, and again next Saturday and Sunday.
The colorful children’s castle designed by Marymont College students and built by Jim Printz of North Shore Design in the freshly landscaped back yard indicates that this “alternative designers’ showcase” is not only a very pretty place but also a very useful space for the paroled women who will be able to take up residence in May.
“Most designer showcases are for pretty, but this is not just a pretty face, this has a purpose,” said Lea Adams, of WorkinProgress, a publicity firm and one of the novice designers of the nine-bed facility.
The project to rescue Guest House by redeveloping it as a designers’ showcase is the brainchild of Susan Estomin, owner of Re:design in Fairfax Station. She is also a member of Alexandria’s Kiwanis Club, whose members played a big part in the project. Nate Chappelle, president-elect of the Kiwanis, said he remembers as a boy mowing the lawn on the huge home at East Luray and Commonwealth avenues in the quaint, trendy Del Ray neighborhood.
“I wanted to give something back to the community, but when we asked what we could do and were told it would take $200,000 to save [the house], I knew we didn’t have it,” Mr. Chappelle said.
So the service organization called on members such as Ms. Estomin, who eventually teamed up with the new board members of Guest House. Then, Ms. Estomin called on local designers.
“I’m thrilled, and I believe that [housing] environment makes a huge difference, so I hope this will make a difference in the lives of these women,” Ms. Estomin said. Mr. Chappelle also enlisted the able assistance of no-nonsense taskmaster and architect Patricia Cole, who redesigned the infrastructure of the two-story home and led the coordination of the project with Ms. Estomin.
Peter H. Lund, president of the Guest House board, said the facility provided a service and a safe haven too important to lose. The board receives weekly letters from women seeking a space.
He explained that there are 2,150 women in the state prison system and another 2,400 in local and regional jails in Virginia. This group is growing more rapidly than male prisoners.
Only nonviolent female ex-offenders are eligible for the three-month program at Guest House, which also provides job training and substance abuse counseling with the goal of reducing the recidivism rate.
To reopen Guest House, the Alexandria Housing Trust Fund provided $99,000 to pay off the existing mortgage and $40,000 for materials and an alarm system. The contractors’ and designers’ contribution was worth $300,000. Arlington County provided operating funds for this year. Grant applications were submitted to Fairfax, Alexandria, Arlington and Prince William for next year.
Kerry J. Donley, the former mayor of Alexandria, said the city tried to find money in its tight budget to keep Guest House from closing, but it could not get the commitment from other jurisdictions. Like others who had seen the old structure, he joked that the renovations were so great that he would like to move in.
Judging from the “oohs” and “aahs” of those at the preview Wednesday night, the project has done as much for the donors as the recipients.
“I had so much fun, I’m ready to do another one,” said Jane Vagt, whose company, Best Tile, donated about $5,000 worth of flooring. Her workers could see the ground through the floorboards when they arrived and said, “You’ve got to be kidding.” For Peggy and Ken Fisher, of the Fisher Group, the project was a double dose of charity. Mrs. Fisher, who teaches Bible classes at Bethany House for battered women, got one client, whose cherry cabinets were destined for the trash, to donate them to complete her kitchen design.
“My sense is that if you provide people with a space that makes them have worth and value, then you can change their thinking about other things in their lives,” Mrs. Fisher said.
Let’s hope that the awesome transformation of Guest House provides a fitting metaphor for the women who will stay there, for they are “Trading Spaces” and re-entering the community, and must make a monumental transformation in their lives if they are to stand a chance of staying on a straight and lawful path.
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