AACC Students Redesign a Room at Hope House

Interior design students from (AACC) recently took on a special project at Hope House, a nonprofit inpatient and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment center in Crownsville.

The multipurpose meeting room at Hope House had become cluttered, messy and uninviting before the students took it on as a class project.

"It fits in well with our whole philosophy," said Peter D'Souza, Hope House executive director. "The worst enemy of the addict is themselves. They don't know how to treat themselves well. This environment will say, 'You can treat yourself very well.'"

By all accounts the transformation of the center's meeting room was much-needed and long overdue. The students not only de-cluttered the room, clearing out dusty shelves of old VCR tapes, they repainted the walls, highlighted a rural mural on one, and even reupholstered the cushions on the couch.

"Our inspiration was really the mural," said Merchelle Halsey, who was the president of the school's chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers during the 2010-2011 school year.

The group of students spent six weeks re-doing the room, she said.

"The only thing that stayed was the furniture, the Ping-Pong table and the foosball table," Halsey said.

Aside from the students' work, the new room benefited from a lot of donated time and items.

Student Anthony Belton, owner of Artistic Touch Paint Co., donated the time and materials to repaint the room, while fellow student Rose Hilganter, owner of Nifty Needles, did the same to reupholster the cushions on the furniture.

The Big Screen Store donated the television and Office Depot donated a large white board that is for group meetings.

The group also did some redesign work in Hope House's reception/waiting room. They added a sofa, a few end tables and some plants. They also rearranged the furniture to create a "more open, welcoming environment," Halsey said.

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