christmas eve in the lobby

our artist/makeover team designed the lobby experience this year. we used blue lights and twigs to complement the worship theme "eyes wide open~christmas can still change the world" (see adjoining christmas eve message by mike slaughter). chandeliers by chad, trees by robin, centerpieces by brandon, bistro tables by heather, high-up jobs by lori, various tasks by laura, blue gels by rachel and coordination by kim.

alternative christmas

creating environments is at the core of my passion...so when it's time for christmas i feel excited and open for new, nontraditional ways of expressing the joy of the season. this year as i set out to create environments at home and ginghamsburg i hear these words: everything you need you already have.

since mid november i've been soaking in alternative christmas environments. natural, ordinary elements gathered in non-traditional ways with an aspect of surprise on the side. i visited anthropologie - always a favorite spot for collections of natural pieces integrated in totally alternative ways.

during the thanskgiving holiday i spent two hours at a new favorite haunt in the iowa countryside called "sisters." i was so inspired i took pics: cuttings from nature + repurposed discards + new cool pieces. a delicious combination.

fast forward to my own home for the holidays. my self-inflicted rules: no traditional tree + no new purchases (i'm a horrible consumer.) my goal: to reflect a more sudan-esque and a less "north pole" feel. bunches of twigs, bittersweet, grapevine, pine needles and landscape burlap later an alternative christmas theme emerged... and i discovered that everything i needed i already had.

hearts for the sudan

five years ago ginghamsburg church families conceded that christmas was not our birthday, but jesus’ birthday. men, women and children committed to giving as much towards the plight of the sudanese as we spend on our own christmases each year. while at first it seemed a tough pill to swallow, we now realize there is no other way to celebrate the season.

people being people, we also need visuals- artwork, photographs, yearly reminders of what we are about. last friday night we hosted a reception in our worship space for three of our staff from darfur. (meet them by watching mike’s message last weekend, good news to the poor.)

also last weekend the children of ginghamsburg demonstrated amazing talent and commitment through their sudan bazaar. the gifts they crafted (all proceeds go to the sudan project) were inspiring in creativity and quality. i smiled to see our guests from darfur visit the bazaar and experience the love that the kids had put into that day.

in the hallways at ginghamsburg we feature photos taken by mike’s son jonathan last year during their trip to darfur. the photos are incredible; their subjects are beautiful- and the children make you want to smile and cry at the same time. our makeover team took four days to prep a new wall background, carefully assembling, mounting, and arranging the photos that will remain up for the next year – a constant reminder to our church family of the people we seek to serve.

also in our hallways during advent is our heart for sudan, featured pieces crafted by ginghamsburg and dayton artists, on sale until christmas – with all sales monies also going towards the project.

i’m thankful when i realize the privilege and power of being part of such an important and heart-rending mission. how do you feel about it?

classy room

the first time I saw these basement classrooms at the Fort (a wall was removed between them) i got the creeps. It was a claustrophobic space, badly in need of an update. significant servant hours + paint in 3 colors + special wall and tile treatments + awesome furniture and carpet finds + a little mud ‘n spit = 1 classy room. now i would love to take a class in this space designed for 60 persons. it was in fact used immediately for a marriage class tonight!

new wall treatments

we used a couple wall treatments on the fort basement project that produced great results. both are simple and cost-effective so i thought i'd describe them.

the first is what we call "dry-brushing." i don't think we made it up- but i don't know exactly where we got the idea either. basically you start with a wood-grain surface - nasty old brown paneling, for instance, or an old piece of furniture that you want to update - and brush black paint onto it, brushing in the direction of the grain. be careful not to put too much paint on. the desired effect is for a little of the brown wood grain to show through, creating a black-brown color with a hint of wood grain. This is a popular finish at IKEA and so we tried to emulate it to match our old, used furniture with new pieces we'd purchased for the same room. we used the same treatment on a dresser and mirror for my brother's coffee house redesign project -as well as shelving for daughter heidi's pottery at the same shop. the results are generally stunning - and for pennies!

meanwhile

meanwhile, back at the fort, our next mission assignment from headquarters was to makeover the basement classroom at the fort mckinley church. this was new territory for me – i generally hate basements but embraced the opportunity to stretch my design muscles and see what might transpire. i researched basement makeovers online and identified a color scheme that felt fresh and fun. several friends helped me prep the room this past week and today 10 gingha-servants (who i also count as friends) worked hard to make this underground vision a reality. first order of business was to transport the world’s largest and heaviest table (400+ lbs.) out of the basement and up to the fellowship hall where it could be repurposed as a serving table for the wildly successful “breakfast @ the fort” currently served-up every sunday morning (250 guests at last count.) soooo… on the coldest, wettest day of the season so far 8 guys (and i) carried the table down the hall, up the steps, out the back door, around the building, up the ramp, in one of the front doors, down the lobby and steps, up steps and around the corner into the f.h.. amazing – but it’s done. back to the basement, we had three kinds of wall treatments to create which kept things interesting. i’ll blog about those in the next few days – after i get some rest. it’s a good kind of tired, you know? there’s nothing quite like the feeling of working hard for 7 hours with truly great people – only because we all believe that soon hearts will be turned towards jesus in this classroom. even if it is in a basement.

changing the world…

a week ago 1000 world-changers gathered on the ginghamsburg campus to be challenged, changed and move out to make a difference. were you part of the conference as a guest or a servant? what was your most memorable God-moment?

a few of my favorite things

some seasons are so full of doing that it’s difficult to make the time to write about it. we’ve definitely been living in one of those seasons and wanted to post some of the work…

the elevator in our student activity center required a wall treatment that was 1) ding-proof and 2) nearly no-cost. i tried using landscape burlap as wallpaper- applied with a thick wallpaper adhesive. rejecting a linear approach, i tried my hand at “sculpting” the moistened burlap, leaving an opening for a stenciled design. it was a fun project and interesting to look at – and the risk factor is reduced inside the otherwise boring space of an elevator. what did i have to lose?

my office makeover continues – some interesting finds, some ikea pieces, and now a wall design. a $5 gallon of mistint provided the base color for the faded soft-white wallpaper stenciling application.

recently we confiscated a large amount of wood railing from a tipp city bank re-model project (our cost- $0). i have always wanted to flank the screen in the discipleship center with some kind of material that would ground and eliminate that “floating feeling” of the screen. artist-builder chad oler grasped this vision and totally delivered~! now we have a more professional looking stage for the price of the backing fabric ($25.)

our change the world conference begins tomorrow morning and we spent yesterday setting up our expanded bookstore (out into the worship area) to accommodate 1000 registered guests. it was stressful but fun pulling out tons of pieces from home and church storage. we used three elements throughout the set-up design: black fainted furniture, landscape burlap and old wooden crates. throw in a few lamps, rugs and votive candles and wha-la! a winning combination.

last but definitely not least is the massive painting project going on in the fort mckinley worship area. our makeover team has really pulled through and the color seems just right. it’s hard to catch the renewed beauty of this worship space using pictures alone – more next week after the carpet’s installed.

post your own favorite things. we’d love to see them!

God bless,
kim

makeover @ the fort continues…

the worship area at our newly-acquired fort mckinley campus is lovely as far as traditional worship settings go, but for the purpose of reaching out to new audiences with an updated approach, a makeover is required. our goal: to give the fort’s worship area an updated, fresh and inviting atmosphere while retaining the existing stained-glass, sacramental setting. a tasteful combination of ancient-future. first order of business was a brand new, expanded stage. the existing lectern and pulpit were removed, along with the half-walls that segregated the platform from the floor. a large stage extension was designed, a step down from the existing platform. seven skilled carpenters and 10 hours later we had transformation! next week’s project: mammoth paint job meanwhile, back in the pastor’s office, the lace curtains and feminine furniture had to go. we replaced what we could afford to, leaning heavily on our new ikea just down i-75 and what we couldn’t afford to replace we tried to replicate using our trusty mud-n-spit methods. the finishing touches will come later this week (after i figure out how to acquire them for low low dolla!) mama always said “there’s always a way…actual money is way overrated" ☺

what drives your design machine?

i’ve been in atlanta for the last week, soaking up the sunny rays of our brand new grandson, linkin urijah miller. we are lovin’ linkin, and hubby clark and i are getting back in touch with the wonderful world of babies.

being away from home, taking long walks in the peaceful, wooded suburbs of atlanta, and time to read – with a trip to anthropologie thrown in. oh wait, don’t forget a ton of late night shows on hgtv… (we don’t get cable at home and i can’t seem to get enough of it here) and conversations with our kids about their latest interests and challenges.

these are a few of my favorite things. i am renewed as i talk with God about us – reading “walking with god” by john elderedge + utmost for his highest with oswald c. inside my head i find myself designing the next ginghamsburg campus space, picturing how our next event could look, reorganizing a room in my home, reimagining our autumn porch in tipp city. i can’t help what my brain does in the off hours but i can feed it and keep it well-nourished for the next season.

what drives your design machine? time away? time with god? time in the out-of-doors? i’d love to know how you “feed your soul” and make time to listen for God’s next creative endeavor. comments invited.