Wednesday, February 23, 2011

DIY--The 201 Renovation

For the past 50 years walking back into Suite 201 in the Panhellenic building has been like walking into a time warp.

The perfect picture of style in 1964, as you can imagine the room needed some work now that we are in the twenty first century.

With some savings from last years budget and a whole lot of hard work, we have transformed Suite 201 into a room that is comfortable, cozy, not to mention chic! :)

Let's start with the before pictures....this is what we had to work with

I know it is hard to believe...but this actually looks great compared to what we started with! This is post cleaning, vacuuming, and after junk bee gone came!


 Beautiful blue curtains!


The lovely floral wall paper


The faux-fireplace...actually just a freestanding mantle


2001 Pan Council Picture complete with its own brass light fixture!


Sarah getting started taking down the wallpaper...she was a champ! She actually thought of the idea of using the steamer to help get the wallpaper down! It was impossible!


Cam taping the base boards!


Nicki poo pulling her weight! 


Lizzy getting ready to paint!


Susan our professional painter!


Linds stopped by and lent a hand! Helping figure out how to do something about those awful light fixtures! 


Allison on our "stable" ladder, taking down wallpaper! It actually wasn't the wallpaper that was hard to take down, it was the glue it left behind! 


Sweet Mason stopping by to help us!!


Caitlin, my right hand man during the renovation! We had about 4 days straight of inhaling paint fumes! 


Painting is finally complete! After a week straight of hard work and help from Jim and Caitlin the hardest part was over! 


Now before we get to the final reveal... here is everything we did:
-Remove wallpaper
-Paint: walls, base boards, doors, window frames
-I took down the light fixtures cleaned and spray painted them white again! We also replaced all the lightbulbs with energy efficient bulbs
-Jim removed the fireplace mantle, we cleaned and painted it with a fresh coat of paint
-We installed new carpet, the cheapest sold by Lowes but I personally think its fabulous! 
-We salvaged the desk, file cabinet, and bookshelf from the old room 
-Micah and I went on the search for some furniture deals we found a tax free day at Ashley Furniture and Knoxville Wholesale furniture and got a great deal on the couches, coffee table, and meeting table. The meeting table is actually a dining room table, it was much cheaper and better looking than a conference table! 
-All of the accessories came from Target, our go to store! 

Here is the finished project! 


The picture of the fireplace was painted by our very own Cameron Foltz! She is amazing! The painting was her idea and it is actually a portrait of a hand holding a bouquet of flowers that represent every chapter we have in Panhellenic! If you come up to 201 we actually have a key that will tell you which flower is yours! She is amazing and it is my favorite part of the room! 


Meeting table! Which surprisingly enough is used every day!!


Our freshly painted mantle, which has a darker grey accent color in the interior!


Cute sitting area! Soon Panhellenic council's brand new composite will be hung right above this spot! And yes these amazingly cute chairs came from Target!!


Our bookshelf salvaged from the old room! We have the flowers on top to give it some more height! All the pictures are of Panhellenic women in the frames, one of my favorite parts of the room! Awesome floor lamp to give more light, also from Target!!


The work area! We salvaged this desk and it works great! We moved the IMac upstairs and a printer so council could meet in this space and not have to run downstairs to the computer! Now that Pan has wifi it works! Also we got the good looking computer chair from Target, a little tough to put together but Mike our wonderful maintenance man came to the rescue! He helped me constantly with this project!


These are the couches in our little sitting area! You can often find Cameron Foltz taking a nap on the couch! :)


We actually have enough seating in the room to hold all Panhellenic council meetings in 201!


Cozy little work area! 



Thanks to everyone for all your help! It was a lot of work but well worth it! Our amazing Panhellenic women deserve a great work space! 

Now come visit us in 201! 


Sunday, February 13, 2011

Stop the Noise--Panhellenic Retreat 2011!

I have said it many times but can never say it enough...I have the best job EVER! 

Last weekend I took 30 of the best and brightest students at UT on a retreat in Gatlinburg, TN!


These are the amazing women that came! 

We had too much fun, can't wait to spend the year with these amazing ladies!!

Here are some snapshots from the weekend! 

Making progress planning!


Laura, Mindy, Taylor, Morgan, Bonnie, and Evy!


Mindy, Taylor, Morgan working hard! 


Devon, Paige, and Stephanie!!




2011 Pan Council! 


Goofing off! 


Working hard to Stop. The. Noise. !



Its going to be a great year!!