Four years ago, Charlotte-based designer Stephanie Calderon wanted to give back. A member of a local industry nonprofit called National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI), she went to executive director Mara Esser with the vision of redesigning a women’s shelter through the organization. NARI immediately hopped on board, and together they launched the now annual Passion Project, which renovates nonprofit community spaces in the area.
This year’s project will be their biggest one yet. The idea came from Calderon’s friend and fellow NARI member, designer Laura Aguilar, who heard from another friend that Wings of Eagles Ranch—a local nonprofit that provides therapeutic outdoor recreational programs for children and adults with disabilities—had just built five cabins for their guests, but had no idea how to furnish them. “We both right away realized that this is just an amazing project—something we could [potentially] partner with NARI to see if we can get all five cabins furnished,” Aguilar tells Business of Home. “It just quickly turned into this ‘Oh my gosh, we can totally make this happen’ kind of thing, and just snowballed from there.”
The ranch became the next stage for NARI’s Passion Project, co-led by Aguilar and Calderon. The duo tapped the NARI network to find three other local designers to help transform the remaining 800-square-foot cabins—each featuring two bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, a kitchenette, and front and rear patios—into peaceful family getaways. “This year is definitely our biggest undertaking. In years past, [NARI has] left it up to me to design [the projects, so] I’ve created Amazon wish lists, and then helped through my social media and other NARI members,” says Calderon. “It’s a really cool opportunity to get five [NARI member designers] involved, and the hope is that we can continue doing this in future years and make it an even bigger event where I step back as a designer and run more logistics for the other designers in NARI.”
Aguilar and Calderon pulled together a packet on Wings of Eagles’s mission and sent the prospective project brief to NARI designers, requesting applications. In the end, Misty Molloy of CoCreative Interiors, Sarah Fiel of Home Theory and Jeanna Holmes of Charlotte In-Vironments were chosen. “I saw that the nonprofit serves a community of families with kids who have alternate abilities and disabilities. Our son was in a place like that five years ago when he was very, very ill, and [Wings of Eagles’s mission] tugged immediately at my heartstrings,” says Fiel. “I would have loved to have support like this for our family when we were in the midst of a really hard time with our child, and so being able to offer that to other families was an absolute no-brainer for me.”
As with other industry initiatives that benefit charitable causes, the designers have to cover all of the costs themselves. Luckily, reaching out to the local NARI network relieved some of those financial constraints. “Because of NARI and how big it is, there’s contractors, painters, plumbers, electricians—all of these different companies have memberships, and we are able to put some needs out there. A lot of amazing companies said, ‘Yes, we’re willing to do all the painting for all the cabins,’ or ‘We’re willing to do all the electrical work.’ We even have a company that’s donating all the light fixtures for us,” says Aguilar. “It’s [because of] those types of relationships through NARI that we’re able to reach out and get all the help we can. Anything left over that wasn’t donated, it is up to that individual designer to provide the furnishings and decor and accessories for these cabins.”
Holmes is teaming up with friends at Queen City Homestore, a third-generation local company that specializes in TVs, mattresses, appliances, and more recently, furniture. “They are providing the beds, the mattresses and the furniture—the only thing they didn’t have was the bunk bed,” she says. “So, I emailed a flyer to all of my wonderful clients that I’ve worked with over the years—it was probably about 200 different families—and asked them to support us. We included the Amazon wish list. [From that,] I had somebody sponsor wallpaper, and I had somebody sponsor the bunk bed.”
Such generosity speaks to the local community’s belief in stepping up to support families in need. “Charlotte has a huge heart, and our remodeling community especially just really believes in giving back,” says Esser. “They’re willing to take time out of their very busy, very challenging days to do things to make a difference. I know the hearts and souls of these people who are doing this, and I just know how beautiful the people are, inside and out. They want to give back and make sure that they are leaving their mark in the world, and make everyone’s world a better place.”
Accessibility for children and adults with disabilities has been top of mind when it comes to the cabin design. “We wanted to make sure that we weren’t including anything that would get in the way of some of these families being able to relax and rest,” says Aguilar. “These cabins were built ADA-accessible. They have the wider hallways and the wider doorframes. Our job is to make sure that any furnishings or decor and accessories don’t get in the way, and are also ADA-accessible.”
The cabin design also factors in hospitality and commercial-grade standards for simpler maintenance and long-term durability. “We are making sure that with a lot of the materials that we’re selecting, there’s ease of cleaning for the ranch—things like white towels that they can easily bleach, or strapping furniture to the wall [for child safety],” says Fiel.
The five cabins will be revealed during the Designer Cabin Showcase starting November 7, an opportunity for the community to come together and celebrate their collective efforts. “I’m really excited about the community aspect of this. It is very fun to do a project with your colleagues. We don’t typically work together, because we’re technically in business against each other. In this case, we get to be collaborative, so I get to do work with other designers who do what I do, and then bring in our trades, vendors and also our past clients, and get them excited,” says Fiel. “In today’s world, the concept of community is so lost that this [collaboration] feels soul-refreshing. It fills my heart to be able to do this and have so many people care about a community they don’t even know.”
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