Give a Little Bit.

I haven't blogged in a while because I have been busy, busy, busy with preparations for the "House in a Week" build at Rancho de Sus Niños, an orphanage just outside of Tijuana. We are calling it "Casa de la esperanza" - "The House of Hope"

The build is less than two weeks away...we still need funds to make sure we have all of the materials to build, not just a house...but a Home.

Please donate to Rancho "House in a Week" at this link: House in a week
Your donation is tax deductible and will show love and care to generation after generation.

Thank you,

Beauty In The Desert - A Note to My Design Community

After reading this tweet from the design community's very own @JamesSwan this week, I decided to tell you about a project that is close to my heart.

At the end of February, this coming year, I will be heading up a monumental task: to build a house in a week … in Mexico. I had the opportunity to help with an Extreme Home Makeover here in Nashville a year or so back and I know pulling that off in a week in America, with corporate sponsors and large contractors, was crazy; to try doing it in Mexico with donated materials and all-volunteer labor is quite, well, mad. Why am I involved, you ask? For many reasons, but I will only give you a couple.

For the past three years I have spent my time volunteering at Rancho De Sus Niños, an orphanage just outside of Tecate, Mexico. I say orphanage because that is how it began 20-plus years ago; these days it is actually an orphanage, a daycare, a K-through-college school system, a hospice, and a ministry providing free, clean drinking water to area families and garbage service so their community doesn't have to live in filth. It has grown because Rancho people see a need, fill it, and worry about the funding later. It is a faith-based organization and they are being the hands and feet of God. You don't even have to be religious to see the good they do and the financial and social change they bring to a very impoverished area. The couple that runs Rancho, Jimmy and Genea Horner, left a very successful land development and homebuilding business in Southern California to bring their time, talent and treasure to those in need.

So, February 29th through March 7th we will build a house -- a 2,272-square foot, seven-bedroom, three-bath house, completely furnished, at a cost of $70,000. That is only about $31 per square foot; for reference, the average cost per square foot to build in Nashville is around $110 per square foot, unfurnished. I have included a snapshot of the floor plan so you can see the layout. 

Plan View

Now that we have all the particulars out of the way, this is what I am asking my fellow designers, architects, decorators, craftsmen, anyone in the design community: help me with this project. You can donate funds via Hopepark Church (select "Other" and please mark your contribution “Rancho House in a Week.”) All donations are tax deductible. You can talk to your vendors about donating goods and services -- we need everything from concrete to pillowcases. Or you can lend us a hand, literally -- I would love to see some of you actually come to Mexico with me. Post a comment below, follow the links provided, or message me on Twitter (@Billy_Williams) to let me know how you would like to contribute ... you might even have a way that I’ve not thought of. Even if you are unable to help right now, there may be someone in your world who can. So re-post, tweet, facebook, spread the word by carrier pigeon if you have to … just spread the word.

As a design community we have the daily privilege of bringing beauty, form and function to our clients’ lives. Join me in bringing beauty to the desert ... to people who would never be able to afford our services or benefit from our talents.

Thank you,

b.

Extreme Community

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of working on "The Nashville Build." This was the Extreme Makeover Home Edition that was filmed right here in my fair city, Nashville. The project was a new daycare and preschool for Lighthouse Christian School, which lost a majority of its buildings during the recent Nashville flood. This is not my first foray into the world of extreme construction volunteering -- I have helped my church build homes for Habitat for Humanity and I am part of a special team that works with an orphanage in Mexico. Last year I and six other men built a 1,600-square-foot daycare building for the orphanage in two-and-a-half days.

What I love about this kind of work (if you could even call it work) is the sense of community it creates. The day I worked on the Nashville Build, I can honestly say I have never seen so many people in one place working around, under, next to, over and beside each other in all my life. Instead of the usual grumps and groans and even fights that break out when you have too many people trying to work in a small area, this was a wonderful symphony of smiles, helping hands, laughter, new friends and community. People are at their best when they are helping others. At this build, status in the "real world" did not matter; what mattered was the willingness to serve. I picked up trash with bankers and school teachers, unloaded trucks with a retiree and his children and their spouses, and painted alongside housewives, city council members and bus drivers. It was wonderful.

I am glad to live in a city that knows how to come together in a crisis, and for months afterward, to put the pieces back together. I am so proud of Nashville for its volunteer heart and spirit of community.

Where do you like to serve and what brings you a sense of community?

Washed By The Water

Photo by Larry McCormack/The Tennessean

I have spent the week with my good friends -- picking up and throwing away large, soggy sections of their lives. Their life, like many in the Nashville area, was swept into the river physically, mentally and emotionally. The recent flood is the largest (costliest) non-hurricane natural disaster in U.S. history and for many will be a game changer...I know for me it is a game changer. I have spent countless days on job sites during the demolition phase. I usually find it fun to help tear out a cabinet or two and maybe pull down a piece of drywall here and there; this, however, felt much, much different. The strange thing is that for the first couple of days their neighborhood was full of homeowners and volunteers working to clean up the mess ... all doing so in almost total silence. Lots of activity and very little conversation. Just neighbor caring for neighbor, working, thinking and praying.

I have been witness this week to the best of my fair city, Nashville. We didn't cry foul, we didn't wait for the government to come to our rescue...we rescued ourselves the old fashioned way -- neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend and even total strangers, hand in hand. The national media gave us 15 minutes for what will most likely take years to clean up and will forever change the tempo in Music City. There wasn't any looting, there wasn't any violence, and the loss of life, though tragic, was small compared to other disasters. Maybe our story of waiting for the waters to go down and being a community that cares for its own and is willing to begin the healing from within just isn't sexy enough. I'm proud of my city, our churches, organizations and people for the determination to pick up the pieces and do it with neighborly kindness and dignity.

I don't want this post to sound sappy and sweet. It was hard work that took its toll on us in every way possible but we leaned in and realized that stuff is just that, stuff. This might sound funny coming from a man who makes his living helping people with their stuff; I even help people get more stuff. What I will take away from this is that I need to spend more time reaching for and enjoying people. People are what matter. Of course, as a musician this renewing thought brings to mind lyrics to a Needtobreathe song:

Even when the rain falls

Even when the flood starts rising

Even when the storm comes

I am washed by the water

Ahhhh... Excess...

I own an Advantium microwave oven, a slide-in glass-top range with built-in warming drawer, a french door refrigerator with purified ice and water in the door, a state-of-the-art stainless tub dishwasher, an instant hot water dispenser...the list goes on and on. All of these gadgets are here to make my life better and to make cooking the ultimate adrenaline rush -- still we eat most every meal out.

This week I attended K-BIS, the world's biggest kitchen and bath industry showcase. Here, vendors from all over the the world showcase their latest and greatest wares. I enjoy attending the conference so I can be armed with knowledge and inspiration for my clients. I do have to ask myself if these wonder gadgets actually improve my quality of life. It seems my early ancestors may have had it much easier ... a fire, a sharp stick and a piece of meat -- dinner is served. I, on the other hand, need a degree from MIT to pop popcorn.

To me the excess is not the gadgets, it is the attention to self. I think what we need to do in such a blessed nation is to enjoy the gadgets and at the same time leave our fingerprints on the world, not just on the stainless steel. Now before anyone reading this decides not to do a remodel, I say hold on. Your kitchen or bath remodel adds value and beauty to your house and feeds the economy, which produces jobs, which feed people; this is a good thing. The call to action I propose is to use your remodel to help others. How? Simple. Here are a few ways.

The last few years, I have used Habitat for Humanity for my demolitions (they may or may not have this service in your area). Habitat will remove your old cabinets and appliances and then sell them in its home store. The money is then used to build homes for deserving people. Here's another: why not take $50 of your remodel budget and send it to Soles4Souls? Fifty dollars can buy 50 pairs of shoes for people in a needy part of the world. Imagine being able to look up rather than down as you walk; for many this is life changing.

How will you leave your fingerprints?