Six months ago, Terry Grahl looked at the dilapidated digs that serve as a haven for homeless women, and was determined to give them a more inspiring room in which to heal.

Today, the dark wood panelling, fluorescent tube lights, torn orange carpeting, broken dressers and metal bed frames in this Pontiac shelter's dorm are gone, replaced by soothing green walls and nightstands, oak bunk beds and elegant white ceiling fans.

Red and white gingham curtains have replaced the ragged blinds; and cheery yellow bedspreads and new carpeting cap the room's transformation. If that's not enough, a mural of an enchanted forest now enlivens a formerly dreary stairway to the dorm's entrance.

"The first time I came up here I cried," says Pam Clark, director of women's programs at Grace Centers of Hope in Pontiac, Mi. "It's everything I ever imagined and more for them."

Grahl, a 39-year-old interior designer and mother of four, calls it the "Hopeful Haven" project.
For 15 years, different groups offered to help refurbish the women's dorm at Grace (formerly the Pontiac Rescue Mission). But those offers fell through so many times, Clark says she was initially reluctant to tell the women about Grahl's plans.

Grahl, who runs Terry's Enchanted Cottage interior design business in Taylor, Mi. pledged to help at a friend's request. One tour left her haunted; she spent every day of the past six months working on the extreme makeover that wasn't simply cosmetic. One contractor who donated ceiling repairs found and removed black mold.

"They used to call it the trailer park, now it's the condos," Clark says of the dorm section where the mold was removed.

Grahl, her sister Tracey Garrett of Taylor and her friend Jeannie Klotzer of Royal Oak have organized a final makeover to celebrate the project. Today, makeup artists from Todd's Room in Birmingham (a cosmetics and jewelry boutique that offers professional eyebrow shaping and makeup services, owned by Grahl's brother Todd Skog) and Colorz Salon of Waterford Township will give the Grace women makeovers.

Judy Latvis, captain of the women's dorm, says she loves being able to sit on the new carpeting to chat with the other women and feel at home.

"This is so comfortable, such a comfortable setting," Latvis says, adding she knows firsthand how much a nice environment can help ease emotional pain.

Years ago, Latvis says relatives took her to another local shelter for domestic abuse victims. But Latvis says she couldn't last one night in the cold, drab room with her baby. She's sure the cozy cottage feel will help retain some of the women in the Grace Center's of Hope program. Grahl hopes the "Hopeful Haven" will do no less than help heal women's souls.

"It's about more than decorating," Grahl says. "It's about helping awaken their spirit," and reminding these women of their dreams, not their struggles.

Grahl, says the project has h

elped her as well. She overcame shyness to solicit more than $200,000 in equipment, furniture and other donations to make the project happen in just six months. And she can't stop chatting about the other inspiring men and women who came forward to help -- some of whom suffered abuse or dependency themselves, and others who were moved to help women in need.

"She has done an awesome job," Clark says. "'Thank you' is just not enough for her she just has a huge heart to help women."

Terry Grahl
Terry's Enchanted Cottage

www.TerrysEnchantedCottage.com