Interior decorating student re-decorates and celebrates

By Kayla De Sousa

deso0082@algonquincollege.com

Second-year interior decorating student, Tiffany Lester, re-decorated her living room and won a brand new washer and dryer. Lester decided that the transformation of her space was worthy to enter an online contest. She submitted a before and after picture and won with the help of votes from family, friends and others who thought her talent was deserving.  The “Home and Garden Makeover Contest” which was run by Style At Home and Canadian Gardening, featured more than 400 entries and Lester’s neo-eclectic entry won second place with a total of 1,391 votes.

 “I had it in my mind that I was going to enter a contest and win it,” Lester said. She has a monthly subscription to Style At Home magazine so figured their website would be a good place to start hunting for contests.

Lester and her fiancé moved into a rental unit in Kanata six months ago and brought with them a combination of furniture from her university housing and from his parents’ basement. In the re-decorating process, the couch was the only brand new item that was purchased-and the rest were items Lester found on sale and decided to re-finish.

“I love re-finishing furniture,” she said. “It’s something I’ve always done”. One of the items she re-finished was an old avocado-coloured dresser she discovered on Used Ottawa. “It was almost a scary-looking piece but I knew it had potential,” she said. The entire process was gradual and took about three months.

With regard to colour choices and placement, the skills she learned through her program helped a lot. “I think it’s really nice to see that they are giving the interior decorator a chance,” said SJ Normand, the program coordinator and one of Lester’s instructors. “It shows love and ingenuity on her part and that alone would have gotten her into the program.”

Lester’s instructors and friends in the program aided her by notifying others and directing them to the website.  Good friend and fellow classmate, Tanya Phillips, even started a Facebook group with a description of the contest and a link to the website.

“I really look up to Tiffany and was so proud to hear that she even entered the contest,” Phillips said. “I thought the Facebook group was a good idea because it really reached out to the other girls in the program”.

The contest ended on Nov. 14 and Lester received a call that same day to let her know that she had won the second place prize. She was thrilled. “Right now, my washer and dryer tear my clothes apart,” she said. “It will be a nice change for sure”.

The new washer and dryer will be a great addition to the new house that Lester will be moving into in February. She is already looking forward to decorating the laundry room to suit her prize. “I want it to be elegant,” she said. “I want to put a chandelier in there”.