Decorator Brightens Haven

With grit, generosity and creativity, Taylor interior decorator Terry Grahl is transforming a Pontiac shelter that seeks to transform the lives of homeless, drug-addicted and abused women.

The Grace Centers of Hope in downtown Pontiac is Oakland County's oldest shelter, and was known as the Pontiac Rescue Mission. When Terry visited it last January, at the behest of a friend and client, she volunteered to renovate the dingy quarters.

"I said I'm not going to going to walk away from this," recalls Terry, 39. "I can make a difference. I'm here to heal your broken spirit."

Some 40 women and 20 children live in the facility for as long as a year, as they undergo counseling and job training. Many are battling drug addictions and have escaped abusive relationships. Their quarters on the second floor resembled a worn-out army barracks -- threadbare and dingy.

Now, Terry's en route to creating a bright, airy and homey place, and she's recruited donations of items from throughout the area for the women's dormitory space, which she's dubbing Hopeful Haven.

"I always have my clients name their homes or a room in their home," Terry says. "This is more than decorating to me. This is about giving women hope."

So with new bedrooms and new surroundings, she hopes Grace Center's clients "start dreaming and believing in your dream."

Terry, a married mother of four kids ages 7 to 13, opened a small decorating business two years ago. She's gotten help from family and friends on the shelter project, and she isn't shy about approaching businesses, who've donated labor, bathroom fixtures, custom bunk beds, cribs and carpeting.

When Terry met a shelter client whose eyeglasses were held together with duct tape, she called an America's Best Optical to ask, "Do you want to be an angel today?"

The woman who got new glasses is Nettie Weaver, 43, a onetime Benton Harbor blues radio host, who entered the facility seven months ago as a drug addict. Now clean and committed to a healthier, faith-filled life, Nettie is the dormitory captain, who works out chore schedules and makes sure the residents get going each morning by 6.

"The most amazing thing is the many people who came together to help us, who don't even know us," Nettie says. Terry, says Nettie, "has definitely been an angel to me."

Terry can be reached at 734.776.0848. Her Web site is www.terrysenchantedcottage.com. Grace Centers of Hope's Web site is www.gracecentersofhope.org.

Patricia is a Twist writer. You can talk to her at 313.223.4538 or pmontemurri@freepress.com.