Nayeli's Story
Meet Nayeli! Our Make-A-Wish Southern Florida collaboration for this month's Savvy Giving by Design - Tampa, Florida room.
Nayeli is 12 years old and was born with a partial chromosome deletion of Chromosome #21.
Her diagnosis includes developmental and intellectual delays and she is also epileptic. Her condition means she also has to be fed by someone else and requires treatment through Johns Hopkins Rehab as well as occupational and speech therapies. She communicates by making noises and clapping, and her Mom says that the more people get to know her, the easier it is to understand what her movements and sounds mean.
Due to her condition Nayeli spends a lot of time in her room. Naya loves music, she dances, she likes things that light up with colors and toys that move. Naya also loves to sit outside, but because of her heart condition she must spend a lot of time indoors.
When we learned about Nayeli’s specific needs we new how important it was to create a space that could be truly multifunctional. We knew she needed a beautiful comfortable place to rest, something that was easy to get into with her movement limitations. With stunning pink velvet draperies donated and created by our friends at The Drapery Company the room will be cooler and darker, allowing for deeper rest.
We chose a day bed with beautiful peel and stick wallpaper to accent and ground the space. The mid-century waves collection from Love vs. Design was the perfect backdrop for Nayeli’s bed. We customized the color palette with colors in Eggshell for the background, Lily for the circles and the softest pink in Allium for the wavy lines.
Thanks to the generosity of one of our favorite LVT vendors, Patcraft, we were able to replace old and worn carpeting with easy to clean and elegant vinyl plank wood look floors.
The beautiful lavender paint took this faded blue room to bright and vibrant thanks to the generosity of Sir Painter, who provided the labor to paint the space for us.
From our Savvy Mom’s we know that organization is one of the best parts of our Savvy Giving by Design rooms, and we are so thankful for the continued generosity of Closet Art and their partnership. They upgraded simple wire shelving with space for all of Nayeli’s clothes, shoes and toy storage. Our team of incredible volunteers organized and hung hundreds of clothing items. In rainbow color coordination of course!
Nayeli’s Mom also helped us understand the importance of sensory design elements for Nayeli’s development and learning. Our #savvygiving donors generously provided Fund-A-Needs including light up touch pads, sensory learning blocks and shapes, art work and floor pads. Our friends donated a Doterra diffuser with Japanese peppermint oil (so many healing qualities) and soft pillows with textural touchable details. We found a faux fish tank bubble for calming relaxation, and magnetic boards for learning and building with patterns and blocks.
We are so thankful to Make a Wish South Florida for the opportunity to collaborate on designing and creating this beautiful room for Nayeli. Huge thanks for our tireless team of volunteers working behind and on the scenes to bring this room together!
