Room for Improvement: Ronald Mcdonald House

WSVN -- Martin Amado: "The Ronald McDonald House is a special place that provides low cost housing alternatives for families of seriously ill children, and on today's Room for Improvement we're giving back to the center by giving their playroom a complete makeover."

Soraya Rivera-Moya, Ronald McDonald House of Miami: "Every year at the Ronald McDonald House we help around 500 families that come from all over the world, looking for the best medical treatment for their child."

Soraya Rivera-Moya: "We provide them a room, a kitchen, laundry facility, computer room, playroom area and basically a 24 hour staff who will be able to help them out."

Martin Amado: "OK Soraya, so tell me what the issues are with the playroom?"

Soraya Rivera-Moya: "Its completely disorganized. The furniture is worn out. There toys all over. We have kids, parents, people watching TV, computer, so we really need your help."

Martin Amado: "So, it needs a complete brand new update and I know we have a surprise, a special person that will be with us at the end as well, so stay tuned for that."

Martin Amado: "While I was doing the shopping for furniture and all the accessories, we had volunteers from Hands of Miami take down the wall paper and paint the entire room in our new color scheme. So, all that's left to do now is decorate and I think the truck is right outside."

Martin Amado: "All the brand new furniture has finally arrived, courtesy of City Furniture."

Martin Amado: "I'm taking the light weight stuff as you can see."

Martin Amado: "One of the first redesigns that I'm doing in this space is to make this the new work area for the adults, so if your wondering where I'm placing all the toys that were here before you'll see a solution for that coming up."

Martin Amado: "It has a hidden storage compartment for cord management."

Martin Amado: "Before the dark brown sofa's made the room very dark. Now, with this beautiful color everything feels lighter."

Martin Amado: "I choose furniture in a smaller scale to allow me to create a division of spaces within one room. So, by placing the love seat here we create one central seating arrangement separating the work area."

Martin Amado: "I love this bench because it also has storage. Now, one thing to keep in mind if you have small children in the home is to make sure it has a safety hinge, which means the lid won't fall automatically and crush their tiny hands."

Martin Amado: "I wanted to personalize the space with images of the families that have been helped by the Ronald McDonald House. So, we created these beautiful poster prints and in addition we also added words of inspiration."

Martin Amado: "Come over here. This used to be the old computer work room. By removing the built in cabinetry that had seen better days, we have this entire space for the kids to play in with their toys, keeps things organized."

Martin Amado: "All right, and the Teddy bear now has a brand new home where all the kids can play with him."

Martin Amado: "This morning the playroom had many design dilemmas. We began by taking down the wall paper and adding a fresh coat of paint, which automatically made the tile mural the feature of the room. We finished off with new furniture courtesy of City Furniture that gave the playroom an updated style and function."

Martin Amado: "OK Ronald, are you ready?"

Ronald: "I'm ready."

Martin Amado:" Let's get the families."

Ronald: "Come on."

Martin Amado: "Come on in everybody."

Oh my god. Look at the pictures. Wow.

Martin Amado: "Thank you so much for letting us do this for you, for all the amazing work that you do here at the Ronald McDonald House of Miami. We thank you so much for watching and we want to thank City Furniture, hands of Miami and we'll see you next time on another Room for Improvement."

 For More Info:

Ronald McDonald House in Miami
1145 Northwest 14th Terrace
Miami, FL 33136
(305) 325-8369
http://www.rmhcsouthflorida.org/

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Contact: room@wsvn.com
Miami-Dade: 305-576-HOME
Broward: 954-962-HOME
Martin Amado's Website: http://www.martinamado.com/