Designers aim to turn barracks into beauties

Volunteers fix up 13-by-13 rooms at former Marine base for Hurricane Katrina victims.Interior designers are notorious “dreamers,” Costa Mesa-based designer Linda Frese said. They crave open spaces and unlimited budgets.

Few would think of fixing up identical 13-square-foot rooms inside converted military barracks as their dream job. But this fall, at the closed-down Tustin Marine Corps Air Station, duty calls for Frese, Newport Beach interior designer Tracie McCloskey and other Orange County residents.

The designers are at the former base to volunteer with Operation OC, a program run by the nonprofit Orange County Rescue Mission that aims to help displaced victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The mission is preparing 36 suites inside two empty barracks for evacuees to inhabit, possibly as soon as next month.

“The goal is for the families to stay together,” said Operation OC coordinator Jessica Mitchell. “Typically, men and women have to be separated. But not here.”

Eventually, the barracks will also house those in the homeless ministry. The facility will be part of the Village of Hope, which includes a resource center and a medical center at the old military base.

Two floors of the barracks will likely be devoted to hurricane evacuees, Mitchell said. And that’s where the designers come into play.

McCloskey, owner of Newport Beach-based TLM Interior Designers, is organizing a team of designers who are each tasked with decorating one suite. She calls the project “Color of Hope.”

“We are trying to create a home environment,” McCloskey said. “Our biggest challenge is to create a warm and nurturing place. We’re doing that by adding color and texture to the rooms.”

Much of the furniture that will adorn the two-bedroom, one-bathroom suites is already in place.

That’s largely thanks to Frese, a partner at Designers IV, who has brokered deals for the main room pieces that will supplement items provided by the mission.

Frese, who is from a military family, said she wanted to do her part to help.

“It is an interesting concept,” Frese said. “It’s a real benefit to the entire community to make these places feel welcoming.... I’d like to see them [the mission] invest the money they have been given in a lasting manner.”

With limited space and almost no budget, Frese said she is trying to take the most practical approach to designing the suite. She said it’s important to choose items that brighten up the room.

McCloskey started working on the project about a month ago and estimates she has spent more than 120 hours coordinating people and designing her suite. She is working pro bono.

She said there are 10 suites left to be designed. About 20 designers have already finished their projects.

McCloskey said she has been pleasantly surprised with how willing other designers are to donate their time.

“People are so willing to help,” she said. “I keep calling, and they keeping saying, ‘Just sign me up.’”

* For information on how to help, contact (949) 760-9235, or e-mail traciemccloskey@yahoo.com.