Palisadians Help Homeless Female Veterans Build New Lives at Blue Butterfly Village

By JACQUELINE PRIMO | Reporter

Palisadians Michele Trout and Heidi Bonesteel of Bonesteel Trout Hall Interiors and Palisadian architect Peter Cohen were among the volunteer design professionals who gathered at the Blue Butterfly Village in San Pedro on Saturday, Feb. 14 for the unveiling of 76 newly revamped townhouses that will soon be ‘home’ to homeless female veterans and their children.

The Palisadians, along with many other design professionals and amateurs, donated their time and expertise to furnish and decorate two-bedroom, one-bath townhomes as part of a bold new effort to transform a navy base closure into housing for the homeless.

“It was great. There were several hundred people there and basically everybody opened up their units like a big open house. Everybody walked from unit to unit and all of the designers were there along with family and friends. Everybody was excited and happy,” Trout told the Palisadian-Post.

Architect Cohen, who graduated from Palisades High School in 1969, was one of the only male designers on the project. He told the Post he was inspired by his wife Patty and sister-in-law Sari Polinger, who designed a unit together.

Cohen said one of the greatest challenges he faced on the project was not having a particular client in mind.

Because the residents of Blue Butterfly Village have yet to be chosen, Cohen and the other designers had to get creative without client collaboration.

“We all have different connotations of what a homeless female veteran is. It’s important to realize that,” Cohen said. “Each home is a reflection of the designer and what they consider to be homey and welcoming for the prospective female homeless vets and their children.”

Each designer had a budget of $4,800 with which to furnish and decorate their units – a figure the designers could add to with donations or funds of their own. Cohen was up for the challenge and didn’t exceed the amount provided.

“I made eight or 10 trips to Ikea and Bed, Bath & Beyond,” Cohen said, adding that he stored items in his garage and used his pick-up truck to travel back and forth from the site.

The designers had one month to prepare and then one month of access to their townhouses.

For his, Cohen said he chose warm, primary colors, natural materials and some high-tech shiny surfaces to give the place an edge. He said he used minimal “tchotchkes” to avoid making the space too cluttered, and he made sure to leave a box of pins for the future residents to hang up their own things.

With a relatively small budget, Cohen said he was also grateful for donations of décor.

“Most of the original oil paintings are abandoned oil paintings from art students at Georgetown University, where my daughter is a student, and one was painted and donated by a client of mine,” Cohen said.

“It was really interesting to see all the units,” Cohen said of the unveiling on Feb. 14. “They were all homey and welcoming in their own way.”

Blue Butterfly Village in San Pedro is a property owned by Volunteers of America Los Angeles.

As a result of the efforts of VOALA, the non-profit organization Designed from the Heart and the designers, the property will soon provide quality housing, childcare, health care, job training and job placement to qualifying homeless female veterans.

All of the units were designed to help the veterans through the process of reintegration by affording a sense of stability and comfort.

Organizers are currently in the process of determining who the first residents of Blue Butterfly Village will be.

One thing is for certain – the women and children who will soon move into the community will have unique and stylish townhouses to call home.

“Ours feels lived in and comfortable with blankets and pillows and lots of things to make them feel comfy and at home,” Trout said.

Of Blue Butterfly Village’s location, she added, “It’s really beautiful and built next to the Blue Butterfly Preserve ravine, a big, undeveloped canyon that the townhouses face. It’s a beautiful, very secluded spot.”