LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Hospitals are known for their talented doctors and hardworking nurses, but not necessarily their interior designers. A national non-profit is making its mark in Lubbock, helping turn the drab into fab at Covenant Children’s Hospital.

With donations and volunteers, Dec My Room helps transform hospital rooms from bleak, clinical settings, into fun and peaceful places for long-term pediatric patients.

Illiana Johnson has been in and out of hospital rooms for four years, but she’s never seen one like the room Dec My Room transformed into an underwater oasis for her Monday afternoon.

“I was shocked. I wasn’t expecting all of this,” she said.

The nonprofit surprises pediatric patients across the country, with a room makeover catered to their interests.

“I sometimes say we get more out of it than the kids, because seeing their faces, even if it brings some joy to them for 30 seconds, and helps them forget that they’re in a hospital environment, and remember that fun is out there still, it’s all worth it,” National Director Rebecca Davis said.

When Child Life Specialist Lauren Bergmann heard about the non-profit, she knew this was something her kiddos at Covenant Children’s needed.

“I see how disappointed they get in the hospital, whenever they are bored and have boring walls and just don’t have a lot of fun and bright things in the room,” she said.

After hearing about Dec My Room at a conference, she signed up and was put on the waitlist for four years. Recently, Covenant was taken off that waitlist and the partnership has begun. So far, Dec My Room has transformed six rooms.

“I definitely see that they’re more cheerful, they’re more happy, they’re more willing to take their meds, they’re more willing to get up and walk around and see things. I can definitely see it in their faces every day,” Bergmann said.

The room makeovers are for pediatric patients who are hospitalized for at least three weeks.

Since Hayden Jordan is an expecting mother in the pediatric unit, her room was given a makeover, too. At her 24 week appointment, doctors told her she was high-risk and the hospital was the safest place to be. So, she’s been at Covenant six weeks and will be until her baby arrives.

“I’m generally a very positive person, and I think that having kind of the colorful brightness around the room has really helped to keep me sane, honestly, and just to make it feel slightly more like home,” she said.

Rebecca Davis became the national director of the organization after brightening up her granddaughter’s room during her hospital stay helped her family cope.

“Unfortunately, she didn’t make her battle, but I know how it cheered us up, so this is now my passion in life to bring joy and happiness to not only the patients, but the families, and the hospital staff,” Davis said.

Seeing Illiana smile after seeing her room makeover, in the middle of a long journey, means even more to her mother, Khiara Loera.

“It’s been a rough journey, and so even though we don’t like to be here, it’s like home to us. Like the staff, everyone, they’re just like family and so it just means a lot that they take the time to do something like this just, it means a lot,” Loera said.

The non-profit has grown from partnering with one hospital in Houston to more than 200 across the nation, with 21 still on the waitlist.

The nonprofit is all volunteer-based and completely funded by donations. To support the mission, click here.