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Drab yellow walls, musty donated furniture and an overall long-in-the-tooth aesthetic stared interior designer Brian Patrick Flynn in the face.

The scene was Café 458, a downtown Atlanta restaurant that serves homeless men and women during the week and the public on weekends. The facility, part of the nonprofit organization Samaritan House of Atlanta, was recently chosen as a subject for TBS' "Movie and a Makeover."

Elissa Eubanks/AJC (ENLARGE)
Cafe 458's new decor has tables of different sizes and counter seating.
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CAFÉ 458: THE GRAND REOPENING • Café 458's reopening event, including a reception and dinner, is at 6 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $55 and can be purchased at the door. • The Café 458 episode of "Movie and a Makeover" featuring "Titanic" airs at 8 p.m. May 24 on TBS. • Café 458, 458 Edgewood Ave., Atlanta. 404-523-1239, www.samhouse.org • Weekend public serving hours: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. RELATED LINKS: • Photos: Cafe 458's transformation • Blog: Table Talk • Find a restaurant • Make a reservation

The program intersperses a blockbuster movie with a home or personal makeover project. And it was Flynn's job to transform the environs from somewhat dingy to bright and functional, and echo Café 458's mission of hope and fresh starts.

Flynn's mission worked in tandem with the restaurant's goal of giving its homeless clients "dignity and respect," said Dana Inman, director of development and marketing for Samaritan House. "It brings a segment of normalcy to their sometimes-chaotic lives."

The Café 458 aspect of Samaritan House of Atlanta works to bring self-sufficiency and stabilization to homeless people suffering from mental illness, physical disabilities, substance abuse and addiction. Currently, 50 participants get help through support groups, case management and outside resources, including doctors and housing options. At the center of Café 458 is the restaurant itself.

A different lunch experience

Every weekday at lunch, program participants have a standing reservation. They take a seat at a table dressed with fresh flowers. As a waiter or waitress jots down the order, guests choose from an assortment of entrees, sides, desserts and drinks. Instead of standing in line in soup-kitchen fashion, Café 458's clients get their internationally fused Southern classics prepared by a staff and delivered to their respective tables. All of the help, except for chef Johnathan Metellus, is volunteer.

On weekends, Café 458 opens to the general public for brunch. Lines often stretch out the door and down Edgewood Avenue as guests pine for orders of Carolina pulled pork eggs Benedict or Costa Rican pancakes. The weekend staff is volunteer, too, and all of the proceeds (tips, too) go directly to Samaritan House of Atlanta. In all, Café 458 serves more than 14,000 meals annually.

Café 458 graduate Charles Heard, a former Atlanta construction worker who was injured on the job, recalls the meal's significance.

"I was unable to work and didn't really have food to eat every day," Heard said. "The meal was very important to me. I needed a balanced meal because I was under doctor's care and taking medicine."

The program helped Heard get back on his feet. In return, he found himself volunteering at Café 458, including working on the kitchen staff. Today, he continues volunteering in a maintenance capacity.

"If it hadn't been for the program, I don't know where I'd be today," he said.

'Someone's large dining room'

Last Friday evening, Heard, other volunteers and staff members gathered in the Samaritan House office next door to Café 458 awaiting the makeover reveal.

A TV makeup artist applied blush to Inman's cheeks, and anxious laughter permeated the air.

It took Flynn and crew five days to complete the project. "Movie and a Makeover" normally focuses on smaller, residential rooms, so Flynn had to shift his strategy.

"I'm designing a space that's literally for [many] people," he says. "I have to incorporate all of those people's styles and likes into one space."

Hence the mishmash of chairs got uniform coats of white paint. The globe lights beaming down upon the counter say '50s diner, while the trio of vinyl lamps illuminating the dining room are '60s mod. Baby blue place settings match the trim of the nearby throw pillows and the mats of the framed pictures hanging on the front wall.

Lead carpenter David Cloak took butcher block and cut and built some of the tables himself. Enhancing the cafe's seating was part of the grand plan. When the crew arrived, Flynn noticed the restaurant had only eight tables, each with a capacity of four.

"If one person came in, they'd take up an entire tabletop," he said. "The biggest concern for me was how to maximize the seating so that there was not a huge wait."

Tables of different shapes and sizes, a bench along the wall and counter seating improve Café 458's seating capacity and pedestrian flow.

As the cameras rolled, Flynn invited Inman, Heard, Samaritan House of Atlanta executive director Sherrie Snipes-Williams and others to witness the results.

Weekend brunch regular Zenith Houston of Vinings made sure she was among the first to take a peek.

"I think [the new design] will help drive business," she said. "It really feels like you're in someone's large dining room."

"The only thing about it now is when you come in and eat a meal, you're not going to want to leave!" she added, with a laugh.