You remember the lovely bedroom redesign that I did with the help of Membership Reward Points from American Express, yes? Well now I am working with them again to host a Twitter Chat with HGTV designer John Gidding. John will be giving tons of advice next Thursday on how to decorate and find creative ways to stretch your budget — just like I did using my points.
John and I will be on Twitter for one hour on Thursday, July 29 at 8:30p.m. EST/ 5:30 p.m. PST (search #AmexHome). John will be answering your home design questions about anything from creating amazing guest spaces to choosing the right colors for your home. He’ll also have plenty of inexpensive ways to get your home ready for sale and ideas for upgrading rooms on a tight budget.
Now, you may have noticed the whole HUGE giveaway thing we’ve got going on here…
How do you enter to win?
Comment on this post with your questions for John and we’ll discuss some of them during our Twitter Chat. By leaving a comment, you’ll be entered to win items like a KitchenAid mixer, a Bissell vacuum, or a set of Cuisinart cookware (all of which can be bought with Membership Rewards points). There will be ten winners in this giveaway! Here are the prizes:
- Cuisinart® 10-Piece Commercial Cookware Set
- Cuisinart GR-4N Griddler
- Krups FBC2 6-slice Convection Toaster Oven
- All-Clad 6.5 Quart Stainless Slow Cooker with Ceramic Insert
- KitchenAid Stand Mixer with Attachment Pack ( Empire Red)
- Wusthof Classic 8-Piece Block Set
- Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Upright Vacuum Cleaner
- DeLonghi Esclusivo Magnifica Super Automatic Machine
- Viking® Professional Digital Hand Mixer
- Le Creuset® 7.25 Quart Round French Oven
(All of these items are available on membershiprewards.com.)
This giveaway is open to US residents only, one entry per person. Ten winners will be randomly chosen on July 30 to win one prize each. International readers are welcome to participate in the Twitter Chat and submit questions, but are not eligible to win. Remember you can ask anything about design and home improvements — this is a fun chance to get advice from an HGTV designer!
I know many of you are following me on Twitter @makingitlovely, but you can also follow John @JohnGidding. If you want to get some ideas for home improvement immediately, go to membershiprewards.com/home. And be sure to follow along to #AmexHome with John and I on Twitter next Thursday.
* Update *
Thanks for joining us for the Twitter chat, everybody! Comments (and therefore entries) are now closed. Congratulations to the ten winners: Aimee (aimeeroo), Mim (mimsfam), LeeAnn (leeannhuber), Sara (naturemurph), Sarah (Sarahquail110), Cara, (cara.andersen), Suzy (sayitaintsuzy), Sarah (Pooglit), Devon (devon.cook), and Kc (kcerveny).
Awesome! Is there a good way to mix vintage and contemporary styles in furniture and accessories?
How do you make a room functional for kids, yet designed well? I feel as though most rooms are not kids friendly.
O I love him on Curb Appeal, the block!
Painting hardwood floors…is it cheaper or worth it than refinishing and staining?
I have a small Cape style home and currently have all valances for window treatments. I have always felt that my rooms were too small for more dramatic draperies but want to change things up. I need privacy and light control but blinds seems so generic. Any ideas?
I love the idea of taking old furniture or decor pieces and making them new again — be it with paint, upholstery or hardware — for both design and budget purposes. My question is, what qualities should I look for when scouting for old “fixer upper” pieces? Sometimes it’s quite difficult to see the potential beauty in a beat up bookcase.
I have been in the process of painting pieces of furniture. What is the best type of paint for that and what process do you recommend? Thanks!
I have the same white tab top curtains throughout our entire house (14 sets of panels to be exact). Is that too much or is it ok to keep things consistant?
How do I get rid of textured paint? It feels like there’s sandpaper on my walls!
Do you have any new, fresh ideas for eco-friendly decorating that aren’t too expensive? We love checking out garage sales/estate sales and antique shops for things but it’s hard to redo old pieces when you live in an apartment….
How do you maintain a balance of feminine and masculine when decorating?
What are some of your favorite tricks to make a basement, not feel like a basement?
I have a 40′s era home and I’m currently modernizing my kitchen (getting stainless appliances ect) how do I do that without losing character?
I just moved into a new (to me) house and I want to paint every single room. I’m stuck and feel like I can’t move forward because I don’t want it to look poorly pieced together, but I can’t afford to do everything at once. I’m paralyzed by indecision! How do you develop and overall “look” for an entire house but keep it from being boring?
I’d like to hear your suggestions on how to improve a 70s brick ranch curb appeal?
What do you do for dressing up a wall when we can’t put holes in it? (ie: renting)
A fabulous giveaway- thanks so much to Nicole for setting it up, and her blog, which has been a great resource!
One thing that has been a challenge in decorating our new home, is incorporating our cats- we have 4! Any ideas on how I can make sure they have proper scratching posts, litter boxes, etc without sacrificing the design of my home?
What is the best way to add color to a room without going too overboard?
For rooms that need to be multipurpose (like a studio apartment) what is the best way to make different areas mesh well, while still keeping some feeling of separation?
Looking for suggestions on a boy/girl shared bedroom.
Our famliy room is next up on our DIY house renovations. It has paneling and half wall of brick surrounding the fireplace. We have painted the paneling, which helps for that wall. But the brick wall and floor really irks me. How would we go about removing this, and what should we expect underneath?
What are your favorite organizational tricks for the kitchen and bathroom?
How do you make a high-ceiling room not seem so sterile? Our master bedroom has a pitched ceiling and the room feels very impersonal. It’s pretty square, windows on the one end, door on the other. There just seems to be so much wall and ceiling and I don’t know how to warm it up without making it cluttered.
Amazing prizes… thanks for the chance to win!
As perpetual nomads, my husband and I are serial renters. We would love suggestions for how to add style and interest to our spaces when we aren’t allow to paint or change installations — all on a budget of course! Thanks!
What is the best way to add light to a dark living room without a bright color paint?
We are currently apartment living and are dealing with white, brick walls. a.) we’re having a difficult time drilling into the brick and have pretty much abandoned the idea altogether. b.) we would love to know what some affordable wall decorating would be in our situation.
thanks so much!
What never goes out of fashion in home decor? I see new trends all the time and I wonder what I should buy furniture wise that won’t seem dated two years later.
How to create storage for a small apartment without looking like i live in a world of bookshelves & crates?
offset walls – we have an S shaped wall between our living room and kitchen/dining room, and it is load bearing. How do we go about un-offseting it and make both rooms bigger, and obviously, deal with the load bearing issue?
My question is about the exterior. How do you pick exterior paint colors? Where could I find good resources online for inspiration and ideas? We have lived in our house over a year and hate the color, but can’t seem to find anything better.
I live in an apartment and have slowly been adding pieces that I love and getting the decor the way that I love it. Problem is, I’m most attracted to more minimalist spaces, but I’m also attracted to so many little things here and there. How do you keep things clean, simple, sophisticated, and not-cluttered? Do you rotate accessories?
I’ve been turning my basement into a scrap room for awhile now…like 5 years to be exact. It’s finished and has been a family room/den since we moved in and I’ve been trying to change it, albeit slowly, into that. What tips do you have for a single mom, with two teenage boys on how to develope my own personal space for my hobby?
I would love ideas on inexpensive window treatments for “Ranch” style windows – the ones that are placed high and rectangle shaped. I hate the ugly vertical blinds we inherited…
Thanks!
What is your favorite DIY project?
We have a double master bedroom, and it is huge (think master and another bedroom)…but even with our bedroom furniture in there, there seems to be a lot of empty space (in the area where the 2nd room would have been)…any suggestions on how to fill it without creating a bunch of clutter?
What’s the best way for my husband and I to keep momentos of the past with out making the home cluttered or becoming pack rats?
How do you accomplish exterior updates without spending a fortune in labor and materials?
I have a 1920s colonial and it needs a bit of a curb-side update, but I want to respect the lovely bones and beautiful mature trees.
Thanks!
Laurie, Upstate NY
What is the best way to work around a very picky husband’s design taste, all while incorporating my, more girly sensibility?
Hi! My question is regarding handing curtains. I’m trying to finally decorate my bedroom in my new apartment, and I’m having an issue with hanging up curtains. The window in my bedroom spans the full length of the wall, so there is no room to hang a curtain rod on the wall, since there is no wall space next to the window, only the wood paneling window border. How would you suggest I hang curtains, or is it a lost cause? Thanks!
How can I decorate my family room to look nice, but still stand up to the wear and tear of my 4 boys?
What rule should I follow when it comes to decorate a wall with a lot of pictures, prints, etc? The same color frame for all of them? How many is too many? Thanks!
What is your favorite no cost decorating tips? I always love the idea of taking what you already have and making something fresh from it but don’t always know how to pull it off. Thanks!
What do you think is the single most important statement to make in the entryway of a home?
I’d love any advice on organizing a tiny tiny closet.
What’s the best way to design around the tall windows that are common in older (90+ years) that extend closer to the floor than in more modern homes? I can’t figure out the best way to place furniture without partially blocking the lower part of the window.
I live in a garden level condo with one exposed brick wall that is currently painted white to help brighten up the space. We have been thinking about removing the paint, but we are worried about it creating a cave-like space. Do you have any suggestions?
John,
What inspires your designs? How do you strive to make your products stand out and have better quality and durability than others in the market?
What are some cheap tricks for updating the front of your house and your front yard?
Our house is in need of some serious curb appeal!
Thank you.
xo.
We’re thinking of knocking down a wall in between our living and dining room to open up the space and create more options for arranging our furniture. Is this a no-no in turn-of-the-century home? Do we need to retain the character of the home by leaving the rooms smaller?
My husband and I just moved into our first apartment and inherited a lot of hand-me-down furniture. What are the best ways to coordinate furniture when a lot of the wood finishes are so different?
My husband and I recently moved into a loft. No closets. Huge open space. 1200 sq. feet with a 38 foot wall of windows.
Do you have tips for storage and dealing with the open floor plan? Thanks!!