Pop of Color + Wayfair Giveaway

I met the nice folks from Wayfair at Alt Summit earlier this year; and I'm so excited to be one of their new Homemakers. That's a fancy way of saying I'm a contributor for their blog. I jumped at the chance when they invited me to participate in their Pop of Color campaign. Here's how it works: They sent me a $100 gift card to pick out something colorful for my home. My end of the bargain is that I get to show you before and after pics of how I added some color to my home, and tell you a little bit about my shopping experience. Pretty awesome, right? And even better: I get to give one of you lucky readers a $100 gift card of your own. More on that later.

We bought our first home nearly a year ago. It's been so much fun (and overwhelming at times) making this house our home. Sometimes I feel like I'm making no progress at all. Then I look back on the before pictures I saved from the real estate listing and it makes me feel better. The above photo is what the living room looked like when we toured the house last April.

And here it is today! I'm still not done, but I feel like I'm making some strides in the right direction. We toned down some of the browns in the room by swapping the orangey beige paint for a blueish grey, replaced the wooden shutters with crisp, clean white ones and then started adding some personality.

When I first heard about the Pop of Color project, I knew right away that I wanted to tackle the little bay window area. Early on, I'd bought those two turquoise swoop chairs, and then I got stuck. So I took this as a personal challenge to get back to work. 

I wanted a little round table to go between the chairs, to make a little "conversation nook" of sorts, and some colorful pillows to tie it all together. I kept my search at Wayfair mainly to end tables and pillows so I didn't get distracted. Here are a few of the items I considered: 

Iveta Abolina Feathered Arrows Pillow  |  Safavieh Janika End Table

Bartel End Table  |  Garima Dhawan Throw Pillow

Khristian A Howell Nolita Drops Pillow  |  Safavieh Juliet End Table

Zada End Table  |  Young Buck Pillow

I ultimately decided on the red table. It's been in and out of my shopping cart for a couple months now. My main hangup was the color--I not usually a red person…but since this challenge is about adding color, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I've been shopping at Wayfair for ages. They have a huge selection, but their search is so easy to navigate. For this order I just typed in "end table" to the search box, then refined my search by shape so I wouldn't have to sift through products I wasn't interested in. Easy peasy. The only problem is that I couldn't stop thinking about those feathered arrow pillows. So I bought them the next day. They're perfect and I love them, plus free shipping never hurts my feelings.

So there you have it. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect coffee table and a couple more chairs, along with the right accessories to finish off the room…but that'll come in time. For now, I'm thrilled with the progress we've made in our first year.

Now the fun part for you! One lucky reader will win a $100 gift card to Wayfair. Here's how to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The bad news: The giveaway cannot include entries from Rhode Island, New York and Florida. It's crummy, but those states have extra rules we can't stick to during this campaign…so sorry!

And here's some additional fine print:
No purchase necessary. By leaving a comment you agree to the rules of this sweepstakes. Each comment to this post equals one entry and must include a name and valid email address to be eligible. A comment must link to a product from Wayfair.com to be considered for this sweepstakes. One entry per household. Limited to entrants over 18 in the US and Canada, residents of Florida, New York, and Rhode Island are ineligible to enter. Contest begins as of the time of this post and ends on SUNDAY, MAY 4, 2014 at 10:00 PM, MST. The winner will receive a Wayfair gift card/promo code, a retail value of $100 US. The number of eligible entries received will determine the odds of winning. All comments will be numbered in the order they are received and the winner will be chosen randomly by Christina Williams using the Random Number Generator at random.org.  Winner will be notified by email at the address given in their entry and must respond within 72 hours to receive their prize. If the winner does not respond within that time, a new winner will be chosen. The prize will be provided by Wayfair.com. Christina Williams is not responsible for any problems with receipt of the prize. This contest is governed by the rules of Massachusetts, void where prohibited. This sweepstakes is sponsored by Wayfair LLC, 177 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA, 02115.