Several weeks ago, I had one of those experiences where I double check the Send To: line on an email to make sure I was the intended recipient. The email said that Shaw Floors and HGTV wanted me to come to North Carolina for a Blogger Decorating Challenge – a la the White Box Challenge on Design Star. Certainly that email was meant for someone else, right? I couldn’t believe that I was one of the 10 bloggers who had been selected to attend and compete.
We were flown to Asheville, North Carolina and put up in the beautiful Biltmore Inn. Before a private tour of the Biltmore Estate, which I will share later (and Holy Wow!), we were paired into teams. I was ever so lucky to be paired with the gorgeous and talented Rhoda of Southern Hospitality. We had met in person before, and we knew immediately that our personalities and design styles would mesh well.
In the first of what would be a series of important design selections, Rhoda and I were assigned the room that we would be transforming – from the flooring to the paint, furniture and accessories. I think we were both a little shocked when we saw our room (or “Bay”) as our Shaw friends kept calling it (we’d soon find out what that meant). It’s definitely more contemporary than Rhoda’s design aesthetic and a little more than mine.
Those are some sharply angled ceilings and skinny little windows, huh?
The five teams of bloggers had to draw a type of Shaw/HGTV Home flooring out of a little tool bag. We were the first up, and we were really hoping for hardwoods and laminate. Instead, we drew carpet.
That’s okay! Rhoda and I were up for the challenge of designing a contemporary space with carpet (the thought of that makes me laugh). Luckily, Shaw Floors has a lot of range in the line of the HGTV Home carpeting. The decision was made even easier when we began mixing and matching the carpet styles and colors on their wonderful display (the same display that your local Shaw Floors retailers have in their showrooms). There are plushes, loops, patterns, textures – something for every home – and they are all super soft.
Ultimately, we went for a textured carpet in a neutral color. At this point, we didn’t know what kind of furnishings we’d have to work with, so we thought that the neutral was a safe choice, as it is in most homes. We selected Stylish Block in Butter Bean.
After that selection, our friends at Shaw asked if we’d like to select an area rug to add to our room. Yes, please! We saw an area rug as the perfect place to pull our design themes and colors, and that’s a great way to start when you are designing a room in your own home. Rhoda and I are both fans of blues and greens, and the Shaw/HGTV Home line has several beautiful rugs in that colorway. After a last minute decision change, we selected the 8×10 Delilah rug in Teal Blue.
The very next day, we were to bring our design to life. The Shaw team put in a phone call to their installers in High Point, North Carolina, and they worked overnight to install our carpet and area rug selections into our bay. The competition was getting ready to heat up, and the next day we were driving to High Point to get started.
If you had these options – a contemporary setting, the Stylish Block in Butter Bean carpet, and the Delilah rug – what type of room would you create? What feeling would you want that room to evoke? What color would you use on the walls, and what large pieces of furniture would you want to use? Tell me in the comments! I can’t wait to show you how we brought this room to life.
