The Big Mistake

Oh, my gosh, y’all.  I have such a typical Lindsay story to share today.

A few months ago, Emma got invited to her very first birthday party for a friend her own age.  She was absolutely thrilled and talked about the party for days on end.

She planned and planned about what we should buy for a gift for her friend (she first decided to buy a Kindle Fire, but I had to talk her down to something more in the $10 price range).  I finally took her to Target to buy it and she thought we needed to go to the party right then.  “Not yet,”  I had to tell her.  “The party is on Saturday and today is only Thursday.”

Fast forward to Saturday.  That morning, Emma woke up completely excited.  It was party day!  She put on her party outfit, after changing her mind a few times, and was ready to go get in the car.  “Not yet,”  I had to tell her.  “The party is after lunch, and it’s only 8 o’clock in the morning now.”

So, Emma planned some more.  She talked about what she was going to play with her friend.  She talked about how much her little friend would love her gift.  Was it time to go yet?  “Yes,” I finally got to say.  “Let’s go!”

Emma held the gift in her lap for the entire car trip to her friend’s house.  She couldn’t wait to play and celebrate with her friend.  She was as excited as any 3 year old could possibly be.

When we pulled up to her friend’s house, I feeling of panic washed over me.  The party had started 15 minutes previous, but there were no other cars there.  There were no balloons or decorations.  In fact, it looked like the family itself wasn’t even home.

I grabbed the invitation to the party out of my purse.  I had the right time, the right location…but the wrong date.  The party wasn’t until the next Saturday.

Needless to say, Emma didn’t take the news very well.  My sweet, joyous little girl turned into a weeping, wailing mess in 10 seconds flat.  She was absolutely crushed, and it was completely my fault.  All of her planning, dreaming and excitement was ruined by Mama overlooking one very important detail.

Why on Earth am I telling you about this?  To embarrass myself?  To make you feel sorry for Miss Emma?

No, way.  It’s because this story applies so well to decorating.

(Not Emma, but might as well have been.)

When you start working on a room, you think about the furniture, the textures, the accessories.  The projects you are just itching to complete.  The mood.  The feeling you want the room to convey.

But, if you don’t pay careful attention to the wall color, the rest of it will fall apart like a screaming 3 year old in the backseat of your car.  Like seriously wailing, throwing things, and yelling, “I don’t want you!”  Your wall color is the background to the rest of the room, so it’s critical that it ties in to your room’s story.  And I don’t want your walls to throw things at you.

Now, I love to paint, but I will agree that painting a room can be a lot of work and a big mess.  I totally get why it’s easier to just ignore the walls then it is to get all of the paint crap out of the garage.  I seriously hear you on that!  That kind of effort makes you want to make Emma’s wrong party day face, right?  But, since I’ve been using the PaintStick E-Z Twist and PaintStick Mini tools when I paint my walls, it’s made a tremendous difference in the time and mess that I make painting.  It’s gone from a three day project to not that big of a deal.

And I want to prove it to you!

Right now, HomeRight – the makers of the PaintStick E-Z Twist and PaintStick Mini – is running a contest that I just KNOW you guys are creative and crazy enough to win.  I mean, we are a lot alike, right?  Okay, so grab a PaintStick E-Z Twist (they are available at Home Depot, Lowe’s and Amazon) and use it to transform something – a wall, a piece of furniture, a rug, your sofa (What? You were totally thinking it, too).

Then, upload a 30-60 second video of the transformation and enter the EZ Twist Challenge.  HomeRight is judging the videos on creativity and originality – and a little humor never hurts, either!

One winner will receive a iPad Air 64GB WiFi (worth $699).  Think of all the room planning you could do with that little gem!  A 2nd place winner will receive $200 cash and a 3rd place winner will receive $100 cash.  Dolla dolla bills, y’all.  I smell another room makeover, right?  The official contest rules are posted right here (Read Rule #4 for the criteria they are looking for.  *cough cough*).

You have until March 30th to enter your video, so start scheming!  I fully expect one of you to win this thing, because Makely readers are my jam.  Oh, and let me know if you have questions or want to bounce your crazy ideas off of me!

This is a sponsored post for HomeRight.  I have been compensated for sharing details about the HomeRight PaintStick EZ Twist Challenge.  All opinions, and Mama fails, are of my own.