Christmas Came Early This Year

First of all, lets talk about the elusive Internet contest for a second. You see a contest with a prize you desire, participation is easy. You enter your name, a telephone number 1-digit off or use an email address from college (as not to get more spam than we already do) and hope for the best, right?

This time around, I actually gave a hoot, and it payed off. 

Back story here, Content. is more or less at a design standstill. John + I have owned the house for exactly 1-year (yah!) and have invested nearly all of our time and resources into bring this property back from the dead, literally. Many of the rooms remain untouched, which was the plan, so that's OK!

We knew that getting our living quarters in line first, so we could live comfortably, was the priority and then we would work on the other 75% of the house over time.

What we hadn't fully factored into the equation was furnishing our finished spaces. Yes, we knew we needed furniture. We had some great home wares from my bridal shower and from our apartment in Hoboken. I also consider myself handy in the art of thrifting, second hand steals, and maximizing the current minimalist design trends. But, I'll admit it. I was looking for a design Easy Button. 

This is where Monica Mangin, owner of East Coast Creative comes in. I follow Monica on Instagram, and check out her blog often. She's pretty amaz-balls, to say the least.

Not only does she have a rap sheet of fun and unique projects, a mile long, from her days on ABC's design show "Knock It Off", but she was recently on LIVE with Kelly and Micheal doing a pumpkin DIY. Duh, that's big time!

Back in September, she posted a call for Fall Room Makeover applicants, and for whatever reason was not drawn to apply. The couple that was selected was well deserving, and the nursery Monica designed and created for them is adorable.

Then, two weeks ago, during a marathon events week that nearly killed me, I saw her post about the Holiday Makeover contest.

This was it! My Easy Button!

Applications were only being accepted for two days. I scrambled to answer the questions as witty as possible. I put lots of thought and care into telling our story through those 10-15 open-ended questions. I then began to upload our room pictures.

Then, I accidentally hit the back button on my Internet browser, and the entire application disappeared, erasing everything I'd done.

I sat frozen, staring at my computer screen. No!!!

Long story short, I'm glad I was determined. I rewrote the application (likely not as witty as the first time around), uploaded pictures of the Great Room, pressed submit and hoped for the best.

And here we are: Selected to receive a Holiday Room Makeover of our Great Room. You can read all about it, right from Monica, on her blog.

Here's the thing though. This is a makeover challenge of sorts, in that Monica and her BFF Jess (so excited to meet them both) will only be onsite working for 24-hours! I have a hard time figuring out what I want to eat for lunch tomorrow, but somehow she's going to arrive and wave some magic wand, and all our Christmas dreams will come true. Haha. Or something like that!

All in all, we are so very grateful! We are grateful to Monica for seeing the potential in our crazy, shingle covered living room.

We are grateful to companies like Lowe's that sponsor these types of fun, once in a lifetime opportunities.

And we are grateful to the universe for giving Content. a much appreciated, early Christmas gift.

So, now, let the Griswold quotes fly, and the Holiday decor sparkle. We are so pumped and ready to get this party started. 

Check back for updates soon!