Wow what a wonderful weekend! I hope yours was lovely as well! The weather and company were both perfect -- it was awesome. Things are slowing waaaay down this week after a very busy few weeks and I'm so thankful. Just some end of the year school stuff and our normal commitments. Which means I can get back to the bathroom makeover!
So I've been SO excited to share this experience with you! A few weeks ago I traveled to High Point, NC to attend the La-Z-Boy Design Dash. Friends of mine had done it in the past and said it was a bit stressful at times but totally worth it. I am not a person that thrives on deadlines or competition so I was a little worried about attending. AND as you know it takes me eons to finish a room so I was questioning whether or not I could pull a respectable space together in just a few hours.
This is how it goes -- they select a group of bloggers (I think we had seven) and we each designed a La-Z-Boy sofa to go in our room. We had no idea what the room would look like but they encouraged us to go with color. The only colors I would do on a sofa personally are navy or gray, so I went with the former:
I have to tell you -- I was so incredibly impressed with this store. The designer on staff helped me pick out the sofa, fabrics and details. She was so patient with me and I LOVED that as I added each detail she could show me on a huge TV screen exactly what it would look like. I miss the larger shot of the sofa but this gives you an idea:
So if I changed a detail it would immediately change on the screen. It was so helpful to be able to see it in "real life."
Our sofas were built for us and shipped to High Point where they waited. The only other detail than the sofa that I knew about was the paint color. I picked Agreeable Gray by Sherwin Williams and it turned out even better than I could have hoped!
On the first day we did the "dash" through two stories of the La-Z-Boy showroom. We had carts and stickers with our names and two helpers who were with us the whole time. We only had one hour to grab anything and everything we thought we'd need. Keep in mind we still had absolutely no idea what our room would look like! We didn't know the size, any architectural details -- it was difficult to decide on items and had to just grab anything we liked.
We had 50 stickers each. So if someone tagged something before you did, it was taken. I should have prepared myself better and had a list of things I needed. It was 30 minutes in before I realized I needed a rug. Literally EVERY single one I like was tagged already and I was panicking a bit. I was so close to just going without one when I finally saw one I really loved back in a corner.
I forgot about pillows too -- I designed some with the sofa but I needed other options and some for chairs as well. That was another item that was hard to find at the end but I ended up finding some great ones I used.
My helpers were so awesome -- when the cart got full they would run my stuff back to the holding room and then come back out to help again. Thankfully one of them mentioned I would need more artwork -- I'm so glad she said that! I felt bad that I tagged so much furniture and large art (I hated that they'd have to move so much for all of us and we wouldn't even use half of it), but I just had to get over it. When you don't have any idea what the room looks like you have to over compensate big time.
The next day was the design part of the event. We were taken to a huge warehouse where they have a number of fake rooms set up. Not even the La-Z-Boy staff with us knew what room we were going to get. We walked down the hall and literally every. single. room was stunning. I'm not kidding! Gorgeous 10 foot windows and doors with ornate trim, beautiful wainscoting, tons of windows, built in bookcases and fireplaces. One even had a dutch door - adorable!
And we came to mine...I freaked out just a bit. It had two normal windows and a "hallway" -- I wondered how in the world I was going to match the beauty of the other rooms. Thankfully I won a draw for an added accent wall or fireplace -- they had one traditional fireplace and I grabbed that thing up quick!
Here's my room to start -- imagine it without the fireplace though:
Just wait till you see the other rooms! I mean, I was nervous. 😬
BUT I immediately knew how I was going to set up the room, so that was good! I had a good feeling about it once that fireplace went in.
One thing that surprised me about this process was how much gorgeous furniture -- other than sofas and chairs -- La-Z-Boy sells. I was shocked at the sofa table, coffee table and bookcase options. I found so many bookcases I would add in our house in a heartbeat if we had the room! (Still trying to figure out if I could add one somewhere.)
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed putting the room together. I think it was so enjoyable because I was working with tons of awesome stuff and I didn't have to DIY one thing. ;) It was so fun to just bring the stuff into the room and fluff until it looked just right. We had photographers that set up our shot and we were able to look at it live through the lens to see what we wanted to tweak.
I don't think I could have been happier with my space! I would literally take the whole room and drop it into our home and it would fit in perfectly. I'm happy that I was able to stay true to my style.
Here are a few close ups of the room:
All of the accessories (except for books and smaller random items from the massive prop room) are La-Z-Boy. Did you know they sold accessories and lamps? I didn't!
And here's my completed room. I just adore it:
As I do in our home -- I focused on not overdoing it. I wanted the room to have space to breathe so you can appreciate each piece. It feels comfy but elegant at the same time. Just my style.
I'll share more of the details below! If you are so inclined, I'd love your vote for my room here. I'll explain more about that in a bit! Here's a fun video they created of me and my room you can watch as well:
I love how the whole thing came together and I ended up really liking my little hallway. It added some great dimension to the room.
Isn't that sofa gorgeous? I added the brass nailhead trim and it was the perfect little detail:
Love it with the metallic lamp I happened to find -- I want that in my house. And the coffee tables. And rug. Everything.
Here are a few more shots I took of the room:
This arched bookcase was stunning -- I was so sad I couldn't work it into the shot. But glad too because I didn't grab enough accessories to fill it with! ;)
I didn't realize we could use drapes until they were mostly gone. Thankfully this window above didn't fit into the shot because there was only one pair of panels left. :)
I am SO thankful I got that fireplace! It added some architectural detail that the room needed. AND I'm glad I grabbed that massive clock at the showroom:
Here are the details about the sofa/room:
Sofa name: Talbot
Sofa fabric: Canyon in Eclipse
Wall color: Agreeable gray by Sherwin Williams
You can see the chairs and more items here
But LISTEN! This is the best part! This is a competition for the bloggers -- and I HATE to beg for votes for these things. I mean, hate. But, if you vote, one voter will win $15,000 in La-Z-Boy furniture. So if you want some free furniture you can vote once a day to be entered.
The voting will go for the next six weeks and you can vote for my room here. If one of my readers wins I will lose it! 😊😊 Please make it be one of you! :) :)
I get to work with some amazing brands and take some awesome trips and this was a favorite. They treated us like gold and the whole event was so well planned and executed. I am a forever fan after this experience. And I just love my room so much. I wish I could plop it right into our house! With a ceiling of course:
I would love your vote if you have a few minutes! :) But more importantly, I'm just so happy with what I was able to pull together in such a short time. It was such a great experience!
My trip to NC was paid for by Lazboy but I have not been compensated for this post and was not required to post. I was so impressed with the experience I wanted to share it with you all! See more about my disclosure and policies here.