I once thought I would be an amazing Bachelorette (on the show, not just a single chick), but all my dreams were crushed this week. You see it took me three days, THREE DAYS, to choose my favorite nightstand. I kept going back and forth — #2 has beautiful branches, a great lamp, etc., #3 is more masculine and that is such a nice contrast to my style … I kept coming back to #7 because the colors and artwork are so weird …
If I were the bachelorette, I would be up there with my final rose going back and forth like, well he is so nice to grandmas but he wears Ed Hardy, and he is so funny and smart, but quotes the movie “Predator” too much …
In case you are just stopping by, I started a nightstand styling contest and 200 people entered. The winner gets some dope tables from Serena and Lily. There were 3500 people who voted, with close to 7, 000 views and two winners — one with the most votes and one that is my pick. Here are my favorites below. Yes there are 30.
1. Amy A. Love the headboard, nice job on engaging the lower shelf.
2. Heylee H. God, you don’t need any help — great table, lamp, curtains.
3. Bobby S. While I’m not normally a blue eucalyptus person, I love how masculine this is.
4. Jennifer B. Perfectly composed — followed all the rules and did such a great job.
5. Ellie E. So cute. Just great. I’m so impressed.
6. Sarah D. I want that wood table, AND the Emily Henderson DIY candle was serious emotional manipulation; it made me love you so hard.
7. Melissa C. So good — the black/gold/pink and blue combo had my heart, and I love that over-sized painting there and the ginger jar.
8. Hannah B. So good. Campaign dressers are clearly trending ( I have three).
9. Marikko O. One of my favorites, for sure. Love the Land of Nod lamp, that gold nightstand, the wall color — just everything.
10. Amy This one was tempting because I think you clearly need a bigger nightstand, but I love that you used a typewriter table instead.
11. Alexis F. Alexis, you can’t win because you work for me, but NICE JOB, GRASSHOPPER. You definitely would have had a shot if it were legal for you to win.
12. Suzanne D. I want to get into that bed, way to make it inviting.
13. Kyla H. Leaning art is so cute, and scale is so great.
14. Lauren D. Lauren, you came SOOOOO close to winning. I love that lamp, the polka dots, the side table, EVERYTHING. 15. Sarah C. So good. Great composition, lamp, way to engage the second shelf, just overall great.
There are just sooooo many good ones. I’M SERIOUS. You guys did SUCH a good job. I was totally impressed.
1. Rebecca Z. Oh hey, Beckers, you trying to fool me? There are very few “Rebecca Z’s” in my life. Nice job, my friend. Love the cladding, light, West Elm accessories, etc. So good.
2. Orlando Soria You can’t win because I love you, but thanks for playing (although I made you do it :))
3. Katie A. Love the art and table.
4. Katie W. That ram is intense.
5. Samantha G. Perfect. The lamp/plant/books. I’m just so proud.
6. Jody S. So pretty, Jody. I love that nightstand so much, and lamp.
7. Kendra D. Love that print, your pillows, and of course that animal sculpture.
8. Emily B. Such a great composition. Plus I love that leopard tablecloth.
9. Colleen G. Um, BLUE campaign? Hell, yes.
10. Sharon T. It’s hard for me not to love this paper peony.
11. I’m not sure whats happening in the background, but I love it. Is it a huge painting as a headboard?
12. Ryan F. Top three, Ryan. I love it so much. All the textiles, table, overall vibe. So good.
13. Kenneth Love all the necessary accessories and the lamp.
14. Tessa Neustadt Tessa, you can’t win because you work for me, too, but I’m loving your crazy wild plants and that weird print in the back. Nice job.
15. Patricia T. I’m drawn to this over and over again. Maybe it’s that beautiful wall color or that glass tree which I have a thing for. But nice job, Patricia.
So there were two winners: One who received the most votes and one that is my pick. I set the contest up like that for this exact reason — in case the person with the most votes doesn’t have a good entry. If you have been following along with me on Facebook you know that Kimberly won with 523 votes, which is very impressive, indeed. But many people wondered the authenticity of this entry because well, the nightstand was lacking in a lot of ways, and it just seemed weird that this shot got 523 votes, 200 more than the second place entry.
I know. Calm down and be nice in the comments. I dug around and indeed she just got all 523 of her friends to vote for her. Democracy is a good thing, but tricky at times. I’m so grateful for all the traffic she drove and all the new Facebook likers she brought. And most importantly those Serena and Lily nightstands are going to really improve this space. Kimberly, watch the video how on how to style a nightstand because there are good styling techniques you could learn to improve your bedroom and make it look oh so pretty. That is kinda what the contest is about — taking my techniques and applying them to your space. I’d love to see your new nightstands styled with my styling rules — it will look pretty, I promise! Congratulations and thanks so much for entering, seriously. Enjoy your new Aqua Melrose Nesting Tables nightstands:
As far as my pick? Samantha G, for the gold.
Here’s why she won: She followed all the rules/suggestions. She has something for height (lamp), something horizontal to ground it (books), and something sculptural to bridge the two (fern). The composition is perfect. They are layered without being on top of each other, and they look natural and effortless. (Plus the bowl for jewelry and the bird to throw it off a bit.) I love that art behind it and the weird art to the left, which I think might be a huge photo booth strip on wood? I’m intrigued. Even if her nightstand hadn’t been good, she would have won. During my six-hour long debate on who should win, this photo always made me the happiest. Yes, I realize that this is very my style, but the composition is undeniably good and so many others that weren’t my style but whom I wanted to win had less good composition and followed less of the rules. Could I possibly over explain more?
Anyway, congratulations Samantha G. Please enjoy your nightstands, which you should probably just use as side tables somewhere else in your house because your nightstands are clearly simple and pretty.
These are your choices. I love them both. A. Lot.
As far as what I learned from this contest/giveaway?
1. Next time I won’t giveaway what the contest actually is. A gift card is probably a better giveaway because it was hard to not take in consideration what the nightstand actually was. What I love about the winning shot is that even if it was on a plain boring nightstand it still would have won.
2. Thank god I had it set up to have two winners just in case what happened happened. It made the contest a total success and created a very interesting controversy.
3. I LOVE these contests. I love seeing how people style their real homes. I think I might be a voyeur.
Overall, did you guys enjoy this contest? I LOVED seeing so many real bedrooms and watching people engage and vote and tweet about it. I can’t believe how many good ones there were, truly. I’m so impressed. So thank you so much, all of you who entered. I’ll get the bugs out of these contests soon, I promise. (And yes, we are starting a new one April 1st, but it’s a Pinterest contest instead.)
Thank you so much Serena and Lily for giving away these nightstands. They are awesome because you are awesome. (And no, I didn’t get paid to work with them. I simply love the company and everything they sell). Please follow them on Facebook; they are doing very good things. While you are at it, follow me on Facebook and subscribe to my Youtube channel (where you’ll see all of my how-to videos).
So for those of you who didn’t vote in the contest (or who did but want to vote again), which of the above 1 – 30 do you like the most?