Are YOU The Winner of the Vacay Giveaway? (+ Surprise Announcement)

It’s been a LONG road for everyone to get to today’s post. When I first announced my idea for the I Design, You Decide campaign, I didn’t know what I was in for. Of course, I KNEW I would have to come up with double the designs for every room we were putting up for vote, but the reality of that was, well, more stressful than initially thought. BUT IT’S OKAY BECAUSE THE HOUSE IS DONE AND YOU GUYS GOT US HERE. 24 designs, 12 votes, 18(ish) months, one finished home and…

ONE VACATION WINNER (finally).

As a reminder, part of the I Design, You Design incentive for you readers to engage and vote, besides a whole lot of blog fun, was the chance to win a FREE 4-day stay in the finished product you all would have helped to design, essentially. Oh, and $1,000 toward travel expenses (or to spend however you wanted if you were within driving distance).

Here’s something that was solidified for me (I already knew this) throughout this whole process: You guys are insanely helpful and knowledgeable. There were many times where we’d come up with two designs, put them out to vote, and after going through all your very insightful comments, decided to change things up for the EVEN better (or combine both designs, using the best parts of each option).

Now that I know what the finished product is (and have spent the last two weeks enjoying it with my family), I thought it could be fun to walk down IDYD memory lane and remind you (and me) of all the decisions that were toiled over.

Of course, I’m sure most of you are going to scroll all the way down to see if you’re the winner and maybe click away from there, but if you’ve been in this with us all this time, won’t you come along on the reminiscing?

Overall Style

The first IDYD was the overall style…all of which admittedly were hilariously similar to each other. Basically, it was the difference between rustic and refined but most people were like “uh, what’s the difference?” You guys got it, though…

This is the one where I realized that Brian was going to have real opinions in this whole process (when we bought the house, he said he wouldn’t care how I designed it then all of a sudden a day before we posted about it he gave so many cares). He was terrified that I was going to make this house feel cold every time I used the word Scandinavian or even minimal. Last week, while up here, he admitted that it is anything but cold and that I was right all along. I KNOW DUDE. I KNOW.

The next one was where I realized that the voting might not have been the best idea for all of my ideas…

Pebble Stone Bathroom Floor

While you guys voted for pebble stones, Brian eventually nixed it because he actually spent some time in a bathroom that had it on the floor and he didn’t like the “underfoot sensation” (direct quote). I kept saying “but they voted for me to use it!” and felt like I was betraying you. I started being way more careful about what I put up for a vote because I can’t actually be locked into things as the creative process does change. This was also when my team started joking that the whole campaign should really be called “I Design, You Decide, Then I Actually Decide.”

Up next: One of the better decisions we ever made (and super budget-friendly).

Living Room Fireplace

We “worked with it” and I know you guys have seen the schmear, but it honestly looks GREAT and cost $1,000 in labor (of which we might have been able to do ourselves if we watched a few YouTube videos. The guy literally just took white plaster and schmeared it between and over the rocks.

Wood-Inspired Tile

WHOOPS. The wood tile thing was another that I didn’t run past Brian before putting up for a vote (HE HAS HISTORICALLY SAID THAT HE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT TILE!!!) and then after the post, he was like “I think faux wood tile will date the house and is cheesy.” I knew it would be dated at some point (even doing it in a very light gray or white) but figured there are four bathrooms so ONE of them could have faux wood tile somewhere and it would be a great editorial moment. He nixed it. Maybe the campaign should have been called “I Design, You Decide, Then Brian Decides.” That’s more accurate, actually.

The thing is, Brian is typically right and when he feels strongly about something, I listen.

On to the first full design plan:

Master Bathroom Design

First of all, I love this bathroom so much and spend a LOT of time in that tub. But this IDYD taught us that actually creating two full design plans before posting was slowing down the process too much because we couldn’t order materials until you decided, but I didn’t want to put up two votes that we didn’t love equally. So we decided going forward to just do material choices and not worry as much about where they go or even if they were all necessarily included, like in the…

Downstairs Guest Bath

Some of those materials did change, but man that black bathroom is a show stopper (and was far and away the winner from the initial vote).

Kids Bathroom Materials

Brian was TERRIFIED of the kids bathroom emerald Quartize, and I don’t blame him at all. I was, too. I can’t wait to show you because it looks SO GOOD. Thank you for voting for it. 🙂

The Kitchen Cabinets

In the kitchen, you guys wanted the black island and you GOT IT. But then we switched things up again once we found our amazing reclaimed wood vendor Ross Alan Reclaimed Lumber, and clad all the cabinets in the prettiest beech wood.

The Exterior Color

Wow, this feels like ages ago and I can’t imagine the house in anything but the dark green we went with because we love it. It blends with the trees and looks so modern and appropriate. This really is the year of the dark house.

Master Fireplace Design

I LOVE LOVE LOVE how the fireplace turned out but there are nights where I wish we had put in a TV above the fireplace. The flue is just for show so we could take it down eventually but the design really needs it to look awesome. We’ll see.

Powder Bath Design

For the powder bath, you guys were pretty neck and neck so we actually combined the designs per MANY of our request—see full reveal here.

Kids Attic Play Space

It had been a while (a few months) between IDYD, but we wanted to squeeze out one more for a room that had remained untouched: the kids attic play space. This one was very close, so we might combine some of the elements of each into one design (your suggestion from the comments).

It was a crazy year/campaign and I couldn’t have done it without YOU, but even more importantly my amazing design team (Julie, Velinda, Grace, Emily B.) and social and editorial support. We learned A LOT.

Okay, whether you scrolled down here to begin with, or went through that process with me of reviewing all the design options we came up with for this mountain house, the time has come to announce the one lucky vacation winner.

AND THE WINNER IS…….

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JULIE SIKORA OF SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA!

Julie has been reading and commenting for YEARS and was so invested in this process with us. How did we choose her? We had a bot go through all comments, entries and shares to randomly select three top finalists. From there, we vetted those top three (because I didn’t want a random unstable person who stumbled across this giveaway to stay in my home) to find out more about them and chose the winner based on their email and story. Here is what Julie sent us:

“How fun to be a finalist—my level of surprise feels like I won an internet contest…even if there is no further winning involved! I’m delighted to write more about my love and admiration of the mountain house and how stoked our whole family would be to win a vacation there.

Tell us a little about yourself and how long you’ve been a reader.
I’ve been following Emily since I came across Secrets From A Stylist and probably found her blog shortly thereafter. I’ve been a daily reader for YEARS. She has seriously influenced my eye for design and even though our decorating/reno budget is tight, I’ve been able to bring our homes a long way with mostly paint, fabric, Craigslist, and (mine and hubby’s) sweat equity. I’m a stay at home mother of two young girls, and despite having a strong solitary/creative bent, I just finished our first year of homeschooling with my older daughter and we both pretty much survived!

What would this trip mean to you and who you would bring with you?
It would be HEAVEN. I think it would just be the four of us though we might discuss bringing close friends. Personally, I feel healed in quiet places with trees, green, water, lakes, and I think everyone in our family prefers mountains to the beach. My husband has talked about how much he loved their vacation home in Big Bear when he was a little boy—it was sold in an ugly divorce that left him with no mom and a difficult, no-frills childhood, so I know it would be redemptive for him if we won.  We’ve managed a couple vacations/road trips to family in the past, nothing fancy since we’re on one income in SoCal, but I’ve learned from previous vacation attempts with young kids. It is most relaxing to make a home base in one spot, with space for the girls to run around, and I have a kitchen to cook in because we have food restrictions. Also, not to do staycations because then my husband and I just feel like we need to accomplish the 1,000 house projects that catch our eye. So, check, check, check, and check—BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE. Emily and the team designed and decorated this house and being in those surroundings, that simple luxury, the classy amazing inviting place that is the mountain house, that heck, I even had a tiny voice in via the votes, is something that could never be duplicated.”

THANK YOU JULIE!!!

I’m so excited to host you and your family soon, show you the ropes and give you the keys to our family’s home for your stay.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S STILL HOPE FOR YOU IF YOUR NAME IS NOT JULIE SIKORA…

We LOVED having the Portland open house, meeting all 1,500 of you (HA) and I know that so many of you said how great it was to actually be able to experience a space that you watched being designed. Since this is my family’s house, and it’s a few hours away from LA, I can’t really do an open house, but we are going to do the next best thing.

We want to invite 30 readers (+1, bring a friend!) to come up for the day for a fun reader event in the house that my team and I will host. We’ll show you around, eat some food, have some drinks, maybe go on a hike and do another fun in-person style diagnostic. I highly suggest you make a weekend of it and rent an Airbnb or a room at the resort nearby!

Here’s how you get chosen: choose one of the photos from the rooms we have revealed already (below are some great options of the kitchen, kids room and powder bath) and share it on Instagram using the hashtags #PartyAtEms, #EHDMountainFixer and #emilyhenderson. Oh, and please write a little about why you would love to come with @em_henderson tagged in the copy.

I know it’s a lot to ask but it’s the best way for us to follow along and see who really wants to/can come. We really want to meet and thank those of you who have been really invested in this project so please show and tell us how excited you are (feel free to Instagram or Story even more than one!).

If you are not on Instagram or Facebook but want to be selected, please comment below and we’ll consider your entry. Yes, this is a social media thing so we are primarily looking on Instagram.

The reader event is planned for Saturday, August 17, in Lake Arrowhead (you’ll be responsible for getting yourself up here, address to be provided later).

Thank you all again for going through this design journey with us all these months. If you missed last Monday’s post, we talked all about the roll out of the rest of the reveals, so be sure to head there if you’re wondering what’s next.