Home Decor Swap

So I tried something new this weekend. I invited a bunch of friends over, told them to bring all of their old home decor stuff and we swapped it all out. It was a blast! I had originally read about the idea on The Nester's blog (oh, how I would love to hang with her for a day), and my decorator friend Michalle had also seen the post and wanted to do a swap also. She helped me coordinate the whole thing.

There were several amazing things. The first was how much stuff people brought! It was buckets and buckets of stuff, good stuff, they just didn't use anymore but was too nice to just put in a garage sale. The second amazing thing is the people we originally invited are not the people who came. It turns out it was a busy weekend for most of them, so I gave my dear friend Alicia permission to invite an additional group of her friends (who I also know since we all attend the same church) and they all came at the last minute and brought some really cool stuff to swap. The last amazing thing is how happy people were- everyone was thrilled to find at least one thing they had been looking for to decorate their home, and they didn't have to spend a dime to get it.

My great find were these new bedroom lamps, the perfect addition to our bedroom makeover. I also received a new centerpiece basket, a gold candle stand which I'll be painting black, several candle holders and some leftover decor donations I'll be taking to Goodwill this week.

Now, the ladies in my community group want to do an accessory swap: hats, scarves, handbags, jewelry, shoes, etc. Who's in?