My Gardner-White Blog for a Grand

On October 13, a new Gardner-White furniture store is opening in Auburn Hills, Michigan, near Great Lakes Crossing shopping center. To celebrate, Gardner-White is hosting the "Blog for a Grand" contest, with a grand prize of a $1000 Gardner-White gift card, and two second prizes of $500 gift cards! Plus all participating bloggers will receive a $50 gift card, just for joining in the fun! I'm entering because my house needs a major furniture overhaul. Oh, where to begin?

I like this Gardner-White bedroom set for Chris and me

Our bedroom. Fourteen years of marriage, and we have never had new bedroom furniture, and that includes a mattress. Right now we are on our second hand-me-down mattress, and our second hand-me-down set of bedroom furniture. The furniture is nice, but it's not really our style. In other words, we wouldn't have picked it out for ourselves. The mattress is killer, by which I mean it is trying to slowly kill us in our sleep. More mornings than not, one or both of us wakes up feeling stiff, sore, and grouchy. Somehow, splurging on new bedroom furniture is never a priority. We're grateful for what we have, but would love to someday have a bedroom that is more a reflection of our personal tastes, and a mattress that makes us feel a little more loved. I want to walk into our bedroom and feel that it is a retreat, a cozy reprieve, a comfy piece of earthly heaven. Too much to ask?

This loft bed from Gardner-White would be perfect

While we're talking mattresses...Over a year ago, when Mattie started climbing out of her crib, we decided it was time for that old vestige of babyhood to hit the curb. She and Lucy wanted to sleep together every single night, so we thought it would be best to let them share Lucy's bed for the time being. We thought it would help ease Mattie's transition from the crib. It did help, and for a long time the arrangement worked out really well. But they have both grown so much since then, and now they are just annoying each other and invading personal space on a nightly basis. Several times a week, I am called upstairs to remove Lucy's arm from Mattie's pillow, or to roll Mattie back over to her side of the bed. To avoid these situations, Mattie sometimes sleeps with her head at the foot of the bed, which she started doing all on her own. These girls need their own beds, like yesterday.

This sectional from Gardner-White comes in 89 colors!

 
The family room. The image in my mind of my dream family room looks a little like this: All of us are comfortably stretched out, sharing a bowl of popcorn and watching a movie together. Or the kids are happily engrossed in a board game, laughing and having a great time, while I'm over in the corner working on a sewing project or a blog post; doing my own thing, yet witnessing the beauty of sibling camaraderie at its finest. These scenarios require the key element of comfort, which is currently missing from my family room. Our couch is another hand-me-down, and though it serves its purpose, it is horribly awkward and uncomfortable; and to add insult to injury, it isn't big enough either. It's barely large enough to accommodate the kids (and not without argument, either!), but if Chris and I want to watch a movie with them, or we have company, the prospect of everyone sitting comfortably in the family room is a lost cause. I have had more than one particularly vivid daydream about burning it in the backyard. I have also mentally willed the dog to go on a wild chewing spree so we'd be forced to get a new couch. Too bad she hasn't chewed anything in years. We spend a lot of time in our family room, and I want it to be a place where our family and friends can pleasantly hang out and relax.

I wish our dining room was this big!

The dining area. When we moved into this house three and a half years ago, we got a brand spanking new dining room set. I still like it, but the darn thing is already falling apart. I'd love to not have to warn people against leaning on the table for fear the legs will give. We don't trust the chairs either, since they have collapsed on more than occasion. The leather is torn clean off of one of the chair seats, and it looks horrible! Since the dining area is one of the first things people see when they first walk into our home, I'd really like it to look welcoming. A safer dining room set would probably be a good idea too. I would also like to have a set that can expand to fit more than six people easily. Right now we can squeeze in eight people, but not very well. We have a big family, and we have company frequently, so an extra leaf would be a nice option for us.

Well that was fun fantasy furniture shopping. Now I'm in the mood to do the real thing!

This blog post was written in exchange for a $50 Gardner-White gift card, and for a chance at winning a $500 or $1000 Gardner-White gift card. All opinions are my own. For more information about the Grand Opening on October 13, 2012 of the new Auburn Hills Gardner-White store, located at 4445 N. Atlantic Blvd., behind the Home Depot; follow the #GWgrand hash tag on Twitter.