My Stroll Through Better Homes and Gardens

August has been filled with much excitement and many firsts in the way of my career and my personal life. For my career, I’d say I took a step forward with a new relationship with Better Homes and Gardens, in the BHG Live Better Blogger Network. I am proud to be a member of the network and to be bringing you all updates and affordable styling tips every other month, on behalf of Better Homes and Gardens. The network kicked off with a visit to the Better Homes and Gardens headquarters at Meredith in Des Moines, Iowa, and what a blast it was!  As a group of bloggers, we were rotated through different workshops where we learned tip after tip, just so we could come home and share them with you throughout the year! All of the items in the showrooms can be found at Walmart or Walmart.com at some point throughout the year. I think just about every blogger squealed as we got behind the scenes of Better Homes and Gardens and got to make a visit to their prop room and sets, where they stage their food and products. Great inspiration for us bloggers! There was room after room set up, and fully decorated using BHG products. I couldn’t believe all of these items can be purchased at Walmart! I loved seeing the ideas they had for decorating, such as not matching sheets to comforters. I never would have thought to use lavender sheets with the coloful comforter on the bottom left corner. There isn’t a drop of lavender in the comforter but it totally works! I love the added pop of color. Now I do live in California and earthquake country so I wouldn’t put mirrors above my bed, but I love the idea of the mirrors lined up on the cute shelf. I am simply in love with the studded headboard and it WILL be adorning my bed soon! To boost our creativity was a workshop with Eddie Ross, where he showed us how easy it is to take Better Homes and Gardens products and make a DIY project out of them. I loved the idea of adding some simple brads to a lampshade! Easy and super cute!   My favorite class was probably the food presentation. We saw centerpiece after centerpiece created in under 5 minutes, using items you may already have around the house. Fun and cute ways to display food for any occasion. I am also very excited about the holiday line of adorable critters for the table! Those cute little owls will be coming to my kitchen! Walking through the Better Homes and Gardens test garden was very relaxing and absolutely gorgeous. They use this garden to actually practice gardening so they can give useful tips to the at-home gardener. Because of the beautiful grounds, they also use this area for some of their photo shoots. Why not, right? I would love a yard or garden that looked like this! As you can tell, I learned so much and got so many great ideas and tips for my own home, and for sharing with all of you! These photos are only a taste of everything I saw! My day in Des Moines, IA, with BHG was fantastic and ended with a visit to the Iowa State Fair. I finally got to see the Butter Cow! Yes, it is a life size cow sculpted out of butter! Quite the trip and a great way to kick off the Live Better Network.  Stay up to date with Better Homes and Gardens via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.  

“In accordance with the FTC Guidelines, I am disclosing that I received compensation from BHG at Walmart for my time and participation in the BHG Live Better Network. Although we have material connection to BHG, any publicly stated opinions of BHG and their products remain my own.”