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Green on your mind? You just need a little Goodwill....

I'd like to show you a way you can "be green" and "save a lot of green" at the same time.

Our IRIS Chapter was approached with an interesting challenge. Alison Oyler, who does marketing for Goodwill Industries, invited us to participate in an Italian Tablescape contest. It was held at the Festival Italiano in the Belmar development of Lakewood, Colorado. Now, here's the fun part. We were given $40 gift cards to Goodwill, and could only spend an additional $10 of our own for flowers, candles, etc.

Here are the beautiful tablescapes:

"Mattina Bella" (beautiful morning) by Elaine Manes-A Wonderful Space

Table 1

"Palazzo Bella" (beautiful home) by Diane Palazzo-5280 Real Estate Staging and Erica Starich-Star Interior Solutions

Table 2

"Cucina Coast" by Brenda Peterson-Busy Bee Organizing Plus

table 3

"Breakfast in Tuscany" by Mico Smith-Metamorphing Interiors

Table 4

"Casual in Capri" by Khristy Wilson-Interior Evolutions

table 5

"Festa del l'uva" (grape harvest festival) Alison Oyler-Goodwill Industries of Denver

table 6

I think the photos speak for themselves. So, if you want to "be green", make your local Goodwill store your first stop. AND, you are guaranteed to "save a lot of green", too! The plates I bought were UNDER 50 cents!

Here are few shots of the festival:

wares

street

chalk drawing

This one is my favorite:

rainbow of chalk

Posted by Elaine Manes IRIS~Colorado Stager ~ A Wonderful Space, LLC on 09/22/2009 10:17 AM

Comments (23)

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23 Comments on Green on your mind? You just need a little Goodwill....

SEP

ELAINE's BACK! Couldn't believe it when I saw your smiling face. I love this tablescapes idea and using items from Goodwill. How clever of them to sponsor this and get you to use their inventory! Every creation is wonderful, thanks so much for sharing!

Elaine ~ what a fantastic idea! I love the creative use of the Goodwill items and they all look much more expensive!!

The tablescapes are beautiful! Evidently your Goodwill Stores have better things that we have here. I still check quite frequently though... just hoping! Congratulations to all for a job well done! Looks like a fun time!

Aloha Elaine,

What a fun and fantastic challenge! I love Goodwill and I love your table setting, did you win? It should have and here's why: First the title is perfect with "Mattina Bella" (beautiful morning) with the bright Tuscan sun flowers and terra cotta pot. The grape motif evokes the Italian countryside with its rolling vineyards and the Roman God of pleasure, Bacchus who's symbols are the grape cluster and pine cone (S&P shakers). The setting is unobtrusive ready for anyone to sit and eat with the fresh bread in the basket and the real and edible grapes awaiting them on the plate. The earth tones in the color scheme are very Italian and my god if your not a bella donna Italiano I would be surprised to hear it. Were you reliving a past life in the tuscan country side or channeling your Ilalian grandmother? Truly impressive.

Casual In Capri gets second place, unfortunately it's a little too cluttered and the lemon in the glass should have been halved so you could squeeze it into the the water or something. otherwise it's just clutter.

Peace,

Elaine! It's so good to hear from you, and what a treat you've shared with us! The tablescapes are a feast for our eyes, and a good reminder to think outside our regular routine when buying accessories. We have made a few great finds at Goodwill and the Salvation Army, but nothing on this scale. I guess we just need to get into a routine of stopping by and checking the stores out when we're in the neighborhood.

Hi Elaine! glad to see you here -- awesome display and what fun. We have a new goodwill store up the road that just opened. I'll have to go check it out.

How fun Elaine! I enjoyed seeing the creative tablescapes. Thanks for sharing.

Hey Ginger! Happy to see your familiar face! This contest was the most creative fun I have had in a long time!

Maureen- Just goes to show that it's not WHAT you use, but HOW you use it!

Jane Ann- The great thing is that the selection changes daily as they get new items in!

Kimo- You just MADE my day! I got the results back this morning and I placed fifth out of six. But YOU really got my design, and you are completely right--I AM Italian, and my table looks exactly like my grandmother's on any given day! The other one you mentioned was the winner. HUGE thanks for your very kind assessment of my table!

Laurie- I really thought it would be hard to shop at Goodwill with somethig so specific in mind, but it was a breeze! I was done shopping in twenty minutes!

Karen- Something I would pay $2.00 for at Ross, would be 50 cents at Goodwill, so that is a lot of BANG for the buck!

Michele- It reminded me of the DesignStar challenge where a room had to be done by shopping at a pet store! It was so much fun being creative!

Welcome back, you were so missed! I do keep track of you on Facebook, don't want to seem like a stalker, but I do follow you. This must have been so much fun! I agree with Kimo 100%! Ditto to what he said! I can't believe you came in 5th, are you kidding!! What is wrong with them?

Dlaine,

Good to see you back. The catch is, you can buy cheap stuff and make it look good. I can buy it and make it look like junk.

Elaine, as others have said, I keep track of you on FB and it's great to see you posting on AR. This post shows that you don't need a lot to make a great presentation, just talent! Hope to see you back on AR with more posts. Miss your talent and humor!

Fabulous tablescapes-so colorful and better yet that they are green and filled with repurposed items. Love this post and that you are back on AR!

SEP

Elaine, thank you for sharing this fabulous contest with us. What a fun challenge and great opportunity to get creative! I hope our Goodwill does something like this. You just gave me an idea to approach them on behalf of our RESA and ASHSR chapter here!

Kathy A -- Good thinking! Wouldn't our chapter have FUN with a project like this??

I love this! I have been working with Goodwill here to come up with a marketing idea to promote Goodwill Industries and staging.

Sharon- You can stalk me any day! I still believe in the "less is more" style of design, but the masses have spoken! The winning table did blow me away that all that stuff could be purchased for $40!

Steve- Thanks for the welcome back! I'm sure you sell yourself short, but if everyone could do what we do, we'd be out of a job!

Hi Donna- I would love to have more time here on AR, and I am working on it!

Thanks, Kurt! There are so many treasures just waiting to be discovered!

Kathy- I just sent you a response to your email, and I forgot to mention something--The ballots were divided up according to how they voted, and they had a drawing for each tablescape!

Maureen- Go for it, and I want to hear all about it!

Wanda- All you need are designers willing to create the tablescapes, and people wanting to choose the best one!

Elaine - what a great story. I haven't been to the Goodwill store in years since I was in Drama and needed costumes. I will put it back on the list. Lovely seeing you here. Kym

SEP

I love seeing other creative idea! Love all the ideas and I LOVE Goodwill too~ You can stretch $40 a long way! Keep up the great work!

Beautiful post Elaine. Love the colors and even better the items are repurposed. How wonderful.

Elaine... how are you my wonderful friend! I sure hope that you have been busy. These are great ideas to share. Thank you ;))

OCT

Elaine! One of my favourite writers of all time! SOOOO good to see you back. Where have you been? I hope you're well. You look great, there, chickie.

Tanya in Montreal

OCT

Hello Elaine,

What a wonderful post! I enjoyed all the creative ideas and tablescapes. Thank you for sharing!

Rita

DEC

Hi Elaine...And the winner is.........................................................

EVERYONE! The stagers, the artisans, and the spectators.

Kate

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