I just got back from an amazing “work trip” which ended up being one of my favorite experiences to date. I was contacted by GMC to be a part of the their GMC Hidden Treasures Adventure. I had heard about the trip the year before when I was invited but unable to attend due to a conflicting schedule, so I was super excited to have been invited back this year. GMC’s and the Habitat for Humanity worked together to create the Hidden Treasure Adventure.
They flew several of us (12 bloggers) in to furnish and decorate 2 homes for the Habitat for Humanity in Cincinnati, Ohio. Each blogger was given a budget of $250 cash and The Cincinnati and Atlanta Habitat For Humanity ReStore locations also generously donated a few more items to help us complete our rooms and Rustoleum for providing us with $50 to Home Depot to help with supplies.
Then we drove over 700 miles along the World’s Longest Yard Sale where we were to find items to decorate and furnish the entire home. Each blogger was given a room(s) to decorate on that budget. I ended up with the Living Room.
I was partnered with Taryn from Design, Dining and Diapers (who had the Study and the Bathroom to decorate). We were partnered up and given a brand new s 2015 Yukon XL Denali to drive, and we loved every second of it! I had such a great time driving and working with Taryn. You can imagine we were able to get to know each other pretty well with that much driving together in the car! Loved it!!
We flew into Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday and started on our adventure early Wednesday morning after learning about the families moving into our homes and getting acquainted with the vehicles. We drove to Chattanooga, Tennesse and ended up staying in a Haunted Hotel, The Read House. Supposedly, room 311 is haunted by a woman…good thing I stayed in room 501…. I am happy to report that nothing scary happened except for this bad photo of me by the haunted room.
We headed out North along Hwy 127 and immediately began hitting up some of the amazing sales. They were everywhere on both sides of the road. Taryn and I were like giddy school girls. It was actually a little bit overwhelming. I knew I had to save up for the larger items that the Living Room would need…like a sofa, chair and a buffet (dresser) for a T.V. So I knew I had to seek out these items first. I knew that once I found them, I could plan the rest of the room around them.
There were so many things that I wish I could have shipped home. And the prices on most of the items were pretty amazing compared to what I had seen things for out in my neck of the woods. I couldn’t resist these metal letters, so I ended up getting an “h” for my own home (and smuggled it back in my suitcase with no problems) and a letter “b” for the family.
Then in Kentucky somewhere, I fell in love with this yellow wingback chair. I was super excited about the color of the chair and the condition it was in. It looked really good and get this…was price at $20…when we told the owner what we were doing, he dropped the price to $15!! I was so happy!
Just a few feet away, at the same sale, I found the perfect dresser with great lines for a T.V. stand and spent $65 dollars on it. It was a little more than I wanted to spend, but it was in great condition and was really well built out of real wood. I knew it would make a great statement piece in the Living Room!
What Taryn and I didn’t know was that there were two little field mice living in the dresser. After loading the dresser into the GMC Yukon, they got out and were running around in the car. It wasn’t until the next day that one was spotted by Kelly from GMC when she went to gas up the vehicles at night and saw one of them sitting on the front seat. The other one was found an entire day later… We are just so thankful that they didn’t decide to run across our sight while we were driving. We might have FREAKED out!
The next day we drove into Ohio and found some amazing items in an antique shop owned by the Mayor of a little town named Seven Mile. Taryn found some great items that totally pulled her study together! And we were so excited about our good luck! The mayor was super sweet and gave us some great deals on our purchases!!
I was getting VERY nervous about what to do for the couch. The couches we had seen were in TERRIBLE shape (one that I LOVED was covered in black mold under the cushions (the owner wouldn’t have sold it to us anyways in good faith) but I was starting to feel worried that I wouldn’t find something suitable to go in the home.
On a whim, while trying to find a Goodwill store (thinking we might find a couch there in better shape) we passed a Habitat Restore in Eaton, Ohio and decided to check in there! And there she was!! We took her for $70 and I finally felt like I would be able to pull this room together into something half way decent.
While in Ohio, we ran into some of our blog readers! It was so much fun to chat with them after running into them at a couple of different sales…the first one being the Antique Store in Seven Mile, Ohio and then later up the road (not exactly sure what city). They were super sweet and it was fun to chat with them about what we were doing. They were on a girls trip traveling the Yard Sale together…how fun is that?!
You guys…I seriously could have come home with some great pieces for my own house…
I found these Coca Cola crates and decided to pick up one of them for the Living Room to hold some decor items on the T.V. stand. I paid $5 for it.
On Saturday night, we finally had some time to work on any items that needed work done. I spray painted the dresser a nice gray color in the hotel parking lot at 10:30 pm. Haha! There is always a first for everything I guess. Don’t tell anyone…but I snuck a wooden sign into my hotel room (that I made out of the leaves of a dining room table) and painted the state of Ohio on it.
I finally got into bed at 3:00 am only to wake up at 5:00 am to get ready in time for breakfast and to be at the house in Cincinnati at 6:30 am. We were not able to see inside the house at all until Sunday morning. We were then able to put our rooms and the entire house together and get it completely ready for the family to show up at the reveal at 2:30 pm that same day!
We were able to help each other out and get everything ready to go on time. It ended up being one of my all time favorite experiences…ever! Can’t wait to share with you the reveal of the home and the family tomorrow!! So be sure to stay tuned for that!
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
Would you like more Recipes, DIY, Printables and Organization Ideas?
Subscribing to the newsletter will enable us to periodically send you creative content exclusively for Idea Room subscribers.
*View our Privacy Policy here.
Joanna S. says
Oh my goodness! So fun! Maybe next year the bloggers should each take on of their readers!! ;)
Amy says
Haha! That would be so much fun wouldn’t it?!
Such an interesting post! :)
Thank you Linda!
What a great cause Amy! Thanks for sharing your experience with us and I want you to go back and get my those Coke crates!!
Thank you Kari! I know! I wish I could have taken a whole car load back with me!
What a neat experience! Loved seeing all your pics. That sale was so fun to go too! Wish I would have ran into you gals!
Thanks Jamielyn! It really was! I wish we would have been able to run into you in Ohio! Looks like you found some great deals yourself!
Amy thank you for sharing this amazing experience with us. I know your time is precious and to use it to better the lives of others makes me proud. The post and pictures make me feel like I was experiencing it with you. GMC was incredibly generous. Can’t wait for tomorrow!!
Thanks so much Carol (mom)!! xo
This looks like so much fun! I am excited to see the house and the excitement of the lucky family. What a great thing to do. I love, love, love the map of Ohio and the chair. I need a coke crate!
I wish I could have brought some of the treasures home!! They were so excited! The little boy could not sit still and was bouncing off the walls!!
Love the library file! That would have been hard to leave behind.
So, So fun! Wish I could have been with you and Taryn. Looks like you guys found so many great treasures!!
Do you have ɑny video оf that? I’d want to find out morе details.