monographs felike: One Project Closer's Before and After Competition

Summer, summer, summertime! Summer is my favorite time for home improvement projects. I?m not sure exactly why I prefer sweating it out in the summer. Maybe it is because I?m a summer baby. Who knows, but what I do know is that once the thermometer starts to climb I become a DIY busy beaver.

Last year, I shed some pounds while giving our screened porch a big ?botox-worthy? facelift. I saved oodles of money by building some furniture and upcycling others. The makeover was definitely a labor of love and an exercise in frugality.

After I posted about the transformation, I entered it into One Project Closer?s Before & After contest. Within a week, I received an email telling me that I had won the?weekly challenge! What an honor.

So, have you heard about the OPC Before & After contest?! No?! Well, let me tell you a little more. One Project Closer is a fantastic DIY Home Improvement blog written by two couples: Fred & Kim and Ethan & Jocie. Those crazy DIYers are always completing some home improvement project or another. And you can believe that I?m reading their posts to gain more DIY knowledge!

This fantastic foursome hosts an annual Before and After competition. There are prizes (oh yeah!), but more importantly there is always some love sent to one of my favorite charities: Habitat for Humanity. Each week a winner is chosen and they walk away with a Lowe?s, Home Depot or Amazon gift card. Then OPC makes a donation in the winner?s name to Habitat for Humanity! How generous of them!

So, this year I want YOU to be a winner! Get your paint brushes and hammer ready and makeover a room. Or enter one you?ve already finished!

Here?s How it Works

If you?re not familiar with the series, here?s the basics: you submit pictures and a story from a home improvement project?you?worked (no contracted jobs)?sometime over the past year. Every week of the summer (June 20 ? September 21), a winner is selected and their story is published online. Each winner gets?a $50 gift card to either Lowes, Home Depot, or Amazon, and?One Project Closer makes a donation of $100 to Habitat for Humanity in their honor!?At the end of the Summer, the best submission, as voted on by readers, wins a bonus?$150 gift card?to one of the three stores above.

This year is different and even more AWESOME because they?ve asked 13 other sites (including Pretty Handy Girl) to get involved, each hosting a week, picking that week?s winner, and featuring the Before and After article on their site. Check out the line up:

Here?s How to Enter

To submit a before and after story, email OPC your submission to?beforeandafter@oneprojectcloser.com. Your entry can be in the email itself or attached as a Word document. Make sure to number pictures in order so it?s easy for them to reconstruct the story, and please attach the pictures as JPEGs even if you also embed them inside the Word document.

Keep in mind that good before and afters include interesting pictures (before, during, and after) and a descriptive story. Here are?some?great?examples?from last year.

Alternately, they are letting people enter via a new?link party to show off great transformations.?Select one of your best makeover projects to share, and don?t be surprised if Jocie pins her favorites to?Pinterest.

So get busy y?all! I want to see your rooms the week of June 24th when I?ll be guest judging.

In case you were wondering, yes, the wig is crazy itchy and hot! So, I?m hoping y?all send me some great projects to make this ridiculous costume worth the effort!

Speaking of winners, I want to give a?big congratulations to Anash who won the $100 Lowe?s gift card this month! Congrats Anash! Be sure to check your email and reply to me .