Behind the Scenes of The HGTV® Dream Home 2019!

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Enter for a Chance to WIN the The HGTV Dream Home 2019!

The HGTV® Dream Home 2019… Get ready to be absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the newest jaw-droppingly gorgeous HGTV Dream Home Giveaway designed by Brian Patrick Flynn. Located in Whitefish, Montana, this house is by far my favorite giveaway home yet! And I can assure you that isn’t because I just might be a wee bit partial to this one ;-). From the stunning exterior to the colorful interior to the ridiculous backyard views of Montana’s national parks, this home is truly AMAZING. And I am SO excited that today I am taking all of you on a little behind the scenes week-long “tour” of how the final holiday photo gallery came to life… early mornings, lots of shopping runs, freezing cold sunset shoots and everything in between! Enter for a Chance to Win!

Today’s blog post is nothing less than an absolute dream come true for me. I can honestly say that from the moment I decided to change my college major from fashion design to interior design way back in 2001, yes I am that old, I have daydreamed of being a part of pretty much anything HGTV related. I am fairly confident I have watched at least one episode of every single show that has been on air since 2001, and I may or may not have binge watched hours and hours and hours when I was pregnant with my first daughter Addison. Maybe just maybe that has a little to do with her being so creatively inclined. Hmmm… Needless to say, I am a really really huge fan of HGTV. I love that they have taken the interior design world, made it so much more accessible and the idea of actually having a beautiful home that much more possible for each and every one of us.

This past Summer, I got a call from a dear friend of mine named Brian Patrick Flynn. You guys may know him as the designer behind The HGTV Dream Home for the last several years, the designer behind the HGTV Urban Oasis^® or the amazingly talented and incredibly funny guy on Instagram. Seriously, his IG captions and IG Stories are HILARIOUS! He and I started chatting on social media about two years ago after he messaged me to compliment our kitchen, and he pretty much made my whole year. We then met in person in Atlanta last Summer when I was a designer for the America’s Mart ‘Diamonds of Design’ 2017 Vignettes. After the cocktail party that evening, we went to dinner and have been “real life friends” ever since.

So back to last Summer… Brian called and asked if I wanted to be a part of his “Styling & Art Direction Team” for the design of the HGTV Dream Home 2019 and after I fainted, came back to life, thanked him twenty million times and asked if he was serious… I said YES! I spent the next few months going back and forth with Brian on some ideas and placing orders for various things I had found. It was such a fun experience to get a sneak peek at the house and play a part in the design process before I even arrived! Fast forward to mid-October, and it was finally time for me to head from Atlanta, Georgia to Whitefish, Montana for the design project of my dreams. Brian and I met up on our connecting flight in Minneapolis, Minnesota for our final flight into Kalispell, Montana… My very first time to Montana!

Once we arrived at the tiny Kalispell airport, Brian rented a car for us for the week. After a little rental car mis-hap where we had to switch cars right after loading up the first one, we BOTH ended up leaving a bag behind in the first car which we realized about twenty minutes down the road. Oops! After about an hour, we finally made it the house and let me just tell you… it was STUNNING!

Here are a few shots I took of the beautiful drive up to the house…

And several of the house “raw” and ready for the details!

After taking a few Instagram pictures and videos upon arrival at which Brian, and I pretty much reached pro-status by the end of the week, we got to work! The very first thing we did was arrange the furniture in the living room. I have to admit that I came into this project sooo nervous. About pretty much everything. About impressing Brian but not being over bearing… about fitting in with his team who has worked together for so long now… about actually having good, creative ideas that would be put into motion… And it was in that very first project, night one, that I felt this huge sigh of relief. Brian was totally open to my ideas, everyone was so incredibly nice, and he even went with my suggested furniture layout for the living room… Night one was MADE!

That first evening I felt like we did a ton! We finalized the living room layout, unboxed lots of styling props I had ordered the weeks leading up to the trip and set up all three Christmas trees! Brian felt like we were in such good shape for the next day that he decided to leave a good bit before sunset to take his carpenter Dan and I on a seaplane over Glacier National Park. So I lied in that last paragraph. NOW my night was MADE! And let me just tell you… that was the most amazing, horrifying, stomach dropping, jaw-dropping experience ever. Like ever ever…

The next morning, we met up in the lobby around 9:30am and headed to the house! Our focus for day two was mainly to get the living room complete! With the furniture in place and the Christmas trees up, we got to work on the details. Here are some peeks inside the Day Two chaos…

And then of course our ever-so-important IG photo break for the day…

Day Three was much of the same… making progress but also making really huge messes and taking lots of IG videos. I spent the day running around doing everything from wrapping gifts…

To making flower runs…

To calling around trying to find someone who could deliver birch branches incredibly last minute for several fun ideas I had in the bonus room…

And above the outdoor bar…

Oh and did I mention I got to put my non-existent baking skills to work by transforming a store bought cake into something rustic and fabulous?!? Well, that was the idea at least ;-)…

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Day Four was when things got craaaazy. We knew that our photographer, Robert with Rustic White, would be arriving that evening so the entire day was a mad rush to finish up styling the four outdoor spaces we had been piddling with all week. Brian wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous sunset when Robert arrived and I sure didn’t blame him…

Here’s a peek at the outdoor spaces getting transformed into a Winter Wonderland…

Oh AND Day Four was also the day that another fun idea I had came to life… Brian had asked me to come up with some ideas to jazz up this gorgeously upholstered moose head for the Holiday shoot and I racked my brain for weeks! So excited with how cute he turned out…

That evening Robert arrived and it was CHAOS! First of all, it was FREEEEZING cold and the sun was setting soooo super fast! We started out front…

And although the pictures were turning out PERFECT, we were literally losing light by the second…

Days Five and Six were all about the final details and of course the OVER 100 images needed for HGTV! That may not sound like a lot but if you have ever been on a professional interiors shoot, you know that is a TON! I learned that fact when our home was shot for a magazine and every single frame had to be perfected for what seemed like an hour before even one photo could be taken. Watching Brian at work during the shoots was absolutely amazing. Not only did he perfect each design from an interior design perspective but also as an artist in terms of the composition of each photo. I learned soooo much watching his creative brain at work. Truly inspiring!

Oh and last but CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, meet Brian’s INCREDIBLE TEAM…

(plus Krystee who was taking the picture)

From Top Left: Dan Faires, Brian Patrick Flynn, Me, Johnny Pearman & Robert Peterson

Before I share with you the AMAZING results from all of our hard work and Brian’s amazing designs, I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to Brian Patrick Flynn and HGTV for this amazing opportunity, Truly the opportunity of a lifetime. I learned so much and made memories that will last a lifetime. There are truly not enough THANK YOU’S…

Since there are literally over 400 pictures on my phone from my week in Montana, I guess at some point I should stop and just share the incredible professional images by Rustic White Photography. We worked soooo hard on these, and I am so so proud to share them with all of you. There is so much work and thought behind every single image below and it has been so much fun taking y’all inside a tiny bit of the fun and the chaos. Now, before you get started drooling over these, Pop Over and ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN the HGTV Dream Home 2019 in Whitefish, Montana! Can you even imagine?!? I was there, and I still can’t! It is THAT gorgeous… Good Luck!

Enter for a Chance to WIN the The HGTV Dream Home 2019!

HGTV, HGTV Dream Home, HGTV Dream Home Giveaway and their associated logos are trademarks of Scripps Networks, LLC. Photos © 2018 Scripps Networks, LLC. Used with permission; all rights reserved. No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of the U.S., age 21 or older. Void where prohibited. Sweepstakes ends at 5 p.m. ET on 2/18/19. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. For full official rules, prize disclosures, and to enter, visit www.HGTV.com. Main Sponsor: Scripps Networks, LLC d/b/a Home & Garden Television 9721 Sherrill Boulevard, Knoxville, Tennessee 37932.

XOXO, Brittany Hayes

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