posts in category #SocialFabric
2.26.2013
our family room mini-makeover with GE Reveal Light Bulbs #CBias #SocialFabric
***As part of my partnership with GE, I received coupons for my GE light bulbs. All opinions posted about my GE Lighting experience are my own***
And while the calendar says it's only about 3 weeks away, here, in the Midwest, it will be another 2-3 months before we actually feel like it's spring.
During these dog days of winter, the house seems especially dark...we are all experiencing some heavy-duty cabin fever, and we are just generally in a funk.
So, when I got the opportunity to do a mini-makeover in my home using GE Reveal Light Bulbs, I jumped at the chance! How fun to brighten things up indoors even if we're still in the dark cold outside!
I decided we needed to change things up a bit in our family room. It's definitely the darkest room in the house. We live in a split-level home, so our family room is half-way underground...any light we get is dampened some by the ground outside and our only real view out of our family room windows is the grass in our backyard or the lower 2 feet of our neighbor's home...weird, right?
My craft space is in our family room, too, and I could ALWAYS use more light...especially for photographs, matching colors, etc...
So when I received my GE Reveal Light Bulb coupons in the mail, I grabbed Tyler (my 5-year-old) and we darted out to Walmart to get started. You can view our entire shopping trip here on Google+.
We brought our new purchases home and got started on our little renovation. This is the lamp I ended up with during our trip...
...and these are the bulbs I bought to brighten up our space...
I was so encouraged by the photos on the front of the Reveal packages...they show how you can really transform the light just by changing out the light bulb...definitely what we needed. AND, because a 100W Reveal bulb uses only 26W (!!!) you save energy and money! Sounds like the perfect deal to me! And get this...the GE website has a great energy smart® Calculator you can use to find out exactly how much you can save!
We put our lamp together (easy peasy...just screwing the pieces to each other), and set it up in it's new location. Now it replaces a small table lamp we had in the same space. And my, oh my! I can't believe the difference this lamp makes!!! Here...let me show you the before and after...
These photos are COMPLETELY UNRETOUCHED. I wanted to give you an idea of exactly the difference these bulbs made. Now...keep in mind that I am not a professional photographer (ahem), but you can definitely see the difference. The shadows are so much more heavy and prevalent in the "before" photo...see how the lamp lights up only the area right around it? Dark and uninviting. BUT, the new bulbs and the new lamp really make such a huge difference! The lamp lights up the entire wall and space around the easy-chair. And it also lights up the blue couch next to it! And folks, these photos really don't do the space justice. The light from the Reveal bulbs is not so yellow, it's a more clear, more true light...and I love it.
Here's a shot of just the new lamp...you can see just how much light it sheds...
Beautiful light, right? Love love love it.
Here's the before and after from the other table lamp in the room (please ignore the Lego mess/monstrosity/ever-present craziness on the table...).
Again, notice the different color of the light...and just how much light is spread over the coach and surrounding area. I wish I could invite you all over to see for yourselves...it's really quite lovely.
NOW, here is the grand finale. The absolute biggest change we had in the family room...the change I can hardly believe...my little craft space. I had no idea I was working in the dark until I saw these photos...take a look...
OK...can you see that difference??? I am still astounded. And that's just from changing the little lamp bulbs I had in place with 40W GE Reveal light bulbs. So awesome...I may even be able to take photos of my work after the sun goes down! Now that would be a miracle.
So what do you think? Did you ever imagine that just changing up a few light bulbs could really change the look and feel of a room? I have to admit that I was a skeptic until I saw it with my own eyes. So, why don't you give it a try? Grab some new GE Reveal Bulbs and add them to the lamps you already have...or buy something new and use them there! Either way you're sure to improve the looks of your space. Not sure exactly what lighting would be right for your home? Well, click here for some help from the experts at General Electric.
Want to connect with GE even more? It's easy! You can find out all the latest here...
DISCLOSURE: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and GE Lighting #cbias #SocialFabric
9.27.2012
A room full of kids, pizza and a movie! #MarvelAvengersWMT
What do you get when you take 7 hungry kids, 2 fresh ready-to-bake Marketplace pizzas, the hottest just-released movie and enough candy to fill the bags of a hundred neighborhood trick-or-treaters? You get a rockin' good time. That's what you get.
My crew was so excited to see The Avengers. And by "so excited" I mean "MOM! MOM! MOM! The Avengers is out on DVD - will you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE buy it NOW NOW NOW?!?!" So what's a Mom to do? I had to buy the movie. And we asked a whole bunch of the kids' friends over to watch it with us.
And to make shopping for our DVD even more exciting, Walmart and Marvel teamed up to create an interactive Super Hero app! I have got to tell you, this is one of the coolest things I've seen. By using the app and finding the Avengers Augmented Reality App "trigger points" throughout Walmart, you really can have a fun time shopping!
Let me show you what I mean...
First we downloaded this app (which, by the way is available for both IPhones and Androids)...
Then, as soon as we got to Walmart, we launched the app...so cool...this is the homescreen...
And you can do the coolest stuff with it! While you're walking through Walmart, you can use posters that are spread throughout the store (the "trigger points") to activate different parts of the app! For example, posters like this...
...seem to come to life when you scan them with your phone or tablet. You can answer 9 questions (3 at each of 3 different posters) and find out which Avenger you are (complete with a photo!). Seriously, so cool. Tyler was Thor...the photo had trouble saving to my phone, but I'm going to try it again with the other kids...(once you've gone through it at the store, you can use it over and over again without needing the posters for activation).
After playing with the app for a while, and finishing all of our questions, we grabbed our movie...we chose The Avengers Blu-Ray/DVD/Graphic Novel Combo Pack because I knew my boys would just flip over the comic book that was included. And really, how can you go wrong? A movie and a graphic novel??? Awesome.
Then we headed over to the deli to grab our Marketfresh pizzas...we chose a 5-cheese AND a pepperoni...
We grabbed a few more snacks and things we needed and headed home to start the par-tay!
We set up everything we needed for dinner and threw the pizzas in the oven...
We definitely needed some Avengers cups for our beverages...
All the kids had a great time...
Who likes the pizza??? They all do!
When everyone was done eating, the kids filled their bags with candy and we headed to the family room to watch the movie...
The movie was AWESOME!!! And the kids had the best time! I will definitely be doing this again...
And remember how I mentioned that there were some really neat features of the Super Hero AR app? Here's the coolest (in my opinion)...
My crew was so excited to see The Avengers. And by "so excited" I mean "MOM! MOM! MOM! The Avengers is out on DVD - will you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE buy it NOW NOW NOW?!?!" So what's a Mom to do? I had to buy the movie. And we asked a whole bunch of the kids' friends over to watch it with us.
And to make shopping for our DVD even more exciting, Walmart and Marvel teamed up to create an interactive Super Hero app! I have got to tell you, this is one of the coolest things I've seen. By using the app and finding the Avengers Augmented Reality App "trigger points" throughout Walmart, you really can have a fun time shopping!
Let me show you what I mean...
First we downloaded this app (which, by the way is available for both IPhones and Androids)...
Then, as soon as we got to Walmart, we launched the app...so cool...this is the homescreen...
And you can do the coolest stuff with it! While you're walking through Walmart, you can use posters that are spread throughout the store (the "trigger points") to activate different parts of the app! For example, posters like this...
...seem to come to life when you scan them with your phone or tablet. You can answer 9 questions (3 at each of 3 different posters) and find out which Avenger you are (complete with a photo!). Seriously, so cool. Tyler was Thor...the photo had trouble saving to my phone, but I'm going to try it again with the other kids...(once you've gone through it at the store, you can use it over and over again without needing the posters for activation).
After playing with the app for a while, and finishing all of our questions, we grabbed our movie...we chose The Avengers Blu-Ray/DVD/Graphic Novel Combo Pack because I knew my boys would just flip over the comic book that was included. And really, how can you go wrong? A movie and a graphic novel??? Awesome.
Then we headed over to the deli to grab our Marketfresh pizzas...we chose a 5-cheese AND a pepperoni...
We grabbed a few more snacks and things we needed and headed home to start the par-tay!
We set up everything we needed for dinner and threw the pizzas in the oven...
We definitely needed some Avengers cups for our beverages...
All the kids had a great time...
Who likes the pizza??? They all do!
When everyone was done eating, the kids filled their bags with candy and we headed to the family room to watch the movie...
The movie was AWESOME!!! And the kids had the best time! I will definitely be doing this again...
And remember how I mentioned that there were some really neat features of the Super Hero AR app? Here's the coolest (in my opinion)...
Oh yeah...you see that? That's my kitchen table...in my kitchen...and the whole city is sitting on top of my pizza box...uh huh...you heard me...wanna see more? Check out my entire shop here on Google+ to see the rest of the amazing features this app has to offer...so cool.
Pretty cool, huh?
Are you a Marvel fan? Are you dying to see, or have you seen The Avengers? If you head out to buy the movie...I highly suggest you download the Super Hero AR app and get your movie at Walmart...especially if you have kids...they will get a huge kick out of it. And some Walmarts are even having special Avengers Character Appearances tomorrow, September 29! Woo hoo!
Keep up with Marvel here:
Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Marvel. #MarvelAvengersWMT #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.
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