I met Beth Barden from designPOST interiors through the One Room Challenge. And if that wasn’t enough, she then took on the Home Depot game challenge. She also created a darling outdoor area that I wanted to showcase!

But before the Home Depot reveal, I wanted to share a little background on Beth.

Q: Before the blog and before interior design – what did you do?

I was a kindergarten teacher believe it or not. I think about how frazzled I am now most days with my 3 kids, and I can’t believe I used to wrangle 20 of them! It was fun, and I love that age group, but I couldn’t imagine doing it long-term.

Q: Where do you go for your inspirations? Magazines? Books? Bloggers? Interior Designers?

Blogs are a definite addiction – I start each day reading my favorites! But, I do my best thinking and scheming on road trips. Something about being in the car daydreaming always helps me think of new ideas and goals.

Raven’s Playroom

Q: What’s been the hardest project you’ve ever worked on? Why was it difficult?

My own house is always my most difficult project. I am a terrible client! I have such a hard time determining which style I want to incorporate into my house because I am constantly seeing new ideas that I love. Decorating my house is a bittersweet process because I drive myself crazy, but I love planning new projects.

Harper’s Nursery

Q: Tell me something your readers may not know about you.

Hmmm… I am a pretty open book so this hard! I once signed up for Clogging 101 in college. I lost my nerve and dropped it before the first class. I think I was in my Lord of the Dance phase. 🙂

Q: What inspired your HD challenge game?

My HD game was mainly inspired by my kids. Being in the midst of summer they are extremely hyper and antsy so anything I can use to entertain them is great. I wanted to create a game that they could set up, play, and clean up all by themselves!

Beth’s game for the Home Depot Game Challenge

Q: What was the hardest part of this challenge?

The hardest part was trying to think outside the box and come up with a game that hasn’t already been done. With Pinterest and blogs, it seemed like all of my original ideas had already been created. I started to brainstorm ideas that were overly-complicated just to come up with something new until it dawned on me that sometimes the most simple ideas turn out the best.

Her Home Depot game – take a closer look on her blog.

I was really happy with our game because I was able to handle all of the DIY parts of it, and my kids actually really like playing it. The only thing that I would change was the weather the day I tried to throw our party. I envisioned sunny pictures of friends playing the game, but instead we had gray clouds and eventually a total downpour. It was nerve-wracking to say the least, but in the end we all laughed and had a great time!

Beth’s newly created outdoor seating area

Thank you, Beth! You are an inspiration! I’m going to have to jump on the outdoor game bandwagon here soon. Such a great idea from Home Depot to get your creative juices flowing!! Read more about Beth’s game and take a look at several others on The Apron Blog.