Congratulations to our winner, mamakin616!

When it comes to home decorating, I love heading to my local Lowe's because it has everything I need in one place. Sure, I might get lost in the massive warehouse while looking for that extra can of semi-gloss paint, but hey, that's half the fun of it, right?

Now that the holidays are here -- Lowe's is the perfect spot to snag great gifts for everyone on your list. That's why we're giving one lucky Stir reader a $100 Lowe's gift card. Whether you're looking for carpeting, window treatments, or that fun doodad your father-in-law just has to have this Christmas, Lowe's is sure to have it all.

To enter to win, simply tell me:

It was with great interest that I read that the standard thermostat had been redesigned by a team that took Steve Jobs and Apple as their inspiration. It’s so genius. I mean, it seems that stores like Skymall and Hammacher Schlemmer exist only to convince us that we need things we’d never use, when in fact what we want is new twists on the ubiquitous items we use every single day.
 
The new thermostat, called The Nest ($249 at store.nest.com), is more than just sleek and sexy-looking -- it learns your family’s habits so that it can turn on and off even when you don’t think to do so, which is supposed to save you energy. Which is great and all, but really, it’s kind of amazing that we accepted this ugly ecru-white box as a must-have for as long as we did.
 
Now, I’m hungry for more home utilities that look better than they have to. Here’s what I’ve found:

We've all heard that a coat of paint is the easiest way to bring new life to a room, but what if the paint went on the floor instead of the wall?

While it could be a little risky to cover up original hardwood, it might be just the thing some of your less attractive floors need (cement laundry room anyone?). And while some of these examples look extremely time consuming, I think there are some definitely doable ideas as well. Shall we take a look?

We've loved living in the French countryside for the last five months. The home we're renting is called La Cressonnière, and it's a beautiful farmhouse filled with details that I'm going to be sad to leave when our journey ends.

We haven't yet found a home for when we move back to the States, but I'm already thinking of ways we can bring a little of La Cressonnière with us. One idea I love is using sliding barn doors inside. Not only is it a great space saver, it adds visual interest and can be done to look modern or rustic.

See some examples of this look below.

Never let it be said that I suffer from excessive maturity or seriousness. Many, many online tools exist to help you figure out how to arrange and decorate your home for maximum beauty and pleasure. But in the hands of someone like me, these can become dangerous -- or just plain fun, depending on how big an idiot you are.

Me, I'm a massive idiot, so when given a virtual room, I like to see how hideous I can make it. Given that I've actually enacted projects like this in the past -- oh, yes, what a cute idea, making the molding a different unbearably bright color in each room of my bachelorette apartment -- I think we should all be grateful for a virtual way to explore our rearranging and redecorating urges.

Here are my latest creations. Which would you move into, if you had to?

We have a great friend named Marc who is a true DIY dad. He re-did his kitchen (like plumbing and all), he's refinished bathrooms, he's built furniture. He is the friend you always want around, the one you would almost pay to have around when you are re-painting as he does a professional-level job. Seriously, we have one wall in our apartment that looks awesome, while the rest are kind of so-so -- we call it the Marc Wall.

Marc is the dad of two amazing little ones, and his wife is always in search of cool tools, gadgets, whatnots to give him. Father's Day is no different, so I'm helping her find some fabu gifts that celebrate his DIY-ness!

While doors are an essential part of every house, they're often overlooked. I like the idea of bringing attention to them with a splash of color instead of simply letting them blend in with the wall.

These yellow double doors are pretty bold, but you could do something a little more subdued and still add some fun to your place. See examples of both bold and conservative-but-stylish choices below. 

On last night's episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, the world met the Brown family, who lost one of their two daughters in a car accident caused by texting and driving. Since then, the family has become extremely active in Texas, speaking about the dangers of distracted driving, and were seriously deserving of a new home and a fresh start.

If you're like me and weren't already crying after hearing the family's story, then you started to when Ty Pennington told the Browns that the team was setting up a "Remember Alex Brown" fund in her memory. In typical EHM fashion, the team wanted to do something fun to uplift little sister Katrina's spirits. What better way to cheer her up than bring her to see every 12-year-old's dream boat, Justin Bieber?

Well, let me tell you something about Justin. That guy is a sucker for attention. In fact, I have never seen such a shameless display of self-promotion masked as a charitable act of kindness. Let me explain: