Yay!!! Let the drama begin! I really hope you guys at AT take a serious stand with the rules this time around. Last year went pretty sour towards the end.

When can entries start to be submitted? It said entries given by Oct. 1st get priority, but what the starting date?

What about international entries? I´m an European color lover ;-)

From the official rules:
"It can be designed by a professional OR by a weekend hobbyist."

I am so NOT looking forward to this. The one biggest grievance from every AT contest is still not being addressed. Good luck AT, it looks like you're going to need it.

I like the idea of hobbyists going up against the professionals. It just shows how good (or bad) some of the hobbyists are.

Does this make anyone else nervous? I would love to enter but having just watched the Kitchen market bag debate I'm afraid how my living room looks would turn into some big debate. And I'd really rather just enjoy my living room.

This makes me a little nervous as well, I would be really hesitant to enter a contest like this.

Matt at www.goodnightmoonfuton.com

Still not sure why pro versus amateur inspires such heated debate. If it *were* such an unlevel playing field, wouldn't that mean that *every* contest would have been won by professionals?

No, because the very early contests did not necessarily have enough prestige/visibility for professionals to have entered them.

That's probably why professionals or homeowners who used professional help did extremely well in the NY segment of Smallest, Coolest 2007... but there were zero professional entries in the SF segment.

The more prestige AT has, the more noticeable the professional-vs.-amateur split is going to become. One sign of success/growth will be when the major competitions split into separate professional and amateur divisions that both have substantial numbers of entries.

Well I for one am excited! The color contests of the past few years have provided some of the biggest inspiration for some of my own weekend-hobbyist decorating, and I'm really looking forward to finding some new inspiration for my new-ish apartment's decor. Full speed ahead!

Has AT considered launching a Southern/Southeastern version? Atlanta would make a great Southern base. Believe me, we love home design down here, too. And we don't read Southern Living!

wende--

Aren't you actually talking three categories there... non-pro, in their own home; non-pro "owner" with pro help; and pro, designing their own home?

I'm not so sure I'm worried about the amateurs vs the pros - some of the finalists from last year were very well done amateur jobs. I'm still a little irked from the blatant cheating that went on last time -specifically the repeated posting of 'off site' home tours that circumvented the 3 picture limit -including one of the four finalists. I really hope that if someone posts additional pictures they get disqualified.

And given the baffling "non-color" winner of last year - I hope when you folks at AT say "boldest, most colorful" you MEAN it this time! (I loved the winning entry last year - just didnt think it was very colorful..or bold)

Disqualifying extra pictures would be fine... But then PLEASE allow more than three photos!! I think five are necessary. Too many entries suffered *just* because they could use only three photos - and that seems like a very wrong criterion on which to base a low vote. The contest already favors good photography skills - seems just wrong to have the contest just be selecting for genius photography. Five photos would make it fairer.

Oh, and if I were going to enter a contest, I wouldn't think about getting an edge by hiring a designer - no, it seems obvious that a better edge would be gained by hiring a professional photographer (with proper lights, etc)!

Ah, I feel silly. I see now that five photos ARE now allowed in the rules. Great! And I like the other improvements AT made to the contest.

I'd like to see "boldest, most colorful" dropped from the contest language, personally.

And ditto, modfan, on the extra photos and surreptitious flikr links circumventing the photo limits.

Have not reveiwed this year's rules yet, but hope the "one room versus whole house" issue that snarled things in the eleventh hour last year was resolved.

I agree about that last winner. There was nothing bold or colorful about it, and that's why I follow this contest. There have been some awesome homes submitted. I'm just glad to see 'em. Five pics will be nice.

I don't want to see a zen winner though. That is startlingly confusing.

I'm trying to view the entries, but can't seem to find a live link on the contest page.

Am I doing something wrong?

Pro vs. Amateur: I don't see a problem (personally), since I use these sorts of contests for inspiration in my own projects.

mykull, I agree with you! I'm hoping AT launches a southern/southeastern community soon.

I'm just a weekend hobbyist with a grad student budget, so I wouldn't expect to win. Still, I love my colorful home and I'd like to enter the contest. But since I live in Nashville, I don't think it would be appropriate for me to enter.

I'm even reluctant to post comments on AT, since I'm not sure that would be appropriate in a community created for denizens of NY/LA/etc.

hey atlanta & nashville folk, if you read the blog, you can enter the contest! NY is probably your nearest city. smallest, coolest was won by a londoner last year! folks from canada, portugal, and mexico have also entered & sometimes won, not to mention entries from cities all over the states. um, in other words, you are a part of the AT community. enter and good luck!

is it me? why cant I get the links to see the entries?

no one has entered yet! it hasn't started!

but it SAYS we have 15 entries.

If you go to the contest page, you'll see that they won't start posting entries until October 1.

Nashville Jen — you should enter the Chicago contest.

I think we need the clause specifying "boldest, most colorful"; otherwise it would end up being exactly the same as "Smallest, Coolest". My apartment wouldn't qualify for this contest, whereas I might enter SC2008; it's an important distinction.

Thanks for that video again.
Now I want a margarita!

what's the wall color behind the sofa? i really love lime.

Somebody entered last year from Morocco. Enter enter enter!