I Went to HomeGoods’ Camp and Learned These 5 Genius Design Tips
For the past few years, HomeGoods has been focusing on brand experiences to both inspire and bring together store superfans, a group affectingly dubbed the “Finders” (named for the pastime of going to stores and finding treasures for the home). The company has created its own House of HomeGoods bookable Airbnb for shoppers, which was decked out from top to bottom in HomeGoods decor, and went south to Austin, Texas, last year to reward local customers with a fancy chef’s dinner bookable with a limited number of reservations. This year, though, just last weekend, HomeGoods upped the ante and leaned into nostalgia with an Upstate New York camp takeover that around 30 lucky Finders were able to sign up for online at the discounted price of just $49.99.
As part of the booking, participants and their guests were given weekend-long lodging and meals as well as the ability to participate in a bevy of summer camp-like activities, from scavenger hunts and ghost story circles to embroidery classes and planting workshops. The camp itself got a HomeGoods glow-up, each of the 10 cabins getting completely made over into a 2024 trend-inspired space — examples included Eclectic Grandpa (shown just below), Coastal Grandma, and” Zest Friend Forest,” a citrus-themed space that references the store’s viral food stools. Some of the common spaces, like the mess hall (shown above), were redecorated, too.
I got a chance to visit the camp myself alongside some of the campers, and most couldn’t believe how the experience really brought the HomeGoods alive. Even more exciting? Attendees got to see spaces fully furnished in HomeGoods finds — and take home some goodies themselves — so they could re-create their favorite looks. And because a HomeGoods-designed space never disappoints in terms of decorating ideas, I’m bringing you the best tips I — and a few fellow campers — saw so you can steal these smart decorating ideas, too.
Painting wood wall treatments can make a big difference.
Don’t get me wrong: Natural woodwork is gorgeous. But sometimes a wood-paneled room can benefit from a bit of strategically placed paint, especially if you’re working with a very yellow toned wood finish. So don’t be afraid to break out a paintbrush if the wood you have isn’t so special or is making a room seem dated. HomeGoods’ stylists recognized the potential power of paint in refreshing some of the walls in the camp’s common spaces and cabins by bringing in a bevy of accent colors, from a rich emerald green in the Bookworm Birch Cabin to a soothing blue. Leaving the ceilings and cubbies unpainted, though, creates a nice contrast that gives the spaces a ton of personality and warmth.
Layer your artwork — literally!
Whether you’re a HomeGoods superfan or just a casual shopper, you probably know how important art can be in the design scheme of a room. Framed prints and paintings are not only a source of color and pattern, but they also can inspire a room’s entire palette or serve as an important focal point that helps to ground furniture in a space. If you thought you’d seen every last art trick, though, think again. I couldn’t believe how creative the gallery walls in the cabins were, and the individual statement pieces got in the mix, too. Case in point? This floral “painting” is actually two layered pieces! HomeGoods’ stylists needed a larger work for this vignette, so they took a piece of fishing line to layer this smaller print over an abstract larger one. That’s what I call a brilliant, problem-solving hack!
Rugs are meant for mix and matching.
Camper Brianna Chase, who works in advertising technology, was struck by how the HomeGoods team covered the floors in the cabins with multiple rugs, both by layering smaller carpets over larger ones and using several rugs side by side or spaced methodically to create zones in the larger cabins. “I was not expecting all of the layered rugs,” Chase says. “But it looks so good — it creates dimension and makes it much more interesting.” The HomeGoods team pulled this off by making sure a common color existed between each of the rugs they put together in a given cabin.
Personalize your finds if you can.
Just because you find something in the store looking a certain way doesn’t mean you have to keep it that way. A favorite activity of camper Kimmie Allen was embroidery class at the Embroidery Studio, where campers could customize throws, pillows, blankets, tea towels, and more with threads and stitching. “Embroidery blanks can be so plain,” Allen says. “Pieces at HomeGoods are perfect for customizing, and they cost about the same amount.
Bookends don’t have to coordinate exactly!
Take a page (pun intended!) out of HomeGoods’ playbook, and feel free to mix and match your bookends. This little quirky touch adds a lot more variety to your bookshelves and tabletops.