Invitation Homes

What is Make it Home?

At Invitation Homes, we believe any house can feel like home, regardless of how long you plan to stay there. That’s why we enlisted six of the country’s top designers to help us create the first Invitation Homes “Make it Home” Show House in Atlanta. Each member of the design team decorated a room of the show house, providing budget-friendly design tips and techniques. Then, after showing us how to transform a rental home into a dream home, they each hosted a design workshop at the Make it Home Show House.

Keep scrolling to meet the Make it Home Design Team and watch these videos as they reveal each of their rooms. Check out our Instagram highlights for behind the scenes footage.

Meet the Designers

Emily Henderson, Author of STYLED

Emily Henderson is the founder and driving force behind Emily Henderson Design, a multifaceted interior design firm and lifestyle brand. Born and raised in Oregon, Emily moved to New York City after graduating from college, where she worked as a freelance stylist. Her roster included Martha Stewart, Target, West Elm, and Anthropologie until she eventually relocated to Los Angeles. She is The New York Times bestselling author of STYLED, winner of HGTV Design Star, former host of HGTV’s Secrets from a Stylist, is currently Target’s Home Style Expert, and the creator and writer of the daily design blog, www.stylebyemilyhenderson.com . Her work has been featured on the covers of Domino, Good Housekeeping, Bon Appetit and Coastal Living, among others. With clients and projects across the nation, Emily infuses style, function, and a little bit of her iconic personality into everything she works on.

Read our interview with Emily.
Intro: We Finally Did a Show House (+ A Pretty Epic DIY Sofa Fail)
Reveal: A Budget and Rental-Friendly Living and Dining Room (with 80% thrifted finds)

Finding your personal design style

It’s easy to look at pretty pictures or walk in a space and know it’s stylish, but finding your own personal style, the style you want to live in can sometimes be a little trickier, add in a significant other and this can be a recipe for style paralysis! Join Emily Henderson, author of Styled, to find out her personal style journey and how to find your style and the confidence to collaborate with others.

Kevin O'Gara of Thou Swell

Kevin O’Gara is an emerging designer and undergraduate student at Cornell University. He launched his design blog, Thou Swell, as a sophomore in high school and has since collaborated with numerous national home decor brands to share his fresh eye for design. Kevin has been published in Atlanta Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Design*Sponge, House Beautiful, and Style Me Pretty Living, among others. In 2018, he launched an original line of maze-inspired rugs under Kevin Francis Design, which were featured in Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles. He lives in Atlanta with his parents and two sisters.

Read our interview with Kevin.
Invitation Homes: Primary Bedroom Design
Make it Home Show House Sneak Peek
Make it Home Show House Primary Bedroom Reveal

Creating a mood board

Digital inspiration is plentiful, but sometimes it’s helpful to step away from the screen and bring your design ideas to life with physical mood boards that capture your style in a way that a phone or computer can’t. Celebrate your personal style in an interactive workshop with blogger and designer Kevin O’Gara, as we cut-and-paste from magazines and fabric cuttings to make stunning boards to take home and inspire your next home decor project.

Rhoda Vickers of Southern Hospitality

As a pioneer in the blogging community, Rhoda has been sharing inspiration and home improvement projects for 12 years with her loyal base of readers. Never afraid to tackle a new project, she jumps in and gets it done. She and her husband are Baby Boomers and bought a beautiful, but boring, home in the Atlanta suburbs. They are diligently turning this house into their dream space one project at a time. She writes her blog, Southern Hospitality, from the comfort of home and enjoys sharing a variety of home decor topics, but also recipes, fashion over 50, travel and more. Relatable and down to earth, Rhoda inspires other women to make their homes beautiful too! She’s been featured twice in Better Homes and Gardens Kitchens & Baths magazine, as well as Atlanta Magazine.

Read our interview with Rhoda.
Invitation Homes Show House Patio Space
Invitation Homes: Show House Patio Reveal
Invitation Homes Show House Reveal

Creating a three-in-one planter

Colorful planters are an easy way to make your outdoor spaces vibrant and welcoming during the summer months. In an interactive workshop with blogger and designer Rhoda Vickers, we’ll learn how to create a three-in-one planter that will thrive all summer long, using the tried and true method of Thriller, Filler, and Spiller plants. One to stand out, one to fill in the middle, and one to spill over the side.

Brittany Hayes of Addison's Wonderland

Brittany Hayes is the interior designer and creator of Addison’s Wonderland Blog. She has a bachelor’s degree in interior design, a love for color, pattern and whimsy, AND a slight obsession with her two precious daughters. After starting up a kitchen/bath company with her husband in 2003 and creating her own bedding company that appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank in 2013, she can now be found sharing her interior design work and love for fashion and family on the pages of her blog each week. Her design work has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens, Color Magazine, Atlanta Homes and Beautiful Kitchens and Baths, as well as in the 2019 HGTV Dream Home. Along with her middle school sweetheart hubby, she is busy working on her vacation “wonderland” rentals and on opening her very first Addison’s Wonderland brick and mortar store.

Read our interview with Brittany.
Announcing My Part in the Invitation Homes Make it Home Show House!
A Living Room Design Update Inside the Invitation Homes Make it Home Show House
A Modern Take on a Formal Living Room with the Invitation Homes Show House
Using temporary wall paper
Get a firsthand look at some of the newest removable wallpaper options, as well as an installation tutorial, as blogger and designer Brittany Hayes of Addison’s Wonderland, shows us how to get that professionally installed look on your own!
Brittni Mehlhoff of Paper and Stitch

With a background in fine art, Brittni Mehlhoff’s do-it-yourself attitude and laid-back organic modern style led her to start the award winning lifestyle site, Paper and Stitch, in 2008. Creating DIY decor projects and sharing room makeovers go hand in hand in Brittni’s world, as she often integrates personal artwork and other DIY items into the spaces she designs. While these days her canvas is more typically a room in need of a restyling, over a literal blank canvas, her passion for art carries through with unique color palettes and texture combinations inspired by her California roots.

Read our interview with Brittni.
How to Make a Simple Curtain Rod for Less Than $10
Room Reveal: A Guest Room/Home Office with Renter Friendly Design Solutions
Creating a wooden wall hanging
Create a DIY wood wall hanging that is perfect for adding unique, natural texture to any room in your home. This workshop, hosted by Brittni Mehlhoff, will show you exactly how to make this large scale piece of alternative artwork, inspired by nature. Workshop attendees will leave with a finished piece, roughly 2-3 feet in length, that is ready to hang.
Erin Marshall of Live Pretty on a Penny

As the creator and visionary behind Live Pretty on a Penny, Erin has built a name for herself by educating, inspiring, and helping her audience cultivate their own creative sensibilities. She has a knack for showing others just what they need to do to achieve their own budget-friendly home décor dreams. While blogging about a multitude of home and lifestyle topics, she is constantly hard at work achieving décor dreams of her own, by painting, building, and planning the next project.
Erin launched Live Pretty on a Penny in 2012, and has turned it into a go-to home and lifestyle resource for her large and growing audience. Her current content includes room makeovers and reveals, home décor tips and tricks, family, travel tips, and general life advice and hacks. Her design work and expertise have been featured in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on The Rachael Ray Show, on Black Southern Belle, on The Home Depot blog, and more.

Read our interview with Erin.
Make it Home Show House: The Plans for my Space
The Invitation Homes Make it Home Show House Room Reveal
Entire Reveal of the Invitation Homes Make it Home Show House
Organizing a kid’s room
Creating a space for the kids doesn’t have to mean sacrificing style for function. Learn how to make decor serve your organizational needs in an interactive workshop with blogger and designer Erin Marshall as we build our very own floating shelves.
Partners
Invitation Homes proudly partners with high-quality brands to equip our homes. From fresh paint, ceiling fans, and stylish brushed nickel hardware to beautiful flooring, modern appliances, and Smart Home technology, Invitation Homes provides residents with a worry-free leasing lifestyle.

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Make it Home

What is Make it Home?

Meet the Designers

Partners

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