MOORESVILLE, N.C. - Lowe's and Houzz, a leading social site for home remodeling and design, announced today a marketing relationship that kicks off with a “Dream Kitchen” sweepstakes - the chance to win a dream kitchen, valued at $50,000, designed and built by Houzz's top designers and contractors with materials from Lowe's.

“We’re proud to announce a first-of-its kind marketing alliance with Houzz,” said Gihad Jawhar, vice president of Lowes.com. “With Houzz’s impressive community of designers and renovators and Lowe’s innovative online retail experience, we will provide the best possible tools and resources to improve homes at every stage of a project, from inspiration to completion.”

Houzz is revolutionizing the remodeling process by enabling consumers and remodeling professionals to collaborate using visual, mobile, local and social tools. The Houzz site and mobile apps feature more than 250,000 high quality interior and exterior photos, thousands of highly-engaging articles written by design experts, product recommendations and a directory of residential remodeling and design professionals across the United States, Canada and the world.

By May 2012, Houzz’s inspirational image gallery and articles will be integrated into the MyLowe’s experience, allowing consumers to add inspirational content to their home improvement projects. For more information about MyLowe’s, visit www.lowes.com/myLowes.

“Teaming up with Lowes enables Houzz to drive even greater exposure for residential remodeling and design professionals in the Houzz community,” said Adi Tatarko, Houzz CEO “This exposure gives professionals business opportunities locally and on a broader level.”

For additional information on the sweepstakes and to fill out the entry form, visit http://www.houzz.com/lowes *.

Lowe’s strategic relationship with Houzz is one of Lowe’s many recent technology commitments to making home improvement simple through a multichannel experience. In addition to Houzz and MyLowe’s, recent technology highlights include:

•Wi-Fi in all Lowe’s stores

•Rollout of iPhone technology in stores to help associates better serve customers

•Lowe’s consumer mobile app, the highest-rated retail app in the Apple store

•Acquisition of ATG Stores, a leading online retailer of home improvement and lifestyle products based in Kirkland, Wash.

•Announced plans to enter smart home market with launch of the Iris cloud-based home management system

Recent Houzz highlights include:

•Growth to 50 million monthly page views by 2.5 million homeowners, residential architects, interior designers, general contractors and other remodeling professionals.

•More than one million downloads of the five-star rated Houzz iPad app

•New social features including the ability to visually follow the activity of design professionals, photo recommendations based on the wisdom of the Houzz community, and helpful green tags within photos that provide detailed product information crowd-sourced from the Houzz community of professionals.

Source: Lowe's and Houzz