A 3-day shoot was scheduled but everything went so smoothly and the team were such pros that we were able to knock it out in just two days. (Not that I would have minded them sticking around a while longer... I loved the entire experience!)
In the days before the shoot, the stylist (Jessica) began shipping props/decorations to our house...
I had to reassure Brad and let him know that it would all be gone the day the shoot ended, ha. Jess also packed her SUV with more goodies on the way to our home from the airport the day before the shoot (Saturday).
And the flowers... swoon...
They came all the way from LA and unfortunately, some were wilted so we had to improvise. Fortunately there's lots of natural green foliage on our property and I was able to clip some branches (which I preferred the look of anyway!)
The photographers arrived first thing Sunday morning and began to set up. I tried to hold back from drooling all over their fancy equipment.
There was as specific shot list to follow and I assumed it would be done by room, but the photographer (Paul) ended up walking around the house see which shots had the best light at the time and captured those spaces before the good lighting shifted. Makes perfect sense!
The first capture of the day—our foyer. They left it pretty much the same, but since this will be for spring/summer they wanted more pops of color, so some chartreuse green boots and a matching wreath were brought in:
It was super interesting to see what went on behind the scenes. Like in the shot above, the kitchen window was making a glare on the ceiling so the photog assistant (Isabelle) ran outside to hold up a scrim to filter the light:
Those scrims were used in most of the shots, along with strobe lights to fill in the shadows:
But the actual photography went by really fast. I was impressed at how quickly they were able to get everything set up for each shot—they knew exactly what they were doing (obviously!). Paul was so helpful with explaining the process to me too (although I tried not to bother him too much). He said our house had excellent light and it made his job very easy ;)
The bulk of our time was spent styling/setting everything up...
The objective was to use as much of my own decor and DIY projects as possible in every shot. Then Jess would grab a bunch of her props and start editing them down until she was satisfied. My goal was to let her be creative and assist as much as possible—fetching props, cutting branches, moving cars, grabbing food, etc.
It was so neat seeing a new perspective and a fresh set of eyes come in and do their thing. I found myself thinking "wow, I never would have even thought of that!" on many occasions. I've never been around any stylists/interior designers before so it was a great learning experience.
And I was surprised at how non-meticulous it was... there was a fair share of fixing minor details (like spending 20 minutes to get ice cubes and lemon slices just right) but I forgot to empty the trash in my studio, for example, and Jess just said "Nah, leave it, it looks more realistic that way!"
My perfectionism wanted to kick in and move/rotate/fix a lot of things but surprisingly, Jess ended up leaving a lot of what I had in place already untouched. So if nothing else, it should definitely look "lived in!"
Early preview of our living room... don't look too hard! Full reveal to come next week.
Here's a peek at our bedroom... love the pillows she added:
We waited until just the right time before sunset to shoot the deck.
I like how they pulled the bar cart up into the shot.
Notice anything new? We added string lights last week. Love them so much. Not sure if they'll make it into the final images though.
Day 2 was dedicated to the kitchen. They needed a lot of shots there since it will be in both magazines.
Here's the bar area, mid styling:
I love that Jess wanted to use every opportunity to include my prints. They'll be all over the house! Can't wait to see them in action.
Here's the crew (myself included) right after we finished Monday afternoon. They were such an amazing team to work with and I can't thank them enough (and BHG) for choosing to work with us!
The whole experience was definitely more casual than I had expected. No stress at all... everyone was really laid back, worked well together and got along great. It was perfect. Even my cats were well behaved and wanted to hang out with them!
Huge thanks again to Maria, Jess, Paul and Isabelle from Jenna, Brad, Susie & Biscuit <3
Come back next week for the living room reveal!
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