Thank you SO MUCH for all of your kind comments on my very hasty post last week. I must confess that running a mini PR blitz focused on me me me left a bitter taste in my mouth. I worked super crazy hair pulling hard to get everything ready for the Bungalow feature, so I'm on cloud nine that the shoot turned out well (and is over!). I read and savored every single sweet word sent this way... but putting my name in flashing lights and hoping for cheery facebook comments and instagram pats on the back is not really where my heart is at. My heart is in the story. So let's talk about the shoot and subsequent interview. Let's talk about how intimidating and nerve wracking it is to know a fancy photographer (Buff Strickland), stylist (Ann Lowe), and writer (Tolly Moseley) will be scrutinizing you and your home. I'm a one stop mom and pop shop, and when I post tours of my place I take the pictures and do the styling and tell the tales. It is HARD to give over control to other people when you are an OCD nightmare.
Can you see it on my face? That is fear. That is the face of a cornered wild animal attempting to play it cool. IT'S NOT WORKING.
So the day of the shoot, Buff (aka photographer for House Beautiful and every other shelter mag on the planet) and Ann (stylist to stars like Tribeza and Camille Styles) show up at my doorstep with a boatload of equipment and gargantuan buckets of flowers. Holy panic attack, I am not a flowery flower kind of a girl. But look:
I am a changed woman. The importance of a few well placed flowers can not be overstated. I am obsessed with those orange gladiolus.
For those of you wondering where the green chairs went, fear not -- they are safely stowed in the attic. They do not look as good with orange gladiolus.
Buff and Ann were probably wondering why I sat watching them the entire time like some old lady who thinks whippersnapper rapscallions might knick the knacks from her shop, but I couldn't help myself. Beyond just feeling like a nervous weirdo, I was really interested to see what happens behind the scenes. And what happens is heavy furniture gets moved, flowers are constantly rearranged, and pillows are replaced from shot to shot:
Goodby peach and ikat pillows, hello leopard.
Lamp cords are magicked away.
For this shot Ann reimagined the playroom as a cocktail lounge, which is frankly fitting. Because at the end of a long hard day negotiating lego wars between two boys, a good old fashioned G&T goes down right smooth like. You can see the rest of the room in a tour I shot HERE... man now that I've seen Buff's stuff I should seriously fix my old dark pictures.
Those of you who followed the One Room Challenge might remember my dinette makeover... and no the wall color here is not the result of fancy photo editing. Yes, I did repaint it AGAIN... five days before the shoot. And yes, Sanders chose the color.
Not much has changed in Luke's nursery since I shot the last tour HERE. I really like Ann's styling -- it's effortless, and that ain't as easy as it looks. Oh I did buy a cute mobile from Furbish. You know I love me some hot air balloons...
I lugged the chandelier from Ike's old room to our new house because it turns every room into a sweet fantasy land filled with sparkles and rainbow kisses. I need to shoot a full tour of this space because there are a lot of good nooks and crannies, if I do say so myself. I thought Buff did a super amazing awesome job here. This is a really really really hard room to shoot. Which is why I haven't shot it yet. And maybe never will...
I do, on the other hand, plan to shoot a full tour of my bedroom makeover. Blood, sweat, and tears people. I wrung my hands over whether I could transform our old master bedroom into this during the two (!) weeks that elapsed between when Bungalow asked to shoot my house and the shoot date... But I'm so happy with the way it turned out and I want to show you the other side of the space where my fancy Jenny Andrews Anderson jellyfish painting reigns supreme. It's sick.
I owe Buff and Ann a huge thank you for double shooting the naked lady pillow and gold pillow on every single setup... I just couldn't decide if naked lady was too risque. HA. Oh, also the quilt is too short and they had to cheat it from side to side in every shot. Let no one ever say that photographers and stylists don't work hard for their money, because they do. Also photographs lie, so don't ever beat yourself up for not looking like a magazine.
Honestly Buff and Ann are two of the nicest, most talented people imaginable. I can't think of two lovelier ladies with which to spend an afternoon biting my nails into the quick. And look -- I was so busy worrying for nothing. They did an AMAZING job.
Of course I would be remiss if I did not highlight the fabulous Tolly Moseley, editrix of one of Austin's oldest blogs Austin Eavesdropper, for writing a kind and insightful article to accompany the pictures. That girl is a gem. Adorable.
I hope you all have a chance to check out the magazine, and to look at some of the other features. Meredith Pardue's house is definitely worth the click over.
So there you have it. Thank you, Bungalow for inviting me into your network of talented people. It feels good to gush about someone else besides myself.
And thank you out there for continuing to read and comment on Design Crisis after all these years...
You guys helped make this happen for me, and I am eternally grateful.
Tears.
