Oh what a week it was! Matthew Mead shoots my home!

Oh what a week it was.  If you have been following along here you 

know Matthew Mead invited me to be included in one of his magazine issues.

He has four special editions coming out, and I will be in one about decorating.

More on that at the end of the post.

I mostly want to share how wonderful it was for me personally

to experience this with Matthew.  Its been almost three years since

I decided to open a store and sell Annie Sloan's incredible Chalk Paint®.

And since that time, my home has taken a back seat.

The love of decorating and creating our home is no longer

on the front burner, and its been a great loss for me.

When Matthew asked, I was delighted and scared to death because

I knew I would have to tackle many things in a short period of time.

Speed decorating!! So here is just a snippet of how my home looks 

today, and how much I adored getting it whipped into shape and 

then giving it over to the skilled and brilliant Lifestyle guru

Matthew Mead.  This guy with a camera is beyond compare.

So while my photographs capture the basics, his will make the spaces

look magical.  Trust me, I have seen a preview and its beyond 

gorgeous! I am on a cloud right now so without further ramblings

here are some of the spaces he photographed for the magazine.

Just realize that these images are taken with my pedestrian hands.

 The painted piano was a great focal point of many photographs.

Who knew a white piano was such a scene stealer?

 Like me, Matthew was captivated by my blue opaline chandelier.

 Sylvia was the only dog that was allowed to stay for the shoot.

She was a charming addition and would only bark when Matthew's

ring tone went off on his phone.  It was pretty funny~she did not like it.

He took pics of my tiny entry area.

The colors of the living room repeat in the old glass

bottles and the toss pillow I made out of a blue and green toile.

 Our bedroom was photographed too. 

Its got a new layout and we just LOVE how it 

feels now with the bed on the diagonal.  

All because of the photo shoot!  These things

are the perks now that they are finished.  Forced me to get 

things feeling and looking right instead of just ignoring them.  

A window seat in the master bedroom got a little spiffing 

up too with pillows and more from HomeGoods.  I made the chintz pillow 

out of some vintage Maria Buatta chintz draperies.  

The round embroidered pillow and the burlap linen style pillows 

are from HomeGoods, the best place to find the pillows 

you need for a quick makeover. 

 Then came my Frenchy bathroom. 

 This bathroom was the last project I was working on when I crossed

 paths with Annie Sloan and decided to open a shop (or two or three).  

So this project came to a screeching halt and time has stood still here and 

I think I have never shown it off since that time I began the bathroom in 2011.  

Its a bit theatrical and shows off my love for French style and I conjured

 this room up in the most Marie Antoinette kind of way.  

Its a private space and I think those are the spaces where you can have 

the most fun in your home decor.  The closet doors were standard builder doors

 that I embellished with stock moldings from Lowes.  If only I had 

access to my stock of Efex appliques that are so much more refined.  

But that was then and this is now, and I still think it is beautiful. 

 The Louis chair is a project that awaits, but looks grand in its 

stripped down form. And how about that shimmery beaded pink slinky dress? 

 Can you believe that was my mother's dress that was handmade for

 her while we lived in Thailand?  It was the swinging sixties and 

mom wore a size 6 and rocked that dress!  It looks amazing on a hanger 

and is the perfect accent for my fantasy bathroom.  Pull out your prettiest dress 

and hang it up in your bathroom just because.  

Its an artful and personal expression of style.

 My dressing table was also a project back in 2011 when 

I had a marble remnant cut to fit the dormer alcove.  

What girl doesn't want a dedicated space to get her pretty on? 

 My kitchen got a few shots, but the lighting

 is the bleakest in this space. 

 I had the big urn styled with some faux green hydrangeas. Matthew 

suggested piling my green apples inside of it~which I loved.  

This is the shot of the urn holding the fake flowers.  MM much

prefers real to fake.  I do too but will use these for periods of time

when I am busy and have nothing fresh.  But the fruit was brilliant!

I got more than a few fresh options at Trader Joes the day before the shoot.

I love how they make the house feel more lovely.

  Its true, fresh is best. It can transform a room. 

Although my kitchen is small, its cheerful due in large
part to the zingy green accent color.  I found the perfect accent
rug in green and white at HomeGoods as well as a 
darling pocket watch clock that I hung by the kitchen window.  

 Matthew spent a lot of time shooting my dining room.  I almost

forgot about my wallpapered china cabinet.  He LOVED it!

He pulled a few things out of it, did a little impromptu arranging

and then snapped several photos.  I loved watching him pick what

appealed to his eye and was pleased when he would pick something

out that was special to me, in this case it was a little china figurine that 

came from my paternal grandmother.  One of the few things I have 

from her.  So this is a quickie post as now I plan to post on the different

rooms in more detail and show him shooting as well as how different

some of the spaces in my home are now.  

At the end of the day I caught both of us as I captured him

doing his thing.  This man is brilliant with a camera and has

an eye that is simply amazing.  I feel so happy our paths have crossed

and feel it is the first of many times we will meet again.

We got along swimmingly and I feel incredibly happy.

I hope April hurries up and gets here, cause that is when

MATTHEW MEAD DECORATES  will be released!

His magazine Upcycled Style will be out March 3 at your local

Barnes and Noble, Walmart and CVS...I will be doing a giveaway

on the blog for it as well. Matthew brought me a copy of it, hot

off the press and it is BEYOND gorgeous! Thick glossy pages

with hardly any ads...its all content on lovely homes, beautiful ideas 

one can use to upcycle things in their everyday life and so much more.

This photo collage is a sneak peek of what you will be seeing in DECORATING.

I think you are gonna love it!