Maison Decor: magazine shoot

Showing posts with label magazine shoot. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Designing French Home Accessories and Magazine Secrets

2017 has been an incredible year for me as far as magazine features goes! It never gets old

to know that my home or yard is going to be inside a magazine, and never did I think I would

get a cover. Until the day that Fifi O'Neill came to do my house for Romantic Country Spring 2017

issue and the photographer, Mark Lohman said to her, "This is going to be a cover try", as he

pointed to my living room and where he planned to take a photo. Um...what??? I was standing

right there, but its like I wasn't standing right there while they did their business. Any way, after

that comment, he mentioned another angle that could be a "cover try", and that is when I started

thinking that getting my house on the cover would be very cool indeed. And it happened!

I got an email from Fifi telling me they had picked my living room for the Spring cover.

Wow. Just like that. It takes months before it comes out in print (and sometimes longer),

and of course you just would never mention anything like that or you might JINX it and it

would likely be considered bad etiquette in the magazine world. I would think.

My next two shoots were with Matthew Mead for different publications, one being his own

brand special edition magazines, published by Country Sampler, and it was all about Outdoor Style.

Since we are good buddies now, I was able to see the process of the magazine cover decision,

and it was pretty darn interesting. The publisher likes to have control over these things, and they

picked many "possible" covers, including several of my shots. Images get edited and re-edited and copy gets changed and colors of the titles and on and on.

OMG, could it happen again, with another cover shot?

Yes, it did!! I had to keep it quiet for several months, which was not fun.

I was so proud of this shoot, and the way it all turned out, and I just hope this magazine gets the readers it deserves, because its packed with all kinds of outdoor spaces, including my awesome French Courtyard. We love our courtyard! If anyone is interested in getting a chance to win a free copy of this Upstyled Home Outdoors issue, leave a comment letting me know why you would like to get one, and you will be entered to win. Make sure I have an email address so I can contact you for your mailing address, in case you win. This magazine hits news stands April 25th, 2017.

The other magazine that you may have noticed on the first photo, was Where Women Create.

This is a big honor, to be featured in this magazine, as artists of note and talent are interviewed

in their workshops and studios. This issue will be out May 1st, and it is a biographical type article

on where I found my creativity and what nurtured my creative nature. I hope you enjoy it. If you ever wanted to know more about me, this is your chance, lol. So one of the secretive parts of the magazine world, is that sometimes you get left on the cutting room floor. And that just happened to me this week. I was contacted by an editor of Country Home to possibly be included in their Style Makers section of the next issue, due in June 2017. Wow. This is really amazing! I wasn't sure what to make of all these features, but it was certainly thrilling to be considered a Style Maker. And just like that, I got an email saying there wasn't enough room in the issue, and that I may be considered for one of their future issues. So POOF! But hey, I am more than thrilled to be in the racks this year

in these great issues.

The other bit of very cool news is that I was contacted to do some design work for a private company who is a wholesaler of romantic styled European clothing and who has decided to add some complementary home accessories to the line. They wanted to know if I would give them some designs for French home decor. So we struck a handshake of a deal, and my designs have been well received thus far. Its funny because as a former owner of a little retail home boutique shop, I had a hard time finding things that I personally was attracted to, given my penchant for French style. And now I get to CREATE French style items that will be made in factories and it couldn't be more exciting! As things move along, I will be sharing more specifics, but for now we are fleshing out concepts and items to be included in the collection.

One of my favorite things is to sketch.

My design sketches are done in pencil with a bit of colored pencil

added to give it some life, then emailed to the owner of the company for approval.

The feeling is an overall rustic and elegant European look.

I will share the company and where you may be able to find these items

Yum.

How to Pick Paint Colors: Magazines vs Real Life

Color: Benjamin Moore Aura in Woodlawn Blue #HC 147

Picking wall colors can be daunting, and the best way to find a good one

can be locating a color from an online image or a magazine, but then you must

follow through and get a sample of the color to put on your own walls.

The reason is that magazines can saturate or lighten up actual results and the

color will be very different than the one you admired.

Often asked questions on my blog are about my own wall colors.

They want to know the name and brand of the paint I use for certain rooms.

Our living room was painted a year ago in Woodlawn Blue.

This blue has a bit of green to it, and its such a pretty color.

Things that are more blue make the walls look green,

and things in the room that have more green make the walls look blue.

The color will be darker when it is cloudy outside or at nighttime.

The blue will vary on each wall, depending upon the lighting.

My camera may lighten up the color too, depending upon the setting

I use, but this color is pretty much how I think it looks, at least on my screen.

But take a look at how it looks in the current issue of Romantic Country magazine.

Its more aqua, and every color in the room is more intensified, from the

pinks to all of the blues. The blue wall here is more aqua than this color really is,

so never pick a color from a magazine photo without testing it first.

That being said, I love love love this blue paint!

Color: Benjamin Moore Regal in Natural Elements #1515

Our dining room walls are a taupe color that has a warm tone.

Some taupes and greys are cool, and some are warm.

I have not tired of this neutral color one bit.

The woodwork is White Dove by BM.

This bench is in the dining room, and so the wall color

is the same as the rest of the room.

It is a nice neutral, very light and it appears to go with everything.

This is the same bench and wall in Romantic Country magazine.

The day of the shoot it was so gloomy and

so lighting was used to simulate daylight.

Notice how the wall color looks to have a green undertone.

My hallways all have the same color, Natural Elements, with White Dove trim.

Using one neutral color will unify the spaces when you have open spaces.
When I painted the living room walls blue, I had to pick an ending point for the
blue color, and you can see right there in the corner by the door how it looks.

Benjamin Moore Natural Elements #1515 in matte finish

Behr paint from Home Depot in Contemplation

Our bedroom was the most "styled room" in the photo shoot for Romantic Country,

as you will see below. But here it is as we normally have it, mostly blue and white.

The wall color is also another pretty blue with a green tone.

Romantic Country Magazine image shows the walls to be more intensified.

So when you love a wall color in a magazine, beware!

Benjamin Moore Aura Spa in Simply White

Our master bathroom's walls are in last year's Color of the Year

by Benjamin Moore. I used Aura Spa on recommendation of my paint

guy at the local paint shop and I hated this paint. It is supposed to have a

built in agent to resist mold and mildew, which we really did not have any

issues with anyway. What I found was that I needed three coats to cover

the beige paint that was on the walls, so the effort was incredible to just paint

the walls white. Next time I would use plain Aura (as it has no VOCs) and

I think it would have been two coats to do what took three here.

But I digress, as we are talking about how paint colors differ from images

found in magazines and in real life.

Can white look different in a magazine?

The Romantic Country magazine image has lightened everything up and

all of the colors are intensified, and the white looks brighter.

I do love the color, Simply White. My woodwork is White Dove.

The bathroom cabinet is the same as the wall color

in the bedroom, Behr Contemplation.

Picking out samples from a paint store can be the most difficult thing to do,

and my recommendation is to pick what you are attracted to, then dial it down

and select a color similar but a lot lighter and a bit muddier. It will look

more sophisticated instead of something that came out of a crayola color box.

Benjamin Moore Aura paint, Basil Green #2029-10, matte finish

Unless that is what you are going for, lol!

My son, Brandon, an artist from Los Angeles, picked this color out.

Turned out a month later Pantone picked a similar color

as the color of the year for 2017.

This color has more yellow in it, than our green does.

I would have gone with a color that was more subdued and darker,

but in the end it is a very fun color and everyone loves it.

It "needs" things on the wall to balance it out,

and the black and white is a great neutralizer to its boldness.

When Fifi O'Neill arrived for the shoot, she looked at the tv room

and said, "oh we won't be shooting this room, it is not romantic at all".

That made me laugh, and of course it is true. It would have taken

a flower cart filled to the brim to bring romance to that space.

My Photo Shoot with Fifi O'Neill and Mark Lohman

I had the pleasure and the honor of being selected to have my house featured in

Fifi O'Neill's Romantic Country magazine. For months it's been in the making, and

the last few days were killer, getting everything looking polished and shiny.

Living with a pesky puppy in particular means white slipcovers need to be washed

and I didn't dare put them back on until the morning of the shoot. As soon as I

did, Colby came over and wiped his breakfasty mouth on one of the cushions.

Grrrrrr!!! I decided to have him spend the day with my son Brandon to get him out

of the house and away from what was about to take place. While I waited for

Fifi to arrive with photographer Mark Lohman and his assistant, son Taylor, I took a

few shots of my "before" status. I was very interested to see what Fifi would do to

style the rooms in the house. As soon as they arrived, I gave them a tour of the

house and they rooms they wanted to shoot. They spoke their own language it seemed

as they made decisions rapidly about what angles would be shot, and what things

needed to get changed up for a good looking photo. They have shot over 50 homes

together and they work efficiently and playfully to capture the best these private homes

have to offer. So for me it was a pleasure to observe and sometimes chime in on

the different stages of how the photos were coming together.

Although we started in the bedroom, these iPhone pics show them in action.

Little adjustments are made between each shot, and then accessed in the monitor.

Notice how dark the room is...after having sunshine for the last three months, it decided

to be the darkest day ever the morning of my shoot. But I was told not to worry.

And boy was that the truth, as I soon would find out.

They set the monitor on the piano top and focused for this shot, only the sofa

and coffee table. Fifi set up a cup of tea (actually diet coke with water) and some

other items she rummaged from my kitchen. She asked if I had a few cookies...errrr...

no I did not. But luckily I had my mother in law (who lives next doors) to rely on.

I proudly told Fifi and Mark that she was a Swedish gal who loved baking cookies and I

would run and get a few for this shot. But when I went over to get them, she looked

flummoxed and said all she had were some Keebler elves cookies in the freezer.

Hahah!! OMG, the cookies were little elves....with writing on them. Not so Romantic.

Then Fifi asked me if I had any mint, and when I gave her some sprigs from the garden,

she arranged the cookies on the plate with the mint and it all looked quite nice.

This was the resulting shot. Most beautiful!

She added big fluffy pink hydrangeas to my Costco bunch of roses

and the floral arrangement went from standard to luxurious.

Fifi plucked elements of my pink lusterware collection for the "tea" service.

A snap of the camera would result in micro adjustments of a pillow or a throw,

and those little adjustments often made the difference between average and glorious.

The shoot actually started on the top floor of the house with my bedroom and bath.

The equipment was all brought up by Taylor and set up to include lighting

and the camera and the monitor. Here Fifi checks the shots from the bedroom.

After checking, she would go make adjustments. When it came to my bedding,

she opted to switch out some of the pillow cases and added toss pillows and a pink

chenille bedspread to give it a more layered Romantic look. Colby hates that pink spread

and when I did have it on the end of the bed once, he made sure to get it off in short order.

After the main shot of the room was taken, Mark zeroed in on some detail shots.

The small swedish chair came out of the bathroom, as did my pashmina.

It ended up being a very pretty shot, and I loved it.

Seriously, how good is this?!

The master bath was the second room to shoot, and they worked on an area

that centered on the sink. White rugs were replaced with a vintage hooked rug

I had and Fifi set up my vanity bench in the center. It looked pretty before

they even snapped a shot! She switched things around and used some of my costume

jewelry and my big bottle of Chanel No 5 to make the shot more glamorous.

Other rooms were the kitchen, my tiny dark kitchen.

But they made it look bright and beautiful.

And the dining room, which centered on my transferware collection and the Swedish bench I got

from Matthew Mead and then they did an overall shot showing the whole room. So pretty!

After six hours, my day of watching styling and shooting had come to an end.

Things were returned to their rightful spot and we said our goodbyes.

It was such a fun experience for me, as I covet home decor magazines,

and have examined lovely rooms over the years in their pages.

To have my house come out in Romantic Country will be such a thrill!

Due to be out in December, it will officially be the spring issue.

Other homes around New England will also be featured.

If you have instagram check us out!

Fificoconut and Amymaisondecor are our account names.

Since we both hate having our pics taken we decided to just

look at each other, hahah!

At the end of the day, the wires were all corralled and the dog was let back

into the house. Life begins again, regular style.

But I will always love the idea of how it could be... with a small village to help!

A French Style Courtyard Comes to Life

What a dump!

Seriously, our "back yard" did not exist just a couple years ago. It was

behind the house and a very narrow strip with only one window on the lower level. A totally

awkward space that became the spot to dump things. Husband was amassing a pile of granite boulders and little did I know that they would become the foundation for a French Country Courtyard. Courtyards are narrow, and usually made of stone, and over time I put a vision and a wish list together. We ended up with a space that the entire family loves!

Starting with French doors that replaced the lone window in our dining room, this door is now the most used entry in the house. The rest of the facade was blank space and so a pair of vinyl trellises added some detail and architectural interest. The fireplace vent was hidden by a birdhouse constructed from an old wooden crate that we added a simple roof and cedar shingles. A few holes drilled out for the birds, and a big post was all it took to make it look like it belonged in the flower bed. That vent bugged the heck out of me, and I just had to figure out someway to hide it. It turned out to be a very good solution. In the fall when it comes time to vent the fireplace, we will take it down and store it in the shed until the spring.

This shows how the birdhouse was attached to the house. We used an L bracket in addition to attaching the post to the base with wood. Below you can see the birdhouse in its raw formation.

The crate we used was an old one that fit over the vent nicely. You could build one out of scrap wood if you need to construct one from scratch. I love that we made this just using things around the house and the yard. The moldings are old painted moldings I had from my Maison Decor workshop days, and then the tiny roof overhangs were made by cutting the corners off of a rectangular wooden photo frame. We glued all the moldings in place with wood glue and when it dried, we painted it in a shabby fashion with white Chalk Paint. Easy to do, it took us about two hours.

This is a closer view of the rustic table I created, simply by laying barn board planks on top of the old iron lattice patio table that I have had for years. (You can see the iron set in the before photo sitting on the lawn.)Hubs drilled a hole in the center of one of the wider boards so the umbrella could slide through, and then the other random width planks were set side by side and we screwed it together underneath on each end to unify it. This is SO EASY!! And it completely changed the feeling in the courtyard. The next thing on my list for the rustic dining space was to get rid of the iron patio chairs and replace with all weather wicker chairs. I wanted a greyish wicker, but none were to be found. At least in my price range...

Then this set at Lowes caught my eye, and I snapped up 6 of them at $60 a piece. Not a bad price for all weather wicker with steel construction. They are so comfortable and I love the way they look with the wood table as well as the color of the rustic iron daybed. I only needed four for the table, but I knew I would be kicking myself if I didn't get two more to use in the conversation area opposite the daybed. I bet they will be going on sale any minute now, but I had to have them for the photo shoot that was about to take place, and I thought the price was pretty good even not on sale.

All of the changes combined to create this wonderful European style space behind the house. Matthew Mead shot the courtyard for his spring issue UPSTYLED HOME magazine. We spent the day yesterday fluffing and styling it to perfection!

Matthew has such an array of props, whenever he shoots he offers to bring some of his stash, and I am always in LOVE with what he pulls out of his pickup truck. Like these purple linen embroidered placemats and napkins. They looked beautiful with the wood top and vintage china I had for the table setting. Some newer glassware in purple and green with gold embossed details came from HomeGoods. We used rustic galvanized pots and tubs and pails to hold the bushels of flowers he brought for the shoot.

My mora clock came outside for a bit of whimsy and in the end we decided to nix it, and it ended up propped up against the fence until it went back into the dining room. Stacks of purple transferware and scattered plums decorated the tabletop.

Matthew brought old purple toile bedspreads and we used them to dress up the daybed for the shoot.

I adored them!! You can also see my idea for a "coffee table" was a cube shaped granite block. I normally put a tole tray on it, but for the shoot we used my gigantic turkey platter in purple transferware. A bottle of purple clad champagne for Costco worked nicely too.

The other large undertaking was the completion of the shed and vegetable garden area on the upper terrace. Just the day before the shoot two of my sons and husband spread about 5 tons of pea gravel over a weed barrier all around the shed and the little vegetable garden. Wow, what a difference that made! Its an enchanting little spot now. Pea gravel is the key element to creating that French style courtyard space, and its inexpensive and pretty easy to do do yourself. So have some delivered and get out your wheelbarrow and make a precious little space for your own enjoyment. That spot that no one uses or looks ugly....could it be transformed somehow? Take a second look around your own home and yard and see if you can create a courtyard for yourself. I wish I had thought of this sooner, as it has been ten years now that we have lived here.

Without makeup and fancy clothes...we met in the courtyard bright and early so Matthew could capture everything. What a fun and exhausting day. I can't wait to see it come to life in the pages of a magazine.