Styling for HomeGoods, Part One

 Hi Peeps! When last we left off I was just hired to be the stylist for HomeGoods on a fall ad campaign.  Its not even the first day of summer and my job required me to create fall looks with the inventory at various HomeGoods.  I could also use things from home, which were called "props" by my creative team at HG.  All the stuff I would buy is the "merch", short for merchandise.  

And then the flowers and food that bring a photo to life is called Lifestyle props.  So now that you understand the lingo, lets get started. Hah! My hubby saved this hay bale in a storage trailer when I asked him to toss it last fall when it sat outside my shop.  But being the frugal yankee that the man is, he saved it....now I am glad he did as it really was going to come in handy on the exterior of the home I had to style.  Behind the hay you can see the vintage iron urns I plucked off my own front porch, and behind that were bags and bags of merch.  

 I shopped at HomeGoods for the merch that I planned to use on the different shots I needed to style.  These would all have a decidedly fall feel to them, and it was my job to interpret the HomeGood's team's vision for the different shots.  Ok, I can do that. It would be like decorating for homeowners, and sometimes you might get varying opinions from the husband and wife, but usually you can find a happy medium that makes all feeling happy with the result.  That was my job!  

 I had lists and pics in my iphone and notes galore...and I hunted out fall colors and accessories which was perhaps the toughest challenge of all, since it isn't fall yet.  Well not really, it was hardest to keep all the various shots in my head and as I bought for various vignettes, I had to make sure not only did I buy enough items  but that I also had options so we could try different things. 

 Staying flexible and fluid and having options was really important in this role as a stylist.

 After the shopping, all the merchandise was brought to the location.  In short order the scene looked chaotic, but hey, I know what was in each pile, and what it was going to be used for. 

This elegant and lovely dining room was where I would be creating the dinner party for fall.

The merch was laid out and selections were made, presented in mini vignettes and given the thumbs up or down.  I was lucky that I had only a few things I needed to change out.  The only other thing that came up was that I understood the Autumn table to be a sophisticated mono chromatic scheme.  Well that was NOT the case! Hah!! Ok, there needs to be more COLOR!!! So that is when I planned for a colorful centerpiece and perhaps color in the napkins.  I could feel the nervousness in the room.  Tomorrow would be another day, and I had to get this table together so it could be everything my team wanted it to be, and as beautiful and elegant as I thought it would be.

Could I deliver?  Oh yes, I hoped so.

READ PART TWO HERE

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HomeGoods Stylist opportunity!

It hasn't been very long since I closed the doors at Maison Decor.

Before that I was running my decorating business for almost 25 years. 

 A few years ago HomeGoods started a Pinterest board featuring designers, and they 

asked me to join them on their inaugural team.  I was honored and have 

been pinning on the Happy by Design board ever since. 

 Pinterest has just been an amazing resource for all 

kinds of inspirational images, and so many of use it in our businesses

and personal lives.  Its been a few years now and its been a big success.

This is an example of one of the images I posted on Pinterest. 

It has a lifestyle quality that caught the eye of my HomeGoods liaison.

Imagine my surprise when I got an out of the blue phone call from

my HomeGoods Pinterest liaison.  Was everything going alright

with my pins and my blog?  I'll admit I was a bit nervous, but it turned

out she called because she wanted to hire me to be a Stylist for an upcoming Fall

ad campaign!  And it would be in just a few days!! She told me she thought I would

do an amazing job. We discussed the ins and outs of styling as it related to my 

career as a decorator and also my visual display background skills from my shop.

So this week I will be a HomeGoods Stylist, pulling together their vision for Fall in this campaign. After a conference call and reviewing the "shot list" with the Creative Director, the Stylist Liaison, and the Project Manager,  I had this past weekend to make lists and get a game plan. I will be doing more than a few shots, so its kind of like decorating more than one room.  Lots to keep straight, what to buy, what things I will be looking for, and crossing my fingers that the stores will have the most delicious inventory!  One of the shots is a "pillow story".  HomeGoods always has the prettiest selection. But that is only a very small part of what I will be shopping for this week.

Oh, and they also gave me my own stylist assistant and a rented cargo van for all the stuff,

 along with a big vote of confidence! So this coming week, on Monday and Tuesday I will shop specific stores and meet with the creative team to see how its going.  Wednesday I will style the shoot, which means setting it all up and then planning what food and flowers and other things 

I still need to get...and then finally on Thursday the photographer will capture it all!

 This company is a Massachusetts company, and I am thrilled 

to be working with them.  It's really a fun and exciting opportunity and I think 

you might like to see a bit of behind the scenes on this one, am I right?  

So I will let you know how it all went, and what it takes to get to the final pretty shot.

you see in your advertising flyer, or on the social media pages or television.

I want to give a shout out to my friend, Matthew Mead, as he has

been my sounding board when I first got the news. With his background

of styling and photography for over 25 years, how could I not pick his brain?

Thank you M. You are the KING of styling!! 

One last thing, thank you so much for reading my blog!!

  I started it five years ago in May and I have reached over 5 million page views!! 

I love blogging, and I am thankful for my readership.  When I started it I never thought many 

people would ever see it, but its been a pretty rewarding experience. 

 Here is to another week, and I am hoping you will have a good one too.

Note: Click here to go to the Happy By Design Pinterest Board. 

This post is sponsored by HomeGoods as part of my participation in their Pinterest program. 

I hope you get a chance to look at our board.

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From ugly to pretty: the story of our back yard.

Outdoor living is a bit of an obsession for me these days.

As I look down over the front lawn I have a birds eye view of my new

arbor and wire lawn furniture. However this yard has never been the problem 

area, its been our backyard.  If you have been reading you have seen the courtyard

develop.  But if you never saw how bad it really was, I don't think you can appreciate

how far we have come with this small but satisfying project.

Take a look~

This is the landscape design that I drew up so you can visualize where 

our outdoor living takes place. The plan shows how our house sits sideways

on the lot, with the front door on the side above.  I also drew in place steps to 

the courtyard, as that is where doors will go in after we yank out the window.

The yard wasn't always like this....

It started off like this, looking at the back of the house.

 It is on the north side of the house and so there

are few windows on this side by design.  That one window is from our dining room,

and generally it just looks odd, having hardly any windows on this side of the house.

That's the window at the far end of the room. I have always imagined a pair

of French doors in that spot leading outside to the back.

Back outside, under neath the dining room window you can see our

dumping ground area for things we didn't want to have to look at.  

To enhance the space, we put in a lawn, but it still wasn't pretty. 

Then some more landscaping was next.

 Hubby put a row of granite blocks and I planted a rose hedge in front of them

to make a border for the lawn.  We bought some foundation plants and put those in along the 

long blank back wall of the house.  The lawn came in nicely and that in and of itself was a big

improvement.  I had bumped out a little garden for a few tomatoes and I was pleased. 

And for a while it looked nice. 

 But slowly it became the place to put something you didn't have anyplace for. 

Like my antique fainting couch I got on impulse at auction. 

Our problem is that we don't have a garage and we

don't even have a basement for any storage.  So that is tricky business, and 

I have to learn to figure our where stuff is going to go FIRST not afterwards.

Over time the lawn got neglected as things were left out on it and killed the grass. 

There were odd ball things and it was not what I had in mind at all...so 

we continued to use the front yard where we had our table and chairs for al fresco

dining.  Until THIS year!! I am determined to get it in ship shape order and 

make it a dedicated outdoor living space that is integrated with our home.

Can you say epic fail?

Our backyard THIS spring. Pretty sad, right?! Enough was enough!

I would finally have time to get this project done now that I didn't have a store

to run.  French Doors would be installed!! And I would get a pea gravel courtyard

just like in France.  All I had to do was get hubby to help and with that, Colin even

lent a hand one day.  But overall, it was simply a determination on my part

 that it would become a reality and now it is just that.  

Mr. Maison Decor used a skid steer to level out the back area.  Then I laid

out a border of cobblestones and we lined the bed with landscape barrier fabric

to prevent weeds.  I highly recommend this step or you will be weeding your walk 

or courtyard forever if you don't do this step.  Then we spread the small pea gravel.

After that, we moved the furniture into position and I asked hubs to help string up

some exterior lights for a little more ambience.  

I am so happy!  Our hard work has paid off at very little expense.

The rose border on the left, installed four years ago, is now lush and full

and makes for a private enclosed gathering space.  

We all love coming out here to sit on the recliner or have drinks

or dinner at the end of the day.  The french doors are on order and hopefully 

will be installed soon with the help of my brother in law Mike. 

Then it will be complete! This little vision of mine will finally be turned into a reality.

A small unused space that will become a family favorite. 

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Starting a Collection

 Collections.

 A grouping of like objects.  

Some how when you put a lot of one kind of thing together it becomes

a show stopper.  Above you see my collection of purple transfer ware and purple glass.

It hangs on my walls, and is displayed in cupboards in my kitchen and dining room.

Most of what I collect is old but some of my things are new, like the purple wine glasses

from Crate and Barrel (a wedding gift from my sister Ellen) and a floral stamped goblet from HomeGoods.  I would have bought an entire set, but they only had one. 

 A small kitchen cabinet above the stove is where I decided to display this

overflow of my collection by simply removing the cabinet doors and then

screwing in some cup hooks to hang the tea cups.  Its a cheery space that

was once an underutilized cabinet.

Matthew Mead captured my kitchen collection during his photo shoot.

 Starting a collection usually happens naturally, as you find yourself

drawn to a particular thing.  It usually starts with one, and then you 

just start looking around for more of the same.  My collection is old

 and vintage, so I find these pieces in small antique shops or in flea markets

or online by googling Purple Transfer ware.  You can build a collection very

quickly by using the online method, however its more thrilling to just stumble

upon a new find for your growing collection.  

 After receiving so many compliments on my collection of purple transfer ware

I realized that maybe its a good idea to point out, that anyone can have such 

a collection.

 All you need to do is start with one piece.  Then start the hunt.  The thrilling hunt. 

 When you finally have enough to call it a collection, figure out where to display it all so you can enjoy it everyday.  I hang many of my plates on the wall. I also have stacks that I use for special dinners so I don't have to remove them from their spots.  

If you only have a few plates they look great hung around a mirror or a window. Maybe your collection is something that must sit on a table top.  Group them on a silver tray for maximum impact.

Or gather them together in a bookcase, like I did with my husband's little dog collection.

 We love dogs, and I noticed my hubby had quite a few miniature

dog statues, so I started adding to his collection when I would visit

Brimfield Antiques Fair or vintage shops. 

Putting them all together makes for a finished look instead of a hodgepodge.

So look around at what you have been collecting without realizing it and 

pull it all together in a grouping.  And if you want to have a collection

of something you have long admired, don't wait. 

Remember, a good collection starts with just one piece.

Note: Photos by Matthew Mead and Amy Chalmers.

 Partially sponsored by HomeGoods as part of my participation 

in their Pinterest Designer program Happy by Design.

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Summer Whites, Sylvia and Taylor's Update

In case you didn't know, this is my son, Justin, and daughter-in-law, Madison's dog, Sylvia.

She is the funniest little dog, very sweet and super smart and a real cuddler. 

Syl is part schnauzer and poodle which makes her a schnoodle. 

Last night we had a sleepover and she was as good as gold.  

This morning when I went to snap some pics of this new

pom pom pillow from HomeGoods, I popped her up on the sofa and she

acted just like a Hollywood dog.  She held the pose and looked at me

for about ten minutes! Anyway, this is about decorating with white

and in the summer time its so refreshing to add even a little more white

into your home.  The easiest way is to use toss pillows. 

I spotted these whimsical and huge white pillows that had big

poms at a HomeGoods trip yesterday.  Their pillow department is

looking better than ever, with all kinds of things to choose from.

 The key to decorating with white is to use a few different textures so it becomes interesting. 

Adding a white fur toss over a white cotton duck ottoman and then pairing a fluffy white oversized pom pillow gives this space a decorator look.  You don't need a lot to make a noticeable change in a room, and switching out pillows are awesome for getting a fresh new look.  Oversized pillows add drama, but they won't look right on smaller scale furnishings.  So save them for beds or big sofas.  Use a faux fur toss all year long when mixed with white and pale colors. Suddenly fur doesn't only apply to winter decor.  Its a luxe look that is affordable and fun. 

Plop all of your whites onto a seagrass or jute rug and you have a

summery mix with lots of texture.  Use some of HomeGoods natural

baskets to hold magazines or as an ottoman tray or in your bookshelves

to repeat the natural and white look that spells summer.

After I finished my photo shoot and was loading the pics onto the computer

I heard a repetitive noise coming from the living room....well Syl

had chewed off about 4 pom-poms by the time I got to her!

Its a good thing she is so cute.

Look at this old picture...well its not that old

 but it was taken at the party we had for Justin's engagement to Madison. 

 Left to right: Taylor (Madison's little sister), Colin, Madison and me.

Well a lot has happened since that party, especially for Taylor.

I haven't seen her since she was at Justin and Madison's wedding last October. 

 It was about two months later that she got sick and had to get a heart pump installed. 

Many of you know that Taylor is waiting for a heart transplant. 

 So many of you offered your support to Taylor

at her time of need, and we are all so grateful for the kindnesses shown to her.

Madison did an update on her status at the fundraising site that you can

see by clicking HERE.  

Last week Tay came to our house for a visit and it was great to see her!

She looked like her old self, with her pretty face and smile and fun personality.

She is feeling so much better these days...and that is a blessing. 

So keep her in your thoughts and prayers as she is in waiting mode for a new heart.

 In the meantime I am obsessing on this outdoor courtyard and garden area.

One thing leads to another, and the new furniture and the arbor have me reworking a few things,

A little garden sketch puts it all in perspective.  I stitched up a few Sunbrella cabana striped pillows

in black and white and just dropped them off at my embroidery guy so he can monogram them.

I also made some headway on finding a decent french door that will lead 

outside to the courtyard....I will share that next time. 

Lets just say they were inspired by real French doors.

Note: This post is partially sponsored by HomeGoods as part of my participation in their Pinterest Design Board, Happy by Design. 

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