I've been approached on numerous occasions over the years to have my home featured in an interior home magazine but never felt it was up to the scrutiny of those beautiful glossy pages full of immaculate homes and stylish interiors.
Since taking the wall down between the kitchen and dining room I feel the house is really coming together and almost looks finished (huge sigh of relief from the husband) , so when a lovely lady contacted me through twitter I thought why not go ahead, what have I got to lose. At the very least it would be something interesting to talk about.
Conversations took place and appointments were made. Friday a few weeks ago, the very lovely Colin Poole, a homes and interiors photographer with many years experience in photographing for all the top magazines and even the odd celebrity arrived bright and early, along with a selection of props including flowers, cake and throws ! Obviously I won't be showing too much of what he photographed as that will have to wait until the magazine publishes the article. It has to be said I was a nervous wreck before he arrived. Still doubting that my house was up to scratch for a magazine and dreading having my photograph taken for the spread.
I shouldn't have worried. Colin quickly put me at ease and was a lovely man. It was so interesting to watch him work. Considerning I take all my photographs for the blog on my iphone I felt a bit of a plonker taking pictures of him, taking pictures of my home but he didn't mind at all.
Colin took a lot of photographs from all different angles of the rooms. It was so nice to see someone else who has the attention to detail that I have. Watching him thinking about the shot he was trying to achieve. I was pleased that he pretty much left most things in the rooms as I have them. I was dreading that he would bring along all sorts of props to use that wouldn't be my style and wouldn't reflect how we live in our home.
I have to say I was a little disappointed that Colin took my beloved dolls house out of the living room when he photographed in there. I really feel that the dolls house is a statement in the room and so many people have commented in on through social media and my blog posts. Its part of the way we have renovated our whole home on a very tight budget with boot sale finds, upcycled furniture pieces or items gifted through blogging. I suppose I could have said something but I was just a bit worried that he obviously saw something in the balance of the room that I didn't.
Its really interesting to watch someone else move around your bits and bobs and use them in ways you wouldn't normally think of. Its great to get an insight into whats actually behind the images you see in interiors magazines.
After setting up and taking the shots, Colin checked the images on his laptop. I was able to get a sneak peak of what the images were going to look like. Sooo Exciting.
The small rooms in the house, tight corners and difficult angles. Always a nightmare for me to get photographs I am happy with and seems the same problems exist for the professionals. You can read about our bathroom makeover, which was about six years ago now. I am hankering after a restyle once I have given my husband a few months off to recover from all the work he had to do when I agreed to the photoshoot !
One room I was dreading Colin photographing was the twins bedroom which we recently updated from a little boys room to a more grown up Industrial style The black wall is not one of my favourite aspects of the makeover even though the twins love it. Colin did seem to like the scaffolding shelving and desk my husband built. There was a moment of absolute mortification on my part when I came upstairs to discover he had pulled the contents from underneath Jarvis' bed out to get a clean shot across the room and of course it was the one place I didn't bother to clean !! Oh the shame ! the filth and dirt under that bed !
Colin spent all day photographing the house but it flew past. I had a lovely time and it was a pleasure. I really look forward to seeing the spread when its published in Ideal Home Magazine at some point next year. Might even see Colin again as there was interest in my garden shed and possibly a Christmas photo shoot so watch this space for updates.
