Happy Weekend Friends!
I'm signing off for the weekend but I'd like to thank you first for visiting me here on decor8 this week and for your comments, tweets, retweets and general lovey dovey stuff that you extend to me -- you are so kind! I hope that in turn, I am a generous friend to you as you have been to me. I'll be in the states for most of July -- first I fly to New York to stay in the city for July 4th weekend on holiday and then I'll be on shoots the following week, taking the red eye to LA and then staying there until the 18th of July. Once I'm back at home in Germany, I'll then be in Belgium, the Netherlands and finally France and then the photographs for the book project will be a wrap! And then I will officially crack under the pressure and have a nervous breakdown. Ha. No. Kidding. Then I will throw a very big party for my friends and my husband who has had to put up with my insane business hours and nearly empty fridge for weeks now. And popular to contrary belief, you don't lose weight living on stress, sugar-free Red Bull and fruit salad. Darn.
I can't believe all we've shot so far, between Scandinavia and London we have completed 12 homes so we're nearly halfway and I'm so pleased with the work I've done so far. Meeting homeowners and being a part of creating a book is exciting. I've always wondered what goes into the creation of one as I own hundreds of them and write about decorating and craft books so often on decor8... so it's fun to be behind-the-scenes and to be involved in styling these homes and directing the shoots, but also the process of finding the right homes that haven't been published yet online has been a really taxing process. Of course, many of the homeowners have had their homes shot and shown elsewhere online and in books/magazines, but for the homes we are shooting, the angles and lighting and overall outcome is just different - and of course I style it in a way that I think makes the space shine without giving it that "you cannot touch" inaccessible look.
It's moving to be able to use my creativity offline and to work with a team, but most importantly, to give photos a piece of my own vision and sensibility so that there is a connection between me and the finished product. I kind of felt for awhile like I was no longer a creative person because I wasn't doing much with my hands. It bothered me. I sit for so many hours, online, writing articles + blog posts about beautiful homes but have truly missed having consultations and clients to work with more hands-on and this has opened up many ideas and doors for me.
To any of the homeowners reading, who I've already visited, thank you for letting me into your home to play with your beautiful things and thank you for being a part of this project. It's a really fresh beginning for me in a direction that feels really good and I hope to move on and to more books despite how some say it's a dying market. I don't believe that to be the case, and though I may be a rainbow chaser, I still believe in the power of the typed page, hearing that crack as you first open a fresh title, the glossy photo, and the book in hand on a Sunday morning along with fresh coffee and a sweet roll. :)
Have a lovely weekend you gorgeous people, you! :) Please tell me what you will do, I have a lot of packing to get started on and million errands to run so I'd really enjoying living through you for a few days. Please, indulge me.
(images: tinker street via the wonderful victoria)