We’re back to reveal more about our photoshoot for The Nest magazine (which actually took place five months ago). Back then we had to keep our lips sealed about the actual name of the magazine, but now we can finally share a few pictures from that crazy day of posing, puppy wrangling, and pure chaos!
Unlike our Do It Yourself magazine photoshoot (which you can read about here and here), this shoot was only one day long. But instead of the 9am-3pm days that we clocked with DIY, this one was 13 hours long. Yup, from 8am to 9pm. But it never felt long- on the contrary, it whizzed by. And we happily snagged a few behind the scenes photos throughout the day to document what it’s like to have a crew of ten people (a hair & make-up lady, a wardrobe stylist, an assistant to the wardrobe stylist, the photographer, his two assistants, the creative director, the prop stylist, his assistant, and a videographer) styling and shooting their way through your home.
Here are two of the three people who were in charge of making sure we look good enough to grace the cover (I know, insanity!!!). Color was the name of the game (since the mag came out just in time for spring), so they dressed us up in festive and bright clothing and piled on the accessories for a much-swankier-than-we-really-are effect.
And although we cleaned our house within an inch of its life before the crew arrived, of course all that went out the window when they started setting up. Wardrobe, hair and make-up supplies took over our bedroom (check out the yummy spread below) while every other room (not exaggerating) was stocked with everything from food for the crew to lighting and computer equipment.
Sometimes it was a pretty form of chaos, like this gorgeous stack of pillows and props that they had on hand to brighten things up and add some spring zing:
As for what they brought in beyond the pillows and platters that you see above, it seemed like no detail was too small for the prop stylist and his assistant. From laundry detergent (for the storage shelf above the dryer) to olive oil (for the kitchen counter), no item or object was overlooked. And we definitely had fun seeing our house all “dressed up” for the occasion! We’ve learned (from our Do It Yourself shoot as well as this one) that the thing about having your house professionally photographed is that it’s actually someone’s job to arrive with truckloads of pillows and accessories to restructure and refresh each room for the camera. It never bothers us because it’s always entertaining to see what tickles a pro decorator’s fancy (we love options, and seeing how punches of orange or dark green look on our couch is actually fun for us). You just have to be cool with tons of people in your house moving stuff around… and we’re happy to say that we’re totally down!
Of course there were also the monstrous machines and expensive equipment in every nook and cranny to capture each room in perfect light (while no one’s the wiser that there’s a giant umbrella flash just out of frame when they pick up the magazine). Here’s photographer David A Land checking out a few shots on his tripod-mounted-computer-contraption. And you can see everything from clamps to gaffer’s tape and even some fruit salad on the kitchen counter below. So many tools, so little time.
To continue our shots-of-the-crew-from-behind series, here’s the videographer panning around our freshly styled kitchen (a few herbs in the window and some brightly colored bowls got this room ready for action). Do you remember this video house tour over on thenest.com? That’s what he was here for. We filmed it while the photographer worked in other rooms, and occasionally stopped the video tour to pose for still shots for the magazine (which is why we ran out of time on the video tour and had to shoot the sunroom in the dark!).
And speaking of the sunroom, we were actually super shocked when we saw the cover of the magazine because everyone was talking about the sunroom being the big shot for the story the day they were here. In fact, they rearranged all of our furniture in there (the daybed got turned 180 degrees to face the sliding doors) to create a scene that could be shot from the top of a van in our driveway. The reason? To hide the fact that it was clearly autumn and not spring (which was easily accomplished by shooting into the sunroom instead of out of it). Here’s David on top of an SUV trying to get the shot!
And here’s the sample sunroom cover shot that they so graciously left behind for us to admire (they print them out with a fake header and some subtitles so they can roughly see how it’ll look on the cover).
We loved the look of our sunroom in the shot and were actually kind of bummed when we didn’t see it in the magazine. And of course we thought Burger looked adorable on the floor pillow staring up at his dad (who was actually standing on his leash to make sure he didn’t bound out of the sunroom and onto the ground below). But at least we have this photo to remember it by.
They actually ended up using one of our own photos of the sunroom for the story (with green trees in the background) so it all worked out in the end. And that instance wasn’t the only time the camera equipment escaped our home’s four walls. Oh no, it routinely popped up outside in some of the funniest places. Here’s one of the photography assistants among our azaleas placing lights and flashes just outside the den to create optimal lighting conditions inside. I bet you never think about this sort of set up when you glance at glossy home magazines, huh? We certainly didn’t until now.
A few other extremely entertaining moments occurred when we happened upon one of our living room chairs on the front porch and when we stepped into the bathroom only to be greeted by one of the cameras in the bathtub. Well hello there.
And because the shoot lasted until 9pm, the crew created faux sunlight well after the stars came out. Now when we see a sunny kitchen feature we’ll think twice about whether it was even shot during the day. Oh the tricks of the trade.
And perhaps one of our favorite memories of the shoot was when we snagged this pic of ourselves with our “butt mics” as we affectionately called them. Who knew a crew could photograph your entire house and film a video tour in 13 wild and crazy hours?
Of course this was taken on hour 13, so that’s relief that you see in our eyes (the house didn’t burn down, the shots seemed great, and we were somehow able to string together full sentences for the video- whew). Thanks so much to our friends over at The Nest for the glossy feature (we’re actually on their home page today!) and the fun video tour. We always love showing people around our house, and their crew was no exception! And now we’ll wrap things up with a JPEG of each page of the article at a readable size as promised (here’s spread 1, spread 2, spread 3, and spread 4 – just click on each one to zoom in). In the meantime, we’ll just go back to pinching ourselves…
To learn more about the behind the scenes tricks of the trade, click here for some other juicy photoshoot details. And to check out a reader’s awesome bathroom makeover (also pictured in the same issue of The Nest magazine) click here for a pic.
bungalowbliss says
What fun–crazy fun, clearly, but what an experience!
Thanks for sharing the behind-the-scenes details. So interesting…and amazing what tricks they come up with!
kelly says
Sherry, your hair is down! You’re too cute! And the article is just wonderful, congrats you guys!
Jenn C. says
Sherry -you look gorgeous in these shots! I love the one of you two in the sunroom – wish it had ended up in the story!
Colleen in MA says
you guys rock – thanks for the behind the scenes look at your fun and crazy day! i had no idea about all those tricks of the trade.
Gràcia says
I want to fake sun 24h a day now!!!!!
I’m sure you had a blast, thanks for sharing the behind-the-scenes with us!
KatyW says
Sherry & John ~ WOW! This is great. I loved, loved, loved the behind-the-scenes dish on how the shoot went…from the long grueling 13 hours of chaos in your house to the “fake” sunshine after the sun went down to get the “daytime” shot.
Thanks!! You guys are great writers as well as DIY gurus (and all around fabulous peeps… :-) Still wish I could get my hands on a copy of the actual mag. I’m on the lookout!
sara says
Wow…that’s an interesting behind the scenes story well explained. Thanks for sharing with us. Enjoy your glossy cover page feature…I am happy for you guys.
srabee says
sherry, i think you look really pretty in the magazine. i just saw the feature on thenest.com, your house looks almost TOO different, those accessories made a huge difference. i wish they would have used your real house pics and not the ones with their point of view.
YoungHouseLove says
Gosh guys. You’re making me blush! I give the hair and make-up girl all the credit! Now if only she could move in with me and get me ready to face the world every morning…
xo,
Sherry
Amanda says
So fabulous!! I can’t figure out how to subscribe to this magazine? I think I would really enjoy it. Any idea?
I also wonder… what do your neighbors think of all the hub-bub going on at your home when shoots like this take place? They must think you guys are celebs- which you pretty much are, in the design world!
Congrats!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Amanda,
We’re actually a bit unclear about how the magazine actually works. In fact we really wanted to do a giveaway so a few lucky readers could win their own copy to peruse, but The Nest said that they’re currently not offering subscriptions. From what we understand they randomly send out 200,000 copies to newlyweds (none of whom have subscribed, but perhaps they entered their info on theknot.com or thenest.com and were randomly selected to receive it). But fear not, we’ve scanned the article and included those links at the bottom of this post so you can click ’em to read every last word, which is almost as fun as having the glossy version on your lap!
As for the neighbors, I think they’re pretty amused every time the “circus” comes to town (we also shoot things for our column in R. Home magazine here, along with our Do It Yourself photoshoots). The strangest thing is that people have been spreading the word about our blog here in the neighborhood, so total strangers will say things like “love the new den curtains!” when they’re walking by, which always throws us for a loop!
xoxo,
Sherry
Christine says
The sun room shot was gorgeous, but personally I love the shot of you in that fabulous blue dress!
Elizabeth says
Yay, congrats guys!
Sam & Jacci says
Ha! What great fun!!! :) You know, my first exposure to how magazines shoot layouts was through a *gardening* magazine. I read a post somewhere on how to photograph your garden like the pros. It’s soooo easy to take shots that eliminate the ugly downspout right by the goergeous roses or water an hour or two before so the soil looks dark and rich. As I visited gardens that I had seen in photos – I started to realize how much of a HUGE difference quality photography and staging makes. Not that those gardens (and your house!!) are not fabulous to begin with, they are, but realizing the roles of all that preparation and those photography tricks sure makes you feel better about your “real life” garden or home. It takes away the idea that someone, somewhere lives in this perfectly styled house 100% of the time.
Kind of along those lines, I read on Yahoo today that French Vogue ran a cover series of models without makeup on. How wild is that? Kind of like saying, “Look – this is what these women look like without pro stylists and airbrushing”. They’re still gorgeous, but far more real looking. What do you think? Are you all up to it? Dare you to snap a few shots right this minute *without rearranging or deleting a thing* – show us what your bathroom sink area, kitchen sink area, and computer desk look like right now ;)
Oh, by the way, you *are* adorable in those pics, guys :)
YoungHouseLove says
Sam & Jacci- That’ so funny because John actually thought we should snap some shots of the house “without moving or cleaning a thing” to show everyone excactly how we live on a day to day basis. Unfortunately you’ll probably think we’re weird because everything is pretty much in it’s place all the time (stay tuned for a post about my obsessive organizing). I’m up for the challenge though, so stick around…
Erin- As for what we know about the previous owners, we learned that they were an older couple who moved to the “country” so we doubt that they have ever caught wind of anything about their house being made over and blogged about! We’re sure that they wouldn’t even recognize it at this point- but they were such a nice family and they even left us a note with a bottle of wine saying something like: “This is YOUR house now! Have at it! (it was obvious that it needed a lot of work back then) so we’re sure they’d be really good sports about the whole thing!
xoxo,
Sherry
Erin says
I am extra curious after the nest magazine spread and HGTV show if the previous owners/people that recognize the house have seen, heard of your projects, still live in area?
I was wondering if they ever contacted you or anything after seeing their old house in print and so very different?
Mary says
Can you save the jpg as PDFs? I am having problems viewing them – the text is still too small.
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Mary,
Just click on each image when it opens in a new window to zoom in and read all the fine print!
xoxo,
Sherry
Candied Fabrics says
WooHoo! Looks great! Congrats!
Sam & Jacci says
Sherry – after I typed that, I thought back to when Sam and I were first married I was home all day without any children, yet. *Then* I thought, “Yup. They live like that all the time”, lol ;) I used to starch and iron cloth napkins and lay them out on the pre-set dinner table to make it pretty all the time :) All I can say, sister, is this – embrace change when it comes… it does come. But then you get to enjoy smiling little dimple faces instead of perfect tabletops :)
Kathleen T says
The final images looks fantastic, congratulations! How exciting!
And what a crew! No wonder magazines are folding left and right.
Mary says
Beautiful! Thanks for the PDF versions. If you ever hear from The Nest, tell them lots of people out here want to subscribe!
nicki says
I went to 3 places today trying to buy the magazine…NO luck!?
heather s. says
Looks great! Congrats again!
Sam & Jacci says
Okay – last comment for this post – promise :) But I had to offer my prediction for your (potentially) forthcoming “John and Sherry As They Really Live” post.
1) The kitchen sink will be completely empty with a wet washcloth neatly laid across the middle to dry.
2) The bathroom sink will be neat and tidy *except* for one roll of dental floss. Why? Because John is highly conscientious and likes to have his floss at the ready after every meal.
3) The computer desk will be nearly perfect, except Sherry will have a partially consumed bottle of apple Izze next to the keyboard. Not because that’s her favorite flavor (her favorite flavor is blackberry, I’ve seen proof and I noticed because that’s my fave, too) but because the green color sparkling in that glass bottle looks so nice in the den as she types away, creating the next fab moodboard :)
How’d I do? I’m looking forward to this (potential) post – hope you all get all wild and crazy and leave a sock out somewhere ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Jacci,
Your predictions crack me up! The blog actually keeps me pretty busy during the day (and the night, and the weekends) – there’s always a post or three to write, a few mood boards to make, a bunch of shop orders to send to the printer, a few giveaways to coordinate, and about a million email and comment questions to answer. So that being said, there’s definitely not any time for starching napkins! I’m just a huge organization freak and I like for everything to have a designated place (if things have a place they can be put there and the house can be sorted, cleaned, and organized almost on auto-pilot).
As an example of some of the organization systems that we have in place, we created our little corner mudroom for a place to leave bags, dog leashes, shoes and jackets so they’re never piling up anywhere else- and we have boxes and bins and even storage ottomans “assigned” to housing everything from paint decks to receipts and even board games). We love making our house work for us by creating these little zones and “drop spots” for everything, and of course we know that it’ll be a heck of a lot harder when little ones come along, but we plan to keep implementing the whole “everything has a place” concept and crossing our fingers that we can make do with some cute kid clutter (totally worth it, we know!).
But anyway, without further ado, here are those pictures I snapped without cleaning/moving/altering a thing (not one single thing, I promise!). I just turned on the lights in each space, took a pic, uploaded it, sized it for web and called it a day. Here are the results:
Here’s the den (where I was working on the laptop before springing up to snap the pics), the “mudroom” (which we mentioned is a huge help), my desk (sans computer since it was on the sofa with me), the kitchen, a closer shot of the sink (with a vase and a cup in it), the bathroom (which pretty much always looks the same), the living room (another room that usually looks just like this since we do the majority of our lounging in the den), the bedroom (I’m a bed maker but I usually get to it in the afternoon), and another view of the bedroom with our pillows piled high). Thanks for the challenge. Fun, fun, fun!
xoxo,
Sherry
Mike T says
WOW! No doubt about it, your house is beautiful. The final pictures are unbelievable and it was great to see the whole process from behind-the-scenes! Seeing the work that goes on to stage for these things never gets old.
Amber says
Just wanted to say Hi! You have a blog that inspired me to start my own…thanks :)
http://amberwabisabi.blogspot.com/
JM says
In the photo of your den, is that your actual sofa color? I always thought it was much lighter, but it looks darker close up. I wasn’t sure if it was slip covered for the shoot! These photos are fabulous and it truly is amazing how much work you guys have put into your house. I try to think back to my house hunting days and I’m not sure I could have looked past that sunroom – something about the before picture was so icky! But I love, love, love the transformation, it’s amazing!
Allison says
I’ve been following your blog for awhile, but don’t always comment. The more I see of your home, the more inspiring I find it! My husband and I just moved into our first home and I’m always referencing photos of your house for inspiration. The colors and lightness are exactly what I would like to achieve in our house.
I’ve been casually searching for ceiling fans for our bedrooms and haven’t found anything remotely attractive. I love the one in your den! Where did you find it?
YoungHouseLove says
Allison- We actually adapted the ugly old ceiling fan in the den by adding a fabric shade which totally fancied it up. Here’s a post all about it (be sure to click on the comments for more instructions and even another pic!). Hope it helps!
JM- Both of the sofas pictured in the story were ours (no slipcover or anything, just a few different accent pillows). The sofa in the den (on the cover) is pretty true to life in the picture (it’s a soft sandy tan tone) and the one in the living room is pretty accurate too (it looks like a softer creamy-tan tone but it’s more of a creamy off-white in person… just a tad lighter than the pic). It’s really funny how a few different throw pillows can totally change the look of a couch!
xoxo,
Sherry
Sandy says
Fantastic! Loved the recap of the photoshoot! Surely you guys are pros by now …
Amanda says
Yes, I loved the scans- thanks so much! The Nest seems like they would be able to grab onto lots of subscribers, so hopefully they open up that option soon… would love to see what else is contained inside!
That is hilarious about the neighbors saying “love the new curtains” and etc. It’s almost like “Whoa, my neighbors know a liiiiitle too much about what goes on inside my house.” All part of the “job” though, I guess! :)
Kiley says
Sherry, This is so fantastic! Amazing journey for you, I imagine.
You should check out my blog sometime. machopurse.blogspot.com. I can’t wait for the day I have my own home to redecorate. Right now I make due with apt. living and beige walls–I’m sure you know the drill!
melissa @ den-designstudio says
Just got the chance to check out both the knot.com and the magazine spread. Looks great! I noticed something that seemed a bit off though. They always seem to show the sunroom coffee table but describe the pedestal (old game table) table instead. They did both online and in the magazine. oops. Guess that is what happens when you don’t let the actual homeowners proof everything. ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Melissa,
Wow, you have quite an eye! We didn’t even catch that at first, but it does appear that they’re talking about our dining table in the corner of the sunroom (which we made from a thrift store pedestal base) when they’re talking about the coffee table. It’s certainly an understandable mistake considering the fact that we also made the coffee table (from the top of the pedestal table from the thrift store and a $12 Ikea “Lack” table). Good catch!
xoxo,
Sherry
Jen says
WOW & Congratulations!!! I commend you, because I would think that even the most welcoming of people would need some amount of patience to have all those people in their house!
I’m not sure it was mentioned above, but I appreciated the behind-the-scenes, because it was a great reminder of the staging that goes on to get those picture perfect shots in the magazine!
Finally, I’m pretty new at this ‘home thing’, but theNest, strangely resembles domino to me.. maybe a little? Just a thought.
Thanks again!
amy says
where do you keep your toothbrush/toothpaste/other bathroom items?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Amy,
Good question. We actually have a linen closet that we use to store all that stuff- but since we adore open storage so much we actually took the door off and use decorative baskets and even some Ikea planters to house everything that we regularly use. Here’s a post all about it:
https://www.younghouselove.com/2008/07/open-wide/
xoxo,
Sherry
Layersofmeaning says
look at you guys! you are such pros now!
Sarah @ Thriftydecorchick says
Congratulations! That is too cool. Fun to see all the behind the scenes work. It is such a pain to get a bright shot of some of the rooms in our home, I imagine it takes a LOT of extra light. Thanks for sharing.
Ashley says
Congratulations again! You two are so deserving!
P.S. Did you get to keep the clothes??
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Ashley- Alas, every last stitch of clothing left with the stylist, but at least we have the pictures to remember them by!
xoxo,
Sherry
Jill says
Thanks so much for loading the jpegs! House and you guys look great. You should be very proud at all you have accomplished in such a short time.
Love the “real life/every day shots”………I have a tad of OCD and I am a firm believer in everything in it’s place and feel like I am running an uphill battle when the hubs and our daughter (10) are home!
I agree with some of the other posts and that they could have just left your home w/o extra or different accessories.
I also love that when you answer a comment you put a link in there. I have read your whole blog, but these are like little refreshers for me and something that I thought was cool at the time, may actually apply now.
Thanks for all that you guys do!
Lisa says
Congrat’s you guys!! Your home deserves to be on the cover of a magazine…and how beautiful it is. By the way I love the cover they used.
Blessings
Lisa
Kelly says
You guys are dolls! What a super fun post!
Shalini says
I am sooo happy for you guys. Well deserved!
Alicia says
Fantastic article guy! The place and the three of you look fantastic. Congratulations!
Natalie says
Wow…wow wow wow!! I always thought your home was gorgeous but the 4 different photo spreads made me love it even more! Kudos to you both on your incredible transformation! :)
Anna See says
This was eye opening! I had no clue about all of this behind the scenes stuff. The photos look great. Congrats!
Jessy says
So cool! I second Shalini – Well deserved! I like the original cover best :)
I loved reading the little details about each room, and even I learned something new – that you painted the sunroom floor chocolate brown. What a great solution!
Did the house ever have/had popcorn ceilings/or other? They look new. Just curious because I am trying to convince my mom to get rid of hers…
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Jessy,
We actually didn’t ever have popcorn ceilings here at Casa Petersik, but we’ve heard that you can definitely DIY their removal (I would google it or check out a home improvement book at Barnes & Noble for instructions). We did, however, give ours a fresh new coat of flat white paint and it worked wonders! Hope it helps! Good luck with those ceilings…
Oh and here’s a post about painting our concrete sunroom floor a rich chocolate color. It was easy peasy.
xoxo,
Sherry
Laura says
Loved this post as well as all the spontaneous pics that you added! I had to laugh at the bedroom shot, I thought, “I know which side Sherry sleeps on!” Cute. I stay at home with our toddler and often make the bed in the afternoon too, so it’s nice to know that I’m not alone in that regard! Thanks for all your hard work; I know it’s a lot; but your far (and near) distant fans appreciate it!
kathleen says
I love the behind-the-scenes scoop! Thanks for sharing with us.
Daisy says
Congratulations on the magazine feature. Your home is truly beautiful and shows your wonderful creativity. I noticed that you have many interesting accessories. One that caught my eye is the shell ball in your living room; I’d love to have one myself — can you tell me where you got that item? Many thanks.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Daisy,
The shell ball is actually from Kohls a while back (I think it was $6) but they’re everywhere from TJ Maxx to HomeGoods so I’m sure you’ll find a totally cheap look-alike if you keep an eye out! Happy hunting…
xoxo,
Sherry
Magchunk says
You guys are so cute!
John totally looks like John Krasinski in that sunroom picture (that is a major compliment).
The pictures of the prop and beauty rooms are kind of what my tiny apartment look like day to day! But I don’t have sexy magazine clutter. Just regular clutter :/
Amanda says
What a great post, so interesting to see this stuff. Thanks for posting the spreads too, glad your international readers get to enjoy it as well! Congrats again, it all looks fantastic!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey MagChunk,
So funny that you made the John Krasinski reference (thank you, btw). Just the other day I was doing one of those weird Facebook things where you pick 5 celebrities that people say you look like. I had only heard Prince William before so it was actually kind of a struggle to come up with 4 more. I randomly picked John Krasinski finally, so it’s funny to hear that I wasn’t totally off.
Now if only I had a starring role on The Office…
-John
Sam & Jacci says
I loved the “raw” Casa Petersik pics!!! No socks left lying around, but an unmade bed at *lunchtime*? GASP. Sherry – tsk tsk ;)
You all are such a hoot to humor me. I think it’s great.
BTW, Sherry, I really, *really* hope that I did not seem to insinuate that you’re just sitting around painting your toenails and admiring coral all day long. Your blog is proof positive that you do a TON of work! Didn’t mean to sound all big sister snooty, like, “Oh, yes, well, *I* had an organized home too when I had nothing *else* to do”. Puke. Not what I meant at all!!! Your “place for everything and everything in its place” motto will help soooo much when the Pint-Sized Petersiks come along :)
Another BTW – did you notice that in the sunroom pick, the back of Sherry’s head is reflecting in the mirror? I’d bet anything that’s why it wasn’t chosen for the cover.
Thanks again for the John and Sherry Unplugged pics!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Jacci,
No, thank YOU for the “unplugged” request! It was a lot of fun for us and we’re glad you got a kick out of it too. Your predictions made us giggle. And we did notice that about my weird back-of-head reflection in the sunroom mirror, but we wondered if they couldn’t photoshop it out if they wanted. They’re pretty crafty about those things. Our actual working theory is that someone felt strongly about such a dramatic restructuring of one of our rooms (they totally turned all the furniture around!) especially since our readers might notice that it was a “fake” room layout (which probably explains why they didn’t even use the image in the story at all and switched it out for one of our own pics of the sunroom). Who really knows, though! Maybe one day we’ll find out (and you know we’ll spill the beans!).
xoxo,
Sherry
Holly says
WHOO-HOO way to go guys!! Yeah, how about put in a word to The Nest that a LOT of us want to subscribe to their fabulous magazine!
YoungHouseLove says
Holly- Done! Here’s hoping they hear our desperate pleas! It’s really a great glossy pub, and with others (like Domino and Cottage Living) leaving me with serious magazine withdrawal, it’s super nice to know about The Nest. Now if only it was available to thumb through at Barnes & Noble too…
Nicki- We believe the pillows are from Pottery Barn but they were probably ordered in the summer or fall of 2008 so if they’re not still available in stores, you might have better luck on ebay or amazon. Hope it helps! Happy hunting…
xoxo,
Sherry