Last year regular readers may remember we renovated our small family bathroom, transforming it quite radically by removing the bath and replacing it with only a shower!
It caused quite a bit of discussion, with people divided in their opinion over whether it’s a good idea to lose your bath completely or not. For us, it was the best decision. We hardly ever used the bath anyway, not since the kids were little, all tending to prefer a shower. As a family of five, bathroom time is limited (this is our only place to get clean!) and having a large modern shower means we can whizz through our ablutions much more quickly!
We partnered with Bathroom Takeaway and British Ceramic Tile for our makeover and Style At Home were keen to photograph the finished room for their magazine.
Style at Home is a magazine that offers affordable and stylish ideas and practical advice for decorating, revamping and styling homes on a budget – making it a great fit for #tidylife as we share the same goals!
So last September we were delighted to welcome homes editor & stylist, Laurie and photographer, Olly into our home. They made a very early start and drove all the way up to Manchester from London. I was really hoping our room would live up to their expectations! I’d cleaned and polished it as much as I possibly could and removed all my accessories, as I knew Laurie would be bringing a few props with her. But she did use some of our things still and was keen not to change the room radically from how I’d styled it before, keeping with the yellow theme. Amongst other accessories, she brought along from Ikea this bright yellow circular Badaren bath mat (£3.50) and set of 3 cute Fryken baskets (£6.50) – so inexpensive, yet lovely!
Being a compact space to photograph, it presented a bit of a challenge. Olly decided it would be best to remove the bathroom door so that he could get some wide shots.
It was a really sunny day, so he also hung some opaque film outside the window to diffuse the light a bit. Really strong sunlight isn’t great to photograph in as it creates a lot of unwanted shadows.
Loads of pictures were snapped, full room shots and detailed close ups, then I was called in to make an appearance – eek!
Olly had a laptop set up to review the images and adjust anything in terms of props and light settings etc. as the shoot progressed. I got to have a peek at the images and OK the one with me in it!
Normally a shoot would take all day, but our little room was wrapped up by early afternoon, so Laurie and Olly were able to head off on the long drive home. Although it was back in September 2016 when our shoot took place, the photographs were scheduled for the May 2017 issue of Style at Home.
After the shoot I was emailed some questions about our home in general and the renovation, I was also asked to list the materials, suppliers and costs for the makeover.
I couldn’t wait to see the magazine as soon as it came out this month, but couldn’t find it in any of the shops straight away. When I did get a copy, I was thrilled to see there was a 6 sided feature with some really nice product picks to inspire readers to get a similar look.
If anyone is considering having their home appear in a magazine shoot, I’d definitely say go for it! It’s such fun to see your home in print and looking its absolute best.
