My Favorite Snapshots of Our Home
I’ve been wanting to share this post for awhile now! I’ve spent years designing, styling, practicing my photography skills, and capturing the corners of our home that feel most special to me. Some things translate pretty well through a 2D image on the internet, while other vignettes are so much better in person. I thought it would be interesting to share my favorite snapshots of our home. You’ve probably seen many of these before, because I often reuse the images I truly love. Sometimes it’s the lighting, other times it’s the styling, occasionally it’s the creativity or photo quality, and often it’s just the feeling I get from a spot in our home that feels like it was meant to be. These are the images of our home I’m most proud of! Click through for a peek at the photos of my house that really make my heart sing…
I was talking with Emmett about how powerful photographs can be. I’ve always loved design and photography… to me, they go hand & hand. I’m lucky to have built a business and stumbled into a line of work that allows me to do two of my favorite things. I think these images mostly evoke a feeling of home for me. They fill me with a sense of comfort, pride, and even fulfillment, knowing we’re slowly transforming this place we call home. There’s something really special & rewarding about capturing your home in a way that feels authentic to how you use it. Unless it’s your job, I know the majority of people don’t spend much thought on taking photos of their home.. at least without people in the shot. I say this- give it a try! You may discover something new. At the very least, it will be fun to look back and reminisce years down the road. It can help you make design decisions, too… remember this post?!
Another thing I find incredibly fascinating… viewing your home through someone else’s eyes (or lens)! It’s fun when people come visit, having only seen our house on social media or the blog. They come in and say, “Ohh this looks nicer in person!” or “This room is smaller than I expected!” I’ll never forget when Dana (she used to have a blog called House*Tweaking) came over and photographed our first home in Ohio… just for a fun little collaborative post. She captured angles I never would have thought to shoot. She styled things in a way I never would have. I think it’s because home is so personal and I try to photograph spaces in the way we actually use them. Like anyone else, there are also areas in our home I have insecurities about… things I’d like to change someday rather than highlight in a photo. Home (and the images of home) are always a work in progress!
Sometimes getting a lovely shot of a vignette isn’t easy, but every once in awhile- the light hits perfectly, the styling feels right, the experience while you’re shooting feels good, and it just works. These images do that for me… I narrowed it down to 10, in no particular order!
#1 // Shower Vignette in Our Guest Bath
This was the first room we fully renovated in our home and I still love this bathroom so much! It’s also a really difficult space to photograph because there is zero natural light- no windows or skylights. It has always been a challenging space to shoot, but this image of the shower perfectly captures it. Despite the lack of natural light, this room has a great lighting plan and still feels bright.
#2 // Shot of Our Kitchen Sink Area
This is hands down my favorite image of our kitchen… I remember spontaneously taking this photo and being surprised with the end result once I uploaded it to my computer. The lighting was so nice! I love a happy surprise. From the flowers to our everyday dish towel, it perfectly represents how we use the sink area. It’s tricky to shoot toward a window with all of that light streaming into the lens!
#3 // Photo Looking Into My Office
New images always get me excited and I love scrolling through the photos I recently took of my home office. It’s hard to believe this is my workspace! Seriously, pinch me! I’ve been loving every minute in this space since I moved in. Despite it being the most difficult room I’ve ever photographed, I came out with a handful of images I’m really proud of. This is one of them.
#4 // View of Our Bedroom Balcony
Our bedroom balcony was one of those spaces I wasn’t sure about when we moved in. Was it a waste of space? Would we ever use it? It turns out, it quickly became of my favorite outdoor areas! Sadly, we’re going to have to tear it down and rebuild it sometime in the future because of water damage, but I think we can get one or two more summers out of it. For a quick makeover with paint, it’s a space I absolutely love to photograph… maybe my favorite place to shoot at our house.
#5 // Peek at Part of Our Living Room Built-Ins
I think our formal living room is a thousand times better in person than in photos. It’s one of those rooms that I feel doesn’t translate very well. The built-ins can look busy in images, while it feels perfectly balanced and eclectic in real life. I love this shot because you’re able to see part of the built-ins and analyze some the fun shelf styling details… but it’s not overwhelming like certain photos of the entire wall. Those tulips also make me happy and you get a tiny peek of the furniture. There was such nice light in this space the day I photographed this one!
#6 // Photo of Our Patio During Golden Hour
Our backyard and patio is another exterior space we’ll eventually overhaul someday, but in the meantime- our dining table under the pergola at golden hour always makes my heart skip a beat. I wish I could have you all over for a dinner party, so we could sit around the table, eat good food, share stories, and have al fresco cocktails. It’s pure magic when the snowballs are in bloom! I was able to get this shot just as the sun was setting. I switched on the twinkle lights and it felt perfect. I loved this evening!
#7 // Simple Guest Bedside Vignette
This guest room is another space we haven’t touched. The paint color is the same as when we moved in, but I love the light in here. It’s always a fun room for me to play with styling and swap things out… simply because I like taking photos in here. This easy bedside vignette is one I reference and use all the time!
#8 // Shot of Our Basement Media Room
Obviously I enjoy many of the spaces we have yet to overhaul or renovate in our home- I think that goes to show you don’t need a huge budget to make beautiful home improvements… it’s amazing what paint and decorating can do! Our basement media room is a great example of that. Someday, we’ have big plans for this space, but for now- I enjoy capturing images against the deep navy backdrop! For a basement, I’m thankful for the natural light- especially when I’m photographing down here. The tone-on-tone curtains against the same wall color is always fun to shoot.
#9 // Photo of My Office Built-In Styling
This little snippet of the corner in my office puts a smile on my face. It took me quite awhile to collect all those books and as I was shelf styling, I thought I’d never be able to capture them well. The glass cabinet doors posed a big issue for photographs, thanks to crazy reflections. I could barely see the books behind the glass through my lens. It took some creativity, but I was able to mask off the windows to accurately capture my shelf styling and I’m so thrilled it worked! I was a sweaty mess by the end of that shoot, but it was worth it. That felt like a big moment for me… problem solving and growing as a photographer.
#10 // Serving Cart Vignette on Our Patio
Last but certainly not least- I’ve always loved this image of the serving cart on our patio. The bluestone dog statue, the linen towels, the snowballs I quickly plucked from our viburnum trees, and the porch light glow… it all felt very kismet. I’ve never styled this patio vignette so well as I did on this particular day. I just love it and I can’t explain it!
Did you know wide shots are the most popular type of interior image? That’s right- those are the ones that always get the most engagement. Personally, I’m more of a medium shot type of gal. Closeups are great, wide shots are really nice, but medium shots are the best of both worlds- you still get a good amount of detail (without losing the details altogether) and you can still understand what’s happening in a room. Exactly like the name, it’s a happy medium and I always gravitate toward them. That’s probably why most of these are mediums. If I were smart, I’d probably only share wide shots (from a business perspective), but as a creative- I always just post what I feel in the moment.
So far, the most difficult rooms to photograph in our house have been: my office, the basement bath, the entryway, and the dining room. Do any of those surprise you? I never expected to have so much trouble shooting our dining space. Even though it’s not finished, that is a tricky room to capture progress in because the light is always uneven and steams in from three different directions.
It’s always kind of fun to see how your top 10 home photos look together. Are they cohesive? Do they feel like they belong under the same roof? How are they different? Do you see your personality reflected in each? Trust me- it’s a fun little design, styling, & photography exercise! I hope you enjoyed this post. Cheers to a lovely week ahead!