Styling a Living Room & Photo Shoot

For the last several months I have had the pleasure of working with interior designer, Leslie Lundgren on several of her projects {watch out for more of her work – she is up and coming!}. Last week she asked me to help style one of her client’s homes for a photo shoot. Michaela, my summer intern is a great amateur photographer and she agreed to take the pictures.

The charming Spanish style home, located on the San Francisco peninsula features gorgeous arched windows, doorways and wooden beams. The beautiful décor blends  traditional, Chinoiserie and a relax California styles.  

Leslie’s client gave her free rein to move items and style the space as she wished. Fresh garden roses and orchids were brought in for the photo shoot, but most of the other accessories and smaller furnishings were simply rearranged.

The vignette above is a great example of how the room evolved while styling; Originally the chest had the green jaguar lamp {now on the entry console seen below}, a bar set on a wooden tray and a small framed wedding invitation hung above. Although the original vignette was sweet, we added larger and more colorful artwork, replaced the wooden tray with a metal one and added height by bringing in a trio of orchids in a blue and white Asian pot.

We had such a fun time working together. As you can image, we all had opinions on what looked good where. In the end however, our ability to work together and keep an open mind helped evolve the look. Not only were we pleased with the result, most importantly the client loved it. Here was her response,

"Leslie has helped me finish off my rooms with great style and a certain edge that says 'so long to boring beige'!  She and her team brilliantly utilized my existing traditional pieces and adding a freshness through colorful accessories, rugs and simple yet brilliant floor plan changes.  The results are exciting and fun.  She has also helped me hone in on my personal style so that I can move forward on my own (with her input when needed).  She has helped me take chances, and go with my gut on designing.  Fab!"

{me, Leslie and Michaela at the end of the shoot}

Do you have a favorite image? Don’t you think Michaela took some amazing pictures?

*all photo used with permission from Leslie Lundgren Design