Do-it-yourself projects and Home Decor
So I just found out that my “I Did It!” article in BHG will not come out until August. And that is still tentative. I hope that if it changes, it get moved up and not later. Cause there is one thing I don’t have very much of and that my friends, is patience! But I am excited!!! I plan on staking out the nearest store and buying every copy :)
Part 2 of my story…….
(You can read Part 1 HERE)
*Thank you all for the support! I loved reading all the sweet comments yesterday. They made my day. I don’t know why I was nervous to tell you all :)
The next day the photographer and stylist came back to the house around 9 am for the shoot. When they came I was using my juicer to make homemade lemonade for lunch later. My 4 year old was sitting on the counter helping me peel the lemons. I had my hair curled but not fixed. I was in my PJs and no make up. Hey, they had seen me at my worst already so this was an improvement :) Plus the lemons covered up the old fridge funk. Laura, the stylist, ironed the wardrobe she brought for me as I worked on the lemons. Don’t worry. I educated her on Downey Wrinkle Release. We chatted too while we waited for the photographer to set up all the cameras and other equipment. Then my husband took the two youngest and headed out to my mom’s for the day. I got changed into one of the many cute outfits Laura had brought and finished getting ready. Then we got started.
Laura Hull ( the stylist) and Edmund Barr (the photographer). Two of the coolest people EVER! I can’t begin to tell you how much fun we had. I was so nervous before they came that they were going to be stuffy and business like. Snobby, uppity, etc. But they were unbelievably AWESOME. Edmund has got to be the cutest dad. He lit up every time he talked about his kids. He is ridiculously talented and managed to make me look pretty good in the shots. And Laura and I could be twins separated at birth. I stopped counting all the times one of us would say “Me too!”. We have a lot in common. You know how when you meet someone and you gel right away? That was how it was for my husband and I with these guys.
Okay, back to the shoot:
I forgot to mention that along with the 49 million things I was trying to do to get ready for all of this that I also had to find a wood ladder and paint it white. The art director at BHG thought a white ladder would be good for me to stand on so I was closer to the ceiling that they wanted to make the star of the room. Oh that ladder. That is a post for another day.
It has been a long time since I have had so much fun!!! As a stay at home mom my life is faaaaaaaar from glamorous. I mean, it couldn’t get farther from it. And so it had been a long time since I felt cute. A loooooong time since I had a whole day to focus on me. There were no kids. I had adults to talk to. It was nice. And I didn’t cry once. Up until that point whenever I thought about it I would tear up or full on sob. I was so excited and happy. I did a pretty good job of separating the shoot from the magazine, if that makes sense. I did pretty good until Edmund would say things like “Smile pretty cause 22 million people will read this.” I had to tell him to stop because then it became real and that is when it was overwhelming.
We laughed a lot. I learned that if I tilt my head to the right it looks like “Come hither..” and if I tilt my head to the left it is sweet and innocent. Thanks Edmund! Now I now how to flirt with my husband :)
After we were done with one pose we would gather around the computer to look at them. They had professional things to say like talking about “hard lines and soft lines”. My contributions were things like “I like that one cause it has less crotch.” (I was sitting cross legged on the bed) I am sure they thought I was a goof.
It was not at all how I had imagined it would be. I know this was their everyday. They have done this for a long time. But it is probably the only time for me. It was amazing and memorable.
After the shoot I had prepared a (late) lunch for them. I figured it was the least I could do after they were at my house most of the day. I was surprised to learn that this was the FIRST time someone had fed them. Isn’t that nuts? I had called my husband when we were wrapping things up and had him come back home. We all sat around the table to eat and visited for over an hour. I think it is sad when you meet fun new people that you know you will probably never see again.
I don’t want to be famous. I don’t care if people like my bedroom. I care that something I decided I wanted at age ten was able to come true. It gave me the courage to try for other dreams I have. And I hope that you do too. Just go for it! Just ask. You never know. It may just happen. The worst thing that can happen is that someone tells you “no”. Then you keep trying until you get a “yes”.
Thank you for reading my 2 part novel. Thank you for letting me share something special. I took shots of the shoot but I am saving them for another day :)
This post might end up being a little wordy but please read it all!!! I am normally a short and sweet and to the point kinda gal but there is a lot to tell and explain with this.And WARNING it might be all over the place too.
I don’t know where to start so I think I will go back to where it all began………
When I was growing up I was not normal. I wasn’t girly. I would sneak into my dad’s shed and get his tools. Then I would sit in the scrap wood pile and saw and hammer away. My first creations were “ducks” made out 2x4s. I think I was 5. When I was around the age of 10 I started a diary that I wrote in every single day until I got married. When I was 10 or 11 I started cutting pictures out of magazines (Mostly Better Homes and Gardens) and putting them in my journal. I would sketch out how I wanted my house and yard to look. And when I was 12 I wrote that I wanted to marry an architect so he could help me design my perfect house. I have always been aware of design, and I have always loved to create, paint, and build. When I was cutting out all of those pictures from Better Homes and Gardens as a kid I wanted to grow up and have my house in there. I have thought about it off and on for my whole life. I did end up marrying an architect, although I fell in love before I knew what his major was :) And I have had a blast decorating our tiny apartments and now our first home. I am not done decorating our home because money holds us back from completing everything at once. But I am happy with what I have dome so far.
Remember my bedroom??? The stenciled ceiling? Well, I got an email from the Senior Editor of Home Decorating and Remodeling at Better Homes and Gardens and she loved my bedroom. She showed it to the Editor in Chief who also loved it. They wanted to put it in an issue of Better homes and Gardens!
(Insert plea here) I am side tracking for a minute. I want to discuss a topic for a sec. As women we tend to down play other people’s success to make ourselves feel better. We all do it. I understand this feeling. Especially when I am in a point of my life when everything seems to be falling apart, it is hard to see someone who seems to be getting everything they want. It is REALLY hard when it is something I want too. Part of me is really happy for them but part of me can be jealous and even mad. I want you to celebrate this with me. That is why I included the story of my childhood. This would be a big thing for just about anyone, but it is EXTRA HUGE for me. Truly a dream come true. So please don’t say “Well, it is all the way in the BACK of the magazine.” or “My neighbor’s house is waaay more beautiful than hers.” “Why is she getting all this attention? It is not that great.”
Back to the story…..
The editor asked me to send her more pictures of my bedroom. I have a decent camera and I tried to get really awesome shots cause I figured these would be the ones in the magazine. I got another email from her talking about scheduling a photo shoot. Say whaaaaaaa??????? Yep. A full blown photo shoot of my bedroom with a professional photographer and a stylist for me (and the room). Aaaaaa! Crazy. It was scheduled for March 24th and it only gave me a couple weeks to prepare.
Enter left stage: Crazy woman. I have to admit I bit off more than I could chew. I made lists, I bought supplies, and I was determined to finish every half done project (Yikes! I had more than I realized) and even start some new ones. I am too embarrassed to show you my list. Three pages long, people!!!! And these were not small things. It looked really good on paper. I even made out a schedule. But my schedule didn’t account for 4 children. My list didn’t account for a husband who was MIA due to deadlines and overtime at work, and my schedule did not account for my many melt downs. I had to scale down my list from 3 pages to one. That was hard for me. Needs above wants. That is never fun.
I have never in my life pushed my self so hard. The only time I sat down was to go to the bathroom. I didn’t get very much sleep either. And there was lots of chocolate consumed. One day I woke up and ate it for breakfast. I figured it was kinda like a preemptive strike. I refinished my wood floors upstairs all by myself. (my hubby did help me move all the furniture out) We got new windows a while back and the window guys were not gentle when they ripped out the old ones. They left a lot of damage and did a poor job caulking. I added molding to cover the damage, re-caulked, and painted all the basement ones. I repainted all the molding around all the windows, door frames and baseboards. I pressure washed then primed (twice) and painted (twice) 2 sets of exterior stairs. I painted both sides of the kitchen door. I re-stained the inside of the front door. I did touch up paint on all the walls. I fixed TONS of little things that were broken which actually took most of my time. I cleaned out flower beds and added new top soil. I sanded down my dining room table and re-stained it and sealed it. I feel like I forgetting something….
All while this is going on I was trying to make things for the Silhouette giveaway, I had 2 TV appearances to prepare for, and I got a new big calling (aka job) at church. I was trying to sew a skirt for “point of view” too. Not to mention all the other MOM stuff like parent teacher conference. Throw in my period for good measure and you have One. Hot. Mess!!!!
Don’t get me wrong. I felt so blessed. I was thanking The Man Above every night for being so lucky. I could write a whole post on that alone. And maybe I will….
If you can believe it, I was also trying to work on my kitchen re-model (min- makeover on steroids) at the same time! I finally scrapped that with a few days to go.
My schedule, that had also been scrapped at this point, had said all the projects would be done with 3 days to spare so I could clean. Projects are messy. Projects times 100 are even messier. Everything that is normally in garage was in my house. Caulk guns, tarps, rollers, ladders, etc. There was dust everywhere. The cleaning in all reality would have taken a week. Seriously a WEEK. Do you know when I actually started the cleaning??? Mid morning on THE DAY THEY WERE COMING.
Panic. Fear. Gut ache. Hyperventilating. Sweating. Heart racing. Light headed. Stunned at my stupidity for waiting.
Enter: Best people ever!
I hate asking for help. I hate asking people with small children for help even more. I had one friend take my 4 year old to her house for the whole day. Thanks Melissa!!!! I had another friend run errands for me and make the chicken salad I had planned on making. She took my older kids after school as well. Thank you Chelcie!!!!! And my sister-in-law, niece, and mom came over to help with the last of the cleaning. Thanks Mindi, Bailee, and Mom!!!
I am totally humming “No Man Is An Island” from high school choir right now……
What would we do with out good people around us???
This was the hardest part of the journey for me. I am not only a control freak to the nth degree, but I am a clean freak as well. I had to let a lot of things go. I had to let perfection go. Even as I type this I am getting anxiety. I didn’t dust everything. The picture frames had layers and layers of dust. (And they looked at every one, by the way) So did the ceiling fan. My bathroom would have gotten a passing grade but was far from really clean. The old ugly fridge was still in my kitchen along with the new one. It stunk because it was unplugged and I didn’t clean it yet. I could go on and on. I prayed that they wouldn’t notice but I know they did. They get paid to notice the details. I got to the point where I had plastic totes and I was shoving all my crap in them and taking them to the garage. Dirty laundry got bagged up and thrown in there as well. There are currently 6 bags of laundry and six giant totes of crap in my garage. And I really don’t want to get them out :)
Not only was my house not all that I wanted, but I was a sweaty stinky mess. I hopped in the shower and got dressed a few minutes before they arrived. Yep. I answered the door for two swanky L.A. professionals looking like a drowned rat. No make up. Dripping wet. And flustered. This was Better Homes and freakin’ Gardens!!! I was disappointed that I was not prepared like I had wanted to be. It was not like I had envisioned in my mind. It was not even close to perfect.
I forgot to mention that the photographer and the stylist would be coming for 2 days. The day they flew in they wanted to come and see the room. They wanted to see the size and lighting and all that jazz. And they wanted to meet with me. They also unloaded most of their gear. The next day was to be the actually shoot.So I had lost out on first impressions but I had a second chance to clean a little better for the next day. I was up till 2 am. Not all was done, but it was better. So much for beauty sleep!
I am worn out! Writing this all down was like re-living it for me. All the emotion came back. That was a lot of info as well. I think I will insert a “To be continued…….” here.
The photo shoot details will post tomorrow :) There is a lot of info with that as well….
UPDATE: You can read part 2 HERE.
