7/31/2020 7 Comments ellie's bedrooms ...The sweet Carolina cottage boasts two bedrooms -- a master and a charming little guest room with an alcove. Here's how the master looked when we arrived... And here it is after some quick styling! One of the reasons Ellie's cottage makes such a good story is because she put her unique personality into it. Ellie literally made the master bedroom cabinets from old chippy painted window frames... Hannah Hall carried through the rustic vibe of the cabin with a foraged bouquet of hellebore, camellia and the branches of white spirea. Even though Ellie's bedroom sports mostly neutral hues, it's not boring because of all the texture -- the velvet, linen, and fur of the pillows, coupled with the knobby weave of the cotton throw and the chippy paint of the cabinets... Below is the before of the guest bedroom.... And here's the after (which Kenny especially likes...) A mix of many patterns work here as they're all in the same hues. There's even a variety of textures including quilting, pleats, embroidery, tassels and ruffles...all add interest without being distracting... Do we like the book on the bed as in the capture above? Or topping the stack of books as seen below? Now my second favorite image of our Carolina cottage story-- love the glimpse of the open door which welcomes and leads you into the room... As opposed to the same capture without the door... And here comes the Lifestyle -- Can you imagine Ellie just stepped away from her desk where she was scripting notes-- with her fav vintage fountain pen? That is, after she stretched out in the cozy alcove leafing through Louesa Roebuck's beautiful book, Foraged Flora... And now we've told the story of Ellie's pink Paris bedroooms! flowers by Hannah Hall of Fern&Flora open book Floraged Flora by Louesa Roebuck & Sarah Lonsdale pink pillows/Home Goods glasses by izipizi available at Cattywampus...... cottage of Ellie Navarro @charmingtheweekend...photography by Sunday Hendrickson STAY TUNED FOR NEXT WEEK'S
FINAL POST OF ELLIE'S SWEET HOME --THE COTTAGE KITCHEN! AND PLEASE SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO SUBSCRIBE...THANK YOU!
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My favorite image from our whole Hendersonville shoot! There's just something about the moment and the casual elegance... Here's all the fun we had behind the scenes... Finding the best-looking bread in town (from the local Flat Rock Bakery) and breaking it just right... On a plate? Or do we like it better on the brown bakery bag? Kim arranging each quince blossom petal just perfectly... And each blossom doing it's best... Me behind my Canon 5D obnoxiously shouting orders -- oops! I mean kindly making suggestions about placement... Trying different angles, making sure it looks perfect but still casual, capturing that moment with the light just right... Kenyon letting me know that he approves the direction we're taking... Half filling the lemonade glasses as if someone was there just a moment before...taking a sip....(it's called Lifestyle)... Bella Rustica Design Kim Kelly looking proud of the tableau...whew! Kim:"it looks so easy in the magazines..." If while we're shooting, and an image really grabs us, there's potential for a cover -- in which case we leave extra room at the top for the logo, white space on the sides for cover lines, and room at the bottom for the dang bar code... Below...the teeny tiny bath before styling... Here's after styling but before photoshopping... And ta dah! the finals below!-- styled two different ways... which is your fav? Fini! BY THE WAY, IF YOU SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN AND SUBSCRIBE BELOW-- YOU'D MAKE ME SO HAPPY... AND, IF YOU LEAVE A COMMENT, TOO, WELL, I WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY! cottage of ellie navarro and @charmingtheweekend...pink plate courtesy of woodland
quince branches courtesy of mother nature and the (unknowing) neighbor next door fellow instigator kim kelly of bella rustica design flowers by hannah hall of Fern&Flora....photography by sunday hendrickson 7/16/2020 8 Comments the front porch...Ellie's Hendersonville bungalow boasted a wonderful front porch. Below is what it looked like when we arrived..... And this is how it looked after doin our thing... "rested after our game of tennis, filled our porch with fresh picked branches and poured ourselves frosty glasses of pink lemonade." In other words, added Lifestyle with the tennis racket and cool drinks added Color with oversized quince blossoms from the neighbor's yard (don't tell). Final touch was a vintage oil canvas and plump, fresh pillows that brought that "living-inside-out" vibe. Hannah Hall filled our picnic basket with fresh baby's breath. SEE ELLIE'S LIGHT-FILLED DINING ROOM IN MY NEXT POST! (AND SUBSCRIBE BELOW SO YOU DON'T MISS IT!) Check out my latest cover story on the newstand now... THE LOVELY LINDERMAN HOME IN AMERICAN FARMHOUSE STYLE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 American Farmhouse Style edited by Victoria Van Vlear
photography by Lu Tapp...styling by Sunday Hendrickson "Sunday, just got back from North Carolina and found a darling cottage..." says my pal Kim Kelly, retired federal agent, home remodeler extraordinaire, and, her most important title, my Divine-Scout-at-Large. Met Kim when This Old House magazine sent me to Georgia to shoot one of her homes. Ten years later we've done a dozen shoots together including three more of her own homes for Country Home, Country Living and Cottage Style. Kim sent me her scout snaps and I booked a flight as she planned to drive back to North Carolina from Saint Simons Island, Georgia to meet me. At this point in my career I know what the interior magazines are looking for and sometimes it's worth it to shoot a story "on spec" as opposed to how we used to work selling the story up front. Ellie's charming little hide-away definitely fell into the "worth it" category. We arranged to bunk in the cottage as Ellie, homeowner, was not there that week. It made the whole whirlwind trip financially enticing since a magazine would not be picking up the expenses up front.... like in the old days. Through Ellie, made contact with the local Hannah Hall of Fern & Flora, uber floral designer, as Hannah's "foraging " style perfectly fit the bungalow's rustic charm. She immediately signed on as did Kenyon, Kim's yellow Lab. Here's the whole A Team we put together! Initially, Kim was the go-between with the homeowner. The hardest conversations I have with owners is that we have to add "the dreaded C word"-- Color. The same was true with sweet Ellie. Kim says I am really good at these conversations whereas she can be more direct (I think it comes from all those criminal investigative interrogations...) Ellie's cottage was all white. Kim: "Ellie, choose two colors you like." Ellie: "Well, I really like a neutral palette." Kim: "Ellie, choose two colors you like." "We" finally settled on pink and gold to reflect that Pink Paris Apartment vibe. Below are our inspiration images... We decided to "prop" as much as we could before arrival to avoid the very long "prep" day usually required before all photoshoots. Add to that another day of "returns" as a regular part of prep which involves borrowing items from local shops in exchange for credit in the magazines. All this simply takes lots of time. Packed my suitcase with towels, soaps, and pink accessories while Kim loaded rugs, pillow shams, throws and vases in her car (along with her two Labs, Kenyon & Sugar). Hannah allowed us to raid her home of baskets and coffee table-sized books, and Ellie sewed pillows and brought some beautiful pale pink plates. Everything else was already in the cottage. This was early March and the corona virus was already gaining steam in California which is why I dialed Kim the morning of my flight and told her I may not come -- that it was risky to get on a crowded plane -- but she revealed she was already in South Carolina. Knowing that this pandemic was likely going to sideline a lot of my near future-work I decided to go ahead with the trip. We are both glad we did because, of course, the world changed forever the week of our return. Styling and shooting five rooms in a home can take eight hours or longer. I reconfigure their home adding color and texture, subtracting clutter and rearranging furniture. In this photoshoot, Ellie was not going to be on location so we had more flexibility than in most. Plus, as we were staying in the cottage, I could see when the light would be optimum in each room and plan our shot order accordingly, making sure our "flower girl", Hannah, arrived with her designs for each room at their freshest. Turns out Miss Hannah Hall did so much more but that's another post (Okay, I'll tell you a little, I ended up getting a story authorized about Hannah for Where Women Create magazine during that same trip so we were busy.) Stay tuned for my next post --
the fabulous front porch of Ellie's sweet rustic Carolina cottage... |
CategoriesAll Before & Afters Cottages Foraging Photo Shoots Styling |