Behind the scenes with IKEA Family Live

in the summer of 2010 the IKEA Family Live team choose my house to be furthered in the magazine. It was published in the latest IKEA Family LIVE magazine and went to IKEA Family members in 23 countries around the world. Since then my home changed a lot but it is fun to see how it was and what I made of it after these pictures were shot.A little diary with pictures I collected from their site and some pictures I made myself during the shoot…

somehow I only thought about it on the last day :/  IKEA also asked me to write some blogs for their website about the whole experience of having a team over to shoot your home… Read them here …

Real people, Real Homes {blogging for Ikea Family Live}
Are these real people and real homes, you may wonder, when the IKEA Family Live magazine drops on your doormat and you are flicking through pages filled with wonderful images and happy people…. believe me it is all real! 
 

Recently the IKEA Family Live team sent me an email, asking if I might be interested in doing a photo shoot with them. They’d seen my photos on Flickr and on my blog. My first reaction was are you kidding? My house does not look like the ones in the magazine. I am happy with the rooms I just finished this last year but you haven’t seen the rest of it. Being flattered and a bit curious I sent them some more pictures as they asked, thinking that would scare them of. Surprisingly though, they emailed and said they wanted to arrange a schedule for the shoot, and then it all started….

When making pictures for your blog, you have the freedom to show
only the bits you want, even if the rest of the house is total chaos. But when a team of five is coming over from the UK, especially for you and your home, you start to look different at it. My house isn’t really in chaos though. I’m quite ordered and I don’t really have many ‘things’…  or at least I have hidden them well in boxes. It are more the little-big things you notice and want to solve before ‘they‘ arrive.. I made a tour around the house to see what I thought needed to be done to not make them getting on the first train back home.
 


Even though friends and family told me not to stress out, for me it felt having a major deadline… Now luckily enough I really like to run around in my special pair of DIY converse and jeans that tell many stories about the paint jobs here and at friends places.


So for a week or two my best friends after work were two buckets… one filled with paint and one with water and soap…  And while painting and cleaning I now and then checked my e-mail….
I was half-expecting a little note to pop up and say, ‘Ha, you’ve been fooled!’ But I never got that email, so I continued painting. In the day time I encouraged myself with the words .. They asked you, you did not asked them…  But at night I dreamed about paint and IKEA magazines. Only to wake up in panic screaming out… what am I gonna wear!
Previously posted on the IKEA Family Live Website on April 6 2011 – IKEA Family Live gets real  This former IKEA FAMILY LIVE site is now the new IKEA Live site where you can also find all the blogs I write for IKEA Live 
 


 
 

Moving things around.. messy corners.. great styling and shots..
seeing the pictures makes me realize how much my place changed again over the last 6 months

Reflections on an IKEA FAMILY LIVE shoot {Blogging for IKEA FL}
If the IKEA FAMILY LIVE team should ever take over your house for two whole days, like it did with mine, be prepared to enjoy every minute of it. It is not every day you get to see how a great magazine team works.

Before they arrived, all I could think was that the team would walk in and say ‘Is this it?!’ But it was nothing like that at all. They walked in, looked around and told me that this was their dream location to shoot because of all the little corners and all the objects I’ve collected that are dotted around the house.

When the team arrived, there was no time for tea or coffee (yet) – everyone went straight to work! I’m used to having so many people around the house and it made me feel really comfortable seeing everyone doing their own thing.

Meanwhile, Huma (who wrote the story) and I talked for hours  – we kept talking and talking, even when we had to go to the hospital because I had cut my hand! Huma could write a book about me by now. But she promised me she wouldn’t!

 

The whole thing was a lovely experience. I loved watching the team set up each scene for the photos. Yes, they made some little changes here and there to create an interesting angle and fit everything they wanted to show in the shots, but it was definitely still my home. By the second day, I was so comfortable, that even posing for pictures didn’t feel so strange. Everyone was so encouraging, patient and lovely towards me!I really enjoyed talking with Jake Curtis, the photographer. loved that as I happened to have collect some of work.

A great few days. I was left with lots of things to think about and feeling very inspired.

Thanks to the IKEA FAMILY LIVE magazine team for allowing me to have such a great experience. If it wasn’t for the fact that they ate most of my cookies, I would almost say I miss them 😉

Previously posted on the former IKEA Famly Live Website on April 20 2011 Now to be found , along with my other blogs for IKEA Live on the new IKEA LIVE website  ->  Reflections on an IKEA FAMILY LIVE shoot


The Magazine pictures…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The magazine will be in your mailbox if you live in one of the 23 countries IKEA send out the magazine… If you are not an IKEA family member you can see the Spring 2011 issue here in English… or in French  Ma maison dans IKEA Family Live magazine ici en Francais 

 

Ideas for corners and display
Is how IKEA FL called the collection of pictures on their website when they added some text onto the pictures… somehow I all said that 😉 

 
All pictures for the magazine are made by Jake Curtis for IKEA Family Live
Styling by Sam.. for IKEA… if you use them please give them some credit!