Styling Secrets: What They Don't Show You At Home

Pssst.... hey you. Yeah, you. All of you coming here looking for style inspiration. You know those beautiful homes you see in magazines and on blogs and websites? The ones that look so perfect with their colorful flowers on the mantel and fresh bread on the kitchen counter they make you wonder why your home never looks so great? Well, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I'm about to show you what the rest of the room - the half of the room not seen through the lens - looks like. I present to you the job of a stylist.

I can only assume some of you remember the Jess LC photo shoot look book I styled back in September? This may jog your memory: Liz and myself sporting Jess LC scarves and iPad cases. Fancy.

What we didn't show you was the before photos. Liz and my clothes sprawled out around my bedroom, making it easier to put outfits together. Liz had to cart over several garment bags of clothes, and I unloaded a good fraction of the contents of my closets. It was a mess. And as you can see, Jess brought over several bags of Jess LC products and accessories, which so willingly took over my dining room table.

Similarly, you may recall the Refinery29 One Room/Two Ways feature I styled back in October. The photo shoot where I transformed my tiny office space into a dressing room, showing how a tenant could make practical use of the awkwardly small extra bedroom many Chicago apartments have.

 Well, this is what the rest of my house looked like while I worked on that project... (That doorway just beyond the TV is the entry to the office.)

The entire contents of my office exploded all over my living and dining room. It was crazy. And a bit inconvenient. I had to run around the city picking up items from my favorite retailers to style the new space, but the finished product made it all worth it.

So why am I talking about styling? Because despite the mess, despite the heavy lifting, despite the trial and error with seven different accents until realizing which item looks best in the shot, I've found it to be my new favorite job. I've been doing it nonstop for The Everygirl (and previously did it for Rue and several other freelance gigs), and I'm loving every minute of it. 

And while I've learned a lot with each new experience, I want to continue to get better at it! So I created a new Pinboard strictly for Styling inspiration, and I encourage all of you to check it out! And please feel free to peruse my styling portfolio while you're at it; I've included some of my favorite projects there. Plus, now you have an idea of what the rest of those beautiful rooms actually looked like in order to get those annoyingly perfect shots. 

Shh... don't tell anyone I told you.