Last week, I had the good fortune to be completely inspired by a few different events and activities. First was a talk at the DC Design Center by Eddie Ross. Eddie is a master at photo styling interiors. He works or has worked with numerous magazines and was really insightful for the designers in attendance during DC’s Capital Design Week. He shared the importance for interior designers to get good photos of their rooms, with carefully thought out furniture placement, accents and accessories, to show how a room COULD be lived in, although it may not be lived in that way in real life. Real Life does NOT equal Photography!   Which is why the rooms in magazines always look so glamorous. It’s done on purpose!

He also stressed the importance of using a talented photographer (with a good camera) and being able to review and edit photos on-site.  Styling rooms may take an entire day to get the right shot!  But the right shot is worth its weight in gold – both for designers websites and portfolios but more importantly, for submitting to regional and national magazines for submission and inclusion in the industry magazines.

Not only did he have a cool vignette set up but then he also changed it up before our eyes. He showed us how to tailor the vignette to be season specific (using colorful accessories) for a spring or fall decorating issue.  Here he is hard at work and talking at the same time, and showing us how to change out the same room and give it a different feel…

Eddie updates the arrangement for new season

I know all the interior designers in attendance were very appreciative of all of the  tips and tricks he shared with us. As a home stager, I have a bit of an advantage because I have many more projects per year than the typical designer, so have more opportunity to use this new knowledge very quickly. I also walked away wishing I could redo the majority of the staging projects on my website and even those that haven’t made it to the site yet.  But since that is impossible, what is possible is to be more cognizant as I am purchasing props for upcoming projects and confident on taking good pictures (and hiring photographers for good projects) on the day after staging.  Eddie spoke about taking the smaller more focused pictures (fireplace shot, bookcase shot,etc) which is great for magazines but contradicts real estate photography, where wide angles are requested from Realtors.  In either case, it is still really good information and I find myself shopping now for staging props and asking myself – would Eddie purchase/use this? I guess it is a good place to start!  Thanks for the inspiration Eddie!

Jaithan, Eddie, Sheryl and me during Capital Design Week

(photo by Desire Greene)

Now the second BIG thing that happened last week (and another wave of inspiration washed on shore) was the launch of TradHome, an on-line design magazine, and collaboration with Lonny magazine and Traditional Home, paper magazine.

Wow – over 300 pages of well styled, amazingly photographed interiors, and great products….all i could say was whoa!  It gave me much more appreciation for traditional furniture and how to use it in modern settings.  So much to take in – it was a designers buffet!  The video with Jonathan Adler and Charlotte Moss was a pleasant surprise. (must peek in yourself to check it out).  And fun to see some of the same rooms that Eddie included in his talk were in the magazine too!! WOW!

Upcoming is the Georgetown House Tour and CB2 opening in Georgetown – another night of inspiration in April!  Can’t wait!

Tags: creative design, dc interior decorator, decor ideas, design gurus, home staging, photo styling, Shopping, staging, staging props, styling, vacant home staging

This entry was posted on April 20, 2011 at 9:27 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Posted in color, decorating, homes for sale, workshop by rrashfor | Comments Off