Refresh magazine shoot details

Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend! 

I intended to share some of the details of our dream come true
BH & G Refresh magazine photo shoot

with you last week, and every time I sat down to write the words just wouldn't flow,

storytelling and writing aren't my forte. I like short and sweet - a year in the making,
and three jam packed days with a magazine crew at our home is tough to condense, and
 after using the word 'exciting' repeatedly it kind of loses it effect!
Here's the scoop... 

November 2013 - I received an email from BH & G Field Editor, Bonnie Broten,

saying, 'I've been stalking your blog and think your home should be in a magazine.' 

Of course, I immediately thought it was a joke from a friend or teenager! 

After Googling her, and realizing she was for real, I was beside myself and then panic

 set in as I began focusing all that was unfinished in our home.      

Our dream team...Bonnie Broten - BH & G Field Editor & Stylist, Kim'Berly' Gavin - Photographer

I worked with Bonnie over the next several months sending photos of our home and
tweaking them for her to present. I tried way TOO hard to redecorate as much as I could,
so it would be magazine worthy - only to end up hating the photos I sent. That gallery wall
below is so not me, (not to mention the empty frames, like I thought they wouldn't notice??)
 What was I thinking with those taxidermy twins?
 They wanted an article on 'How NOT to decorate with a trend' - I nailed it with the framed
 taxidermy on two walls - oh my!
Lesson learned: If a magazine contacts you they like your house as it is!

   
June 2014 - After a LOT of hard work on Bonnie's end, putting together a presentation
for submission to the editors and waiting for the process to unfold, she lets me know they've
 chosen our home. EEEEK!! They'll be scheduling a photo shoot in September and it will
include our exterior and yard, as well. Yikes! Guess we'll be spending some weekends
in the yard! Lots of back and forth and photo shoot dates changing, now scheduled for
 August - at one point they called on a Thursday evening and asked if they could come on
Monday. I said, 'Yes!' Thank goodness it didn't end up working out on their end.  

August 27th - SO excited and nervous! I pick Bonnie up at the airport, she's tall, a classic
 beauty with that effortless style, her blond hair pulled back, red lipstick, truly beautiful
 and she immediately puts me at ease. We head to the wholesale florist, sit in the car and chat
 for at least an hour before heading inside to choose flowers for all the rooms and shots.
  It's late afternoon and we drive through Wendy's on our way to my house, where we arrange
all the flowers and she styles every shot, her talent and energy are impressive and endless!
Whew, long day and I take her to her hotel.
 

August 28th - It's going to be a challenging couple of days we have intermittent rain
and clouds, except when we have blinding sun. None of which seemed to bother our
incredibly talented (and buff) photographer, Berly, a dog lover, who made fast
 friends with our girl Rio and is responsible for her magazine debut! :)
 I'm sure my sweet friend, who came to help each day, never imagined she'd be
 spending her morning blow drying our flagstone patio to remove the water!

August 29th - Another full day - we covered, uncovered, and re-covered furniture,
swept water off the deck several times, and  hauled flowers to the garage and back
out again, over and over to keep everything from getting soggy. While waiting for
the weather to cooperate Berly would set up inside shots.
 

 The article in the Spring edition of  BH & G Refresh, 'Evolution of a Landscape'
 is eight pages (so exciting) of the exterior of our home, yard and deck. I took this
 photo after they had it styled and ready to go.

Part Two of the dream come true and secret I've been keeping...
our interior will be featured in the Summer edition of Refresh!  
Crazy and still unbelievable!

I can't thank Bonnie and Berly enough for all of their hard work, they were a joy to

have at our home and we feel so fortunate they were the ones we got to share this

 once in a lifetime experience with! 

  Also, thank you Mr. Simple for all of your efforts getting everything in shape

 and putting up with me! :)