Are stylists ruining it for the rest of us?
Someone I was chatting with last week told me that some designers are advising clients against open shelves, on the grounds that unless you are professional photo stylist, your shelves are not likely to look like the just-groomed picture-perfect ones in magazines.
You know, that really saddens me. Do we live in a magazine photos, or in homes?
Photo Bruce Hemming - Stylist unknown
See, if you live in a photo, and the kitchen is pink, then yes, you do have to give your kids pink juice for breakfast. And yes, they have to eat the only cereal that comes in a pink box. Never mind what they want! That’s just the way it has to be.
Or sometimes, if you live in a photograph, you just have to clutter up your workspace by leaning pictures against the backsplash, and clutter up your floorspace with random stools that you could never really sit on – just as long as it looks good for the picture:
Styled to kill - a kitchen by Thom Felicia, source unknown
This one makes me smile – of course, if you live in a photograph, it’s fine to keep your hams and salamis on the stove – especially when cooking a big pan of unpeeled turnips, while doing some gardening and preparing omelets at the same time. All without creating a single speck of dust or spot of grease, naturally:
Stylist Victoria Nordstrom via Agent Molly
Real life isn’t a photograph – fortunately. We don’t experience real rooms the same way we do photographs. A photograph captures a single moment from a single viewpoint – and then that moment is fixed permanently. Photos always magically show up every fingerprint, smear, speck, or imperfection that you never saw with the naked eye – which is of course why styling is so important for photos. In real life, your eye isn’t fixed, your gaze is free to move, to skip over what isn’t interesting, and to focus on what is important. So I say, unless you are planning to live in a picture rather than a kitchen, don’t let those stylists scare you – plan some space to display your favorite things, and let your personality shine through.
Although, if this is how your personality tends to shine, you might just consider having a closable door on the pantry, just in case that magazine photographer does happen to call:
Really real - untouched by stylist's hand
This picture set at I lay my hat and wish to stay is almost guaranteed to make you feel better about your own place!
Hi Jessica – and welcome to Kitchen Clarity. That sounds like excellent advice, thank you for sharing with everyone.
I agree with this post wholeheartedly! I usually advise my clients to think about the natural way that they tend to deal with their “stuff” when deciding how much to keep behind cabinets in the kitchen. If you like to work with one thing in front of you at a time, you will probably work best with most objects contained. If you do store items out in the open: Make sure that the dishes/canisters you display are used or cleaned often enough that there is never any grime, dust, water/food splashes. Try to store items away from the sink or stove, and be careful not to mist them with any cleaning sprays! I’m a professional organizer in San Diego – Happy to have found Kitchen Clarity!
Hi Joseph – yes, I understand the stylist’s job is to sell us an image. I just hope all this craziness doesn’t really stop people displaying their own stuff and enjoying it!
That sort of thing goes on in every walk of life, Sarah. One of the things that always interests me is the photos I see of woodworking workshops in my magazines devoted to the craft. Invariably, the one thing that is missing is sawdust! Or just dust in general, really. No matter how much I clean my shop, it is always there, because as soon as I clean it, I’m back to making more sawdust. But ask someone to photograph the shop, and the first thing that happens is that they want to make very certain there’s not a speck of dust in it!