An amazing Spanish style house....edited and non edited photos

Chay Wike's house is amazing. It is this darling Spanish style house in L.A. with so much charm and character.   It is a perfect blend of a modern and rustic meets bohemian. And those wood beamed ceilings...oh I am so in love!!  It was featured in Domino's winter 2013 issue. Here are the images from Domino taken by Brittany Ambridge. Let's take a look..

 

 

 

As I always do, I stare and obsess over certain images in magazines or online. Then I google the homeowner  to find more images and then spend way too much time obsessing even more. But what I found...well let's just say it puts things in perspective. This home was also featured on Apartment Therapy a while back. While these images also show a darling house...and they were probably iPhone pictures...the difference is pretty drastic. Take a look. This is the same house as above...the lighting and scale and overall feel is quite different!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We (or at least I) will spend some time  looking at certain images and think that the house or room or flower is perfect and confirm that my home certainly does not look like this. My house looks more like a toy store with my kiddos' scooters and karaoke machine and Legos and art work are either scattered around or we are always trying to get "organized" which usually lasts for about 2 days. And  I will take a picture with my iphone and sometimes they come out ok and sometimes the lighting is so wrong. Yes, I really need to invest in a better camera.

Well, as I am learning these magazine and blog images are highly edited and it takes a whole professional crew i.e. photographer, stylist, etc. 8 to 9 hours to get 5 to 10 great shots. Adding and editing to get the perfect shot. Yes please...I would love a crew to take over my house and make it look gorgeous:) Obviously, a room or a house has to have great bones and style but it is pretty amazing what a photographer and stylists can do to take it to the next level!

As much as these images are beautiful to look at...it is pretty safe to say that these rooms have had a little help. They are highly edited and enhanced versions of life. Do we strive for this perfection? Or do we live life that can be quite messy at times. I do not think we can strive for this perfection as even these "perfect" images are not "real life".  I think it pretty similar with fashion magazines.  There has been so much controversy over the "realness" of models and actresses.  But, I think it comes down to beauty sells.  As with a home magazine, I do not think they would sell too many copies if the articles were photographed from a cell phone!

The sweetest woman who helped us with our garden (which I will blog about soon) made an interesting comment the other week. She came into our house one morning (as I was not expecting her that day), so to put it lightly, the house was not tidy and the morning dishes were not cleaned and so I apologized to her. And she said Oh please, honey, your home  is gorgeous and you have children and you are living. Think how sad it would be if you did not have the reminders of that. And, it is so true...every where I look it is a little messy...but these are reminders of the people and animals that I love the most.

But, if a magazine came calling, I assure you I would get this place tidied up and as perfect as can be in no time!! Even if that means throwing all this "stuff" in a closet...ha ha:)

xo,
Paige