A couple months ago I flew down to Orange County to shoot a big campaign in a famous reality star’s home – 3 days of on camera fun + pressure + being treated like a queen. Living Spaces hired me to promote their summer furniture line and collaborate on the campaign. It was all the things that fulfilling work should be – challenging, fun, stressful, creatively stretching, an adrenaline rush, and a huge happy relief when it went well. If you don’t know anyone who has a life “on camera” you might not know how nervous even the most professional of professionals get. I listen to Armchair Expert religiously and they have some of the biggest movie stars ever on, and hearing them talk about the nerves, pressure and anxiety around being on camera (scripted or press) has been this massive unlock for me. It’s actually a really normal part of human existence to get nervous when a lot A LOT of people are staring at you, especially when the work that you produce affects the quality of their work, and their own careers. Now, I don’t get nervous when we self-produce shoots (which is typical), and I am even pretty confident about delivering tips or explaining design on camera — I’ve been doing it for so long and I really know my stuff. But the crew at Living Spaces challenged us all with doing a one take commercial, meaning the camera doesn’t cut and everything has to be done perfectly or else you start over, and over, and over. Our “one take” involved kids and dogs, making it even less predictable. So I really memorized my lines in advance (which I don’t often need to do) to ensure that it was there in my brain when I came to set. Then we rehearsed over and over and over on day one, fixing all the timing issues, telling the dogs to be released earlier/later or tweaking where the kid kicked the popcorn bowl. It was stressful, challenging and so fun — the mark of a fantastic day at work. Everyone had a GREAT attitude and when one person or another messed up, we just went back to one and started over (no stress or blame). After a day rehearsing (before cameras officially “rolled”) I arrived the day of the shoot feeling pretty good, but also knowing that I was the “star” of it and I had to hit the most lines at very specific markings and if I messed it up, back to one for everyone.
We ended up doing it 19 times (which took about 2 hours) and only a handful of them were because I messed up (which I felt proud of!). You can watch the video here (please do!).
Now if you don’t know Living Spaces I’m here to inform you it’s so great (also Nate and Jeremiah have an awesome line with them that I’m sure you’ve seen). They are pretty big in California so I’ve ordered from them a lot, especially when I lived there. Even before I partnered with them we would buy their pieces because they were affordable (think more than IKEA, less than Crate & Barrel) and they had a wide selection of styles – and here’s the kicker – they arrive FAST. Like within a week. We ordered our twin over queen bunk beds for the mountain house bunk room from them and not only did it come in 2 days but we paid to have them assemble which took a few hours. A real treat.
So I wanted to show you some of their summer pieces that they styled with (that I love) as well as a roundup of other pieces that I really like. Now I didn’t do the set design or styling (I never want to take credit for a team of talented people) but I got to see and approve it in advance to make sure that it would be rooms that I felt comfortable being photographed in.
Living Spaces rented whats called a “location house” which is often a personal home by someone who is comfortable renting out for TV/film/commercial productions. You basically hand over the keys to a producer where they have almost free reign to rearrange your home for their shooting purposes (often moving everything out and changing light fixtures). It’s very expensive and extremely disruptive but if you have a desirable house it can make a LOT of money (anywhere between $1,500 – $10k a day). I just think this stuff is fascinating. Now the house needs to be special, specific and easy to shoot (i.e. they rarely rent small houses that are hard to get a crew in and out of) and silly things like crew parking can become a barrier. This house was owned by Christina Hall (the host of “Flip Or Flop” with Tarek and now, “Christina By the Coast”). We didn’t see her at all, as most of the times families move out. But it was cool to be her hyper modern California home.
A huge thanks to the Living Spaces crew that made me feel so supported and comfortable, and was so incredibly dialed in. I’ve worked with so many crews over the years and was so impressed with how well everyone worked together and how much like a family it felt (many people have worked there for over 15+ years with a massive in-house crew). I was nervous about this job, y’all, due to the scripted nature of it so I was just incredibly thrilled when it went well, we had fun and everyone was happy at the end. It’s really all you can hope for 🙂
Now if you are in the market for pretty home furniture that is at a fantastic price point and will be delivered quickly (made by a company that supports their staff really well) here is a roundup of many of my favorite pieces.
140″ 4 Piece Modular L-Shaped Sectional | 34″ Black Modern Metal Task Table Lamp | Black Dining Chair With Woven Seat
Nora Natural Desk | 27″ Matte Black Modern Table Lamp | Dean Sand Upholstered Panel Bed
9′ Ivory Scallop Edge Outdoor Market Umbrella | Caldera Leather Accent Arm Chair | Black Traditional 72″ Storage Bookcase
And to normalize crew getting credit – a big thanks to the following heads of departments:
Director: Matt Odom
Video/Photo Production: Garret Shigenaka
Production Design: Jessie Harris
Food Styling: Joe Lazo
Hair and Makeup: Cristina McLamb
