katy – Page 61 – Apartment Apothecary

katy 8th July 2015

Styling the seasons – July

This is the first month since we started Styling the Seasons in September 2014 that I have had a complete block and have had no idea which surface in my home to refresh and style. In fact, my block goes a bit further than that as I’ve been struggling to be productive at all and last week was almost a complete write-off. Ideas have been lacking, motivation is almost non-existent and there has been a lot of procrastination and faffing.

What do you do when you have a creative block like this? I’ve realised two things help for me: a little bit of time off and buying myself a few new lovely things, which help ideas to flow again. To help clear my mind and think about what to do for this month’s Styling the Seasons I have tried to go back to what really attracted me to the project; the conscious decision to clear a dumping ground in my home and taking time to sit and think about what the coming month means to me and try to show that in my styling.

All that being said, I decided to clear this dumping ground in my home office that is the first thing I see to my right as I walk in the door to the room. This month isn’t about making a surface look beautiful, it’s about making it more practical…

Styling the Seasons - July | Apartment Apothecary

In theory I wanted to leave the top of this chest of drawers in my home office clear for ongoing craft projects but in practice it has become a dumping ground.

I completely cleared the top of these drawers where I store my crafty bits and bobs and found new homes for everything. I decided to buy a wall cupboard to store some of my props that I use in blog posts. It is not a deep cupboard so it doesn’t encroach on the space or feel too dominant; this is especially important because it is the first thing I see as I enter the room. I also put a file box and some metal baskets (much prefer these to storage boxes as you can see exactly what is in them and they don’t look or feel as heavy) on top of the drawers to corral the clutter (my new favourite phrase!). Here is my refreshed surface for July…

Wall cupboard from Dirty Pretty Vintage.

The plant is a String of Hearts vine or Rosary vine.

So super proud of these roses that I have grown this year on my balcony. They smell divine!

What I have realised, as I struggled to think about what July means to me, is that this has always been the month that I start to unwind and slow down – I have been a student or a teacher all of my life and the coming of the summer holidays is obviously very deeply engrained. I think I have needed a bit of time off to gather new inspiration and new ideas. Hopefully, with my freshly stocked props cupboard and better organised work space, my creative block will clear.

Do pop over to see Charlotte’s gorgeous post this month; it is definitely one of my all time favourite STS posts. Also, search the #StylingTheSeasons hashtag over on Instagram for inspiration, as well as hopping over to our Pinterest board with the hundreds of blog posts that have been styled and written since last September. We would love for you to join us this month and style a surface in your home to show what this month means to you. Blog about it or post a picture on your favourite social media platform and tag us in so we can see! I wrote up a few of my photo-styling tips this week just in case you are new to the styling game and want a bit of guidance.

Katy x

katy 6th July 2015

Ask Apartment Apothecary – Photo styling tips

*Spoiler alert* This post contains a terrible quality video of me!

Last month I was invited to speak at BritMums blogging conference about styling photographs for blog posts and Instagram. Everyone who came to my session was so lovely and complimentary so I thought it would be a good idea to share a small section of my talk here, especially as a couple of you had asked me about this for an Ask Apartment Apothecary post. I hope it will help those people who are thinking about starting blogs or want to improve their styling skills – for everyone else, I hope you enjoy a ‘behind the scenes’ insight.

I went through some general styling rules at the beginning of my talk (maybe I will share those another day) and then showed this video of me setting up a styled dining table (it’s very basic styling – nothing too exciting and hopefully something everyone can relate to in one way or another) for blog photographs. Please forgive the horrendous quality as it’s the first video I’ve ever made and I stupidly didn’t ask anyone for help. The first thing to explain about styling something that is to be photographed is that what looks beautiful to the human eye does not necessarily translate to film. If I were to style a dining table for guests to eat at the process would be completely different. When I style something to be photographed I am not thinking about how it looks in ‘real life’ I am constantly thinking about how it will look on film. Have a look at my process…

When I am ready to take the final photographs of my styling, the shot choices I make will totally dictate how effective my styling looks. Here are a few tips (and please remember I am not a photographer!)…

1. Take shots from intended angle

As I was styling the table I always had in my mind that I was going to take the photographs from the right end of the table. The left end acts purely as a backdrop. Therefore, there is no point taking photographs from the left end as there is nothing to see there.

2. Make sure overhead shots are straight

There is no point in going to all of the effort to choose and place objects so carefully if you take a photograph at a skew-whiff angle. Make sure if you are doing an overhead shot that it is completely straight (straighten it up on photoshop if needs be). I had to partially stand on the table for the straight shot on the right.

3. Take tight shots

When you style something you do not need to take big wide shots that capture all of the clutter and bits of random furniture, dog toy baskets and mirror reflections. Keep your shots tight, especially when photographing things in your own home, as you probably don’t have the benefit of studio-like surroundings.

4. Take shots head on

When taking a front-on shot you may need to kneel down, crouch down or move other furniture (I’m on my sofa for this shot) in order to make the shot straight. Don’t come at it from a strange angle because it will make the styling look strange too!

5. Focus on your styling

If you have styled something make sure you take pictures of the styling itself. I love my Ercol chairs and in ‘real life’ they look great round this table. However, if you take a photograph of all of them together they look heavy, bulky and dominant (far too many spindles all in one frame!). Focus on your styling, capture a slither of the chairs for context and the photo will be a lot more balanced.

6. Think about the perspective of objects

If you take a photograph of objects from certain angles you can capture unpleasant looking shapes. For example, my table is a rectangle but if you take a photo from the angle below it becomes a trapezium and looks quite ugly. Therefore, by taking a shot at a slightly lower angle and by capturing only half of the table top, I don’t create horrible shapes.

I hope all of that makes sense and is useful. I also spoke about quick fix ways of turning your home into a ‘studio’ so do let me know if anyone is interested in another post about that or general styling rules.

Katy x

katy 3rd July 2015

Summer parties

Just popping by really briefly today to tell you about one of my favourite summer products, perfect for summer parties.

I bought a couple of these Kilner drinks dispensers as they are great for gatherings on our roof terrace. We can’t access the terrace directly from our flat so it works really well to fill these up and everyone can help themselves to drinks without us having to constantly go back and forth to the flat. A perfect solution to no-hassle entertaining. What about having a couple and filling one with soft drinks and one with Pimms?

Summer party ideas - Kilner drinks dispenser | Apartment Apothecary

Kilner drinks dispensers from Lakeland £29.99.

What top tips do you have for summer parties?

Happy weekend everyone.

Katy x

katy 1st July 2015

Strawberries and cream ice lollies

I am totally in love with Wimbledon. I love watching the tennis, gathering with friends and family to watch big matches, eating strawberries and a Pimms or two.

This year I’ve been invited by Wimbledon sponsor Christy (they also provide the players’ towels) to spend the day on centre court – eeeeee! SO excited.

I have done a little piece for the Christy guide to Wimbledon and come up with my top tips for holding a Wimbledon tennis party at home and I just want to share a recipe that’s included in the guide that would be perfect for the weather this week!

Ingredients

(to make four medium sized lollies)

Strawberries – a small punnet

Caster sugar – about 2 tbsp (or to taste)

Squeeze of lemon

Vanilla ice cream, slightly softened but do not use soft scoop ice cream – about 200g but it depends on how much ice cream you want to add and how big your moulds are

Four lolly sticks and lolly moulds (or use recycled yoghurt pots)

Recipe

1. Hull the strawberries and blend them to a puree with the caster sugar and squeeze of lemon juice.

2. Layer the lolly moulds with alternate spoonfuls of the strawberry purée and ice cream. Push the lolly sticks into the middle of the lollies and freeze for at least four hours, until they are frozen solid.

3. Ease the lollies out of their moulds carefully, running them under a hot tap for a few seconds if they get stuck. Eat before they melt!

I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of summer and hooray for the sun (and Wimbledon)!

Katy x

katy 30th June 2015

June – a review

I know I say this most months but where on earth has June gone? It really has flown, probably because I have been really busy. However, I have made a very concerted effort this month to spend more time outside, to see more of my friends and to try to enjoy the passing days a bit more. I have re-planted my balcony and have spent every morning sitting with a cup of tea just taking in the morning light and calm of the early hours (probably my favourite time of day). We have had our first few gatherings of the year up on our roof terrace and I spent such a happy weekend in Norfolk this weekend just gone. It’s been a good month and I hope it has been for you, too.

What has been really difficult this month is choosing our favourite styled suface to win the £50 Loaf voucher. Charlotte and I have loved seeing so many beautiful entries overflowing with seasonal flowers, wonderful props and carefully chosen words to decribe the meaning of June. All that being said, this shot by Rowena immediately caught my eye because of the clever use of nature, colour, variety of textures, heights and that homemade wreath! Just beautiful styling. Congratulations, Rowena, you are the winner of the £50 Loaf voucher (I’d recommend the pink linen scrunch cushion!).

I had many other favourites this month that I shared over on Instagram throughout the month and these four gorgeous shots really sum up June for me – light, colour, sweet smelling flowers and nature.

Styling the Seasons - June review | Apartment Apothecary

Top left: @lewesmap on Instagram, Top right: Cate St. Hill blog, Bottom left: @theqpmama on Instagram, Bottom right: @keepingwiththetimes on Instagram

There were lots of inspirational blog posts styled and written this month that you should take a look at, too:

The Villa on Mount Pleasant / Borrowed-light.com / Humphrey and Grace / KT Robbins Ceramics / The Vintage Good Life / A Quiet Style / Geoffrey and Grace / Sprunting / Tea with Ruby / Beak Up Crafts / The Lovely Drawer / Suzy Homemaker / Beautiful Simplicity / AFKES / Camellia Rose / thevintagehousethatcould / little maldod / Cate St. Hill / Under the Blossom Tree / Lobster and Swan / Janice Issitt Lifestyle / Littlegreenshed / Really Pretty Useful/ Made by Molu / Growing Spaces / The Cabinet Maker’s Love Tale / Lotts and Lots / Apartment Apothecary

I usually post my new Styling the Seasons posts on the 1st of each month but I still haven’t made up my mind which surface in my home I want to style. Also, I would like to wait a bit this month to see how July unfolds – sometimes I feel that if I style my surface too far in advance I fail to capture the month as much as I’d like to. I hope to be zapped with inspiration soon so watch this space! In the mean time, I look forward to seeing your July shots and blog posts.

Katy x