Behind the Scenes of My This Old House Magazine Cover Photo Shoot…Everything You’d Want to Know!

Hey you guys! I’m still reeling from all the excitement of being on the cover of This Old House Magazine…it’s been such a fun experience!
I thought I would spill my guts and tell you everything I could think of that you might like to know about the shoot. :0)

The first question I had when my friends found out about the photo shoot was “how did it happen?”  They figured I submitted pictures or something to the magazine, but I didn’t, they found me. I had pinned pics of my window seat build to Pinterest, and Megan (sweetest girl!) found it on there and followed it back to my blog, and emailed me.  First they asked me if I would be willing to do a photo shoot and allow them to use my window seat in their magazine. ……WELL DUH! lol  :0)  Megan (writer for the piece in the magazine) said she wanted to use it in a small article, and I was fine with that.  THEN she called and said it would be a main featured article…and I was fine with that too! Then about a week and half before the magazine hit the stand I found out it was going to be on the cover, and that my friends, was a fun day! I don’t think my feet touched the floor the rest of the day! :0)

Lets go back for a minute to the photo shoot, I want to tell you about the day. It happened on July 30th…yes, a long time for this girl to keep her mouth shut! I had to sign a contract that I wouldn’t spill the beans until the magazine came out…and I have a big mouth!  SO HARD!  I found out right before the photo shoot that Brian Carter, a stylist from Atlanta, would be coming up to style everything…super nice guy! The photographer was coming down from Chicago, his name is Nathan Kirkman, and his assistant was Brett.  They were THE nicest guys!  Brian came by the night before and dropped off many bags of goodies by our house, so you KNOW I had to be nosey and look at the pillows.  I took a lot of photos, but I’m making sure to only post pictures here of things he definitely used in the photo shoot, just in case they want to use the other stuff later.

Yes, our house was FULL of goodies!  Since the cover was to be for the October issue, they wanted fall colors…so they brought pillows with all the autumnal colors in them.   After they left, I went pillow shopping too…but that’s another post! :0)

Here’s the lovely flowers from the shoot, Brian left them with me after he left, I enjoyed them for at least a week or two!



I cannot tell you how much fun the photo shoot day was….but it was LONG!  Here’s the set up!  They arrived at 8:30 in the morning, and Brian the stylist (the guy in the glasses) set everything up for the magazine shot, then Nathan (guy on the computer)  set up all his equipment.

I learned so much about my own camera that day! Nathan was working with a Canon camera and he had it tethered to his computer….I did NOT know my canon camera could do that! See the pic above…he’s taking pics from his computer, his camera is closer to me and to the left.



I have been playing with taking tethered pictures since they left! I love learning new things!

Anyway, Nathan would take a picture, they would decide if they liked it, then they would email it to New York where five people were waiting to give their opinions.  They would say things like, “move the table closer to the camera”, or we don’t like that piece of pottery there, could you move it over 6 inches to the left”.  They did this over and over! It was SO fun to watch and see how it was all done!  I asked Nathan if it stressed him out changing things and then waiting….he struck this pose. His fake stressed look…how funny! :)

OH..there is one story I have to tell you!  On the front cover photo there is a tray with a red cup on it….well it started out as a white ironstone mug, but they decided they wanted some color so they asked for a red mug. I don’t own a red mug, so Brian had to run out and buy one. Well he went to several places and ended up buying an entire set of red dishes from Kmart.  Long story short…they ended up taking two of every picture we did…….one with the white mug, and one with the red mug.  After we were all finished, he took the set of dishes back to Kmart, THEN New York called and wanted to re-do a shot, so he had to go back to Kmart and buy the set of dishes again! He told me when everything was over he wasn’t returning those dishes again, he would just take them back to Atlanta and return them there! :0) As you can see, they ended up with the red cup on the cover, but what I didn’t notice until a few days after reading my magazine, was that they used the white mug on the 2 page spread! How funny!

In between all the waiting for New York to call back and see how they liked everything, we did this…………..

Yep, we did some serious munching! I bought a meat and cheese  tray, croissants, had fruit and dip and frosted brownies! I also brought out my homemade pickles….they liked those a lot! They said hardly anyone ever feeds them on photo shoots…I thought that was kinda sad!  Hopefully they enjoyed the little spread…I know I did, I was starving! :)

So after OVER EIGHT HOURS of shooting pictures (and watching my neighbors drive by our house REALLY slowly trying to figure out what all the lights and camera equipment was for)…………

We ended up with this……. A magazine cover, a wonderfully fun day, and a shot of me in Joseph Beth bookstore by my first ever published piece in a magazine. 

(this pic taken by my very sweet hubby….wish he had told me to move my hair back, what a mess! lol)

I’d say it was a really good day. :0)
Blessings,
Missy

PS…I PROMISE I’ll show you the twist to my garden shed in my next post….I just couldn’t hold this in any longer, I mean it’s only been a secret since JULY!!

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How to Build a Potting Bench

Hey you guys!! I could not WAIT to show you how I built this potting bench to go in my new shed!   (more on the shed in another post!)

You remember the old 1916 house that was sitting on our churches property that was being torn down….the one where I took the old drawers from the butlers pantry and used them to build my window seat? (if you’re new around here and haven’t seen my window seat, you can go HERE to see it…LOVE IT!)  Since they were giving away anything from the old house we could carry out, I managed to snag a few of the old doors!  I have ALWAYS wanted a potting bench, but it wasn’t exactly at the top of my “to do” list because we’ve been redoing this house since we bought it 6 years ago…and bathrooms and kitchens are kinda more important than potting flowers. (although potting flowers is much more therapeutic if you ask me!)

Anyway! One day I was on Pinterest looking  at potting benches and had an aha moment! I could use one of the old doors as the back to my bench, so I started collecting odds and ends and bits and pieces to start my potting bench!

The first thing I found were these amazing old 4 x 4’s at our local habitat restore…I LOVE the old stenciling on them! (but you could use new ones) I got them for a DOLLAR each!  Score!!! Worthington Steel used to supply steel to a place my hubby used to work years ago…I thought that was kind of a cool connection too! The little corner brackets I found on Ebay…4 for $12.00!

The first thing I did was to decide the height I wanted the potting bench to be, and cut the 4 x 4’s to that height. I picked waist level, so that would vary from person to person)  Then I took some 2 x 4’s and built an open box the width of the door and the depth I wanted the table part of my potting bench to be, which in my case, was 16”.  I basically just screwed the pieces together with some long deck screws, then screwed it into place on the 4 x 4’s and the door.  (ignore the slats on the bottom, I was just dry fitting them in this pic, I’ll show you how I built the bottom box on down in the post)

Some of the 2 x 4’s were old, I snagged those for a buck each at the restore too, but there wasn’t enough so I had to use some new ones as well. The finish didn’t match, so I used a trick I saw on Pinterest.  Soak steel wool (I used the fine stuff) in some vinegar overnight and then apply several coats to your wood, allowing it to dry in between to get the desired look you want. EASY PEASY!! (but it’s Stinky with a capital S!) lol You can see in the picture below the difference in the new piece of wood in the back that I didn’t touch, and the new piece on the side that I used the steel wool on…….HUGE difference!

You can see in this picture, that it doesn’t match the old wood perfectly. but it’s sure better than the bright shiny new wood any day! :0) (you can also see how I screwed the wood into the 4 x 4 in this pic)

For the bottom box, I kinda did the same thing I did for the top, except I put the front piece of wood behind the 4 x 4’s because I had another piece of 4 x 4 that I wanted to use on the face, in between the upright 4 x 4’s.  See in the pic below…..

Here’s a closer view….see that old piece in the front..it’s nestled right in between the two 4 x 4’s and I attached it to that 2 x 4 behind it.

Here you can see how nice the old wood looks from the front…much better than the 2 x 4 would have looked, and it also sits flush. If I had used a regular 2 x 4, I would have to have wrapped it around the front of the legs like I did on the top box I made.  I like this better for the bottom. :0)

For the top, I just used a 1 x 6 piece of scrap wood, cut to the width of the door, and screwed it in from the top into the door. I found that great piece of molding from the habitat restore too. (guess how much…Yep, another dollar!)  
To attach the molding, I screwed down through the first board I put on top and into the molding.  Don’t ya’ love all the patina on those old hinges…close to 100 years of love! (ok…dirt and paint, but I still love it!)

I took the other piece of the 1 x 6 that I used on top, to make a shelf with the other two ebay brackets. Just screwed the brackets on the wood, centered it, and screwed it into the door.

I found the piece of wood to make the top at the restore too….and yes it was a dollar. I was blown away when they said it was only a dollar because it had been a mantle.  A TWO INCH THICK, 72 INCH LONG MANTLE MADE FROM REDWOOD!!! I had to bite my lip to cut into that piece of wood….a little part of my heart broke. :*(   After deciding it was ok to cut the wood, I ripped it down the middle and then cut it into three piece lengths to fit the top. The reason I ripped it was because it wasn’t deep enough to make one solid piece for the whole top, so I wanted to have equal sized widths.

I used some Loctite adhesive again to adhere the top to the base frame….

Then laid all the pieces in place…..

For the bottom I used pre-primed  1 x 4’s and cut them to fit….

I kept laying them out as I went so I could get the spacing just right in between them.

To make the end pieces fit I had to cut a notch out in them….

Here’s what the left side looked like with the notch cut out and before I put it in place….

Here it is in place….

I used the Loctite adhesive on those too….just easier than trying to nail each one in place while keeping the gaps evenly spaced. With the Loctite you still have time to wiggle the boards back and forth to get the spacing right before they dry, and it holds really well!!  :0)

Here she is all lovely and finished! :0) I found the little sign hanging on the door at a yard sale for .50, and just painted the inside part with chalk paint..super easy!

Don’t you LOVE that little stool!! I found it on a local facebook yard sale page for $10.00!! I’ve seen them on Ebay for WAY more than that! 
OH.. I also put the little hooks on each side of the sign…they were about $3.00 each. 

I now have all my gardening books down on that bottom shelf…so functional!

Isn’t it so cute!!!  I’m in LOVE!  <3

A couple more pics….

So here’s a run down of how much my potting bench cost:

Door: Free
4 x 4’s: $2.00
2 x 4’s (old and new) $6.00
mantle for top: $1.00
1 x 6 Board for top and shelf: free in garage
piece of molding for top: $1.00
brackets from Ebay: $12.00
Two hooks: $6.00
1 x 3’s for bottom: free…leftover from my raised paneled wainscoting in my dining room
sign: .50 yard sale (already had the chalkboard paint)
Three tins on shelf: free..already had them)
GRAND TOTAL: $28.00

I’m not counting the price of the stool because it’s not really part of the potting bench, I just loved it when I bought it and knew I’d find a place for it someday…and it’s perfect!!

Blessings,
Missy

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How to Build Raised Planter Beds

 
Hey everyone! I thought you all might like to see how I made the raised planter beds in our back yard. I did this as a guest post for Gail, at My Repurposed Life, a while back and never did put it on my own blog, so here we go! :0)

When we moved into our home, I soon discovered our back yard is pretty much one big rock pile, so I decided raised beds would be our best bet for pretty flowers and vegetables. (see,  just look at all those rocks we dug out!)  YIKES!


 
I started off by measuring how big I wanted our beds to be.  A good rule of thumb is not to make them any wider than 4 feet so you can reach in and work in the middle without having to climb into the beds. (I didn’t follow that rule, cause I don’t mind getting a little dirt on my feet) :)
I used cedar for our project because it’s very rot resistant and we live in KY and get loads of rain and snow!   I bought 1 x 10 cedar boards  (which means 1” thick, by 10” wide) at my local home improvement store and began by laying them out where I wanted my planters to go, like this…….


(the rocks in this pic were from a rock wall planter that was already here…no doubt they dug the rocks out of the yard! lol....but we hauled them off.)
After I had all our boards laid out, I begin to assemble them. (you’ll determine your own size beds, that’s why I’m not giving you specific dimensions here)   First I screwed the two pieces of wood together from the side, then inserted a little piece of triangular shaped wood I cut out, and screwed into that too. It’s for extra stability. 



You can check to make sure the corners are square by putting a square (pictured below) on the outside corner and make sure there aren’t any gaps.  If there are, you just adjust until it’s nice and square.  Or you can also measure from one corner of your planter, to the  other corner diagonally, then do the same thing the other way, until the measurements are the same.   This will also help you make sure it’s nice and square and cheaper than buying this tool….

  

One stretch of my raised bed was going to be over 20 feet, so I had to splice two pieces together because the boards didn’t come in pieces that long.  I just took a scrap of wood  4” wide, and put it in the center where the two boards were going to go together and screwed them to one another like this…..



That splice will later become a pretty little “column” detail on the finished piece.   I added another scrap to the back for extra stability like this……..



On the outside corners I took some more scrap cedar and built some more “column” details.  I wanted the columns to be 4” wide, so I cut one board (the one on the left) at 4”, but made the second one (on the right) 3” because I had to take the 1” thickness of the other board into account. So if you measure either way on the outside corner, it comes up to 4” wide columns.
See….


In this picture, you can see where I just cut little 6” square blocks of wood and capped off the little column detail….



Here’s the center column where I spliced the two 10 foot boards together to get our 20 foot bed.  I also installed a little cap on this column too….. I did the caps on all the corners of the planters.



 
I then painted all the raised planter beds with primer and a good exterior semi gloss paint to help protect the cedar even more.  By the way, cedar has a smooth side and a rough side, I used the smooth side on the outside of the boxes.



To anchor the beds in place, I used some scrap pieces of  wood and cut a point on one end like an arrow, and pounded then into the ground  on the inside edge of the planter.  Then I screwed the planter sides to the anchors.  You can see the tops of the anchor pieces of wood in the picture below.   After I had them all anchored down, I put down a THICK layer of newspapers,  (or you could use landscaping fabric) to kill the grass and put in a mixture of topsoil and compost I got from my local nursery. 
Then you’re all ready to plant! This project wasn’t hard at all, just a little time consuming.  I think it took a couple of days to build three large planters….not too bad!



That’s it!  I hope you enjoyed the tutorial on how to make raised planter beds!
Blessings!
Missy
My Cottage Charm

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