California Home + Design

As I sit here in a not very summery London - today was sunny, cloudy, rainy, hot, windy, cold, then sunny again -  I'm flicking through the online edition of California Home + Design magazine that came out today. Remember back when I was in California, only a month or so ago, and it was warm and sunny ALL the time? 

Well the last shoot I styled in LA before heading to the UK was for California Home + Design (or CH+D as they like to be called). I hadn't worked for them before nor had I read the magazine, but they wanted to feature the home of a food blogger and Teri Lyn Fisher and I happened to know one. In fact it was Teri who introduced me to the lovely Matt Armendariz of the very popular Mattbites blog. And his equally lovely husband Adam Pearson, an amazing food stylist. 

The shoot was at Matt and Adam's loft in Long Beach that they share with three adorable dogs. A sparse and modern space with cool grey concrete, layered cowhide rugs, and lots of white. The kind of place I fantasize about having but never will - I like me some clutter and colour.

On a sunny day (did I mention that I used to live somewhere sunny?) they had some friends over and made some cocktails and grub. I styled, Teri shot the pictures, and that's that. I took some snapshots with my iPhone in between sips of the St.Germain laced sangria and, oh yeah, working.

Here's Adam working his food styling magic on the shoot:

And here's a not very flattering picture of me with one of their gorgeous, tiny Chihuahuas:

Working with a food stylist always makes me feel like such a slacker. Check out this cheese platter Adam put together:

Apparently a chunk of cheddar and some Jacob's crackers eaten whilst standing up in the kitchen doesn't cut it. 

What can I say? I do rooms, not food.

P.S. Check me out on the contributors page. I've never been asked to do that before so it was kind of fun. Except for the part where they asked me to describe my dream kitchen in five words and I agonized over what FIVE words could possibly do that?? Try it. It's really hard. Five paragraphs is more my style.