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Annie Elliott Design, Washington DC

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Behind the scenes: recent photo shoot in DC

Annie Elliott | April 25, 2014

Photo shoots are so much fun. Extraordinarily time-consuming, painstakingly detail-oriented, and exhausting, but fun.

And important. As the interior designer Celerie Kemble once said (I’m paraphrasing), “If I don’t photograph a project, it’s as though it didn’t happen.”

True that. So we photograph our work.

If you’ve been on bossy color’s website recently, you’ve seen our new pictures of this gloriously renovated house in Northwest DC.

Asian-inspired Dining Room with Foscarini Caboche suspension light
Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color
Asian-inspired Dining Room with silk wallcovering
Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color

(There are more pictures in our portfolio.) The architects who took the home from 1910 grandeur to 2014 showstopper were Jane Treacy and Phil Eagleburger. The photographer was, as always, the fabulously talented Michael K. Wilkinson.

Here’s what went on behind the camera. Making a chair work in our favorite vignette…

Behind the scenes at a photo shoot of Asian-inspired Dining Room
Michael K. Wilkinson

…and adjusting the dining table greenery so that it appears straight in the pictures.

Behind the scenes at Asian-inspired photo shoot
Michael K. Wilkinson
Behind the scenes at Asian-inspired Dining Room photo shoot
Michael K. Wilkinson

In the Master Bath, we had some good-natured artistic differences involving toy dinosaurs.

Vintage alarm clock with toy dinosaurs
Michael K. Wilkinson

Mike (who is very much our collaborator when it comes to photo shoots) and Katherine loved these guys and wanted them on the edge of the tub, like this:

Master Bath with blue glass tile, Oriental rug, Eames stool
Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color

Can you see them?

Photographs and toy animals on bathtub ledge
Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color

But — as much as I thought they were cute and quirky — I nixed them in the end in favor of a cleaner look:

Master Bath with blue tile, black and white photographs
Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color

No, Katherine: you CAN’T sneak them onto the tub deck while I’m not looking!

Woman --fully clothed, thank you -- peeking out of a bathtub
bossy color

Katherine and Mike weren’t letting the dinos go without a fight, though. We tried them a few different ways, from different angles:

Woman taking iPhone picture of toy dinosaurs
Michael K. Wilkinson
Woman photographing a man photographing toy dinosaurs. Yes, really.
bossy color

It was pretty funny, actually.

Woman photographing a man photographing bath vanity
More bossy color goofiness

In the end, though, extinction won. Sorry, dinosaurs.

Photographer Michael K. Wilkinson at work with bossy color
bossy color of Michael “photography genius” Wilkinson

Quoted most recently in The Washington Post and on Washingtonian.com, Annie Elliott is an expert in curated interiors, brilliant color palettes, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Look for our “One Room, Four Seasons” photo spread in The Washington Post Magazine this Sunday, April 27!

Category: Dining room, Kitchen + bath, Rugs, WallpaperTag: Ann Sachs tile, behind the scenes, blue glass tile, Chinese wedding chest, Eames stool, Foscarini Caboche suspension light, mahogany vanity, marble bath floor, Oriental rug in bathroom, Oriental rug in dining room, photo shoot, silk wall covering, silk wallpaper

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