{"id":6628,"date":"2023-05-15T22:26:20","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T21:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/?p=6628"},"modified":"2023-05-26T11:20:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T10:20:35","slug":"cover-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/index.php\/cover-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Cover star"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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It\u2019s always a thrill to discover that the home I\u2019ve visited, styled and written about is starring on the front cover of a national interiors magazine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is that this \u2018cover star reveal\u2019 is often just as much of a surprise to me as it is to the homeowner and the readers, since the hardworking staff at the magazines are so flat-out that they rarely have time to share the news with contributors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was particularly chuffed to find the absolutely stunning home of wonderful interior designer Olivia Shaw on the front of The English Home this month. I reckon that panoramic view, framed by the floor-to-ceiling windows, is just mesmerising. Don\u2019t you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind the scenes, it took a lot of careful planning to capture that exquisite rural view at its very best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first began chatting to Olivia, of Olivia Shaw Interiors, about featuring her home in a magazine, she mentioned that the beautiful outlook was one of the main reasons that she bought the property. My instincts as an interiors journalist and stylist immediately began twitching!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having discussed timings for Olivia\u2019s interiors photoshoot, we agreed that it would be worth waiting until the wheat was looking like a field of gold – a bit like the Sting song – but without the barley! Olivia mentioned that there was a fairly short window of opportunity before the crop would be cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Sting\u2019s lyrics in mind, I liaised with photographer colleague, Rachael Smith, to pen a date into our diaries, not realising that the day we chose would actually turn out to be the hottest of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the date approached, the temperatures kept climbing and people were being warned not to travel, and to stay inside, not work if possible and, basically, hide away in a fridge all day! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, in our world, the show must go on, and we jump through hoops to make sure photoshoots go ahead as planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the day, despite the 40 degree heat, I set off from West Sussex for the drive to Wiltshire, with a freezer bag full of chilled water – just in case!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of miles from my destination, I spotted, to my horror, a combine harvester in a nearby field. My pulse raced as I wondered whether Rachael and I had been pipped to the post and that the crop adjacent to Olivia\u2019s house would already have been cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minutes later, I arrived to meet Olivia face-to-face for the first time and see the field looking uncut and totally stunning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olivia was fantastic. Thinking ahead, she\u2019d rustled up an air-conditioning unit that had been lurking in the loft and, although it was still extremely hot in the house, we all managed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flowers were kept in the utility room – the coolest room in the house. The food props on the kitchen island only came out of the fridge at the very last minute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll never forget poor Rachael having to step outside in the blazing heat to take the exterior photographs. Both Olivia and I wished her luck for the mission, which she not only survived, but accomplished with her usual professionalism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huge thanks to Olivia for a fantastic photoshoot, to Rachael for the super shots, to The English Home for the commission, and to everyone who has emailed and messaged with such lovely feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all worked so hard, against the odds, and had an unforgettable day. The cover feature really is such a feather in our caps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out about the beautiful transformation of Olivia\u2019s home and how the all-encompassing view informed her palette, I\u2019d love you to pick up a June copy of The English Home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do feel free to leave any comments below, and also over on Instagram. Thanks very much for reading! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you would like me to feature your home, please drop me an email or direct message on Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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It\u2019s always a thrill to discover that the home I\u2019ve visited, styled and written about is starring on the front cover of a national interiors magazine.  The truth is that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interiors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6628"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6672,"href":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions\/6672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetmcmeekin.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}