Vancouver stylist - How to style a Kitchen for a Photo Shoot – 3 Rules to Follow

When the cabinet manufacturer saw the photos from this kitchen I styled, they hired me to style all the kitchens (and some built-ins) for their new website. They were interested in the high end look of this kitchen website which they emailed me to review.

Above images

My first stop for most of the accessories I needed was Fluff. They have a warehouse full of everything you need (furniture, lighting, accessories) to stage any space. There I picked everything I thought was appropriate based on the photos I had been sent (which is all I had to go by as it was a last minute decision for the client). The first kitchen had cream cabinets and the only colour inspiration in the space was the red Kitchenaid mixer (below):

1. Choose a colour scheme

I decided on a red and yellow colour scheme, because it’s french country which was perfect for this kitchen;

Fluff Rentals

Patti (the owner of fluff) brought up a good point (as I circled around her well stocked shelves waiting for inspiration to strike) I asked her if she had any casserole dishes or pots and she said she specifically doesn’t rent them because she thinks a styled kitchen shouldn’t remind anyone of work (well, cooking is work for some of us :).

Styled by Maria Killam

When I chose the items I needed for this kitchen, the photos did not include the china cabinet you see now on the left (above). When the first images were downloaded into the photographers computer I realized the left side of the kitchen looked like it was floating because there was so much dark on the bottom right of the photograph; so I ran around this clients home to find every red urn and accessory she had and luckily, she had more, so we were able to visually pull the cabinet into the photo and create balance.

Styled by Maria Killam

2. Pick a theme for the food; ie. breakfast, wine & cheese, coffee.


Remember how I’ve said in the past that it’s hard to style a kitchen so it doesn’t look contrived? In this kitchen I chose a coffee and cake theme but, I have seen everything from carrots to wine and cheese and coffee all on the same island because whoever was styling it was thinking only of colour instead of choosing a theme; very important!

The next kitchen was contemporary and I didn’t have any colour inspiration (from the photos besides the cabinet) so I selected a wine & cheese theme and brought in white dishes and a branch for a splash of green and drama:

Before

The above platters were the only thing from Fluff in this kitchen, I didn’t know how big this island was because I didn’t have a good picture of it so I rented both sizes. In the end the larger one was perfect and it was the same light colour as the cabinets!

Styled by Maria Killam

Before

Styled by Maria Killam

3. In a perfect world, you keep everything the way it is for consistency. In this case, we broke that rule, as you can see by the fact that the cheese and fruit tray has been moved to this corner of the kitchen. The photographer Anna Beaudry, had the brilliant idea of inserting a light in the drawer and it sure makes this shot (above) fabulous!

Before

Since my client builds cabinets, we wanted to display the drawers open with dishes so I found the blue rolling pin and a matching rubber rim from a pressure cooker in some other drawers and managed to pull off a coordinated look with her stainless pots and bowls for this image (below).

Styled by Maria Killam

The next kitchen we styled was quite dark so I chose an orange and yellow colour scheme to add some colour and pop!

Before

See the pendant lights in the kitchen (above) when I chose the yellow and orange colour scheme I didn’t consciously pick it based on the colour, it was only when I saw the finished images that I noticed that the colours I chose matched the lights. Whew, I love it when that happens :)

Before

I don’t have the full kitchen shot here so I’ll just show the one you already saw in yesterday’s post but here you have the before photos (above) anyway:

Styled by Maria Killam

In this home they had installed cabinets in the office and bathrooms as well, so here are the before and after’s:

Before

Fluff

I only have this view of the styled bathroom but the two green urns above were placed in between the two sinks with the plant that you can see on the left, with this much brown we needed a shot of something fresh!

Styled by Maria Killam

This was the bookshelf in the office, if I had more time I would have colour coordinated the books too, because they had so many great, colourful ones, but it worked out with the accessories I picked up at fluff:

Before

Fluff

Styled by Maria Killam

Styled by Maria Killam

The books (above) I did coordinate underneath the little piece of art, Anna picked up on that immediately and got a close up shot!

Before

Fluff

When I picked up these urns (above) I took the smallest one and stuck it in a small bag (for the colour) so that I could continue to shop for other items and it immediately fell through the bottom and smashed onto the concrete into a million pieces. Therefore, it is not in the styled image below :)

Styled by Maria Killam

As you can see by the colour scheme in the bookshelf above, I did chose books to match the artwork and blue theme happening here!

Styled by Maria Killam

With this much brown everywhere, what is your guess that pretty soon everyone will start painting their cabinets white?

Please contact me to inquire about my styling services!

Related posts:

How to create a Vignette or Tablescape

Styling Kitchens
Styling for Photo Shoots
Staging: Two Day Transformation
White Kitchen Cabinets