My 100th post…The Magazine Shoot and Everafter Farm for sale!

I'm really anxious to start writing about our new life in France, but before I do that, I want to show you the pix that Mark Lohman took of our house for FiFi O'Neill's new publication, Prairie Style. 

I showed you this cover in my last post, but I had not seen the magazine yet.  Now I have it, and from what I hear, so do a lot of you.  Isn't it a gorgeous mag?  I am thrilled to be a part of it, and to have had such a fun experience working with Fifi and Mark.  They are true professionals, but so laid back and FUNNY!  They had us laughing all day!  But we were also working…hard.  Running back and forth from the barn for props, moving furniture, cleaning behind things that I didn't even know could be moved, trying to avoid cables and tripods, and finding a lost dust bunny covered slipper!! Hey, I was just back from 3 weeks in France the day before!  Who had time to clean?

Fifi arrived with buckets filled with the most beautiful flowers.  I had my own flowers here, but they were sad by comparison.

Watching Fifi work with the flowers was an education in itself.  She can make a beautiful arrangement quicker than I can trip over the cat.

After Fifi arranges the still life on the tea table, Mark photographs it

Mark Lohman

and this is what it looks like

Mark Lohman

And from a distance

Mark Lohman

Behind the sofa

Mark Lohman

If you notice, the mantle is styled differently in this photo.  Fifi gathered all my little farm animals from the staircase in the hallway and "pastured" them on either side of a painting I had done years ago.

Mark Lohman

I just love the way this looks, and have left them right there. Thanks, Fifi!

Mark Lohman

This is the Dining Room that appears on the cover.  They photoshopped the word "Alleluia" off the front of the fireplace...

Mark Lohman

and Fifi swapped the two chairs.  Again, I liked her styling better, and have kept the checked chair in that spot.

Mark Lohman

it's kind of fun to see my stuff through Fifi's eyes. [ But where did I have that tarnished silver hidden?]

Mark Lohman

The guest room...

Mark Lohman

…used to be Mutti's room.  She would have loved the pink roses.

Mark Lohman

and I loved the red and purple hydrangeas

Mark Lohman

Fifi found my vintage Jadite canisters hiding in an old jelly cupboard.  They are still out, as I realized just how cool they are with the Farrow and Ball Dorset Cream paint.

Mark Lohman

And after all, it's the same color as our breakfast table.

Mark Lohman

I love the way she placed my polka dot rain boots on the checkerboard floor of the mudroom

Mark Lohman

With her stylist's eye, Fifi knew she needed another pop of red in this porch scene.  She sent me to find something in my closet.  And that's how my dad's 40 year old red flannel shirt ended up in this shot. He would love to see that.
It makes me smile.  

Mark Lohman

Gazing out over the beautiful peaceful view from this porch, I wonder how we'll ever be able to say goodby to this place.  But it is time to move on to France and let someone else live this wonderful life.

Everafter Farm is for sale.

If you want to know more about this farm in upstate New York please click here, or contact me at
iluvfrance@wildblue.net

I am so thankful to Fifi, and Mark, for their immense talent, and  for doing such a beautiful job on this visual record of our beloved farmhouse for Prairie Style.  And a special thanks to Barbara Jackseir, who wrote such a warm and personal story. 

And thus ends my 100th post. Time to start a new chapter...

A bientôt, mes belles,

dawne