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My mom kept her house incredibly clean, but this was on a whole other level. It looked like the set of a movie.
“I thought about hiring a decorator, but then I kind of went and did everything myself,” Piper said, taking us into what was probably the formal living room, or den. In spite of the marble fireplace, the chairs and couches looked comfortable, and there were plenty of throw pillows.
I did not understand how she kept her house like this with a baby. The rug had subtle anchors on it, and many of the pillows had a shell, anchor, or nautical theme on them. The whole room was done in neutrals with pops of blue that matched the door.
“So, I thought the lamp would look good in this little nook,” she said, taking us over to a huge window that looked out on the ocean that you could see on the other side of the road. Two chairs were arranged with a little table that had a few books and a family portrait on it.
I’d seen pictures of her husband too, and the three of them together looked like the picture you got when you bought a frame. They were literally all so pretty.
“Yeah,” I said. “This is a beautiful view.”
Piper gazed out the window.
“I know. This is one of my favorite spots in the entire house. Do you want to see the rest?” she asked.
I was nosy, so I said I absolutely did.
The tour seemed like it went on forever. The house just seemed to have more and more rooms. I lost count.
The kitchen would have made Linley cry. I was going to have to make Natalie take some pics to send to her.
When we got to Preston’s room, we tiptoed in. This kid had a room that was about the size of my entire cabin. Talk about a little prince.
He was asleep in his crib, but Natalie snuck over and leaned down to give him a kiss on his head.
We left and went back downstairs to set everything up.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Piper said. “I’m just going to be in my office if you need anything. And feel free to grab any refreshments from the fridge. Drinks or anything,” she said.
“Thanks so much for doing this, I really appreciate it,” I said.
“No problem,” she said. “I like helping other business owners. I had some really incredible people who reached down to help me up the ladder, so it’s only fair that I do the same. If you ever want a free brand consultation, let me know.”
That was a little too much. I was just a small-time girl making shell art in her cabin.
“Yeah, I will, thanks,” I said, and she headed off down the hall to her office, which had another ocean view and French doors out onto the porch.
“This house is fucking ridiculous,” I whispered, even though Piper had shut the door of her office.
“I know. I was so scared the first few times I came here, but I kind of got used to it,” Natalie said. “They’re really nice people, Em. I mean, I don’t know her husband that well, but every time he’s been here, he’s been super nice.”
We arranged the wreaths on the door, with Natalie setting up the shot and using her fancy camera. I usually just took shaky pictures on my crappy phone for my stuff. This was so much better.
With every shot, she stopped and let me take a look.
“What I’ll do is edit these so they’ll all have a uniform look. I’m just going to take a shit ton, so we have lots and lots of content for the website and everything,” she said.
There wasn’t much for me to do, so I just became Natalie’s assistant as she told me where to move things, what angles were best, and how to fix the lighting.
I learned what a ring light was, and how it could really make a difference.
“Now,” Natalie said, when she’d taken about a billion pictures of my art, “it’s time to take some pics of the artist.”
“Wait, what?” She’d told me to dress cute, so I’d paired a brown jumpsuit with a white t-shirt. It made me feel like an artist for some reason.
“Yeah, we need to get some shots of you, silly,” Natalie said, coming over to mess with my hair.
“I’m not wearing any makeup,” I said.
