What makes a good location house?

The festive edition with Da Silva Design X Mind the Cork X MoonKo

I had a blast putting my house to the ultimate test by styling a shoot with Mind the cork and MoonKo. The house is usually hired out to other brands to organise and style their own shoots so it was fun to be on the other side of things this time. Jenny from Mind the cork, Debbie from MoonKo and I decided to take advantage of the quieter month of December (on the shoot hiring front!) to bring our creative expertise and passions together in one place. I am so pleased with how the house was able to create an effective festive backdrop to showcase Jenny’s beautiful vases and planters along with Moonko’s gorgeous dried flowers.

The amount of styling involved in a shoot varies. Some brands like to hire a stylist to take charge of the styling and others prefer to just use the space as it is. I like my space to appeal to both types of shoot. In order to do this, I make sure we always have a selection of props available that can be used as even brands that bring on a professional stylist will benefit from additional props - you can never have too many! I speak from experience after years of assisting on brand shoots in my younger days. A lot of the time it was unpaid but so worth it.

The majority of the styling props in the house are items that I have collected over the years so while they are very much my own style, I have specifically curated particular displays of objects that I think will suit a variety of shoots. I already had a few pieces from Mind the cork around the house as I absolutely adore her creations, she is such a lovely person and I love supporting local businesses, so it made perfect sense for us to work together.

I love this time of year so it was really exciting to see how we could bring this to life using what was already in the house. It’s amazing what you can create with a couple of glittery pine cones, old candles and mince pies! We predominantly used the kitchen counters, dining table and cabinetry/tables in the living room.

A lot of people that hire the house kindly ask me if I’m a stylist and the more I get asked that, the more I have been considering whether that’s naturally what I’ve become. This has all grown from my career in both graphic and interior design so it does lead me to think that being an experienced designer has really helped to create a location house that can appeal to many.

Finally fulfilling my intention to set the house up as a location house has been my biggest achievement of 2022 and what a great way to end the year, by collaborating on a shoot with two incredibly inspiring female creatives.

Thank you to Mind the cork and MoonKo for working with me on this! Do check out their products - they make wonderful, sustainable gifts that really stand the test of time. Have a lovely Christmas, all and do get in touch if you’d like to hire the house in 2023.

Celine x