Ideal Home magazine. Are those that feature......

[Aked]

For real?

Do people really live in beautiful homes like that? Do they never have laundry hanging on radiators? Sons who are hoarders in the making, keeping cardboard boxes and general shit in their bedroom because they are "going to make something with them"? Do they never have to pick their beautiful cushions off the floor 6000 times a day because the kids love chucking them them around? Isn't there ever some rogue spaghetti bolognese sauce stuck to the wall? Or is that just me? I try to keep the house looking lovely, I really do, but it is a never ending cycle of picking up, picking up, picking up.

Don't know why I buy it, Ideal Home. It just makes me jealous and depressed!

[GrendelsMum]

There's someone on here who has a cousin that works for Ideal Home or something similar, and she's got some very funny stories about how they set up the shots for these photoshoots.

Apparently they supply quite a lot of the products in the photos themselves, and in some cases, they even supply the 'family dog'. You can amuse yourself by going through the pics seeing what products have been used in more than one house, and who really owns an adorable black labrador. (Clue - if the names of all the children are given and the dog in the picture is never mentioned, it's the stylist's own dog.)

[Aked]

Really?! How funny. Come to think of it I have seen a few where the dogs name isnt given.

Well I guess I can feel a little better about it all then:) At least I have a real dog... (Who frequently leaves muddy pawprints all over my just washed floors!)

[Karbea]

No my friend has featured in her garden and lounge, neither of which are hers.

[Aked]

So what, is she just a model of sorts? An actress? I'm feeling duped:)

[Chopsypie]

I've got a cutting from one of these. It's a home owned by two men, both in arts jobs.
They wanted a masculine bathroom and re made a large bedroom into a bathroom.
Bare floorboards, moss green walls. Only others things in the room were a large bath in the centre, and a stuffed stags head on the wall.
No sink, no where to hang your towel. It was very odd.

[Karbea]

No she isn't, she's friends of a photographer, I was very let down when I found out.

[HazeltheMcWitch]

He always works in finance, and she - of course - is an interior designer.

[Lurleene]

I was reading this month's issue of Your Home earlier and three of the houses featured have the same very distinctive large blue kitchen clock. What a co-incidence.

[Aked]

I can't believe I've fallen for it all these years. The fuckers.

[ConcreteElephant]

I always get sucked in, but they're just adverts really aren't they? As Hazel says, one of them is always an interior designer, or fabric designer, 'upcycler', vintage tat seller or something.

I read the notes which tell you about the key bits in the room and it's always their stuff, that they sell, handily. I remember one, a kitchen, where they made a huge fuss of the splashback - which happened to be created by their family business - see the website for details

The woman is always photo'd in the kitchen mid-chop or holding a cuppa, and there's always a wall in the kitchen painted with blackboard paint. Chalk dust everywhere surely?

[RoxyRobin]

Bloody hell - I must be really naive! I thought these set-ups were genuine.

So a lot of those insufferable smug fuckers are fake smug fuckers? I suppose I should be relieved.

[Aked]

Exactly Roxy. And to imagine I aspired to have a house like a smug fucker. I read one once where she had a meadow out the back and her son used to have friends over, have campfires and sing with their guitars on sleepovers. I've hated her ever since. Smug fucker summed her up nicely.

[irrationalme]

several people I know have had their houses in these mags, though I know the stylists sometimes bring along additional props.

One friend is an interior designer and makes money buying a house as her primary residence, lives in rented whilst she's doing it up then lives in it for six months. She then sells it and buys the next pocketing the massive difference. Her places are always in the mags

[cherryhealey]

My old house was featured in a mag.

Yes they do bring props and 'style' the rooms a bit.

Didn't get offered a dog .

It did help sell the house though.

[livingthegoodlife]

a friend of mines parents were featured in a similar magazine, all genuine. the names of everyone were changed though! she actually has beautiful bouquets of flowers in every room and everything is perfect though - all the time!!

[Tiredemma]

none of them own tv's either

[LoveVintage]

The conning bastards! I have increasingly noticed that the house owners are always interior designers or have a homeware business etc.

I have also noticed how much stuff in the houses is new ranges from shops so presumed that some things were provided for styling photo shoots. And that they never have tv's.

But faking a dog?!! OMFG!

[Apparentlychilled]

My house has been featured. The stylist brought things like new tea towels and matching fruit bowls, along w fresh flowers, but everything else was ours.

No dog provided though.

[TheElementsSong]

Arf @ smug fuckers

As a long-time interiors magazine addict, I've often wondered how the houses are chosen - the ones owned by an interior designer etc I guess are based on "knowing someone who knows someone" etc, but how about the ones owned by "normal" people?

[Apparentlychilled]

Also knowing someone- a friend starting out as a stylist who couldn't afford to hire a shoot house for her portfolio asked if shd cd style our house.

But I think you can probably call them and ask?

[notasgreenasimcabbagelooking]

I have a friend whose house was used for the Christmas edition. It was shot in February! None of the Christmas trees/decorations belonged to them and she was heavily pregnant in the pictures and expecting "a Christmas baby any day now"! The baby was born in early march so was 9 months old by time magazine was published!!

[GiddyUpCowboy]

So some are real smug people who have done their own homes up, some are smug people looking for business and some are smug people faking it in someone else's house with a someone else's dog?

[Fcukfifa]

Smugging hell!

I always imagine the next room is filled with the shit that they've cleared from the photographed room, just piles and and piles of it

[Devora]

Someone I know was featured. She said it was hilarious: they turned up with a furniture van, shipped out 70% of her stuff (whose home wouldn't look better when most of their junk removed?), repainted liberally, moved in their own stuff... So the house looked great, but it was barely her house.