It’s been 18 months since I’ve been in this apartment and I figured it was about time I gave you a tour of our quaint little place in Hartford. Both Adam and I kinda hate living in Hartford, but this apartment keeps me here. It isn’t huge, by any means, but it perfectly suits my needs as a business owner and the amount of time we are actually here in CT. When I moved in 18 months ago, all the walls were this pretty gross shade of yellow and the fireplaces were bright lavender. I made a deal with my landlord that he would let me paint the walls, as long as I didn’t paint them a random color like hot pink (I guess bright lavender would’ve been acceptable). I got to work, together with the help of my dad and Adam and, slowly, over the last 18 months I finally have this place 90% done. There are still some details I want to finish, and I’d love to redo the kitchen and bathroom (intentionally not pictured) but we know we won’t be here forever so we didn’t want to invest to much in it.

This apartment doubles as my office, Alicia Ann Couture studio, and client meeting space so I had to keep that in mind when decorating. Originally what is now the studio/office was my living room and my office was int he smaller room, but last fall I switched them around since I began needing more workspace. 🙂

Below is the room I use to meet clients in. They sit on the sofa, I pull up a chair, and we talk about their wedding over a cheese and fruit platter with fancy sodas. It’s here that I connect with them, learn more about them, and find out if we are a good match. And if weather allows, I light a cozy fire 🙂

This is my knitting bucket. Last winter I taught myself how to knit but the scarf I started looked so cute as a little prop in the bucket, so I’ve left it that way since.

This is the studio/office, and my favorite room int he apartment. The light in here is INCREDIBLE, which is why I now use it as my primary shooting room. In the back left you’ll see some light green boards, I have two of those that I turn into a little “v-flat” corner for glamour portraits. I also have three backdrops right in front of the fireplace that pull down, and the back of the V-flat boards are uses as reflectors. To the right is my reveal wall. After a glamour client gets her portraits done, I choose the 25 best ones, print them out, and do in-person ordering sessions. The women LOVE seeing all their photos printed up on the wall and it reinforces my belief that art should be printed. The women pull down their favorite images (or all of them!) and put them right into a folio box that they can take home immediately. To the left, again, closer in the image, is my desk and my Client Production Chart.

In the back corner of my studio room I have a rack of pretty dresses for my clients. Many of our clients get overwhelmed with deciding what to wear for their shoot, so they show up with little to nothing. This rack provides some options for them and I can help them pick colors and styles that will flatter them most. That gold sequin number looks god on almost everyone and photographs fantastically well!

This is the bedroom, another place that I shoot glamour portraits in. I am SO not a morning person, but waking up in a room that is bright white with light pouring in through those double windows makes it much easier to start my day…or much easier to lay in best int he peace and quiet and enjoy the beautiful light 😉