I'm with you terriks. I take pictures of my house after I have everything in place. Like you, I may have a pair of shoes laying by the couch but every day I try to keep everything in its place.

Oh yes indeed! LOL! :)

In fact -- I do want to point out that I have found that taking photos of my own rooms helps ME to recognize a few things that I could move, remove, switch, shift around etc. :)

Only the real obvious clutter. And I totally agree with teacats that every time I see a pic I've taken of a room (usually I'm doing it for this forum), I see at least one thing that needs fixing or changing!

Oh yeah, the clutter would distract too much. My kitchen is the worst, I can't keep the piles from forming.

Depends. If I'm just taking a quick photo to show something that someone requested then I usually don't bother. If I've made significant changes in a room (changed paint color or whatever) and want to share that then of course I'm going to clean up before I take photos! I want people to look at the changes I made, not at clutter or dust! :-)

Absolutely . . . some days my house looks like someone stirred it with a stick. I have no desire to show anyone pics of it looking like that (LOL)! And, Teacats made a great observation that, looking at pics of your rooms can help you see where changes can possibly be made to tweak things for the better.
Lynn

Sort of. Can't say I go to the extreme of hiding a sink sponge in the kitchen - it's part of what I use multiple times/day and it's mostly invisible - to me. I'll clear mail clutter, neaten my desk, plump the pillows to take a picture but not much more. If I'm showing a room, whether it's to (hopefully) get kudos, get suggestions for changes or offer examples of something for someone else, I want to put my best foot forward but also want to be realistic. I yam what I yam!

I live with pilers. But...if I'm illustrating a point in here...I just take the pic and post it. Because if I had to pick up to magazine-worthy levels every time...y'all would NEVER see my house!

mjsee - around here my DH refers to me as a pilot (as opposed to a piler) - because I pile-it here and I pile-it there... ;-)

It's actually one of the reasons why I don't post/share/take more pictures of my completed projects.

It is a HUGE hassle to ask my clients for pictures after painting. Unless I can get over there, or get them to take pictures in those magical few moments right after everything is loaded back into the room, art back on the walls, etc.

Truth is, those "magical moments" are few and far between for most people because after the chaos of painting, it can take some people weeks to *recover* and maybe months for art and accessories.

The magazine-worthly level pictures can take a full day and hundreds of shots to capture.

And it's the same with my own house. Geeze. If I want a picture for a blog post or something, the picture is often a project in and of itself. Wish there was a better solution but I don't know what it is.

Years ago there was a similar topic thread and someone said (maybe joking, maybe not) before they took a pic they kicked the junk out of the way! I admit to moving stuff/tidying/dusting, etc. before taking pics, otherwise what's the point of showing something special with extraneous stuff all over the background. I don't post a lot of pics now but used to take pics right after cleaning both for my personal records and to post. After that it's back to 'normal'.

I've noticed dust in lots of OP's pics and there's likely been some in mine especially if I just took a quick pic of something to show like yard sale finds.

I think most of us live 'normal' lives with the occasional clutter and dust. Maybe a few live in pristine settings 24/7 but likely most don't.

I'll usually do a quick pick up for things like paper or magazine piles. There have been occasions where I was more lax but most times it's because I was in a hurry and didn't notice it until after the photos were loaded on the computer. I remember once leaving my gym bag on the kitchen floor for a photo. It bugged me but I assumed people would realize it doesn't stay there all the time. I think it stuck out even worse because it doesn't "match". :)

ummm, yeah.

I always notice, I left something when I upload the picture- but then again, this is real life :)

Absolutely. I take pics of my home for my blog occasionally(not often, since mine isn't really decor driven,) and I always clean the room thoroughly before taking pics. If I'm not showing a whole room, I make sure and crop the pic tightly to eliminate the clutter. Dust or a floor that needs vaccuuming might still get into the frame, though. My kids' rooms might have looked immaculate when I took the pics, but rest assured, they're normal children who leave stuff out. Well, the teen is anyway.

If I'm taking pictures of my family or dog then I often don't straighten up but my house isn't that messy most of the time. I might move a drink or a pair of shoes out of the way but that's it.

For example in the room I'm in, the main living room, on the coffee table is a water bottle and dog leash from a walk I just got back from. There is also a book I'm reading and a dog bone as well as a stack of magazines and a pretty platter.

On the other end table is a plastic cup with a drink, an emery board, and an empty pudding cup. On the floor are a couple of dog toys. The pillows on the sofa need fluffing.

I consider the room neat, it would take me less then 5 minutes to pick everything up.But it doesn't look like a museum.

Now If I am taking a picture of the room I would straighten up a bit more.

LOL - yes! That's the main reason I've been so slow to post pics here of my painting progress. It's so hard to keep our main living areas tidy with 2 preschoolers. *sigh*

Yes!

The internet is forever. Posterity doesn't have to know what my house really looked like on a day-to-day basis. :-)

Yes and No. I clean the room but try to make sure that the people who are living in the home are represented. I have pets and kids so if I am taking a picture of a room that they are typically in there is always something of their's in the room. I used to make sure that my rooms were prisitine w/ no representation of anyone but me when I took a pic for the forum but as I mentioned in another thread one day I missed something and a poster kindly mentioned that they were pleased to see that particular random toy in the picture. I'm taking pictures for you guys 'my on-line cohorts in design' not a national magazine. You know 'Me' more than a magazine so I try to show you pictures of 'Me'.

The toys typically won't be strewn about mind you, but you will often find one or two in my pics. There are always kids books and toys on the coffee table so there will almost always be some in a picture. Just neater!

Gutted Super Hero Squirrel

This one wasn't posed - just desperate to get a shot.

Now if a national magazine wanted to shoot my home I'd expect them to shoo away all of that other stuff and I'd be fine w/ that.

Your house looks very, very tidy Ttodd, and beautiful, of course! A toy here & there adds charm, imo.You work outside the home, have little ones, pets, & are very busy... you're doing a really great job! Be proud of yourself.

Your little sweetie drawing on the floor (well hopefully not ON the floor!) is adorable, btw! Look at that gorgeous head of curls!

Wouldn't need to do much if anything before taking a pic as I have zero tolerance for clutter! I'm trying to be like Ttodd! I work hard & consistently to have a place for everything & to keep everything in its place. My keys don't even touch the kitchen countertop...they have their own space in a drawer that they go into pronto! My sunglasses may sit out for a few minutes after I walk in. No mail sits out for long. Nothing. I just can't stand it. I'm home full-time so I clean a fair amount too. My kitty forces me to...she's a mess!

Guess I'm afraid if I don't stay on top of things I'll have gigantic, irretrievable chaos on my hands, so I just nip things in the bud asap.

Wouldn't want my kitchen photographed while I'm cooking though! Yick. That can get pretty messy. You wouldn't be able to see the forest for the trees! People "cooking" in magazine shoots & on TV never produce this kind of disorder!

I remember seeing a photo ages ago of Suzanne Somers, blonde hair bouncing in a pony tail, licking something frothy off of a mixer beater, getting just a bit of the fluffy whip on the tip of her nose. So cute, so Suzanne. No pictures like that could happen while I'm cooking!

Every night of course, I spend at least a half hour cleaning the kitchen after dinner, like most Americans. When are they going to come up with self-cleaning kitchens?

Thanks Stinky! The only thing that I can consistantly keep on top of is the kitchen and only if I am cooking. I have gotten into the habit of immediately putting things away as soon as I am done measuring, opening - whatever. Probably because I only have about 5' of literal counterspace. Doesn't mean my kitchen is neat though.

Since I (along w/ the rest of my family) are notorious pilers and movers (okay - it's really just me) I have started to minimize how many horizontal surfaces I have in the house. Yes - I am literally ditching tables if there is no absolute day to day need for them.

My lovely Victorian fireplace mantle is almost always littered w/ my digital cameras, hammers, hooks, kids papers, stuff to be donated, 1 coffee mug from heaven knows when, and a beer bottle or two. All 4 (yes 4) horizontal surfaces of that carved beauty are filled w/ junk.

I'm not likely to post photos of my house looking its worst, but I don't break out the duster before taking pics.

My children, on the other hand, feel no shame about posting photos on Facebook that show their dressers with drawers open and clothes hanging out, cereal bowls stacked on bookshelves, or any other nightmarish background details. So I don't have much luck with maintaining any pretense in front of our Facebook friends!

No need to here everything is always in place, and tidy...home of Mr. & Mrs. clean freaks.. and we like it!

I think I do both things. If I am coming in with a question, I have planned it out and taken the shots needed to ask the question well. That means I have had an opportunity to straighten up and make sure everything is in place and there aren't distractions. However, if I'm responding to a question, I might just run in and snap a quick photo.

Can I just say, though, that I like when there are pets or kidlets in the photos? It makes us all seem more human, somehow.

I used to produce a make-over show that was supposed to help people get rid of their clutter via a yard sale. People sent in photos to be considered for the show--and most people tidied up first, thus sort of missing the whole point. I'd go out with a PA, drag crap all over the place, and then shoot a demo video. I could usually make the place look like a dept. store exploded in their room.

ideefixe, was the show something along the lines of "Clean House"? I sometimes watch that while on the treadmill in the morning. I have always thought that they must take all the dresser drawers and closets and empty them into the rooms.

I have posted pictures where there is stuff everywhere and I will acknowledge the stuff in my post...but later looking at the pictures I thought to myself "that looks awful". But for the most part, I will clean up the area I'm gonna take a picture to post so there is no distraction. I agree 100% by seeing pictures of your own space, you can see what is working, what's not etc.

One of my BIGGEST pet peeves is craiglist ads with people stuff in the picture--when I say stuff I mean their mess, clothes on the floors, dressers with all their junk on it...yuck..no one wants to see your messy space.

I want everything to look spotless and clutter free, which is why I've only posted one picture of my house in the many years that I've been on gweb! Most friends think I'm really neat, but I have a tendency to leave things lying around (I make messes then clean them up, but if you catch me before I have time to clean them up, things look junky). I aspire to keep my house looking like ttodd's, but certain spots in the house (the end table next to 'my side' of the couch, the top of built-ins in the upstairs landing) are clutter magnets.