If I had a nickel for every time a newborn client apologized for the state of their home, I’d be a rich woman. When I am coming to a home who has just welcomed a new baby, I would *never* expect the entire house to be clean! Heck, I don’t even expect any house with any aged children to be fully clean…that’s impossible! But here’s the great news: preparing a home for newborn photos actually doesn’t have to be overwhelming!

Step One: Ignore the Peripheral Mess

Here’s why preparing a home for newborn photos isn’t overwhelming….because you don’t have to prepare the whole thing! Leave your kitchen a mess…don’t even touch the dishes. Put all the clutter inside your closet, I promise I won’t peek in there. No need to clean your bathrooms or that random catch-all extra bedroom. Don’t have an extra space for clutter? Move it into the garage or basement (or even to one side of a room).

Step Two: Work On the Rooms that We Will Actually Use

If you are feeling totally overwhelmed, you can clean ONLY two rooms. Truly! Work on your family room and your primary bedroom and call it a day. So many of my city clients don’t have nurseries or are using the nursery space for storage in the beginning months. We absolutely do *not* have to use any particular space that you don’t want to or can’t manage to put together. Your gallery will have plenty of variety with just the primary bedroom and the living room! The nursery is a bonus third room, if you have one and IF it feels like a space you want to use.

Step Three: Put That Vacuum Down!

If vacuuming brings you joy, by all means, go for it. But for the purpose of pictures, this is low on the totem pole of things that will actually be noticeable. Here’s what to focus on instead:

• Clear clutter from the tops of side tables, coffee tables, or dressers. Clear tops will give the illusion of the whole room being clean!
• If you have permanent black out coverings on windows, remove them and let that natural light in!
• Consider changing any bed linens that don’t match (pillowcases) or have a busy or distracting pattern.
• Do you have clutter that you can’t remove? Move it to one side of the room (and if you choose the one we might need for lighting reasons, we will move it together to the other side!

This townhome pictured above had an open living/dining area. The living room had a very large dog crate on the left hand side. But all of that was absolutely fine! All the images we took in this space focused on the corner with beautiful plants and bookshelves. This is where the creative eye of your photographer comes into play. We are masters at painting the story of your family and minimizing any unneeded corners.

Step Four: Let it Goooooo…

Don’t manage to accomplish any of these things? Like Elsa, let it go and we will figure it out together during your photo session. I promise it’s totally normal for me to arrive to chaos. It’s my job to make that chaos look as beautiful as possible!