Erin Napier on Maternity Photo Shoot: "Life Isn’t Perfect or Neat. It’s Dear, and Cluttered, and Familiar"
Erin Napier always speaks from her heart, keeping it real with fans about embracing the imperfection of life and not getting bogged down by struggling to maintain a flawless home. So it should come as no surprise then that when the HGTV Home Town star was stepping into the spotlight for a PEOPLE magazine photo shoot announcing her pregnancy — it's another girl! — she didn't try to tidy up her home or gussy up herself to be something she wasn't.
In her typical transparent manner, Napier doesn't hold back in giving her fans insight into the makings of the cover story's pictures: "My favorite things about the photos my dear friend @brookedavisphoto took for @people: We didn't stage the rooms. We didn't make anything perfect and neat. No flowers in a vase to be found. We didn't change our clothes. I didn't fix my hair. There are dishes drying on the rack. The sippy cups live wherever they land. The books are read, then piled," she captions a series of photos from the photo session. "Life isn't perfect or neat. It's dear, and cluttered, and familiar. I want to make a book about this: photos of beautiful rooms in practical use. No one needs help feeling bad about their imperfect lives. I'd like to see designers embrace that a bit more."
In the comments, Erin's husband Ben did concede that at least one family member did an outfit change during the picture-taking, the couple's three-year-old daughter Helen: "Well, Helen changed clothes during the shoot. But that's because she's a ballerina... and a trapeze girl... and a mermaid..." he jokes.
See all the gorgeous, imperfect photos of Erin, Ben, and Helen in their Laurel, Mississippi, home below.
WATCH: Erin Napier Shares Her 2008 Wedding Video: "Still So Thankful to Be Your Wife"
We think those photos are beautiful. But the message behind them is even more inspiring: Accept and celebrate the imperfect — it's a side effect of the good life.
