<p>Today, I thumbed through the latest issue of House & Garden, one of those mags I got “free” using airline miles from an airline I rarely fly with.</p>
<p>The home decor and pics in there is so far different from my house and lifestyle, it’s almost surreal to look at. For example, there was an article on “room dividers”, and there were some interesting choices…a plaster resin one that looks like draped fabric…for $18,000, a 4-panel one that has a leather frame and smooth metal inserts for $24,400…and my favorite–a rather ugly (IMO) one that has 3 panels, graduated heights from taller to shorter. “The Quantum screen, which consists of three panels in walnut, lacquer, and gold leaf, $29,700, is a limited-edition item by Patrick Naggar for Ralph Pucci International.” </p>
<p>So, it made me think of all the CC’ers out there—what home magazine comes closest to showing your decor and home style?</p>
<p>If my kitchen ever didn’t have crap piled all over the counters, it could be in one of the decorating mags (our favorite part about the house when we bought it). The rest of the house has a strong resemblance to many of the “before” pictures on the designer-challenge shows on TV. In our last 3 houses over the past 8 years, most of the neighbors wouldn’t have considered making home decorating decisions without their interior decorator. I just could never pay someone else to tell me what I should like. So, I end up with what I like (occasionally I pretend to give my husband some input into the matter so he doesn’t get all huffy, and will be around when I need him to do some heavy lifting to put my plans into action), and it certainly looks lived in. (with lots and lots of books)</p>
<p>I think mine would be in there with WashDad’s. If it has to be a real mag, probably Handyman–although I fear it has gone beyond anything even Handyman could deal with…</p>
<p>LOL, doubleplay!
Mine would be “Food and Wine” for the kitchen 'cause there’s always lotsa food and lotsa wine. Unfortunately the rest of the house is a layout from “Modern Clutter”</p>
<p>In my dreams my house looks like one of those glossy catalogs from Pottery Barn. In real life I saw a picture of a bathroom that looked exactly like mine (except tidier) in Southern Living a few months back… as the “before” shot.</p>
<p>LOL. Definitely the before shots of nearly any home porn magazine. 80s kitchen with caca d’oie colored formica counters. We did finally get the futon out of the living room and covered the funny little upholstered rocker I inherited from my parents - it’s a good 40 years old and squeaks. Dining table is a monstrosity that belonged to my great-grandmother with clawed feet. The chairs are brittle don’t lean back suddenly! The decoration is eclectic with things that reflect all the places my husband and I have lived - Africa, Indonesia and Japan among others. It’s clean but cluttered. Is there a booklover’s magazine? There are books everywhere. Worst of all my office keeps escaping and there are usually rolled up drawings on the dining table and code books in the living room.</p>
<p>I guess my kitchen/family room is “National Geographic”: there is abundance of wildlife (cats, dogs, spiders that creep in this time of the year - yikes!), natural resources (dirt, dust, etc.) tracked in by the abovementioned wildlife, native tribes foraging for food (us), art displays, etc.</p>
<p>The rest of the house is IKEA catalog: crappy but functional! LOL!</p>
<p>I’m always amused by those TV shows where a middle class family with multiple kids lives in a pristinely clean house. Oh, I love those kitchens with not a single dirty dish in sight! May be that’s why the show “Medium” is so appealing to me - the house in that show does look like the house where three little kids live.</p>
<p>mathmom? home “porn” magazine? I am imagining all sorts of pictures of your home, but I am not sure we should tell the kids.</p>
<p>I love medium, too, for their normalness, normal looking family in a normal looking house. It is so annoying that every home on TV set an unrealistic standard for normal</p>
<p>It’s hunting season here and the flat surfaces are covered with goose calls, camo, and worse.
In direct conflict with my wishes for any page out of Traditional Home. Never gonna happen.</p>
<p>Bungalow Living-a magazine devoted to craftsman houses and similar genres. In the before photos, with an excess of books, kid’s art, musical instruments, and various items suggestive of a well traveled life. Too eclectic, too lived in to be stylish. Someone did flatter me recently and said it looked like a museum. Museums have a variety of connotations…so that’s a little scary. </p>
<p>This thread is very reassuring, as the counter top thread made me shrink back into myself and consider re examining long held priorities.</p>
<p>I own a decorating store - I love it when customers come in with a picture they ripped from a magazine, wanting it. When I tell them the room probably ran around 40k, they change their tune. Most of the fabrics pictured run 300 plus per yard. Sofas pictured average 15k. For that kind of money, you don’t need a decorator; it would look fantastic if you just threw it in the room! Like the cobbler, my house is a wreck; papers everywhere, piles of stuff to get to, etc. Kids come first, at least for now.</p>