I am a hopeless home decorating junkie. This is not to say that I'm any good at it, but I love to read home design magazines, burning through around 20 of them every month. And even though I know that these magazines make you feel about your house the way fashion magazines make you feel about your body, I read them cover to cover, tear out and save pages I believe I will someday replicate, and dream about what it would be like to live in a magazine-worthy home.
(I also watch many more hours of HGTV than would be considered normal, but we'll work through that issue later.)
So I was grief-stricken when I recently learned that one of my very favorites, Domino, is ending its publication after just four short years.
I will really miss this fun and funky magazine, but I also feel the staff's pain: a few years ago I was the editor of a short-lived (we published a total of four issues) trade magazine for interior designers and architects. During the production of what would be our final issue, the magazine was sold to a new publisher. Shocked by the cost to produce it (it was expensive) and uncertain about its ability to make a profit, the new CEO quickly put it down. And although I am grateful to the company for my current position (maintaining the websites of eight regional home design magazines), I will forever mourn the sudden and brutal death of my magazine and my dream job.
Why am I telling you all this? Because I have been entrenched in the home design industry for almost 10 years and am sure I'll be sharing some stories about its excitement and glamour, as well as a lot of silliness that comes from a decade of interviewing interior designers who sometimes take themselves way too seriously.
Chris and I are also about to dive head-first into a quasi-major kitchen renovation, which is bound to bring up many of my profound and insightful thoughts about the Importance of Good Design. The whole extravaganza should be good for a few laughs as well. Buckle your seatbelt...it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
How FUN!!! :) (the magazines and dreaming...not so much the ACTUAL work part)
ReplyDeleteI know that these magazines make you feel about your house the way fashion magazines make you feel about your body--I never thought of it this way!
and I'll join it if you start a support group for HGTV junkies. I had some serious w/drawl when we moved here!
A support group is an outstanding idea! I saw a show last week where someone redid their bathroom to the tune of $40,000. That's $19,000 less than my first house cost in 1988. This is not healthy. I'm sure I'll be ranting more about this type of home decorating craziness...
ReplyDeleteI already feel bad looking at fashion magazines and worse when I see home design mags, but I liked Domino, too. It was fun. Budget Living is still around, isn't it? That's my speed these days...
ReplyDeleteYes, Budget Living was a cool magazine--but alas, it is deceased, too. Only the good die young.
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