modernmarvel's Full Review: House & Garden Magazine
On the cover of House & Garden it says that it is "Design to Inspire." What that apparently means is that the magazine is not going to give you practical decorating tips. Instead, it is going to provide things out of your reach financially and put the burden on you to reinterpret those ideas in a more affordable way. Of course, that isn't all bad. Most decorating magazines present rooms that the average person could never afford. However, House & Garden adds to their impracticality an unbearable pretentious attitude that can be extremely annoying.
STYLE
House & Garden used to stick with more traditional styles. Recently, however, they have shown some more modern and artsy interiors. This isn't the spare modern aesthetic that you see in Metropolitan Home. The interiors here are layered with upholstery, window treatments and accessories.
GARDENING
The problem with gardening magazines is that the gardens they present are usually not possible in your area. There are so many climate zones in the U.S., the dessert ideas are not practical for the North East and the Northern California ideas are not practical for the South. This is inspiration at best but it can be awfully frustrating when you can not implement their ideas. Sure you can pick up some design inspiration, but don't expect lots of practical advice.
WHAT YOU GET IN EACH ISSUE
Here is a sample of articles and features in each issue:
Welcome: A brief introduction from the editor.
Letters: A self-serving section with heavily edited letters from readers and pithy responses from the editor.
Domestic Bliss: This part of the magazine is broken out into several subsections. One section recommends collectibles and decorative items to buy for your home. Prices range from expensive to ridiculously expensive.
The Biz: This is directed more to decorators because the average person can't buy a lot of the recommended items. They are only available to the trade. (An aside: The way trade items work is that you need to hire a decorator. The decorator buys the items at a discount. Then the decorator charges you either a mark-up on the item or an hourly or project fee or both.)
Gadget Inspector: In a recent issue, the magazine gives a review of four different irons that range in price from $50 to $300. My initial reaction: for $300, I could hire someone to do my ironing.
Larder: A food review. They describe a gourmet food product and list places to buy it. In one issue, it was expensive cuts of meat that can be mail ordered. There are also recipes so you know how to use your expensive mail order gourmet cuts of meat. Since I don't typically mail order my meat, this section is not really useful to me.
Special Report: How to update your house with current trends (read: please buy stuff from our advertisers). There is an annoying "what's in / what's out" list that basically says that all of the updating you have done over the last three years is out of style and you must immediately update again lest you will become irrelevant and hopelessly out of style. A recent Special Report focused on paint and highlighted custom boutique paints (the same colors are available at Home Depot but the "custom boutique" paints have a nicer ring and higher price tag).
In the Garden: This section highlights certain types of plants or flowers. There is also a "goods" section where they recommend more items to buy ranging from gardening tools to vases. There is also a help section where they answer readers questions about gardening dilemmas.
The Color List: Lots more items to buy. This time they are grouped by color. Items include furniture, blankets, dishes, desk accessories, rugs and any other doo dad for your house you can think of. The prices are quite high - $5,000 sofas are frequent.
The Slow Life: An article that somehow either integrates decorating or gardening and extolls the value of slowing down and enjoying life. The articles are well-written but they advocate a life style that many can't afford.
House of Worship: The architecture of a house of worship with just a few photos.
Uncorked: Discourse on wine.
Past Perfect: Another article, this time about valuable paintings that have great meaning for the author.
The heart of the magazine are the four houses that are presented. There is a brief article describing each house. The photo spreads focus on living rooms and other public spaces. This magazine has been trending more toward modern design recently. The houses are very decorated, with lots of upholstery and accessories. A lot of the work is custom and couldn't be easily duplicated in regular people's homes. In addition to the featured home, there are several photos of other homes grouped together to illustrate how to put color schemes together.
The magazine also has a detailed spread of a featured garden complete the the garden design, the description of several plants and an article interviewing the owners / designers / gardeners.
Sources: This is where you can find out where to buy items that you see in the homes. Many items are either custom or available only to the trade. Most are very expensive.
The Testy Tastemaker: This is a new section when a supposedly stylish in-the-know person puts down other people's taste. Personally, I find it unproductive to criticize other's taste especially in a magazine that is supposed to be about encouraging readers to follow their inspiration.
STATS
House & Garden is on a medium grade glossy paper. It is not as nice as Architectural Digest but it is better than Better Homes & Gardens. The length is also average - it comes in at just under 200 pages. Of course, it is filled with ads. All decorating magazines are. Personally, I like the ads. Their revenue makes the magazine more affordable for me and sometimes the ads themselves have good ideas. A nice feature is that the magazine subscription comes in plastic so that it arrives in good condition.
A one year subscription is 12 issues. You can get a one year subscription for between $10 and $15.
WEB SITE
www.house-and-garden.com
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
This magazine tries to do too much. There are just a couple of articles, only one detailed garden and a myriad of advice columns on food, wine and lifestyles. They are pushing more than accessories, it is really a pretentious lifestyle magazine. The pictures are nice but you can do better.
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