best of the magazines // october 2014

i'm falling way behind on this column...the november magazines have been on shelves for a couple weeks now, and i'm only just posting october! oh well, as they say...better late than never... (i say this every month, don't i?) well, think of it as my halloween gift to you.

as you know my relationship with the magazines hit a little rocky patch last month, but this time my enthusiasm is back. eye candy yo!! let's get started.

from elle decor, october 2014, "fashion hits home" issue:

kitchen of robert rowe

from house & home, october 2014, "fresh fall looks" issue:

ok, so i know the watermark says veranda, but in fairness i first spotted the image in the "style files" of this month's house & home...plugging the book simplicity by nancy braithwaite (which looks beautiful). house & home's website didn't have any pictures that i can find, so i guess the magazines can share the credit. see the rest of the (amazing) house tour here.

from dwell, october 2014, "modern dreams" issue:

living room from the home of furniture designer gesa hansen. get in my house, all of you, like right now. i adore this room. 

exterior of the home of mark degraaf and sanne wisman near amsterdam.

backyard space like a dream (that fireplace! those logs! the pool!) from the home of andrew and amy weinstein in the hamptons.

an outdoor sauna from a swedish guest house. i want to go to there.

and finally, this house...maybe not visually striking at first, but in this setting, i'd be happy with a one room hovel as long as it was made of glass:

it's the home of ryan & mary finley on the coast of oregon, and i simply can't imagine waking up to these views every day.

bedroom 

porch. yowza. 

oh dwell, you perfect little magazine. you really made my heart go pitter patter this month (again). thanks for that!

from country living, october 2014, "fun & easy ideas for fall" issue:

first of all, i had been looking forward to seeing this profile of makers phillip and jackie wachter of fount leather. i got to meet them at renegade craft fair this year and they were just the sweetest.

next up, oh my gosh. this kitchen. it's CL's october kitchen of the month, from the home of victoria pearson, and it is perfection:

side note: it was styled by heather bullard, whose blog i stumbled upon as i was gathering these photos, and she is unequivocally my new design crush. you can see more photos of the kitchen and her behind-the-scenes commentary here.

this kitchen, from the home of joan osofsky, caught my eye too:

finally, let's vote on this room (heck, the whole house, why not) by brian patrick flynn. i can't decide if i love it, or if i'm still just stuck in mountain-top-man-cave mode, but i think i have developed a serious crush on all things buffalo check. and all the better in black & white. what do you think?

i just have to admit to myself that in general i'm a sucker for plaid flannel. mix it with gold and sleek lines and ...yeah, you got me. so i wouldn't call this house my "style" but there's something great about it. and i'm loving that he's got the same mantle i do and he makes it look chic. there's hope!

best of the magazines // september 2014

happy monday my friends! it's been a bit of a summer break, but the magazines are back in full effect and in all their fall glory. from my time at the library with a coffee and a stack of mags, let's dive in and see what eye candy i found in this month's issues.

from house beautiful, september 2014, "wake up your life with color" issue:

i have to admit that after thumbing through this issue of house beautiful, i almost threw in the towel on this post. the over-the-top and over-decorated interiors, all the excessive moulding, fabrics, furniture, and expensive (like $12,000 light fixture expensive) accessories were a little much. i was about to toss the issue back in its pile when this pretty little tablescape came innocently along:

irene chen's outdoor tablescape:

aww. it's perfect. while it might not be real life, (and i'm pretty sure that flatware costs $25 a fork), something about its easy charm and bright pops of color wooed me out of my anti-opulence funk. and that tablecloth? get outta here- part polka dot, part smudged ikat...what a gorgeous fabric. 

once house beautiful had successfully seduced me back in to the magazine world, i turned the page to this bathroom by bryan joyce:

opulence to the max, but it turns out i'm a sell-out for marble herringbone tile and unlacquered brass. i don't even care. i love you bathroom!

from elle decor, september 2014, "25th anniversary" issue:

i am battling with myself as i write this. i try to keep things positive here, jimmy falon style, but there was almost nothing i liked in this issue. in fact, it tempted me to write an entire post about the worst of the magazines. the most serious offenders were a purple lacquered room with a red ceiling and a playroom that looked like an asylum. 

luckily, there was a backyard deck with a fire table and a bed (i've just decided that every deck needs a bed on it, right?) that i could definitely get some serious lounging done on:

outdoor living space at the home of designer miquel angel aragones:

moving on....

from country living, september 2014, "ultimate guide to color" issue:

this one got a rocky start too, due to the 2014 house of the year with a (shudder!) pink-ceilinged zebra-tiled kitchen, but some cute bedrooms salvaged the issue.

jenny piazza's minnesota lake cottage:

she had me at the quilt. i looooooove it.

and the attic bedroom:

you know i'm always swayed by a view like that.

from dwell, september 2014, "small space big design" issue:

i thought this month's dwell was excellent. (finally!) maybe i'm the problem, and my tastes are getting more and more modern. 

the british columbia cabin retreat by architect bohlin cywinski:

oh man, how much do you want to grab your skis tartan blanket and go to there right now? i know that in every day life that an exterior this modern isn't for me, but what a perfectly luxe getaway spot. 

i also loved the brooklyn home of home of david friedlander & family:

the living room:

i like how calm, serene, and pared down this home is. unfortunately there is another kids' asylum room, so i can't give the whole thing 5 stars, but almost all of the other rooms had that minimalist part of my heart beating faster.

kitchen:

bathroom:

sliding door to the master bedroom:

from traditional home, september 2014, "fashion comes home" issue:

from kay krill's home on long island sound:

this photo betrays the fact that there is a traditionalist deeply embedded in me somewhere. and the fact that, try as i might to fight it, i do have expensive taste.

after that, a tim clarke-designed home in las vegas was really interesting to me. the neighborhood required a frank lloyd wright style house, but the homeowner's style was anything but. i thought clarke did a good job of blending their tastes with the modern and streamlined exterior. and the part of me that loves good old fashioned hollywood glamour enjoyed the results of the whole project. 

family room:

there were a lot of things i liked about it, but the master bathroom took the cake:

that chair positively needs to go, but everything else makes up for it. 

and, ok, seriously...i'm definitely back on the magazine bandwagon here, but look at this closet:

no girly girl can deny, that thang is awesome. plus, this home is in las vegas, and you have to have a closet like this if you live there, right?

well, if anything, this post let you in on the fact that i couldn't nail down a design style if i tried. now you know why i have issues at my own house...i'm part modern-lover, part glamour girl, part minimalist (if only in my head), and part quilting club country girl. good thing there are a lot of different magazines at the library.

best of the magazines // july & august 2014

hi and welcome back to best of the magazines, a monthly round-up of my favorite spaces from the design magazines currently on newstands. it seems a lot of the publications are taking it easy this summer as their july and august issues are combined, so i get to take it a little easy and cover both months here too.

from house beautiful, july/ august 2014, "living large in small spaces" issue:

a couple vignettes from the kitchen & living room of peter dunham's los angeles apartment:

from dwell, july/ august 2014, "modern across america" issue:

bookcase styling from the home of deborah orrill and blair sanders:

the kitchen of colorado architect renee del guadio:

the oh-so-interesting architecture of david & elizabeth hill's home in alabama:

from elle decor, july/ august 2014, "easy living" issue:

from the home of william abranowicz & andrea raisfeld, a gallery wall with some perfect mid-century modern pieces:

a master bedroom with soaring plank ceilings:

 

a minimalist bath with classic basketweave tile:

and a sleeping porch that dreams are made of:

from traditional home, july/ august 2014, "designer secrets" issue:

the entry from beth & jim hanson's charlotte home:

for years now i've wanted a white staircase with dark wood treads and railing; this staircase may have turned me into a light wood convert in one swift picture.

and lastly, the exterior of a mary douglas drysdale-designed townhouse on embassy row:

i love that the facade of this building is perfectly traditional and still un-fussy.

i'm definitely still in a white mood...clean, open, un-cluttered, almost stark interiors are just feeling so good to me these days. you know, the hospital look. (wink). so there were a lot of full, fancy, and colorful rooms this month that didn't make the cut for this post. better luck next time guys! 

what kinds of spaces are you guys loving currently? what magazines are your favorites?