Do you subscribe to any of the home interiors and decorating magazines, or pick a random bunch off the shelf every month?

Home Decorating magazines

Do you lean towards Elle Decor with its emphasis on stylish living and following the seasonal trends closely? Or do you prefer Good Homes for its easily adaptable decorating and gardening ideas?Or you inspired by the exquisite homes showcased in Society Interiors?

I have a monthly subscription for  BBC Good Homes, but read the others such as Society Interiors, Ideal Home and Gardens, Better Interiors and Elle Decor on a regular basis from the library or buying recent issues at cheaper prices.

I’m slightly biased towards Good Homes because it has a glossy feel to it and has the right mix of advertorials and features. Except the home tours which are quite lengthy, the other features are a quick read. I absolutely love their multi-part design series spread over many issues. Good Home is currently running a Decor Lifecycle series.

Society Interiors reads like a architecture book and puts me to sleep.

What I don’t like in the home decor magazines?

Know your audience. Home decorating on a budget sells like hot chips. Seriously. If one has the capacity to blow, let’s say, Rs.10 L on soft furnishings, then one also has the ability hire a really expensive interiors consultant. So why present only accessories and products from high-end stores such as FCML, Atmosphere, which are eye-candy but out of reach for a normal household. For someone looking for doing up their home with limited resources, there are far and few ideas.

Sample this, for instance. A sofa chair by Pinakin Patel from Pinakin for Rs. 52,000 (Elle Decor, August 2009). The Mtouche range of porcelain tiles from FCML Home at Rs.1,300 a sq.ft (Ideal Home and Gardens, September 2009).  That way I think Good Homes strikes a good balance of expensive and affordable products such as Snapshot Coasters  at Rs.995 a piece from Apartment 9, and Glass Funk Coasters at Rs.600 for four from Silk Road and Beyond or Star Coasters at Rs.1,200 for six from Good Earth.

The home tours are again a drab. They make you drool, no doubt about that. But with the amount of styling that goes in for a shoot to present the image of a picture perfect home, we all know it wouldn’t work in a practical setting.

What works for you and what’s on your reading list every month?

Got a rack full of old magazines some as old as 5 years? A Feb ‘05 Femina issue with useful kitchen tips or a Woman’s Era magazine from 2006 that carried some mouth-watering recipes for the festive season or some cool tips on how to get dressed for a party after work in a jiffy? Yes?  Then you’ve got company…I have saved tons of magazines just because one feature was good, or it had an odd tip on Page 53 on how to keep your coffee decoction fresh (I have this annoying habit of folding pages that I’d like to read again). These magazines lie untouched for years but I don’t feel like giving them away.

After all, there might be a way to put these to good use without letting them occupy useful rack space.

Use it as a stand to keep a vase on the top. Doesn’t it make for a colorful base.

Old magazines stacked to make a colorful stand

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