Still Has a Heart

The magazine House Beautiful could never be said to be down-to-earth, but sometimes “heavenly” is a better accolade. When it comes to feeding our nesting urge with larger than life possibilities, and awakening our imaginations with new trends, classic old ideas, and more, House Beautiful fits the bill.

As in most home and garden magazines, the photography is fresh and elegant. Often even the advertisements contain great or just plain amusing decorating ideas, such as the star-and-moon painted staircase advertising Sherwin-Williams paints in the August, ’99 issue. Columns full of vibrant ideas and valuable information include Style Beat, News, which illustrated and discussed some contemporary Native American art I’ll try to see, and Scrapbook, which featured clever ideas using paint, in the Aug. ’99 issue.

The April, ’99, issue featured 9 idea-filled kitchens, and how to decorate using color with confidence, both of which I found helpful. My rooms may never look as elegant as House Beautiful’s, but they do an excellent job of showcasing fine traditional or avant-garde design and decorating ideas. You may not have their budget, but they’re not so far out of touch they you can’t emulate their ideas.

For example, although I don’t have their wonderful assortment of picnic baskets to arrange as they did them in the Kitchen issue, their picture gave me an idea for arranging my own extensive basket collection in a simpler, homey way. And it looks excellent, now, stacked with separators on a corner of their kitchen, instead of piled here and there with no rhyme or reason.

Admittedly, some of HB’s rooms, especially those in the houses of the Rich and Famous, are pompous and presumptuous, nothing I’d even dream of copying. Some even lack a homey touch at all, so minimalist are they. But HB seems to have recognized the cozier, homier look most Americans prefer, and are often including an almost country look in an occasional review.

Although the January, 2000 issue was a bore with its overemphasis on the “new millenium,” streamlined decorating and minimalist style, using mostly metals, it was worth the cover price for my favorite feature of the magazine, one that’s been appearing every month for as long as I can remember—Thoughts of Home. This column is done by a guest writer each month, and vividly displays some aspect of the importance of our home settings. For example, the April, ’99, column was subtitled, “Mine to Keep,” by Nancy Brenner, and recounted one woman’s need to scale down her housing when the family had grown up and away. Not only are the houses involved discussed, the emotional journey from big, sprawling sentimental surroundings to cottage with land and a view is told in a restrained, but heartfelt way. (Bring a hankie!)

A Thoughts of Home in a later issue tells of a woman’s need to move away from a historic, registered house because of divorce, and another talks of abandoned houses and their pull on the imagination. Every single one is a tribute to the editor of this feature, Elaine Greene, and never are emotions overwrought or cheap. Each story is honest, with true-life situations, and all beautifully written.

Even if their wonderful food pieces didn’t show me exciting and do-able ways to serve my garden-fresh produce, combine unusual ingredients,or make desserts for a king from 107 easy ingredients, I’d still be buying House Beautiful, and perusing library copies, for the joy that column alone gives me. It's the heart of an occasionally irksome, self-conscious and chi-chi magazine--one I'll continue to mine for its plethora of inspiring art and writing.