Recently we’ve had dozens of requests for a post about our favorite surviving shelter magazines. After the heartbreaking loss of beloved titles like Domino, Cottage Living, Country Home, InStyle Home and O At Home, readers want to know which publications still inspire us. Below is our updated rundown of the shelter mags that make us run to the mailbox each month.
House Beautiful is consistently one of the most inspiring reads. From paint color suggestions to lavish rooms, the magazine delivers high-quality eye candy issue after issue. Are the featured items affordable? Often not. Are all the products easy to find? Frequently they’re trade-only or high-end. Still, we appreciate that much of the content is aimed at interior designers: it gives us a peek into that world and helps us reimagine luxe ideas in more budget-friendly ways.
Better Homes & Gardens leans more DIY and practical. It’s full of doable ideas, from weekend projects to color palette inspiration and gardening tips. If you’re looking for approachable projects and smart styling that won’t require a designer’s budget, this magazine is an excellent, well-rounded resource.
Do It Yourself focuses on hands-on projects and practical tutorials like how to paint furniture or build a coffee table. Published quarterly, it’s a compact but rich source of inspiration and how-to tips that are useful to keep on the shelf for reference. While we contribute to the magazine from time to time, we’ve long admired its thrifty, hands-on approach to decorating—an approach that fits our style perfectly.
Our magazine pile balances affordable design with the occasional splurge for inspiration. A few other glossies we always flip through at Barnes & Noble—since we can’t subscribe to every title—include ReadyMade, Traditional Home, Veranda, Elle Decor, Metropolitan Home, Sunset, Dwell and Coastal Living. Coastal Living has improved under new editorial leadership and shows promising direction. We also enjoy lifestyle-focused publications like Real Simple and Martha Stewart Living for their practical coverage of organization, cleaning, and everyday household tasks.
John tends to enjoy Men’s Health Living, though new issues are infrequent. Locally, if you live in Richmond (or just want a taste of a city-focused publication), R. Home is a solid read—and we aren’t just saying that because we write a column for it.
That’s our short list of favorite shelter magazines. Did we miss any? Tell us what magazines you’ve been enjoying lately—what’s feeding your design inspiration these days?
Update: We’re also enjoying Lonny magazine, an online glossy that feels similar to Domino and includes work by some of the same writers. Since this roundup was first published, we’ve also been following Coastal Living more closely; it shows real promise as a modern successor to Cottage Living with several familiar editors on board.