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[Oznell]

Oh, don't you hate when you lose something like that that you connect to and want to save--  here's hoping you find it, @GingerPeach!

[stevieb]

I was so smitten with the HB excerpts on Bee Cottage that I purchased the book... It's a pleasant little book that shows a bit more of the cottage and also features some changes made after the magazine excerpts appeared... Interesting to know that the cottage's owner later married and moved away from her charming cottage... For the record, much, much less smitten with the Charleston home featured... Not much there to my liking...

Incidentally, for those who enjoy following decor and the shelter magazines, there's a good bit of trepidation about what to expect from House Beautiful (and Veranda) come January's edition... Hearst Magazines appointed a new president last summer, who proceeded to do the male dog thing, having to anoint every hydrant in sight, and purges ensued... The editorial, decorating and market staffs of these magazines were mostly put asunder and there are new sheriffs in town, largely installed with an eye to the on-line world... After several dicey leadership tenures years back, I've very much enjoyed HB under more recent editors Stephen Drucker, Newell Turner and, Sophie Donelson... I, and apparently others, shudder to think what might be in store for us and for this legendary magazine... I sincerely hope the new powers that be stop short of turning the magazine into a paean to decorating 'bloggers' or another version of HGTV magazine, of which one is more than enough...

[Oznell]

Wow, @stevieb, that is interesting and ominous news.  We've seen shelter magazines undergo changes over the years, some pretty marked, but this portends something even more drastic.  I've liked Steven Drucker and his ilk as well-- not looking forward to the new "regimes" based on your info.

"Verandah" was so good when it started-- I still have one or two of the early issues.  Well, I'm now braced for January-- let's see what they unleash!

[ID2]

I feel the decorating is WAY TOO CLUTTERED! Geez. Why have extra chairs sitting around next to the bed in bedrooms? I just can't understand rooms where I have to scoot sideways just to walk through! I live in a cottage and decorate it very cottagy. But I know my home is small and try to make every room look as large as I visually can. And that means scaling down the amount of furniture and knick-knacks I decorate with. JMO

[DREAMON]

I do love it but if it were mine I would not have the books displayed so high up. It is a dust collector and too hard to get to IMO......but then again if I owned it I would not be dusting.

[bikerbabe]

I like it. Not too cluttered for me but then I do not like minimalist at all.

[mousiegirl]

@Oznell  This is a cottage?  MUCH larger than my definisiton of a cottage, and two stories to boot!  I like the pantry, lol, don't like blue.  Blue belongs in the sky, water, and eyes.

[stevieb]

@Oznell Drucker and Turner did consistently good work. Donelson started out well, but I have to say, some of the changes she made didn't impress me... It was as if there was an effort to make the magazine into more of a 'lifestyle' magazine than one with a focus on beautiful homes and some of the columns and features introduced under her tenure fell completely flat with me... I'd also note that in recent months, some of the homes featured were, to me, far from beautiful... There also seemed to be emerging a reliance on too many vignettes rather than photographs that actually showed off rooms, too much focus on text, and an increase in rather pointless, too large graphics and fonts... No idea if she was pushed in these directions by higher ups or if these were her choices, but they were changes that weren't for the best... I often felt her editor's column too was too much an 'all about her' experience and felt some of her comments were a bit too pointed... Still, who know what the new regime will bring in... It could be far worse...

[GingerPeach]

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@DREAMON wrote:

I do love it but if it were mine I would not have the books displayed so high up. It is a dust collector and too hard to get to IMO......but then again if I owned it I would not be dusting.

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In which room were the books, @DREAMON  I didn't see any books, except on that tower-thing by one of the beds.  And those were at ground level but not going up too high.  

[DREAMON]

@GingerPeach,