We’re Back!!!!

 

After a few weeks off, we are finally back!!!!  Yeah!!!  It seems like an eternity since I last got to chat with my two new besties – Megan and Linda.  In December, we thought we’d take a break along with everyone else and one of the last things we did was interview Stephen Drucker, Editor in Chief of House Beautiful.    Much discussion later – we decided to wait until after New Years to release the interview so that anyone interested would get to listen without all the holiday excitement.    We are thrilled to start the new decade with this interview of the hottest rising star in decor magazines.

 

 

The Editor-In-Chief of  House Beautiful:   Stephen Drucker.

His official biography: 

“Stephen Drucker has been an editor and writer in the style world since 1978.  He has held positions of editor-in-chief/executive vice president at Martha Stewart Living, editor of The New York Times Home Section, and features director of  House & Garden. He wrote exclusively for Architectural Digest for five years. He was features editor at Vogue magazine and created the Styles section of The New York Times Sunday Edition. At the end of 2005 he took over as editor in chief of House Beautiful. His total redesign of the 113-year old publication has launched  an exciting new era for America’s oldest decorating magazine.”

 

 

Interior Designer Jill Brinson’s extraordinary Atlanta house.

As expected, Mr. Drucker was a delight – personable and charming!   A man of impeccable taste, he shared with us what he likes to see on the pages of the magazine and how those stories are chosen.   He took a lot of the mystery out of the process and was even encouraging of anyone who feels they have a project to submit – to just do it!   His office is always looking for fresh talent.  Unlike other magazines that have a stable of designers they go to time after time, Drucker looks at the house, not the designer.   Case in point:  This cover story from Atlanta, probably my favorite HB story in recent memory.

 

 

Brinson’s charming dining room with the chicken wire shelves and dueling lanterns.

 

What I love about House Beautiful are the big, ravishing photographs where you can actually see what is in the room without a magnifying glass!   And that is no accident, of course, you can thank Mr. Drucker for this.   If you love House Beautiful and wait anxiously for it each month as I do, you can thank Mr. Drucker for that too.   Under his tutelage, the magazine has become fabulous.  There are no long stories – instead short, concise interviews with the designer have taken their place, which, of course, frees up space for more photographs!    For this particular story pictured above, I think every room in the house was shown – and from different angles.  It didn’t leave you wanting for more, instead you felt you really had stepped in through the front door and left through the back one.   You have Mr. Drucker to thank for that.    I just hope he sticks around for awhile now that he has accomplished his goal of turning this magazine into something truly worthwhile – certainly worth much more than the subscription price. 

 

 

Brinson’s kitchen with large windows and open shelving instead of overhead cabinets.

 

To listen to the interview, visit The Skirted Roundtable blog HERE.  And remember, you can also subscribe on I-Tunes if you prefer.   We have more guests lined up in the coming weeks and we saved some space for just the three of us.   As always, thank you for your support of the SRT.   We hope to continue to grow and improve in the coming new year.   Any suggestions you might have to help us with that goal, be sure to leave them in the comment section at the SRT blog.

The First Day

 

The first day of the year, the rain is finally gone and the sun is out –  a perfect start to the decade, beautiful enough to make one forget economic woes and other bothersome worries.   

It seems almost that spring is around the corner instead of the lurking dead of a February winter.   The sun’s warmth and the lack of wind calls for open windows that welcome the fresh, crisp air inside.

 

 

 

A wayward branch of a potted orchid becomes a blooming flower in a majolica swan (Objects Lost and Found.)

 

 

 

Though there was a rare, early snow, the roses continue to bloom…

 

 

 

….as if they too are defying the date.

 

 

 

And although the pink and white cyclamens prefer the frigid air,  their bright blooms fool the eye into thinking it must be some other day than the first one of the year.

 

 

The birds that winter here, like to linger and bathe in the same chilly water that the dogs will later claim in the summer heat.

 

 

 

Squirrels hide their acorns in pots where in the spring, forgotten, tiny oaks will emerge among the ivy. 

 

 

 

 

The shells are the promise of the coming summer – closer now that the winter solstice has passed and each day is slightly longer than the last.

 

 

 

 

Later, as the light starts its inevitable march into dusk – a decision must be made.

 

 

 

Should you stay, in the open, drinking up the last warm rays before dark?

 

 

 

 

Or, better, here, sheltered from the cold night air that is sure to come, nestled up against welcoming arms and soft pillows, a perfect perch to bid goodbye to the first day.