Out Of Print Decorating : Yule : Day Four

I admit it. I am that person that peers into windows as I pass by in a car or on a walk in the evening. The little peeks at how others live has always given me a small thrill. How have the people behind gauzy curtains arranged their furniture? Are the pictures and art hung much too high, too low or just right? Are their lamps lit or are the rooms filled with overly bright, stark light from ceiling fixtures? Does the home look cozy and inviting or eclectic and interesting? These are all things I can learn from stolen glances as I hurry by.



This is why one of my very favorite pleasures is looking through my twenty-some year collection of home decorating magazines. I stopped taking any several years ago, because there's so much I can peruse digitally, and really, I don't need to be filling more shelves with magazines I'm loathe to part with. My particular favorites are any of the December issues, filled with cheery homes, halls decked, ornamented trees and cookie recipes. Now that many of these magazines are no more, such as Country Home or Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion or Domino, I'm even happier that I did hang on to these little treasures. For each season, I get out the corresponding month, years worth, and turning the pages of rooms now so familiar to me, is a ritual in comfort as well as inspiration.

For some time, I've had a project lingering in the back of my mind. Having combed the Internet for many of my favorite spaces and turning up very little from these now defunct magazines, I have begun a blog for all these wonderful spaces to live, digitally, also available on Pinterest. I think this is the perfect season to share these images and I hope you will find as much inspiration in them as I have.