This Old House Magazine

The magazine version of This Old House arrived in the mail yesterday. It was a very good day.

There are only 2 magazines that I immediately sit down and read cover-to-cover, and this is one of them (the other is Wired). It is a perfect mix of interesting stories, tasteful design ideas, and moderate skill project suggestions. Each issue is full of useful tips and addresses issues that relate to me, since we actually live in an old house.

Beautiful Old Houses

This month I learned that…

1. We can grow purple shamrocks (four-leaf clovers) in our yard since they require indirect light. We’ve struggled to grow something other than hostas in the part of our yard shaded by the ginormous maple trees, so this might be a way to add some color and interest to the area.

2. After looking at pictures of kitchens both in the ads and in the articles, I’m more comfortable that darker knobs will look good on our white cabinets. Although Amy found some interesting crystal knobs yesterday afternoon, so it may be a moot point.

3. The article about “the best place to buy an old house” really shows how interesting and diverse residential architecture was throughout the country 100 years ago. One of our clients actually commented on this yesterday after we showed him a very unique brick tudor within walking distance of West Hartford Center. We were sitting in the car debriefing and he pointed out that all the houses would have looked nearly identical if the street had been developed since 1960.

4. Spring comes early in the This Old House world. There were two articles about tidying up outside which will need to wait at least two more months for those of us in the Hartford area. Even our friends in the warmer climates are getting slammed with winter this year, so I’m not sure if there is anywhere entering spring at the moment. Washington DC is a mess, and apparently it’s snowing in Atlanta today.

I picked up all of these tidbits in the first half of the magazine. But wait, there’s more! Secrets to Curb Appeal … Reader Remodel of an American Foursquare… Garden Junk … All About Wood Windows. This Old House is terrific for homeowners interested in learning about little things they can do around their place, inside and out. And there are ideas on just about every page for those who aren’t likely to pick up a hammer themselves.

Now, about those wood windows…

3 thoughts on “This Old House Magazine

  1. The “This Old House” magazine is a great idea. I caught an episode of the TOH Roxbury project last week and I can’t wait to see more.

  2. The show is great too, though I have trouble keeping up with the projects within a season since I don’t have a DVR to record each episode. One of these days I’ll have to get the complete season DVDs and follow a project through to completion.

  3. I’m partial to Old House Journal, though I have certainly enjoyed TOH as well. I liked the TV show when it was more DIY-oriented back in the day. More recently, I found the multimillion-dollar projects in swanky neighborhoods too decadent.

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