Media

Fall decor trends mix affordable pieces with unique touches

Who needs to buy a magazine when you can scroll through thousands of pictures of white kitchens for free online? Sites like Houzz, Pinterest and Apartment Therapy, among others, have become the new go-to places for decorating and design ideas. With that in mind, we look at which of the mags really earn their keep.

HGTV

HGTV marks its fifth birthday in this issue and Editor-in-Chief Sara Peterson notes with some surprise that many of its debut ideas (“The High/Low List” and “Wow! What Color is That”) have survived. We’re not. Those popular features are the foundation of the magazine’s appeal: simple decorating tips made easy and affordable. And unlike other decorating mags, HGTV takes much of the guesswork out of the process. If you love that living room, the eds will tell you how to re-create it and where to buy most of the products. Hey, Architectural Digest this is not — and its readers like it that way. One note of caution: We agree that a good paint can work wonders. But let’s not get carried away with the crazy-colored kitchen cabinets.

Architectural Digest

It’s been four months since Condé Nast pink-slipped Architectural Digest veteran Margaret Russell and replaced her with Teen Vogue’s Amy Astley. The concern was that the mag would feature more downmarket celebrities (some readers were shocked when Kim Kardashian made the cover earlier this year) and would lose some of its sophistication. Some, if not all, of those fears appear to be unfounded. The mag still features plenty of posh homes — many of them belonging to artists, architects and interior designers — as well as the occasional celebrity abode. Actress Jessica Chastain shows off her classic New York apartment in this issue and, trust us, there’s no cause for alarm (à la Kardashian). Having said that, we don’t think Astley has put her stamp on the publication yet. Rumor had it that Condé legend Anna Wintour brought in Astley to up AD’s digital game. But if that was the case, we don’t see much evidence of that, either.

Dwell

Dwell is devoted to modern design — so much so that the homes can sometimes feel interchangeable. There’s the usual mix of stark white walls, black leather and Danish modern furniture. The home of one Brooklyn designer was no exception, but we enjoyed the way it cleverly mixed cheap (Ikea kitchen cabinets) with custom touches (copper knobs) to create an inviting space. It’s funny that “modern” design is really a throwback to the last century, when designers like Charles and Ray Eames, Le Corbusier and Eero Saarinen ruled the architecture world. Editor-in-Chief Amanda Dameron says this issue focuses on innovative furniture design, but most of the designers are just paying homage to the past. A lot of it looks like the same stuff you’ve been buying from the Design Within Reach catalog.

Traditional Home

On the seeming opposite end of the spectrum, there’s Traditional Home. But don’t let the name fool you. There’s more to this mag than Persian rugs and crystal chandeliers. This is actually the most eclectic of the bunch, with homes ranging from California modern to Connecticut country home. Honestly, there is something here to please design and decorating aficionados of all stripes and colors. Editor Ann Omvig Maine says she wants to bring readers into homes that the top designers create for their most important clients: their own families. Then there’s the most important house — the one in which Donald Trump hopes to reside. In a speculative piece on what a Trump presidency would look like, the New Yorker predicts that his pledge to build a wall on the Mexico border would result in a “small, symbolic extension of the federally financed border fence that is already in place.” Still, the story can’t seem to decide whether Trump would wreak massive havoc or simply temper his bluster into relatively rational policy. Likewise, it warns that the Iran nuclear deal might get scrapped if Trump moves to renegotiate it, while failing to explain why this would be a great tragedy.

New York

New York’s Jonathan Chait asserts without elaboration that Hillary Clinton is “deeply familiar” to voters. We’d take issue with that, of course, but we can’t disagree that she is “caught in a vortex of mutual paranoia with the news media that leads her into errors of secrecy.” Speaking of such errors, the magazine can’t help but have fun with a walk-up to the Bridgegate trial that begins this week, starring NJ Gov. Chris Christie’s old high school buddy David Wildstein, who replied “got it” when an aide sent him the killer e-mail: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”

Time

Time, which on its cover heralds “the seriously partisan politics of late-night comedy,” is apparently at great pains to mention the fact that the “partisan” comedians on its cover — Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, John Oliver, Trevor Noah, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel — are all foaming-at-the-mouth liberals. “Jon [Stewart] worked really hard to try to be nonpartisan,” says Bee, a former “Daily Show” correspondent. “It was really important to him.” Indeed, the funniest thing in this article must be the fact that Bee doesn’t appear to be joking here, and Time is too busy being polite to ask the question.