Christine Allison on Perfect Pictures

Dear Reader

Perfect Pictures

Magazines, with few exceptions, are an amalgam of pictures and words. At D Home, we spend a substantial portion of our operating budget on photography, stylists, and floral design, because we believe images can communicate in ways words often cannot. But we are also word snobs who stay up into the wee hours in search of the perfect sentence, fending off semicolons and words like “fabulous.” Thus when great writing and phenomenal photography come together as they do in the story about dome houses by wordsmith Glenn Arbery we have a Pygmalion moment: “We’ve got it, we’ve finally got it!”

Arbery’s story on dome houses is one I have pursued for more than a year. Editors are weird like that. We want stories the way some people want thousand dollar purses or peppy convertibles. Like so many people, I have for years passed the caterpillar warehouse (I know it’s a warehouse, thanks to Arbery’s work) on Interstate Highway 35 on my way back from Austin and wondered what on earth it was about. You can imagine the staff’s response when Design Director Todd Johnson showed us Misty Keasler’s photo essay; basically, it was a chorus of every word in the thesaurus under “unbelievable.” Our curiosity went into overdrive. Who are these people? Why, really, do they live this way? What do their houses mean to them, and what should they mean to us? Editor Rebecca Sherman asked Arbery to take a tour of the dome houses and to write about what he saw. Of course, the world according to Arbery is a communion of mythology, history, and literature. I won’t spoil your reading experience by telling you more. (Read the words, look at the pictures.)

You will also find in this issue a kitchen and bath extravaganza, a special issue on the most beloved rooms in the house. I have a piece of advice for young people. Start with your kitchens and bathrooms. Most of us decorate our living rooms and dining rooms first (our public rooms, aka showoff rooms, which, be honest, we rarely use). Then we do our kitchens, baths, and the children’s rooms. And, if we are still married, the master bedroom. I know now: Do the kitchen first. I reached mid-life and nearly raised four children before I treated myself to a great kitchen , and I love it. Oh, but if only I had done it first!

I also would like to point out that with this issue, D Home officially increases its frequency from six to seven issues a year, in addition to our annual D Design Book for members of the trade and their clients. This is a big step for us, made possible only because we have alongside us the greatest advertisers in the city—and you, our reader, whom we serve. Enjoy this issue, and let me hear from you.