I have a confession to make about this magazine. I avoided looking at it for a long time, even though my sister kept insisting that I'd really like it, because of the real homes featured.Here's why I resisted real living for so long. I don't find their covers particularly inviting - they are very staged, always featuring very pretty models in perfectly styled sets, with lots of busy strap lines. And I find the habit of 'handwritten' little comments on a lot of the features irritating. I think it's meant to be quirky, but it just annoys me.
I admit now that I was wrong about this magazine. A couple of months ago I was flicking through an issue, saw a feature on interior stylist Shannon Fricke, and decided to buy it. I was very pleasantly surprised - this is a magazine full of really interesting, real, mostly Australian homes (albeit very tidy ones!). Homes owned by people with an interesting sense of style, and not necessarily a lot of money too, which is always worth reading about.
The latest issue - October! - is great. I've just flicked through it while drinking a cup of coffee, and there's a lot I like. In particular, I find Merinda Garrett's Melbourne workers cottage (page 86), and the Copenhagen family home (page 72) very appealing.
The feature on sustainable gardening is interesting too, as is the recipe for chickpeas with chilli and rosemary. In fact, my only complaint (except for those random comments everywhere) is that Sydney got twice as much space than Melbourne did in the travel feature ....So sorry to my sister. You were right about this one - and do you have any backcopies I can enjoy?
[Photos from the real living website.]
4 comments:
I've given up buying this type of magazine simply because most of the homes and gardens featured are from the eastern states. I live in Adelaide and would prefer to see more content from here, but we seem to get forgotten most of the time.
Haha, that is most amusing, and me buying October's issue today! Sadly I don't have many back copies, I seem to look at 'em in the library. It reminds me of the early Inside Out, before it went all "here is Tarquin and Miranda's $3m Siena pied a terre" on us.
hugs, your sister
River, I know what you mean. I'm from Perth originally, and remember thinking the same thing.
Moggy, let me know what back cies you do have, particularly for garden inspiration. :)
Real Comfort has received very little attention of late, so I'm leaving you a comment here ...
Yesterday I made Moroccan Chicken & Banana Bread from the Sept Delicious ... and they were! And just because I was on a roll, I made the Sweet Potato & Chickpea Cakes with Raita from Gourmet Traveller for dinner. (apologies for excessive use of capitals - blogging HTML tags are next on my learning curve)
No wonder I did no work.
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