The Best Editor's Letter

I'm an avid - maybe obsessive - magazine reader. I have this unwanted conviction that I have to read every article and caption before I'm done with an issue. I don't know anyone else that has this problem, so if you do, please tell me so I don't feel like such an oddball. I've been trying to overcome this compulsion, partly by subscribing to more magazines so that maybe the influx of glossy pages will persuade me to give up reading every single one. I think I'm making some progress! Just don't ask my husband.

I'm still probably the only person I know who reads the Editor's Letters. I've always found these interesting, probably because I studied journalism and wanted to write for a magazine. Writing for a shelter magazine still sounds like a dream job. On that note, THIS editor's letter below from the Elle Decor April 2016 issue, is my new favorite. I can never find current issues online, so I had to resort to a picture of mine. I hope you can read it.

I just love everything about this letter. He touches on some of the reasons why I believe interior decorating is important (among others) and at the same time makes us all feel more okay about our messy and incomplete homes. Hospitality is key to building relationships. I think it affects us more than we give it credit for. Think about it - how much closer do you feel to someone when you've seen where they come home to every day and eaten a meal at their kitchen table? It's a pretty instant signifier of a closer friendship with someone. It's so easy to do, and yet we so often don't. 

Our homes are reflections of who we are, so it's no wonder you feel you know someone better once you've been to their home. You see colors and patterns they love, pictures of family and favorite places, their to-do lists, calendars, and their kids' play rooms. It's this safe place where you can most easily get to know someone. And that should be our focus when inviting others over (even sleeping over!), not how clean our kitchen is or how perfect the guest room looks -- and that -- is so hard for me.

It's not easy. It's really humbling to let others get close enough to possibly see your laundry room spilling over with dirty clothes or your dusty baseboards you've been meaning to clean for five months. I love how Michael Boodro admitted his own fear of others' expectations of his home and his delight in being invited over to others' homes, no matter how stylish they look at the moment. If the editor of Elle Decor can say those things, I think I can, too.