I subscribe to House Beautiful, Dwell, Elle Decor, Traditional Home and Architectural Digest, so I would say all of these. I used to subscribe to House and Garden, Metropolitan Home, Southern Accents, and Domino as well before they stopped publishing. I usually get Interior Design magazine, but have let this one go for a while.

The current AD subscription is a fill in for one of the magazines that went under, and this is actually a magazine I got before and let lapse during a period where they were a bit too in awe of celebrity rather than taste (imo.)

For me I would say the best read right now is Elle Decor or Traditional Home. It seems to change. However there are periods when I don't look at *any of them too closely, and I am not sure why. Sometimes when I am doing a job for somebody I *stop looking at magazines because I want to respond to some internal feeling about the design and not be too influenced by what is in the magazines at that moment.

I rarely buy mags off the shelf unless it's one of those book like magazines featuring cottage/beachy/french decor. It's also because I have a subscription to House Beautiful and Better Homes & Garden. If I did however buy a mag without looking inside it would be Traditional Home, Coastal living, and Better Homes & Garden. My mom gets Traditional Home and I always enjoy it. Now I'm going to have to check out Elle Decor since both of you mentioned it!

I've had a subscription to Phoenix Home & Garden for years now, but it's one that never disappoints me. It would be one I would never have to think about or check inside first before buying it.
Lynn

Elle Decor, House Beautiful and Traditional Home.

I cringe at the thought of how much $$ I've spent on magazines in my lifetime. Fashion mags in my early 20's, followed by bridal magazines and now design mags.

I subscribe to traditional home, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Better Homes and Garden and Southern Living. I'm happy with all of them. I like Veranda but I think they seem a little too taste specific (lacking diversity). I sometimes do get lured into buying it every once in a while after I look into it.

I subscribe to Interiors, only because it's hard to find on the stands. It's very thin but the photography is amazing. The whole magazine is visible online.

Traditional Home is the only one I'll get without looking inside, Veranda and AD it also depends on content. Veranda had the ugliest covers at one point, I wonder what their point was.

I buy much less magazines now that my home is done, but I'm still tempted at times, the eye candy is hard to resist.

I subscribe to English Home; the homes and the photography are exquisite. I occasionally buy a copy of Traditional Home when I get to the big city and see a new issue.....lots of gorgeous interiors and furniture there, too.

Hands down, House Beautiful. I have a subscription for that as well as the This Old House mag (forgot the name), Coastal Living, Veranda and Traditional Home.

HB is the one I 'treat' myself with. I always know I"m going to enjoy that magazine! I like Coastal Living because it fits my passion for the ocean/water. I enjoy TOH because it is a very practical real-world type outlook, even though much of it is not applicable to me living in South Florida. Traditional Home-eh, take it or leave it. I don't think they actually do much 'traditional' anymore. The editorial focus seems to have shifted to very high end, mixed/eclectic stuff. Veranda is a total waste. I got that in one of the Amazon subscription specials last holiday season. Definitely won't be renewing. Most of the magazine is very high end advertising and the editorial content just isn't very interesting. More millionaires' homes that somehow all look the same. Used to get Architectural Digest and had the same reaction so dropped that too.

I subscribe to Atomic Ranch and a local design mag. I let my Dwell sub. lapse, but I have bought the last two sight-unseen, so I need to resubscribe. Back before I streamlined my subscriptions I also got Elle Decor and House Beautiful. Now I just stand at the rack and flip through those. I used to like Traditional Home when I lived in a . . . traditional home. But it doesn't speak to me anymore now that I'm in my MCM phase.

I also used to get Cottage Living -- I think that one actually transcended the pigeonholing of "styles". It could be interpreted as high-end or as budget-friendly as one would like. I was a charter subscriber and have every issue. I really miss that one.

Let's see:

Subscriptions:

Traditional Home
Veranda
House Beautiful
Country Living
Coastal Living
Better Homes & Gardens

And I always hit the bookstores to grab a hot tea and ready the British decor mags ....

Plus buying the speciality softcover books/mags from the mags that I subscribe to -- BUT I check their content first

PLUS don't forget the BIG lot of new fresh hardcover decor books are being released in October ... in time for the Holiday season

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

I subscribe to many of the same ones:

Traditional Home - never a let down
House Beautiful - always enjoy.
Veranda - love it and save them all
Architectural Digest - eh, can take or leave depending on articles but miss when I don't subscribe. Save about half.
Renovation Style - gotten better
Elle Decor - not my style but enjoy looking
Town & Country - can take or leave, but I get it so cheap through my sister's employer

I don't save many other entire magazines. Usually rip out pages. Although I do have a few Traditional Homes and House Beautiful editions in my every growing stack.

Can totally leave This Old House, Southern Living, Coastal LIving, Better Home & Gardens, Country Living (is that even printed?) . Have never subscribed to Dwell and don't ever buy.

There was a 4 or 5 times a year called Beautiful Homes. I saved them all.

I do love Flea Market Decorating Style or whatever it's called. It's a regular magazine, but a $13 one.

I used to get English Homes, but it seemed to repeat. Discovered 25 Beautiful Homes and enjoy it more - it's also a British magazine.

So many of the mags are too fancy/ritzy for my tastes. Such as Traditional Home, Veranda and House Beautiful. I'm thinking I felt the same about Elle Decor, but I'll take another look at that one.

Our decorating style is very relaxed and I lean towards the cottage style so do enjoy the cottagey special editions also Romantic Country Home, Cottages and Bungalows, etc. Also New Old House and English Country although all of those just listed I look at before buying.

I take Southern Living which I have always liked even though many do not anymore but I love gardening, cooking and decorating, along with southern travels and this mag includes all of those. I also take BHG, not sure if I want to continue that one when the subscription runs out, I'm getting a bit bored with it.

I need to check out 25 Beautiful Homes as I like English Homes from time to time.

In general I think the magazines have declined a bit and that makes me sad - I love decorating magazines!

tina

American Bungalow

I almost always look at magazines, before I buy them. I usually have a subscription to Better Homes and Gardens, because my mom likes to look at it.

The only one I seem to buy fairly consitently would be BH&G Kitchen and Baths, but I do like BH&G Beautiful Baths, too. Did anyone see the clawfoot tub with the chandelier in the pink and green bathroom, a few months ago? Wow! :)

I too have spent a ridiculous amount of money on magazines over the years. Typically Architectural Digest, Veranda, Country Living, Elle, Coastal Living and Victorian Living (?title).

I just was checking out that English Home mentioned by folkvictorian and it looks very interesting...don't know if I have seen it in the store.

Would love to e-subscribe to these magazines with flip page viewing option if they were at a reduces rate...sigh. ;-)

I read/subscribe to a lot of the magazines that everyone has already mentioned. I still miss Domino, though! There used to be another magazine -- maybe not monthly? maybe quarterly? -- that I liked called Creative Home. I think that one is gone now, too.

I like New England Home, too. A friend of mine gets it, then passes it on to me, so it's a freebie!

I used to like Home magazine too. Is that one also gone? I don't think I've seen it lately.

For the Domino fans, did you know that Brides.com seems to be putting something online together? I'm guessing it might just be past issues.....but who knows.

Here is a link that might be useful: Domino on Brides.com

Dwell.

I am addicted to magazines. It is such a good day when I go to a bookstore or grocery and there is a new issue. House Beautiful is the favorite, then Traditional Home, and the kitchen magazines if they have several kitchens that I want to look at. Then when too many mags start piling up I tear out pages and save them in those plastic bookbinder sheets. I then take the magazines to assisted living if hardly any ripped out or just recycle them. So sad so many mags discontinued with the economy.

I subscribe to: House Beautiful & Colorado Homes & Lifestyles. My neighbor subscribes to Architectural Digest, & CH&L, he used to have his own interior design business....so we trade magazines...:0) He must know what he's doing ....right....LOL

I know interior designers who do not subscribe to a single mass market interiors magazine. They may get Interior Design, or other mags more geared toward the pro, because there are tons of resources and less editorial content.

I guess its kind of like a physician reading New England Journal of Medicine, or something like that, you don't read for pleasure what you do every day.

I am on the fence. Since I am an interior designer but my primary occupation involves direct patient care, I read a lot of design magazines. As I have said, however, I tend to stop when I am working on a design project for someone.

This magazine has digital editions by city, I wish every magazine did this digital browsing, every single page is there; lots of adverts though but they are are nice.

Here is a link that might be useful: Luxe magazine by city

Haven't really subscribed to mags for years, but I have bought a number at check-out counter in the past two years, primarily the BHG bath-kitchen ones, and Renovation Style, and one called "Kitchen Trends." Often began reading them while waiting for DH in a store. Also bought the Consumer Reports mag at newstand, without paging through it. I like BH&G for its down-to-earth attitude, its placidity with paint and DIY. Triangulating between the posh mags and House Beautiful and the plebian ones helps me see the field better.

I did a lot of reading of library copies of Kitchens and Baths and of kitchen remodel guidebooks. We have a fabulous local library system. Sometimes I go spend a couple hours in library reading latest copies of all those titles that others mention above.

Our MPR public radio station sponsorships bring us Minnesota Monthly and its occasional companion Midwest Home, which covers the region's high end building industry primarily. This publication is helpful for showing what are the upcoming open houses, shows, etc. and what are the posh kitchens like, but it is also aimed well above my family's interests and budget and has some downright dumb designs in it sometimes. Portions are online--see link. I do know that a number of helpful images at beginning of project came from this mag--sometimes just a color scheme or a shade or something. Also like reading the pieces put out by local industries--the local co. tile mag, the Parade of Homes promos, etc.

Thanks for leads to other online mags. I love to browse.

Here is a link that might be useful: Midwest Home Magazine

I figure that if I'd kept the money I spent on home magazines, I would have paid for remodelling my house a few times over. Seriously.

Now, I just subscribe to a few things, one being New England Home, which is soon to expire--because I wanted to see how different the home ideas up north were to those down south.

I still subscribe to Coastal Living, and Southern Living, but since the publisher changed from Birmingham to NYC, so has the attitude--cannot quite put my finger on it. I pick up the BH&G at the grocery store while in line, and if it has fresh ideas in it, I bring it home.

I subscribe to Style at Home (I'm in Canada) but I like Canadian House and Home, Traditional Home and House Beautiful so I pick them up at the local library as I'm passing by. I get my fix that way without spending a lot. There's so much great stuff on the decorating blogs these days, so I find I'm not as tempted to buy more (yes I feel a little guilty that I'm not supporting the magazines that are pictured in the blogs, but I'll get over it).

The original poster didn't ask you which magazines you subscribe to. Specifically: Which magazines at the store would you buy knowing that in the past you have always been pleased with them and that you wouldn't need to flip through to MAKE SURE you want to buy them.

Clearly whatever magazine you subscribe to, you've already gotten to the point where you TRUST what's in it to be worth your time and money to be your decorating style (or just slightly beyond in that you would consider trying something different but in the same spirit).

So I'll answer the question she really asked:
None.
There is not a single magazine out there that I won't flip through before I plunk my money down for it.

I, too, have spent a lot of money on magazines during my lifetime (so much so that at one point I kept a few index cards in my purse, with jotted-down issue numbers, so I could be reminded whether I'd bought the current newsstand edition and avoid buying the same issue twice!). But not every magazine--even tho it's the topic I remain interested in, whether it be decorating, or "Real Simple"-type stuff or crafts --is worth my money. If there's one photo, say, of a kitchen that I think I should tuck away in my "inspiration" folder, I think long and hard whether that one picture is worth the cover price. There must be a few things worth keeping or ideas worth taking away from it. Most of the inspiration pictures I saved over the years went in the trash eventually because they were "impulse" dreams for a decorating style I soon realized was never my life.

pammyfay asked if anyone wants to respond to the OP's question, so I will. If I want to buy a mag at the store, I never flip thru them, I guess I like the slow reveal. If the cover pics and/or articles intrigue me, into the cart or basket it goes and I don't peek till I am plunked down in my beach or fireside chair (season dependent) with a beverage and enough time to go thru it all in one sitting. And I always read it front to back, no exceptions. Not many Virgo tendencies manifest themselves in me (for example, I am a slob and care not about things being clean), but orderly reading of mags is one.

sandyponder

Since I have to *pay for the magazines I *subscribe to, I buy them by the year without looking at them first.

sandyponder, I know what you mean. So which ones do you trust yourself to buy just knowing you will enjoy sitting down and reading it from cover to cover?

The two I mentioned are ones that I can pick up before a plane trip, for example, stick them in my carry on bag and just know I will be entertained during the flight. Of course, I also would throw in a couple of People, US , etc. just because they are so easy to look at and kill time on the plane. Those usually get left behind in the seat pocket.

I assume that if people are subscribing to a magazine they have built up that level of confidence in that publication to have it sent directly to their home. I used to have magazine subscriptions, but I just try to buy them at places with 30% discount. Something about buying them in the store just makes it feel like a treat to me.

Thanks for all your answers.