Home Decoration Magazines - which one(s) to choose

[bigdecisionstomake]

I am saving currently and hoping by the end of this year to have a pot of cash to put towards redecorating and refurnishing my lounge and dining room. Even with saving my budget will be reasonably modest so whilst not looking for really cheap ideas I'm not looking for anything too extravagant either.

In the meantime I would like to start planning and getting some ideas together. There seem to be more than a dozen home/interior magazines on the market currently and I would like to subscribe to one (or 2 max) for the next 12 months to get some ideas together of looks that I like. I am not confident in this area at all so definitely need some help!

My house is a 1970s bog standard smallish 4 bed on a small estate so I'm not after extravagant country living type of thing but more just modern and affordable design ideas.

I've had a quick look and there are so many to choose from I wondered if the wise people of MN could give me any advice on the best ones to go for.

Thanks in advance.

Elle Decoration has a mix of high end and a few more modest buys. It depends if you are more after inspirational imagery to get ideas rolling, or actual pieces to buy next day.
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Thanks for your input @colette100. I will check out Elle decoration. I'm not so much looking for pieces to buy but ideas for colour schemes and general themes of things that go together.

In the past I've just bought lots of things I've liked but ended up with very non-cohesive schemes that just look a bit thrown together. For several years I've been finding my feet financially and haven't had much money to throw at interiors beyond the necessities like a new boiler and washing machine but now I have a chance to build a little pot to spend on the nice bits like paint/curtains/flooring/furniture/fireplace etc... so just want some inspiration really.

I found I can access magazines for free on my iPad through my local library. They have a huge range of home magazines, from the high end ones filled with designer homes to the real home ones where people have used high street supplies to do up their little terraces. Maybe see if you can browse some for free before choosing which to subscribe to?

How lovely to now have chance to find things you can love and not just be serviceable! Definitely savour the search!

Elle Decoration is a great way to start. Even just to get ideas for colour palettes & materials.

Have you started any boards on Pinterest?

One way to use it, which is surprisingly helpful in filtering ideas, is begin a board on a theme. Say Front Room 1.

And without overly worrying why, save any pins that catch your eye on that theme.

After a while you maybe surprised you are continually drawn to the same colours and shapes, sometimes even repeatedly saving the same pins you have saved before!

Then start a second board - Front Room 2 - only choose one key photo out of every 10 you saved to the 1st board and re-copy to the new board.

That way you are filtering right down to only key colours, shapes, patterns, furnishings that you are most drawn towards.

It’s simple, but also a surprisingly effective way of narrowing down items of interest.

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That’s a great tip about accessing via the library first.

Gosh, I hadn't even thought about the library - ours is closed now but hopefully the restrictions will start to ease up soon and it will re-open so I'll definitely check that out - thanks @sunniest

I've never used Pinterest @colette100, I'll take a look at that next. I'm definitely going to savour the search and because the funds will need to be saved up over a period of time it will give me time to do that. I'm quite looking forward to it but nervous about getting it wrong and wasting the money!

Check your library website, I didn't even need to leave the house, it's all there electronically. I had a bad magazine habit and it's saved me £££s! I also agree about setting up Pinterest boards and I've also enjoyed browsing the Houzz website for ideas as well as you can filter their pics by room/colour/style/etc.

There's an app called Readly that you can subscribe to for £7.99 a month that gives you access to loads of magazines. You can usually get a month or 2 free to try it out.

I second the Ready subscription. All kinds of magazines, not just homes & decor. Gives access to all the back issues too, can share a subscription with, I think, up to 4 other people. I share mine with my mum and sister.

Am going to sign up for Readly - Thank You!

Also have a look at Homebunch.com
it’s an American website and some of the homes are just unbelievably enormous!

BUT the interesting thing is it includes the NAMES of all the new paint colours, flooring, furnishings, fixtures and finishes for these homes.
And the photographs are beautiful.

So you can start to get an idea of colours, finishes you like & save for reference.

Are you on Instagram? I love it for home inspiration. There are loads of renovation and home accounts. You can follow people you like or just save images.

You can search a # for a decor style you like eg #midcenturymodern or #scandilivingroom or a paint colour. Companies like Howdens or Wren or whatever your style and budget are will feature customer photos and you can click through if you like the look of someone’s home.

Gosh, thanks everyone for your help - who knew there were so many options! I'm on Instagram and never thought about using it for home decor stuff so will have a good look around this evening.

I've started a Pinterest account so am just getting to grips with that as there's such a lot to go at but I like the idea of starting with an initial board then streamlining it into a second etc...

I've joined the library but need to go in to get my membership number before I can access magazines online but hopefully they should be open soon and I'll check out Readly in the meantime.

Thanks again all!

Definitely sign up for Really. We’re moving shortly and it has lots of home decorating magazines to get ideas from.

I find Pinterest, Houzz website and blogs online (eg Madaboutthehouse) more useful than magazines because you can search for the particular thing you’re interested in. Instagram too I guess though I’ve never really used it. I would recommend trying those first as they are free, then see if you need magazines.

Some of them, for e.g Living ETC, have lots of online conent.