apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Honestly I can feel the same about apartment therapy. As a student, a lot of whats here or cosidered "a great amazing deal" is still way out of my price range. Ah well... se'la'vie.

I had to halt on the renewal of my Dwell subscription for the same reason. My husband and I are young professionals - we don't have the kind of money it takes to make our home look that amazing. I usually look for inspiration from true architectural and design gems, but think of ways to DIY on the cheap. I wasn't finding that in Dwell - just disappointment for the home we'll probably never have.

Agree with the above, I love AT but have to give it a rest every now and again for the same reason. It also promotes consumerism and wanting more than one really needs. Everyone has to figure out the best way to keep themselves in balance.

feel bad, not badly.

(my pet peeve. sorry.)

I don't feel alienated. I do sometimes get the bug to redecorate after looking at something I really like in a magazine.

Shelter magazines, the Style Channel, the homes of wealthier and/or luckier friends...What doesn't make me feel as though everything I own is cheap and shabby? AT, with its DIY pluckiness, is the least undermining of all the media I consume.

I do pretty well for myself financially, but still cringe at some of the items classified here as "totally accessible". I still give AT credit for trying to close the gap between realistic homes and what you see in magazines.

I try only to glance at Dwell once in a while. All the mags eventually make you feel that particular status anxiety. Personally, I also feel like Apartment Therapy does similar things for me. I'm not a student, but I definitely wouldn't be able to afford a lot of the stuff on here. So I try not to stare at it too long.

If anyone is interested there is great book by Alain de Botton entitled "Status Anxiety", which is an easy and great read!

I don't like Dwell that much anymore. I used to like it when it was pure eye candy (I just acquired some issues from the very beginning and those too are much more interesting than now). It doesn't bother me at all that I could never afford a lot of that stuff. I just enjoy drooling over it. It's escapism, fantasy. But, it also stimulates how I think about my space, which has improved as a result of indulging in my home design fetish.

But, if I'd spent less money on magazines, I'd probably have enough for a great piece of furniture on the savings.

Count me among those who feel the same way about AT at times.

Magazines like Dwell do sort of depress me with their unattainabley (for me) beautiful design where money never seems to be an object - but they actively inspire my husband who is doing all the remodelling on our home. He took one look at the staircase featured on the cover of this month's issue and started sketching because that's the next project he will work on.

i completely love dwell...some issues more than others. i think that it's inspiring, to see that i'm not the only weirdo who isn't maxing out a mortgage loan for a cookie cutter house in a subdivision full of matching furniture. (blah...sets.) the thing is, many of the folks who are featured are architects or have some kind of background that makes it easier to access the resources and ideas to build/renovate/etc. their homes. so yeah, the bar is high in dwell, but it's understandable.

I'm with protogarrett, hanifa, and BetterBombshell.

Yep, Dwell gives me no inspiration at all. Just anxiety. I don't read it. I do feel AT sometimes veers toward the consumer, but has enough real-life examples of what people are doing with their homes that I can pick and choose. I'm always more for the DIY -- I like ReadyMade, and I liked Blueprint to some extent when it was still alive.

Yeah, shelter magazines do make me feel bad about my place and the way I live. AT does that too sometimes. I even feel bad about the DIY stuff because I can't DIY anything. On the other had, I do enjoy looking, so I have mixed feelings.

Julianna: indeed, i feel bad. thanks :)

I gave up on Dwell after a year, not because it made me feel bad, but because it is flat-out dull magazine. The houses they showcase are nice, but all struck me as minor variations on a theme. After the third of fourth issue, I was flipping through for a minute or two and tossing it in the recycling pile. Occasionally there were creative solutions to challenging design constraints (tho money isn't usually among them), but most of the stories seemed like they were about people who hate the burbs, couldn't find a place they liked, and built new. Inevitably the new place looks like the house in the previous issue, right down to the Vitra remake furniture. Yawn.

Do people who feel this way actually read the articles in Dwell? I mean, besides the ones that are about homes? I found the essay this month on the origins of the phrase "Good Design" really interesting and thought it actually promoted skepticism toward consumption. I think Dwell has a nice balance, and I find that many of the articles are about larger issues, like urban growth and planning.

Magazines like Elle Decor and Metropolitan Home (which showcase the work of interior designers and architects, who have been hired by the super rich and celebrities) are the ones that make me feel dispirited.

hanifa well summerized.. I look at dwell every so often for inspiration to help keep my stuff and place as mimialist as possible.

Sorry- minimalist.. typing too fast.


I do like Innovative Home better than Dwell.

I am a longtime subscriber to Dwell, and while I do understand how some may feel bad about the home they live in because of the structures in Dwell, I do not.

The problem as I see is it that most people will never build a home to their own tastes, much less build a modern, efficient intelligent home as is typically profiled in Dwell. We are, therefore, left to choose to buy (or rent) the mass-produced, copycat suburbia, "easy to throw up and sell" homes that currently exist in America. Homes where upgrades in insulation and furnaces are mere bandaids to the problem that the homes are boring and inefficient and take up precious land space. Though some of us may aspire to something different, a century of development has left us with no choice. When Dwell shows us instead what is possible, it sure could be easy to be demoralized.

However, at least for me, Dwell is a catalog of "what could be". It helps me shape my personal asthetic. Dwell certainly highlights wonderful structures, but it goes deeper and provides commentary on how life should be lived. It has helped me choose the house I currently live in, and helps guide my renovations. My mother has said numerous times to me, buy a location not a house. Houses can be changed, location you are stuck with. While I do not have expanses of windows, passive solar, polished concrete floors...or anything else I would aspire to if the sky was the limit...I do have a neighborhood full of kids, a short walk to the grocery, a bike ride to the elementary school and a 10 minute commute. These are all elements of life that Dwell revisits often.

All this said...if I had the means, I would raze my home in a heartbeat and rebuild a Dwell-worthy home filled funky modern furniture.

OF COURSE most of us will never have the cash to do half of what most of the homeowners featured in Dwell manage to do, but I think it's possible to be inspired by things that aren't within your immediate grasp or possession.

Do people "feel badly" (sic) about their artistic abilities (or lack thereof) when they visit art exhibitions? I surely hope not, or else galleries and museums everywhere would be empty. Are those who are complaining simply incapable of appreciating beauty in the form of architecture and design, even when it's not in their own living rooms?

It's important to remember that Dwell is also a long-standing champion of sustainability in design, and has done an excellent job for many years now of publicizing strides that have been made in that area by architects, designers, homeowners, builders, and engineers. It's not a magazine just about "eye candy", which is the reason I've been able to continue being a subscriber for the past 6 or so years. I was reading Dwell when I was dragging castaway furniture into my apartment from the curbside, and I'm still reading it now that I own a home which is undergoing constant renovations. It's part of what keeps me going.

So no, Dwell doesn't make me feel bad about myself, or my home. It inspires me to work hard to make my home a safe, healthy, and beautiful place, and that attitude has exactly nothing to do with money.

It does make me want a new home, but I don't find that to be an unrealistic want. It's more of something to look forward to - a fun hope that may manifest itself someday if we (husband and I) work toward it in the right way.

true... it's all true!!! i have to admit that i too have been both wooed and disappointed in my own home by looking at many of these sources (how disappointed was i when i found out the cool dutchtub from AT yesterday was 6k to start) bah... yes it is almost all stuff and home sites that i will never attain. but every so often i see something in the background that i know i can source somewhere way cheaper, or perhaps diy. i know I'll never have the "whole", but i can have small slices and sometimes crumbs. The point is to have your own style and be comfortable in your own skin. money does not buy taste, and just because you got your gear at design within reach instead of ikea does not mean that a million other people have not put that same vignette together in their pad. just be happy with your reality, and wallow in the fantasy from time to time, that's healthy for sure.

While I can't afford half the things on this website (let alone from Dwell), it doesn't depress me at all. It makes me find some creative way to get the look I want without going in to debt to do so.

For instance, loved some teal chairs I saw somewhere, but couldn't afford them. I ended up finding some beat up solid wood chairs, sanded them, and then painted them teal. I love the news chairs and the fact that I ended up spending $4 to get them (free chairs paint).

I prefer to look at these design sites and magazines for inspiration for my cheap knock offs rather then let them make me upset I can't afford the $3000 decoration.

Matt, I agree 100%. I felt like every interior started to look the same after awhile.

I didn't find the magazine to be usefully inspiring. As a poor art director, there was nothing I could really adapt to fit my income.

I stopped my subscription because I found Dwell uninspiring. Most products in shelter magazines are out of my price range, but they at least give me ideas for my own place. Dwell was just dull; I found the ads more inspiring than the magazine.

I went through a whole year of Dwell and am not renewing. While I liked the idea of it, nothing was really applicable to me and my home. And a lot of those 'great homes' that they featured lacked personality, at least personality that came through to me. I'll stick with Domino and House Beautiful.

Personally, the only thing that truly upsets me about my Dwell subscription is the proliferation of renewal cards-one is annoying, five makes me occasionally want to pull my hair out!!! Enough already...

My husband and I have been trying to build a prefab modern home for the past 4-5 years and due to the narrow minds of many people in the midwest we are still trying to make it a reality. I have decided not to renew my subscription of Dwell because I'm tired of seeing many couples like us with their fabulous modern homes and no stories of battling to get them. Many of them have the money to do whatever they want. I just don't identify with Dwell right now.

I also stopped my Dwell subscription, although I occasionally buy a copy to kill time on flights (which is probably more expensive than the subscription). I agree that there is a certain 'sameness' to many of the houses featured in Dwell. I find Elle Decoration (the UK edition!) much more inspiring, although it's another few notches up on the un-obtainibility scale. Rather than worry about being able to afford a particular piece of furniture, the best interiors in these magazines show how to create something that is unique and full of character. If anything, that doesn't make me feel bad about my finances, but my design 'abilities'. On the other hand, I can understand the original complaint about Dwell when thinking about the pompous rubbish in 'Wallpaper'....

Hmm... now I feel the need to clarify that by "alienated" by AT I don't mean I feel bad or insecure about myself or my home. I just don't relate to considering affordable many of the items labeled here as such.

I definitely look to this site and shelter magazines for inspiration, just as I don't expect to purchase the actual designer garments featured in fashion mags. But once something is highlighted as amazingly affordable and it's still beyond my high-end, it's only natural that I would be alienated--a lifestyle that allows me to spend $100 on a single dining chair is alien to me.

At the risk of stating something that may have been said, and as long as we're talking about alienation, what about ReadyMade magazine? Sure it has all sorts of great ideas. I do resent that it's so southwest centric! I mean, there are lots of great green 21st century things happening out east, but you seldom see the hood featured. Shame...

It's "bad" manners to correct a stranger's grammar.
MY pet peeve :-]

Unless you make mid 6 figures and a 3000 sqft loft, or a million saved up for your architect and builder, Dwell probably isn't for you. That's the conclusion I came to a long time ago. For me, it just feeds envy and makes me discontent with what I have or can afford.

A particular annoyance I find with any source that profiles large homes is that it is a very different decorating concept than with a small space. There really isn't anything usable there, it just makes me want more square footage.

One of the reasons I like the AT small cool contest. More of that, please!

I'm mostly unaffected but sometimes inspired by the style/lifestyle/fashion articles.

I subscribed to Dwell because I love the prefab movement in concept. I was hoping I'd found the 21st century version of the craftsman movement, the home by and for the common man. I looked for basic, no frills homes would be become attainable through a marriage of DYI spunkiness and utilization of newer and less expensive materials and processes.

I found after reading it was that these homes were just sleeker, post modernist versions of the gilded mansions intended for today's robber barons.

I still hope to see a revolution in shelter consumerism but it's not going to come from the series of builders cranking out $300 per sqft designs that are the backbone of advertising for Dwell. Currently I'm hanging my hopes on cobb, strawbale, and rammed earth houses.

I am confused by some of the things that show up on AT also. The title suggests it is about apartments, which condos can be in about the same category. I notice a lot of houses and large homes show up here though. There are already so many other magazines, shows and sites for the larger houses, it was refreshing to come here and get inspiration for my small apartment, but then you come here and see 6000 sq ft mansions like the one a few posts above this one and that is not inspiring for someone living in a small apartment.

I hope AT will try to stick to more smaller spaces for us to draw our inspiration from.

atomic ranch is much nicer, because they seem to have a regular life, with a nice house, versus the frank ghery budget of dwell places. it seems like it used to be directed towards people that liked funky, neat, new things, but it now seems over run by immense poshness and lack of scope. everything is grandeur. remember the little apartment, in san fran with the eames chairs on the wall, giant sheet covering all of their belongings, with the very tall guy and short wife? that seems like a story that wouldnt be printed now. which is a shame, because i think that was one of the coolest stories i have ever read in dwell. maybe they did a census and found out that people had more money than they assumed....

My home was in DWELL. And i can tell you that it has never looked like it does in the photos. It wasn't our furniture (the home was staged at completion for tours) and we have since added two messy people and a hairy dog. DWELL also only showed the big living area of our home, and not the small bedrooms, or the fact that we have no storage, or any of the other less desirable things that make the home a reality rather than a dream. Don't get me wrong, I really like my house, but i also really liked my old studio apartment. I did a tour of that place once (greening on $500) and it was just as well recieved as the tours of my "DWELL" home.

Many of these comments are totally valid. I get to that point of feeling like I will never have a home like what I see in shelter magazines, but what I have to remind myself of, and everyone should remember: never say never! You don't know what can happen in a year, five or ten. Your circumstances today don't determine where/who you will be or what you will have tomorrow. And it IS all inspiration - there are so many ways to get the same stuff with deals/sales, etc. That's how the sig.other and I have managed to get most of what's in our place.

I also have to add that this discussion reminds me of how I feel after reading fashion magazines. I will never look like Heidi Klum or own a Chanel suit. OOOPS never say never!! Ha ha! :)

I agree with sorin-- I feel alienated by Dwell more because of the size of most of the spaces featured. I'd love to find a design magazine dedicated specifically to the unique issues of small space living. Of course for me, small space AND small budget living would be ideal, haha.

As far as the price thing goes, I guess it never occurred to me to feel alienated by it. Because honestly, even if I had the funds, I would still refuse to pay $1000 for a coffee table.

Actually, even though it might sound a little nutty, I believe there is a direct correlation between the proliferation of shelter porn and the mortgage meltdown. As a project manager for new construction, I can tell you what people are like when they are building their dream home. All of them share a massive sense of entitlement, and zero responsibility towards the impact their choices might make. 5000 square feet for two people? Not big enough. 6 bathrooms? Inadequate. If you feel bad looking at it, imagine what it's like living in it, and having the nagging feeling that you had "settled". Because no matter what you have, there is always more, and the mags are there to remind us.

Dwell isn't targeted to people who can afford the homes they showcase, just like Playboy isn't targeted to people who will ever actually hook up with a bunn-tastic women.

I can't afford an architect and designer, but I would never pretend my discontent was caused by a magazine.

The human condition basically boils down to this: we want what we don't have. Does everything really have to be attainable? There is something to be said for excellence in craft and quality, and nobody should think that if they can't have it then it shouldn't exist. Fashion magazines get the same bad rap for showing "impossible" bodies and highly priced clothing. I don't think everything that's super expensive deserves to be so, but shouldn't we allow what some deem "unattainable" to shape our personal style and serve as inspiration? Maybe, you look at something in Dwell and say to yourself: "I hate that." Isn't that worth something? Public forums like magazines, tv and websites are about the only things available from which to set a standard. Would you look at a Renaissance masterpiece and say: "Let's get rid of museums because they make me feel bad about my lack of artistic talent?"

Love it or hate it, this isn't communism people-- everyone is free to spend as much or as little on things like interior design as they want. Mags don't cause debt, people cause debt.

The first I ever heard of Dwell was several years ago in a photography class because the teacher mentioned the great photography. I've been a subscriber ever since. I love the eye candy and most of the things are so out of my reach financially that it would be silly to compare the magazine to how I live now. It does still manage to inspire me and articles that touch on urban planning and transportation can apply to all income groups. Compared to the only other shelter magazine I get, Domino, I find Dwell far less consumer orientated.

Where dwell once seemed to be obtainable, it seems to be a sales pitch for all thing Eames and hence, out of reach or taste for some of us. Many times I feel as though they aren't as newsworthy as the true topic: money = taste. Yes I too, would have an amazing contemporary urban home, if I married well and hired an AIA with interior designer etc. etc.

I underscore aforementioned comments that the constant need to purchase is felt after reading certain magazines.

I'm totally aligned with rierei. Looking at shelter porn (ha ha!) inspires me to do my own on the cheap. I can't afford a 6 thousand dollar bathtub or a $100 dining room chair, but that doesn't mean I love design any less. Some people have the luxury of buying an entire modern living space at dwr in a weekend, yes. But the way I see it, I have the pleasure of creating mine piece-by-piece, over time, by shopping at their garage sales or doing my own hacks.

I recently started a blog about good design second-hand, as I felt there were plenty of eye candy design blogs but not enough that showed you how to get that look on a social worker's budget. If anyone knows of any other cheapskate design blogs, I'd love to hear about them

One more thing: the house in the article above has only 1 bathroom for 3 floors of housing and at least 3 bedrooms (my Dwell mag is at home) -a complete joke, I don't care how green you want to be.

I have mixed feelings to all the interior magazine or this website. I look at it as an inspiration(guilty pleasure,to be precise) as a product designer and a home dweller, but i can't help feeling alienated sometimes. I feel bad, when it seems that everyone except me has at least few pieces of mid-century modern furniture, which I can not afford, and everyone who get into the smallest-coolest contest winning team or dwell seems to have money to hire architects.

I love Dwell but I would never want my home to look like most of their features. Seems so un lived in.

The thing that aggravates me about Dwell is the overuse of the words "green" and "sustainable" - the last ones appears TWICE on the last cover. It's ridiculous. I mean, I'm all for living green and do everything I can to do my part, but design gets lost in all the talk of solar panels, hay bale walls and windmills. Who has the money to put a windmill on their roof anyway?

I love it when they write about architects and designers, about great homes. I lose interest when they bang me on the head with green ideas that cost a fortune to implement - not to mention those annoying renewal cards, those are reason enough not to renew!

I'm stopping my subscription when this one runs out, for sure.

I feel the same way about dwell that I feel about most magazines I buy (ie, vogue, harper's baazar, elle) that showcase totally unaffordable (by most middle class standards) clothing, home decor and so on. But I usually find that if something catches my eye I can attain it, or a MUCH lower priced version, elsewhere. Or better yet, I'll read Ready Made, and make it myself!

A serial publication is not the CAUSE of our feelings.
Our PERCEPTIONS of the objects portrayed within them is.

Quick follow-up on designpirates comment: Currently 9 out of the last 9 AT house tours or links to external house tours showcase single family homes, with a few of them of McMansion size (even though supposedly done in a very green and tasteful way). Maybe there is not much out there in terms of well designed, affordable, small space living? Or, protests here nonewithstanding, it isn't really what we want to see after all? (or AT has just lost the plot)

I agree with particlebored. Everyone knows large, expansive spaces with never-ending budgets can be beautiful. That's the path of least resistance, though. How much more talent does it take to create beauty in 400 square feet? (Let alone SOMEONE ELSE'S 400 square feet, if you're a renter...) Show us solutions, not showrooms.

And yeah, I know that things shouldn't have to be attainable if their job is to sell the dream, but is the McMansion dream really the one the AT audience as a whole is willing to buy?

Dwell is cold and impersonal....It does absolutely nothing for me.

And about as practicle as AD.

I really don't read Dwell, the designs always seem too high end for me, and do not inspire me. I used to read Domino, but canceled my subscription because they were more into featuring celebrities and their homes, rather than providing me, the average person, with design inspiration. If I wanted to read about celebrity homes, I would pick up the latest issue of People magazine or some similar crap like that.

Agree with most all the comments here.

I bought ONE issue of Dwell. That was enough. Won't buy it again. It was a disappointment.

Much like this AT site, it seems to be a "can't do" magazine for my circumstances.

Can't do this, because I don't own, I rent.
Can't do that, because I don't have the space inside.
Can't do this other thing, because I don't have a yard.
Can't buy this or that, because I can't afford it or it's utterly impractical or total crap.

Couldn't do some things even if I did own, have the space, have the yard, and have the money, because it's illegal in the building and housing code.

Most everything on the front page of AT at this moment (all cities) doesn't apply to me. Anything having to do with gardens, outdoor spaces, patios, etc...I have a small balcony. And a lot of folks don't even have that. So all that doesn't apply.

Can't do anything about solar, so that doesn't apply. Can't do that to my fridge, don't take pictures of store displays, can't renovate the kitchen. Don't want a gold lawn chair or a leather chair from Europe, and really don't like Jonathan Adler.

Cat poop in the toilet in California is discouraged, as it's being blamed for the death of sea otters:

"In a study published in 2002, UC-Santa Cruz researchers reported that 62 percent of 107 dead sea otters collected along the California coastline from Half Moon Bay to Santa Barbara were infected with Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite found in cat waste....all cat litter sold in California starting Jan. 1, 2007 to have a warning label telling people not to flush it down the toilet."

http://www.kqed.org/quest/blog/2007/02/06/discuss-the-whats-killing-the-sea-otters-tv-segment/

People seem to go nuts over anything from WalMart and/or made in China in a negative way here. Meanwhile, Kleen Kanteen was just glowingly reviewed (made in China):
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/green-ideas/klean-kanteens-054433

LAST month was Garden Month, and that would have been the best time to do a project on gardening. So, I not only don't have a yard, but I don't want to hear every single frickin' detail about Gregory's hose, Gregory's lights, Gregory's muscles, Gregory's dirt... (exasperation!)

Best part about this site: The Small Cool Contest.

Skipping over the huge places and designed by architects with bottomless pocketbooks, of course. And skipping over all the comments made by people here that follow the entries.

Worst part about this site: The Rest of the Year.

When the Small Cool contest isn't on, it's full of things that simply don't apply to my situation, and apparently from the above reactions, doesn't apply to a large group of other people's homes and situations too.

The best ideas come from innovative apartment dwellers who are willing to share, during the contest. The way people put together their fab homes with combinations of store bought, classic, scavenged, refinished, and created items is inspiring. That's the ONLY time I really get to see what it is that I "can do".

I'd like more of a "can do" AT for the rest of the year too.

In my opinion, Dwell is a professional magazine that caters to architects, designers and engineers about the latest trend, technology and what not in the industry. It is NOT a magazine for us, the masses to get design inspiration for our home decor/improvement.

And, why feel bad when you see someone else's home nicer, bigger, better than yours? Is the grass is always greener over there?

Do not ever compare, get real.

these feelings are signs of maladaptive defensive mechanisms. maybe "we" need more THERAPY at the apartment therapy site. certainly more introspection.

i love dwell for the off article or the one object that is either truly new or so amazing that i can't believe i haven't seen it before. i don't compare my home to it.

and these interiors, at least, are not that unattainable. many of these modern pieces shown can still be found for pennies on the dwell or 1stdibs dollar at flea markets, the salvation army, estate sales, craigslist, or ebay. this is not urban myth - it happens every day and people make a living doing it (they are called pickers).

stop living a contest existence. he who dies with the most or best toys doesn't win. learn what you love, be realistic, and follow your bliss.

Magazines are a wonderful source of inspiration and I have achieved some cool aesthetics in my own home thanks to the likes of Elle Decor France, Domino, Dwell etc and for a lot less.

I would like to see some different kind of peops featured though as I am pretty sure there are some sanitation engineers, office managers and other groovy people who can give many designers a run for their money.

Dwell is like almost all magazines:
1. Aspirational
2. Beholden to its advertisers
So with that in mind, I find inspiration in its pages on occasion--more in terms of color and form than brand names and price tags. There is more of a sanctimonious slant in Dwell's brand of aspiration, because of the emphasis on eco-design, which makes it arguably more manipulative than, say, House Beautiful. And as others have pointed out, in its rejection of the suburbs and Ethan Allen et al furniture, it has created its own cliches and conformities.

There is one good thing about Dwell...Sam Grawe's apartment:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/house-tours/sf-house-tour-sam-grawes-designer-via-craigslist-digs-053429

And if Dwell and AT had more places like Sam Grawe's apartment, there would be a lot more happy people! Ha!

Yes, he has some of the big names in there. But there are so many things that could be done by "regular" people that it's chock full of ideas and inspiration.

Quick, easy, cheap, fun: Use record album covers as art:
http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/photo/061708samgrawetour/sam07/medium

Quick, easy, cheap, fun: Use glass objects as art:
http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/photo/061708samgrawetour/sam16/medium

For all I know, those things in the above photos could be very expensive. Super rare. Bought at Christie's or Sotheby's. But you can find things like that at thrift stores.

As I said in another post, about people being experts, I'm no expert in glass items. So what I see is a lovely arrangement. Clean, neat, attractive shapes and forms.

Common sense, house your passions:
http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/photo/061708samgrawetour/sam18/medium

He has lots of art, and I don't know art that well either. So I don't know if it's famous or not. I know I like the colors or styles though. This looks like mourning doves:
http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/photo/061708samgrawetour/sam26/medium

This one looks like a collage, maybe of San Francisco:
http://gallery.apartmenttherapy.com/photo/061708samgrawetour/sam25/medium

The place looks like a home. Not a decorated house. It's chock full of interesting things. Colors. Textures. Styles. Shapes.

And he has LOTS of books that would take days to go through. He has a book on the Case Study Houses that I'd probably wander over to, and forget where I was as I started reading it.

I suppose it's a place that I can see myself being in and being able to have a mix of things and have my books and objects and odd art and a variety of decor. It's also obtainable, in many ways, because he did do much of it through Craigslist.

Since several of my friends have homes that have been featured in Dwell (as well as other shelter mags like Modernism, Atomic Ranch, Sunset, etc.), I can provide a few comments and perhaps dispel a few myths here:

- HOUSES: There's no question that Dwell has moved more upscale over the years. But the homes featured in them still are typically built of very inexpensive materials used in creative new ways (if you look closely, there are a lot of IKEA kitchens, plywood, particle board, glue lam beams, CMU, exposed concrete, etc.). And the scale is much smaller, even though the photos tend to make the homes look much larger than they are.

- PEOPLE: The owners are generally very down-to-earth, middle-class, modest working people who happen to have a passion for modern design (many of them work in fields that have nothing to do with architecture or design).

- STYLE: 'Yes,' they really do live in a fairly minimalist, clutter-free manner. 'No', they don't find it to be cold or impersonal. They have "stuff", but it's usually put away unless they're using it. They generally say that the more minimalist living space is a lot easier to clean and maintain (dusting shelves full of knick-knacks is a lot of work), and it's very restful, calming, and meditative after a long, stressful day at work. That doesn't mean they don't have dirty dishes stacked next to the sink occasionally, clothes from last night strewn across their Eames lounge chair, or a stack of old magazines and junk mail piled on their Noguchi tables, but when Dwell shows up for photos, they usually prefer to put that stuff away. Granted, it looks less "lived in" that way...

- The warmth of the room is created by the people occupying it.

In any case, I'm surprised to read that people feel bad about themselves or their homes by reading Dwell or other shelter magazines - or worse, resent the people and homes in them. Those featured in magazines were generally inspired by others that came before them, and many say that they are opening up their homes and private lives as a way of returning the favor.

It's not a new phenomenon, either. Shelter magazines as we know them have existed since at least the 40s. If anything, they are a lot more democratic and accessible now, as you'll find not just movie stars and captains of industry, but average people from down the street.