House Beautiful

The House Beautiful reader is someone whose home is her bedrock. She is always improving it because the process – and result – delights her. Happiness in her home comes from easy luxury and highly personal style. Her home is a gift to share with family and friends.

House Beautiful

Legendary Advice • That Stands the Test of Time

130 YEARS OF ICONIC ROOMS • In December 1896, Eugene Klapp and Henry Blodgett Harvey published the first issue of a new home magazine, The House Beautiful. “A little money spent with careful thought by people of keen artistic perception will achieve a result which is astonishing,” Harvey wrote in the opening story, “Successful Houses.” The following rooms, some of the most memorable from HB’s 130-year run, prove him right.

Create Your Own Iconic Room • Every memorable space starts with one element you love. What turns it into something that’s unmistakably yours? A designer who knows how to pull it all together. That’s exactly what Ethan Allen’s interior designers do—and here’s the best part: Their expertise is complimentary from beginning to end.

Cult Classics Designers Keep Coming Back To • Some products never lose their place in history. These are the icons from beloved American design houses that homeowners covet and brands never dare discontinue.

The Art of HOSTING • The secret to a memorable home? Borrowing a few lessons from the world’s best boutique hotels.

BEST HOME STORES IN AMERICA • These haunts transform the analog shopping experience into something truly transportive, with stylized scenes, one-of-a-kind objects, in-store resources, and bold points of view.

The Golden Rules That Never Go Out of Style • Great decorating has never been about following trends—it’s about understanding the principles that make a home feel timeless. In October 1989, House Beautiful distilled those ideas into “The Golden Rules of Decorating,” featuring wisdom from legendary designers, including Dorothy Draper, Billy Baldwin, David Hicks, Michael Greer, and T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings. This advice still resonates today. On the following pages, we’ve paired their original quotes with fresh House Beautiful perspectives, exploring why these enduring design philosophies continue to shape beautiful homes today.

Make Every Room Feel Welcoming • David Hicks once told House Beautiful that after creating “a very disciplined background,” he liked things “messed up a little” to add back in warmth. In this Santa Fe, New Mexico, artist retreat, French & French Interiors interprets that idea through atmosphere rather than ornamentation, combining art, texture, and luminous color into rooms that feel deeply rooted in place.

Let Passion Guide Your Hand • Michael Greer, an avowed neoclassicist, believed that every space needed “one marvelous decorative object which you love outrageously.” Designer and avid art collector Sterling McDavid takes that sentiment to heart in her Manhattan home, centering each space around artwork that creates a dwelling as personal as it is beautifully one of a kind.

Comfort Should Be Rooted in Authenticity • Leave it to Billy Baldwin to point out that luxury should not be confused with grandeur. “To me, comfort is perhaps the ultimate luxury,” he once said. Decades later, design firm BAMO applied the same tenets to a Carmel-by-the-Sea refuge designed to feed the soul—and delight the eye.

Create a Home That’s Unmistakably Yours • “Why do we love certain houses, and why do they seem to love us?” T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings asked in our pages. Here, the answer unfolds over nine years, as a Charlotte, North Carolina, cottage becomes a deeply personal home through thoughtful restoration, meaningful antiques, and an appreciation for what came before.

Choose Colors with Conviction • Dorothy Draper, a maximalist before the...