First Issue Review – Beautiful Living

A quick flick through the pages of Beautiful Living reveals a world full of obscenely rich people who are unnaturally preoccupied with the decorative and aesthetic perfection of their homes ‘(not houses)’. An examination of the market position chart confirms that the Beautiful Living test issue readers are younger, richer and, presumably, more unbearable than the audience for all similar magazines (Homes & Ideas, House Beautiful, House & Garden and so on). No small feat.

If “adding some stunning raspberry and cream tones to your house” (home, surely) or inviting friends to a “fuss-free French country lunch” is what you’re after then Beautiful Living is your oracle. All the usual suspects crop up: decor, cookery, furniture, gardening and so on and the pages of the mag are suitably adorned with beautifully coordinated, eye-pleasingly pretty rooms. As promised, the magazine does reveal ‘the secrets’ for recreating these elegant living environments. Trouble is, you can’t help thinking that they were pretty damn beautiful from the start – it’s the Pilot Issue Review – 30 Beautiful Homes syndrome.

For the audience at which it is aimed, Beautiful Living will doubtlessly prove invaluable. For the rest of us, who live in houses, it represents a world all too perfectly dreamy: indeed, the kind you find ‘in the cover of a magazine’. The glossy perfect-bound has an ad:ed ratio of 22:78, featuring ads from Whirlpool, Toyota and Parsons Green (furniture) Reproductions.