Five Things I Learned from Reading Every Last Word of House Beautiful May 8, 2012, 6:49 pm Before diving into the May issue of House Beautiful to learn some things, I learned some things about House Beautiful. It's 116 years old! It's twins with The New York Times Magazine, which also started in 1896. That makes it the oldest shelter magazine currently being published in the U.S. Originally it was for "the young practical homemaker," but its audience seems to have changed since then. Presumably it's doing well, since there are a whole lot of ads and editorial content before the Editor's Note appears on Page 73. I'm still in an Ikea-dependent phase of life, and living in a space where less is a plus, but I did manage to pick up some insights in this month's "Designer Secrets"-themed issue: Nate Berkus, Oprah's golden boy decorator, can transform a home office into a home office/lounge in merely nine hours. The proof is documented in photos taken in 10-minute intervals, which capture a trip to West Elm and frequent gushes over vintage furniture and critter prints. "Every room needs a little animal magnetism." The brilliantly gritty chef and author Gabrielle Hamilton has her own monthly recipe column. Hamilton is teaching readers to make pasta kerchiefs with brown butter. According to the interior designer Garrow Kedigian, once you use a fabric somewhere in a room, you're not supposed to "use it anywhere else in the house. Do not match your fabrics! That will make your habitat appear too "decoratory." Some wealthy people let expensive luggage determine home interior palettes. One mother, for example, decided to match the color scheme of her son's room to "colors on a Vuitton bag." This same mother also admitted to going "a little crazy with gilt" in the redecoration of their Illinois home. She suggests, when it comes to gilding, to "make sure it is real gold leaf, not gold paint." A Los Angeles-based company, Accents of France, was hired to redo a pavilion at Versailles in France. I guess after Jeff Koons plopped his sculptures in the chateau's garden in 2008, we've practically stormed the palace, 21st century-style.