Even before I owned a store you could say I was addicted to magazines.  I peruse them at the grocery store, book store, airport, Doctor's offices, even when I visited friends I would glance through their magazine collection to see if there was anything interesting.  Now that I have a store I can justify the addiction because I need to stay on top of trends, colors, styles, new decorating ideas, creative junk, and most especially stay creatively challenged.  Currently I have subscriptions to 12 magazines that come monthly, or bi-monthly, and I usually pick-up 2 or 3 extra a month. 

I probably have the typical collection of magazines including Victoria (original and new), Country Home (sadly out of print), Country Living, ME's Home Companion (very sadly out of print), Romantic Homes, Cottage Living (also out of print), and MS Living.  Some not so common might be Veranda (love it!), Traditional Home, LaVieClaire (fantastic pictures!), Southern Living, Coastal Living (for my beach house dream), and the quarterly Summerset Home.  Finally, due to the recession, several of my most favorite magazines went out of business and switched me to something else like Family Circle, Better Homes & Gardens, and Bon Appetite.

Because it can be somewhat challenging deciding which magazines I keep or which I pass on to another person, I came up with a minimum number of 'keeper' articles - 5. Each magazine I keep has to have a minimum of 5 articles that I want to rip out and keep. Only then do they make it to the magazine bookshelf to provide ongoing creative stimulation.

This month, I loved Flea Market Style (on sale till July).  It's put out by Ki Nassauer & Matthew Mead (amazing creative geniuses).  It was an easy decision to keep this magazine because almost every article was inspiring/interesting/creative - I loved the hauling hints (page 15), I am inspired by confessions of a Vintage Style Blogger (page 27+), I LOVED Joe and Jermonne's Portland farmhouse, and I can't wait to have a garden party inspired by Afternoon Delight (page 108).