interiors magazine

When asked if the December + January issue of the magazine will have a holiday theme, the editorial desk earnestly wonders, “Isn’t every issue of interiors a holiday worth celebrating?” And if so, may we suggest a good red or white for the occasion.

This is a season of glinting surprises and festive misbehaving. And while we do not have an annual gift guide for spoiling The Techie, The Sophisticate, The World Traveler or The Hipster, our annual kitchen and bath feature is an indulgent respite from all of those people. A striking and ornamental look at the two spaces most obsessed and fretted over, these pages not only show but tell, as each accomplished designer lavishes us with a few shiny details—useful, should The Person Who Has Everything expect something remarkable this year. The fantasy of kitchens and baths feels particularly potent given their inverse relationship for the coming weeks: gourmet feats and physical defeat. Between charm and exhaustion, the holiday’s emotional swings are easier to bear if the faucets and decorative hardware are stylish—for proof, page 53.

In the cinnamon-spiked, creamy, sequined blur, even professional revelers would be remiss in not surrendering to the past, if for only one, frost-bitten second. Before a splashy, headfirst arrival into 2012, the finality of 12 serious months deserves some inspired recognition. A visit to the sublime Royal Mansour in Marrakesh, the king’s new, beyond-blissful luxury hotel, then to California, where designer Rachel Laxer elegantly conjures a mélange of global influences into one refined home, and to a quiet part of Houston, where Kevin Spearman’s brilliantly serene space encourages plush lingering. Just as the twinkling lights and sweet elixir start their warm, languorous pull, Barbara Dente’s white-hot New York apartment electrifies and intrigues. Without stirring up a string of conditional or existential questions (bad juju for New Years Eve plans), the next stop should be grand.

Arianne Nardo
Editor-in-Chief