betw een friends
r
ight now, I’m the proud
guardian of almost 500
mail bins filled with
entries to our 2008
Home Improvement
Challenge. And because
Fm a judge, I’m not
allowed to take even the smallest peek
at a single one until the official judging
a few weeks from now.
The anticipation is driving me crazy.
Inside each of those thousands of
envelopes, one of you has shared a story
of a problem solved, a room reinvented, or
a plan realized. And beyond stories are
photos—
tens of thousands of images to
show us what you’ve accomplished and
how you live. It’s an editor’s dream!
I’ve been thinking about those boxes
recently as I follow the reports about
the economy and changes in housing
markets. No matter where we live, the
headlines make us take a good look at
our home and its value in every sense of
the word.
In one sense of course, that value is
financial. For most of us, our home is the
largest purchase we’ll ever make and an
investment we want to see grow for the
future. So as responsible people, we keep
an eye on real estate values and sales
prices, just as we watch our budgets and
resist spending beyond our means.
It’s always the right time to make life
a little better. And home is a pretty
good place to start.
^
But the deeper value of a home is just
that, as
home.
The place where we build a
life with those we love. An expression of
who we are. And the most deep-down
comfortable place we know. So when it
comes to home improvement, most of us
aren’t out to flip a house for profit or
recoup 100 percent of the investment the
moment the paint dries.
Instead, we’re in it for the living. We’re
looking to stay in the neighborhood we
love. We’re creating space for growing
families or changing lifestyles. We’re
investing in improvements to save energy
or to make everyday life more pleasur-
able. It’s those kinds of values that fill our
inbox with projects from people who
share our point of view: When you better
your home, you better your life.
And it’s
always
a good time for that.
Even as we prepare to judge this year’s
contest, this issue launches our 2009
Home Improvement Challenge,
page234,
with a $40,000 grand prize and a category
for green projects. Join us; we have mail
bins waiting!
G ayle G oodson Butler,
Editor in Chief
P.S. Part of a great home is a friendly,
vibrant neighborhood. What are you—
alone or with your neighbors—doing to
keep yours strong?
THREE W AYS
TO ENJOY
SUMMER
1. Play more.
Rediscover your
spirit of fun with
the authors of
The
Daring Book fo r
G irls
on
page 125.
Then check out
page 218
for three
sports you only
thought
you
couldn’t do.
2. Grill out often.
In “The Steaks of
Summer,” page
166,
top outdoor
cook Jamie
Purviance brings
you juicy, modem
recipes for your
favorite cuts.
3. Lighten up.
You’I be surprised
how small changes
can make an
entire room feel
summer fresh.
Catch the breeze,
page 52.
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8
JUNE 2008 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
