between friends
4 4
e
ach month,
B e t t e r
H o m e s a n d G a r d e n s
brings you smart,
insp irin g, useful
ideas for your home.
T h is issue is a little
different. T h is month,
we’re bringing you sm art, insp irin g, and
extra-fabulous ideas from the best group of
experts we’ve ever assembled: our readers.
W elcom e to our first-ever issue put
together m ostly w ith ideas and projects
d irectly from you. Th e concept hatched
months ago, after we published the w in nin g
entries from our 2006 home im provem ent
contest. I loved those authentic, real-
dreams, real-answ er stories—and you
did, too.
Now, we’re taking that one step further
w ith an issue we’ve inform ally dubbed the
“all about our readers” issue. To start w ith,
we’re presenting even more w inners from
our 2007 Home Im provem ent Challenge,
w hich brought us thousands of projects and
some am azing stories.
A m azing? W ell, what else could you call it
when a couple in the throes of a whole-house
renovation discovers they’re expecting
triplets
(p a g e 1 5 6 )?
Or when parents of an
autistic son remake their backyard for
creative play
(p a g e 1 6 8 )?
Or when a fam ily of
five moves into a sm aller home—and finds
their quality of life enorm ously enhanced
(p a g e 6 2 ) ?
Stories like these represent the
This month we’re bringingyou smart,
inspiring extra-fabulous ideas from
some amazing experts—our readers.
^
qualities I love best about the
B e t t e r H o m e s
a n d G a r d e n s
com m unity: W e’re originals.
W e w rite our own rules, and we express
our priorities through the w ay we live.
W e couldn’t have a reader issue w ithout
your recipes, of course. Around here, it’s
a known fact that the
B e t t e r H o m e s a n d
G a r d e n s
audience includes the best hom e-
town cooks anywhere. Out went a call for
your best original pie recipes. In came
hundreds of them, so exceptional that we
tasted pies for days to select the nine we
brin g you here. Other readers w hipped up
our 20-m inute Everyday Easy recipes (
p a g e
1 8 8 ),
w ith fresh takes on fast cooking.
Throughout the issue, you’ll find more
real-reader wisdom: expert garden tips, ideas
for easy parties, and back-to-school solutions
from extra-clever moms. And not to w orry—
we’ve also included the regular editorial
features you love on color, container
gardening, liv in g green, and more.
I
know you’ll enjoy being inspired by
the creative solutions of other readers and
learning from their successes. After all, the
more we can learn from each other, the better
our lives w ill be. So tell me: W hen it comes to
home, what’s
y o u r
special talent—and how do
you share it w ith others? Address below.
G ayle Goodson Butler, Editor in Chief
KEEP’EM
COMING!
We’re looking for
more real-reader
projects, and
yours could be
our next big
winner. Enter
our 2008 Home
Improvement
Challenge, with
a $40,000 grand
prize and a chance
to be featured in
a future issue. See
page
61
for more
information.
Let your ideas
and know-how
inspire others!
MORE AT
B H G .C O M
To see photos of this year’s
winning projects,go to
BHG.conVHICwinners
E-MAIL US
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE
BHG.corryservice
WRITE US
1716 Locust St., Des Moines, IA 50309-3023
IO SEPTEMBER2008 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS
