Oct 2, 2024 4 min read get inspired

Magazines as decor

The weekly micro-decorating newsletter * Issue 3 of 13, A24 *
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One of the easiest ways to update your decor is with a fresh magazine. It's the print equivalent of a bouquet of flowers, adding a burst of newness to your space.

Magazines have become harder to find, though, as shops reconsider their merchandise mix and replace them with grab-and-go snacks, souvenir mugs, stuffed animals, and other impulse buys. Fortunately, Toronto still has some dedicated magazine stores that are worth the pilgrimage.

I'm a big fan of Issues, a relatively new player near the corner of Dundas and Dufferin. Its clever signboard conveys the variety of what you'll find inside:

Exterior of Issues, with a signboard featuring the word Magazines repeated in several different typefaces.

Sure enough, the interior delivers, with displays that treat magazines as they deserve – as unassuming art objects, ready to be flipped through, purchased, brought home, loved. You're likely to find some familiar titles, but also many more on topics you never knew were celebrated this way:

Table inside Issues featuring stacks of magazines.

Whenever I visit, I feel revitalized by the enduring power of print media. It's almost a form of therapy.

I'm a regular at Presse Internationale as well, a shop on Bloor just east of Bathurst. whose slightly ramshackle facade is easy to miss. Look for the passport sign, a side business that helps keep the magazines flowing:

The narrow storefront doesn't prepare you for the Aladdin's cave of printed matter inside. Here's a partial view:

Long shelves inside Presse Internationale with lots and lots of magazines.

This shop has some adorable quirks, like the tendency to keep lots of back issues of certain titles on the shelves. If you've missed an issue of The New Yorker, or Elle Decoration UK, this is the place to go. They also have a substantial section of international titles that are hard to find anywhere else. If a French celebrity passes away, you can get all the major print coverage here.

If your magazine love is partially nostalgic, you can branch out and visit Toronto's vintage shops. Stay Home Furnishings and Mrs. Huizinga both carry well-preserved issues from decades past, which can be fun to display with mid-century antiques. On a recent visit to Mrs. H, I discovered a mint condition Interview magazine with Marky Mark (a.k.a. Mark Wahlberg) on the cover. Funky!

Once you get your magazine home, there's a small but delicious problem: Where to put it? Our digital reading habits make the placement of printed material feel quaint and at the same time totally new. The best approach is to be cavalier and just drop it on a prominent surface:

Small table inside Guy's apartment, featuring a Slanted magazine, a pen, and a turtle figurine.

Another approach is to leave it open on an especially appealing spread. The vintage Architectural Digest I picked up at Stay Home Furnishings is currently inviting me into Liza Minelli's New York living room circa 1981:

Architectural Digest open to a spread featuring Liza Minelli and her partner in their New York pad.

Architectural Digest open to a spread featuring Liza Minelli's living room.

If you really love a particular issue, you can go further. A few years ago, I was so enamoured with Taylor Swift on the cover of Rolling Stone that I brought my issue to Telegramme for framing. She's become a surprised yet welcoming presence in my entryway:

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It's also a kind of in-case-of-emergency-break-glass situation for that day I may need to learn more about her.

A happy middle ground between casual plopping and formal framing is a magazine rack. It gives a sense of occasion and at the same time keeps the titles in easy reach – because magazines are for reading, after all.

My go-to is a Lucite version I picked up at Atomic Design a few years back. Its transparency allows the covers to shine, and I like the way it holds things vertically, in a state of attention:

Kinfolk magazine and lots of magazines behind it, all in a Lucite magazine rack.

It also encourages discipline – when there are more magazines than will fit, it's time for some pruning.

If you're looking for something similar, I recommend Giotto Stoppino's 1972 design for Kartell, still available today:

Transparent magazine rack with four compartments.

It's fairly easy to find vintage models too, in a variety of colours, including a version with three tiers. Whether your magazines are hot off the press or well-worn favourites, it will give them a suitably glamorous home.