EDITOR'S LETTER

Early this summer a friend told me she was hurt that I hadn't asked her to Thanksgiving dinner last year. I was confused. I thought I knew her enough to know she didn't like large gatherings, that she would say "thanks, but no" and volunteer at a soup kitchen instead, as she'd done before.

We talked it out on a rocky beach after a frigid dip in the June New England water and came away amazed at ourselves. Amazed because, after almost 20 years as friends, we had misread each other's hopes and desires. Though my instincts proved right (she would have said no, she conceded, but still wanted to be asked), I was blind to the need for acknowledgement we all carry with us. I had completely missed that layer of her personality. We humans are complicated creatures. There's infinite joy in discovering the many onion layers that compose our personalities. It's the reason I'm so consistently fascinated by people.

As the extensions of those personalities, rooms are no less fascinating. Albert Hadley said that design "is not a look, it's a point of view." How true. Or, as Charlotte Moss has observed, "our objects, bibelots, whatnots and knickknacks...are as honest as a diary." Parsing a room's layers—its arrangement, its degree of order or disorder, its contents, its collections, colors, textures and finishes—brings endless revelation, exposing and mirroring layer upon layer of the owner's personality. Our "On The Couch" column is so popular that we are developing this much-loved feature into a full length book. We can do this because our sister publications carry this feature using different contributors. We're told that some readers have actually turned our "On The Couch" into a parlor game. Guests who come to dinner or a party are asked to guess along with others to find the clues that reveal the occupants. It's a fun concept. As "nesting" and staycations become more popular, here's a game the whole family can enjoy—just by turning the pages of WC&G!

So in this issue we celebrate layered looks. Kazumi Yoshida and James McGovern's weekend retreat immediately conveys worldliness and a sensualist's interest in color and texture. Stephen and Gail Huberman's home could not be more quirkily personal, its surreal touches revealing a playful edge beneath the elegance. And "Norman Conquest"is a prime example of a design team truly understanding their clients' personalities and bringing them to gorgeous, layered life. Even outdoors, Cabamong Pond in Armonk is the living embodiment of Ted Nierenberg's painterly eye. Seldom, in any magazine, are you likely to find such breathtaking photographs (taken by the resident). This is one reason why so many readers tell us they are saving every issue of this magazine. Finally, we give you tools for layering your own home with our fall fabrics preview and our rug resource guide.

Of course, there's more to any setting than meets the eye. So stay open, avoid any hard and fast assumptions, and enjoy!

Jorge S. Arango
Editor
jorge.arango@candgpublications.com