Blueprint Bids Adieu, Too

Earlier today, less than two years after the publication of its first issue, Martha Stewart Living announced that it will be closing Blueprint magazine. Blueprint will cease publication in early 2008 with its January/February issue, but its Bluelines blog will remain online. The news of Blueprint's closing comes on the heels of Conde Nast's decision to stop publishing House and Garden last month, giving another indication of the uncertain times facing shelter magazines.

It's a shame that Blueprint was such a shortlived publication. The photography and layout were always appealing, and although some found Blueprint's broad range of content, which included everything from interior design and decorating to fashion and crafts a little disjointed at first, the magazine definitely became more coherent and focused- in a word, better- with each issue. I liked them from the get-go, when they featured a model wearing wearing wellies and a skirt on the cover (and in an editorial) of the first issue back in May 2006. Blueprint made rain boots paired with a skirt or dress look like the most perfect and obvious of choices, even chic.