Sadness (Part I)

(photo: Melanie Acevedo for Domino)

Hello, friends. Remember me? I'm that guy who used to blog about deals and decorating and all that good stuff over at dominomag.com. Well, after more than a week since Conde Nast closed Domino and its website I'm still reeling. Gone through all the stages of grief about six times already. Would've holed up in my tenement apartment watching reruns of "Designing Women" and freebasing Doritos but the full-time job has kept me functioning. And, truthfully, I was just a freelance blogger. Think what the ACTUAL EDITORIAL AND WEB AND PUBLISHING STAFF must be going through.

Question: Why did it have to end?

WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Words fail.

So I'll take this opportunity to thank all the folks who made my two-year run possible:

First up is Miles, aka Mugatu, a decorator-boss-mentor-friend so generous (and secure enough in his own prodigious talent) as to recommend his then-24-year old assistant to pals at the most stylish, zeitgeist-y shelter mag to come along in a coon's age. Then the geniuses Sara Ruffin Costello and Paul Costello, who together turned my studio apartment into an 8-page story when all I'd hoped for was a "how-to" sidebar. And of course Deborah Needleman, our fearless leader who invented the concept, put my pad on the cover (see above) and offered me a spot blogging on the Daily Dose. Finally, ex-Scrappy Girl/senior web editor Cathy Halley, who gave me free rein to post about everything from Marie Osmond to toilet seats on a decorating site.

CORNY ALERT:
These people made my dreams come true. For real! I worship magazines -- Miles' feature in W inspired me to ditch architecture forever and pursue decorating -- and seeing my [OREGANO GREEN!] first apartment on the newsstand was the ne plus ultra for this staplegun-wielding freak from the Gulf Coast. The blog was like a giant tub of icing on the cake, a platform for spewing my DIY tips and deals and musings and terrible puns. I am forever in their debt, and must add fellow Domino-ers Danielle Claro, Amy Peck, Chassie Post Costello, Lauren Goodman, Amy Shearn, Kel Christofferson, Suzanne D'Amato, Alison Griffin, Nicolette Owen, Deb Schwartz, and blogstars Rita Konig and Ivette Soler!!! I'm forgetting a bunch.

And, God, the commenters! Too many to list but where would I be without your humor and insight and encouragement?? Whoever thinks the Internet is for Haters should look at the comments from my last couple of weeks. I wish I could've responded to each one ... alas, our clients need their sofas (and Mugatu sits five feet from my computer screen).

Anyway, THANK YOU.

Domino was my favorite magazine for many reasons, but the tagline "guide to living with style" sums it up nicely. I'm obsessed with style, the set of ephemeral qualities that separates Kate Moss from, say, Kim Kardashian. It ain't brain surgery or children's advocacy, but a stylish room can enrich our lives AND be broken down into recognizable elements, much like styles of art or music or literature or poetry. And it really has very little to do with money -- does ANYONE even have any these days?? -- and much more the willingness to educate one's eye and also experiment and throw out the guidelines from time to time. Speaking of poetry, I'll let Robert Frost eulogize our dearly departed bible.

Please stay tuned here for more of the same -- decorating bargains, style inspiration, analysis, tangents. I'm new to this solo-blogging game so feel free to give your own advice and direction. I promise not to turn this into Dear Diary, unless you really want to hear about the Club Monaco salesboy I'm stalking. Heh.

Yours,
Nick
(The Blogger Formerly Known as the Deal Hunter)

P.S. The title refers to this song, which I always thought was about 'sadness,' my pre-Wellbutrin state of being. It's actually about the Marquis du Sade, which also seems appropriate given the events of last week. Grrr.