Central Virginia Early Spring Issue 2017 | 10 Year Anniversary Special Issue

Ten years!

Who would have thought time could pass so quickly!

I have made so many new friends along the way and have experienced so much joy in publishing HOME. I couldn’t have asked for a more talented group of people with which to work, for more gracious homeowners in this community who have opened their homes to us and for more loyal advertisers who have been the lifeblood of this magazine.

Over 10 years ago, we had a vision to be the sole local resource to provide ideas and inspiration to homeowners and then connect homeowners with the businesses they need to execute their plans and projects. We’ve refined this vision over the past 42 issues as we continue to keep our content fresh, focused and local. We are grateful to each and every business that has advertised and continues to advertise in our pages. Some local professionals in particular have been incredibly instrumental to our publication over the years, bringing a level of personal commitment and interest to further improve our content.

Some of our earliest and longest running supporters are Ron Driskill and Scott Elliott of Custom Structures. Not only did they lead us to our first showcase home in the inaugural issue of Spring 2007 (the home of Angela and John Olmstead, revisited in this issue!)—but they have also led to many other spectacular homes we’ve featured over the years as well. Scott even gave us a tour of his own space in our feature on man caves in our Winter 2013 issue

The talent of Kerry Giles, manager at farmbasket, has graced many of our pages—and covers—as well. From designing amazing greenery for multiple holiday photo shoots over the years, to graciously writing several articles for us despite her busy schedule, Kerry has always been so generous with her time and considerable talent. We’re so appreciative of Kerry and farmbasket’s decade-long commitment to HOME as an advertiser.

Geri and Lamar Cecil, owners of The Silver Thistle Online, have always stood behind HOME with their advertising support, but they’ve supported us in many other wonderful ways, too—once to share their daughter’s at-home wedding for a special feature on the topic and most recently to give us a tour of their new home in the Summer 2016 issue (and revisited in this issue). We also tapped into the talent of the ever-interesting Lamar, convincing him to write articles for us on his precious china collection as well as designing the perfect gentleman’s den. We are so grateful for their support and participation over the years.

If you need a designer in Lynchburg, you are certainly in luck. Here at HOME, we’ve been lucky enough to call on a bevy of designers—more than we could list—to share with our readers real design tips. They’ve weighed in on hot design trends, favorite paint colors, the perfect white, the best design books—you name it, they are always generous with their words of wisdom. Our landscapers, too, have provided similar expertise, discussing trends in outdoor spaces (can you say fire pits and outdoor kitchens?) as well as their favorite plants. In fact, Mark Maslow of Southern Landscape Group has gladly provided such specific expertise and more, in many of our issues, and always keeps us in mind when he’s completed a superstar project, knowing that our readers would enjoy a personal look.

We are also fortunate to have local experts who come to us with story ideas of their own. Judy Franz, Realtor and friend of HOME, inspired a feature article on the magnificent porches of Oakwood Place. She not only opened her home and her beautiful porch to our readers but also convinced two neighbors to do the same. We look forward to continuing to work with Judy and all the realtor friends who have been a part of HOME.

Finally, there have been countless people in our community who have referred us to interesting projects and inspiring homes to feature. It really is a community effort to produce a publication that celebrates all the home and garden resources our area has to offer, and we’re lucky enough to work with more talented experts than we could possibly name here. We hope that the past 10 years have demonstrated that when you’re looking for home and garden ideas and inspiration, you have to look no further than the pages of HOME magazine—and for years to come.

Onward to the next ten!

Julie Pierce, Publisher