Covet Garden, the online magazine which offers an alternative to traditional shelter books by showcasing real homes is kicking off the new year with an iPad-ready version as well as a blog.



Co-founder Rhonda Riche, who started the magazine last year with industry friends Lynda Felton and Jessica Reid says they launched the book to fill a void left by the closure of titles like Domino. “We all used to work together at different magazines and about a year ago we were bemoaning the loss of magazines we love,” says Riche. “Like everyone in media, we thought if you could do whatever you wanted what would you do?”

The book was launched online to save the costs of print, and avoid the hassle of page counts and has exceeded early expectations with more than one million unique visitors to the monthly magazine in its first five months, says Riche. “The original goal was to get 30,000 people to read each issue, that has already happened,” she says. “Hoping to get to 100,000 per issue by the end of the year and keep people coming back.”

With the help of a growing team of contributors, which includes family and friends Covet Garden launched an iPad-friendly version this week and will launch its blog on January 15. “The blog is launching because the magazine itself can be only 18 pages and there is much more that we want to say,” says Riche. “It also helps with community building, we get people writing in and giving us ideas – this will give them more of a voice.”

Additional growth plans at Covet Garden for 2011 include expanding its editorial reach to feature homes outside of Toronto in its pages, and to increase advertising. “We are looking for advertisers, both for the issue and the website itself,” says Riche. “Yes, come and advertise with us!”