Do you ever feel like it would just make things easier to go around wearing a name tag that says "Hello, my name is TARGET MARKET"?

I feel that way when car manufacturers use punk rock to sell autos. Or when advertisements use Moby to sell...anything. Usually I want to run from the oncoming tsunami of carefully granular targeted generation- and lifestyle-based consumer marketing. But sometimes the temptation to stop running is...overwhelming.

I felt that way today reading this NYT article (registration required, alas) on the upcoming crop of shelter magazines. ("Hello! Yes, I'm your target, that's me. Don't be shy, just come right on over here. Let me look at you.")

Loyal readers know that in the past I've expressed some confusion over how the heck to decorate my house. So maybe one of these publications will help...or maybe not. As interviewed here, the editors of each produce some pretty scary sound bites. There's LivingRoom, for women "in transition" who "love throw pillows as much as they love shoes." Well (squirm), OK. I guess.

Then there's Budget Living, ostensibly for people who have money but don't want to spend it. This so-called "new generation," according to the editor, are "aesthetic snobs, but we don't have the wallet to back it up." That sounds better, although it may not make for riveting shelter-magazine reading.

I still believe that what I need is "Decorating for Dummies" and maybe Chic Simple has the answer. The article refers to it as "a kind of 'Aesthetic Intelligence for Dummies'" so I think we're getting closer.