A designer’s dream

When it comes to networking, Paige Rense, the longtime editor in chief of Architectural Digest, boasts, “I have better contacts than the CIA.” Acknowledging that most folks may consider the process of submitting their homes for publication to be as mysterious as dealing with foreign operatives, Rense has held open auditions in New York and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., since October. And last week in West Hollywood, nearly 400 professional and DIY decorators submitted portfolios to a panel of AD editors. Among them, Beverly Hills designer Malgosia Migdal presented a client’s powder room, shown here, with a black pebble wall and an illuminated frosted-edge mirror above a bronze sink set in an antique Mongolian cabinet. Migdal thinks it went well: “I got 15 minutes with the executive editor.” The verdict will take longer; three to four weeks, Rense says, the tastefully worded rejection letters go out.