About Zuhause Wohnen

Zuhause Wohnen

zuhause wohnen is a German home-interiors magazine that has accompanied German readers through nearly six decades of furnishing, renovating and decorating. First published in 1967 under the title zuhause, it concentrates on the rooms where daily life happens most intensively — kitchens and bathrooms above all — alongside decoration ideas for the whole home. Since November 2018 it has been published in Munich by the Verlagshaus GeraNova Bruckmann, appearing ten times a year.

Overview

The magazine's editorial focus is practical and room-centred. Where architecture magazines celebrate the building and design magazines celebrate the object, zuhause wohnen celebrates the lived-in interior: fitted kitchens, modern bathrooms, clever storage, colour and decoration schemes that readers can implement in their own homes. The emphasis on kitchens and bathrooms reflects the two rooms where German homeowners invest most heavily — and where the interplay of technology, craftsmanship and design is densest. Decoration features, seasonal ideas and shopping guides complete the mix, giving the magazine a service character that has sustained it across changing interior fashions.

History

The magazine first appeared in 1967 as zuhause, published by Hamburg's Jahreszeiten Verlag. The late 1960s were a formative period for German interiors publishing: the economic miracle had filled the country's new housing estates, and a generation of magazines arose to teach their inhabitants how to furnish them. zuhause found its niche in the practical heart of the home rather than in high design.

In 1991 the title was renamed zuhause wohnen, sharpening its identity as a magazine about living rather than merely about houses. For more than five decades it remained a Jahreszeiten title, part of the Hamburg publisher's portfolio alongside Merian, Der Feinschmecker and Architektur & Wohnen.

The decisive turning point came in the autumn of 2018. The Jahreszeiten Verlag — abbreviated Jalag — was undertaking a strategic reorientation toward premium and luxury magazines. In September 2018 it sold its women's titles, including Für Sie and Petra, to the Klambt media group; shortly afterwards it sold the interiors magazine Zuhause Wohnen to the Munich-based Verlagshaus GeraNova Bruckmann. The Hamburg publisher's magazines director described the sale as completing the reorganisation of the portfolio into a provider of premium and luxury magazines, while announcing fresh investment in the luxury segment — a new website for Der Feinschmecker, the Merian Scout short-travel spin-off and two planned print launches for 2019.

On 1 November 2018 GeraNova Bruckmann formally took over Zuhause Wohnen. Within the Munich publishing house, the title became part of the Selbermachen Media GmbH — the unit that also publishes the DIY magazine Selber machen, acquired from the Jahreszeiten Verlag five years earlier. The pairing is logical: the do-it-yourself reader and the home-decorating reader are often the same person at different stages of a renovation project.

Content and Concept

The magazine's concept rests on the conviction that the most important design decisions in a home are made in the kitchen and the bathroom. These are the rooms where function constrains form most tightly — plumbing, appliances, tiles, fittings — and where professional planning pays off most visibly. zuhause wohnen presents real renovated kitchens and bathrooms in photographed home stories, explains materials and technologies, compares products and offers decoration ideas that extend the renovation spirit into living rooms, bedrooms and hallways.

The tone is encouraging and competence-oriented rather than exclusive. The reader is addressed as someone actively shaping their home — planning a kitchen refit, choosing bathroom tiles, looking for storage solutions — and the magazine supplies the expertise of interior professionals in accessible form. Seasonal decoration specials, tied to the rhythms of the year, give the title a recurring newsstand rhythm beyond the renovation cycle.

Coverage and Audience

According to IVW figures, the sold circulation averaged 54,058 copies in 2021, with a reach of 450,000 readers (AWA 2020) — solid numbers for a special-interest interiors title in a crowded segment. The readership is predominantly made up of homeowners and homemakers in the middle of furnishing or renovation projects, a group that advertisers in the kitchen, bathroom, furniture and DIY sectors value highly for its concrete purchase intentions.

The magazine's longevity is itself a statement: few German interiors titles have survived since the 1960s, and zuhause wohnen has done so by staying close to the practical concerns of its readers rather than chasing design fashions. The managing directors named for the publishing operation are Clemens Schüssler and Gerrit Klein of the GeraNova Bruckmann group.

Ownership

zuhause wohnen is published by the Verlagshaus GeraNova Bruckmann of Munich, the publishing group formed in 2003 from the merger of the Bruckmann and GeraNova houses. The group's programme spans books, magazines, calendars, DVDs, online portals, e-books and apps across tourism, outdoor life, nature, cuisine, creative crafts, culture, photography, history and regional history, as well as automotive, motorcycle, railway, model-building, aviation and military-history titles. Within the group, zuhause wohnen sits in the Selbermachen Media unit alongside the DIY title Selber machen — a pairing that reflects the group's strategy of clustering complementary special-interest brands.

The 2018 acquisition fits a longer pattern of GeraNova Bruckmann growth by takeover: Selber machen came from the Jahreszeiten Verlag in 2013, the Alba railway publications in 2014, the Sutton Verlag in 2014, the Silberburg-Verlag in 2017 and the VGB railway publishing group in 2020. Each acquisition has kept the title's editorial identity while integrating production, distribution and digital infrastructure into the Munich group. The group's managing directors are named as Clemens Schüssler, Frank Emmer and Gerrit Klein, and its programme spans books, magazines, calendars, DVDs, online portals, e-books and apps across tourism, outdoor life, nature, cuisine, creative crafts, culture, photography, history and regional history, as well as automotive, motorcycle, railway, model-building, local transport, aviation and military-history titles.

The Hamburg side of the 2018 transaction is equally telling. The Jahreszeiten Verlag's sale of Zuhause Wohnen was part of a comprehensive portfolio clean-up: in the same reorientation, the women's magazines Für Sie, Petra, Vital, Iss' dich gesund, Feel good and Dr. Wimmer were sold to the Klambt media group, while investment flowed into the luxury segment — a new Feinschmecker website, the Merian Scout spin-off and new print launches. Zuhause Wohnen, a solid mid-market interiors title, no longer fitted a house repositioning itself as a provider of premium and luxury magazines; in Munich, by contrast, it slotted neatly into a special-interest portfolio built around the practical passions of its readers.

Digital Presence

The magazine operates its website at zuhausewohnen.de, which extends the print brand with home stories, decoration ideas, product presentations and subscription services. As part of the GeraNova Bruckmann digital portfolio, the site benefits from the group's online infrastructure while serving the title's specific community of home improvers. Nearly sixty years after its first appearance as zuhause, the magazine continues to address the rooms where German domestic life is most concretely shaped — the kitchen where the family cooks and the bathroom where the day begins — with the practical optimism that has defined it since 1967. Tastes in tile and tap have cycled several times over since the first issue; the magazine's answer has stayed constant: show real rooms, explain how they were made, and trust the reader to know what home should feel like. Within the GeraNova Bruckmann portfolio, Zuhause Wohnen remains the specialist for the functional heart of the home — the rooms where renovation decisions are made and domestic life is lived.