Part 1: Why our homes all look the same...
(Illustration by Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva for The Washington Post)
A recent article in the Washington Post is making the rounds in the design community and of course it resonated deeply with me. I started discussing it with my Instagram community in my Stories, but thought it’d be nice to dive a bit deeper here on the blog.
Way back in 2012, when I first moved from New York to Chicago, I started noticing the effects of standardization in shops and apartments. There seemed to be one central style that dominated how most “cool” people decorated. White walls, MCM furniture, indoor plants, industrial metals, modern art. I’d been a magazine editor in New York, most recently at Country Living magazine, and so I was obsessed with vintage fashion, original thrifted art and color. Where had all of the color gone?! I felt a bit weird about my style for a while, but with age and an apartment I loved, I gained confidence and leaned into marbled walls and DIY projects galore.
Fast forward to 2016, which brought a move to North Carolina, the purchase of my first house, the birth of my first baby, and 9 months later, the launch of my small design business. I started Spruce Creative Studio to fill a hole that I saw in the market: affordable design packages that encouraged homeowners to bring design plans to life on their own time and budget.
At first, I had fun honing my eye and skill set along the way. But almost immediately I noticed a trend: many people (not everyone! but a large portion) basically wanted a version of the same room. Grays, creams, browns, light wood, blues and greens, natural woods, brass hardware, neutral rugs. Even some of the pieces they wanted me to incorporate in the designs looked the same. The same sofas, chairs, rugs. And I started to wonder: why are these unique people with interesting ideas, memories, hobbies, careers all wanting the same thing?
Because being playful and creative at home takes time and energy! It’s a privilege. It’s uncomfortable because you might mess up. But I think it’s crucial to feeling more alive in your space. What confused me as a business owner was that people were paying me to help them think outside of the box. But ultimately, many of them didn’t actually want to go there.
Pushing requires research, time and energy, and my packages were built for efficiency and less hand-holding. And then over the next few years, I got burnt out by the speed my process required and the quantity I needed to take on at any given time. That and the design safeness was killing me.
It’s a complex issue, but here are a few reasons why we’ve gotten here, collectively:
1) We’re fed a steady diet of standard images for profit. Products and styles that become familiar makes us feel like they’re worthy investments. Even if we don’t particularly love that rug, it checks the boxes. And furniture brands respond to high sales by making more stuff that will sell. Then advertisers and magazines/tv shows push those images out into the world as trends. And who doesn’t fall for a trend? I certainly do. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
2) Our expectations became unrealistic. Somewhere along the line, we decided that our homes need to be magazine-ready as soon as we move in, even if interior design isn’t our greatest passion. And let me tell you a secret from my magazine days: ZERO homes actually look the way they do 24/7. I promise you a million piles of props/flowers/unused furniture are sitting just outside of the frame. But now that decor items are more affordable for the average person, we have an unrealistic expectation that we all can have really well-designed homes. But design is hard! And costs money! Maybe it’s time to adopt our Moms expectations for their houses circa 1980s. They were all really proud of what they pulled together from their parents hand-me-downs and shopping around town, weren’t they? They decorated for themselves, it seems. It’s hard to imagine.
3) We feel the eyes of judgment on us. We worry about sharing snippets of our homes on social media because someone will see the mess, the carpet stains, the dishes piled in the sink, the bathroom that hasn’t been renovated. How dare you live in a house that’s untidy and unstylish (GASP)!
4) We’ve become risk averse at home. Real estate agents preach the importance of resale value, and we move so much more frequently these days. Therefore we hesitate to get creative, even when paint and light fixtures and furniture are all so easy to change. Research now shows that people want to buy homes with personality that feel well cared for, no matter if the style feels different.
5) We’re so busy that we don’t have the brain space.
When you’re working so hard every single day to feed and clothe yourself, let alone other humans and animals, it can feel like one more obligation to tackle. Sometimes its a season of “this sofa will do” until children are grown or the money has been saved.
Ok, so now that we’re here, what do we do about it?! In Part 2, I’ll address thoughts on how to push yourself creatively in teeny tiny ways. Also, listen to season one of my podcast, Home Addressed, if you’re wrestling with finding and refining your personal style.