Some home ideas really do know how to charm people at first, don’t they? Like, there’s that pretty sparkle. They show up in a photo looking all polished and clever, and immediately it’s like yes, that’s gorgeous, that’s the look, that’s exactly what the house needs. And okay, fair enough, a lot of them are beautiful at first. That’s not even the issue. The issue is that some ideas are only really amazing in that early stage, when they’re still fresh, still interesting, and nobody’s had to actually live with them properly yet.
Because yeah, living with something every day is where the truth starts coming out, basically, just like a relationship, you see the true colours (and no pun intended here). While in theory it sounds fun to live in a showroom-like home, it’s not very practical. Well, that, and there’s trends, and trends age pretty fast too.
Some Features are Clearly Better at Just Looking Good
And this is probably where a lot of the trouble starts, because some home features are built for impact first and everyday use second, and yeah, that order matters more than people think. And nowadays, with trends and fast homewares, the standard for having quality is sadly becoming the norm.
Actually, a vessel sink is a really good example. Because in photos, it can look gorgeous. It feels a bit boutique hotel, a bit elevated, a bit like somebody had actual taste. But in real life, it can be such a pain. Mainly due to the fact that water splashes weirdly, the proportions can feel off, cleaning around it is annoying (and some areas you literally can’t clean at all, therefore theres the potential for mould build up), and after a while the whole thing starts feeling less “designer”.
It Could be the Layout Itself
Why? Well, because people get very excited by layout ideas that feel unusual or a bit bold, and okay, that makes sense. And it’s easy to think a different layout automatically means a better one. But with that said, some layouts don’t age badly because they go out of style. They age badly because they slowly become annoying.
But sure, maybe to a small degree it’s about the style too. Like a U-shaped kitchen, for example, or an L-shaped one, both of those are pretty trendy right now. The same for open plan layouts, that’s incredibly trendy right now too. Please, if you want to change your layout based on what looks good, or what you think might look better for your house, that could mean a lot of work, like moving a bathtub and shower from one side of the bathroom to another side, which means you’ll need help from a plumber to get the job done, for example.
An open plan means knocking down walls, and some of those walls probably have pillars or some other structure for the house, so then there’s that to consider. But all of this opens a giant can of worms, and is it actually worth it?
“Interesting” isn’t Always the Same as Timeless
Now, you really don’t want to get carried away here either. Mainly because there’s this temptation to choose the thing that feels more distinctive, more striking, more not-like-everyone-else. And okay, sometimes that works beautifully. But sometimes the “interesting” choice is only interesting because it’s very of the moment, or because it grabs attention fast, and once that initial excitement fades, there’s not much underneath it holding things up.
Like, look at old interior design magazines, you can find plenty online, you’ll see exactly what this means, where it’s very different and “fun,” but it doesn’t work for years on end.
