Googling “Home Interior”
When you google “home interior,” photos similar to the above come up in droves. While these images contain most of the elements you might find in a home interior, they are generally missing a very important quality to them: life. I don’t mean life as in people in the photo or a pet on the couch or a plant in the window. I mean evidence of being lived in and loved and elements where things have happened.
An interior feels like home when it is filled with objects of meaning & history; when things are a little imperfect and rough; when things show signs of wear and use and age. There is an ephemeral quality to “home” that cannot be replicated both in spite of and due to the wear of an object. This ephemerality generally cannot be manufactured through buying second-hand for the sake of claiming the history as your own and it certainly cannot be acquired from the start by buying something new. When something holds memories or meaning to the occupant not only does it continually remind them of all that they have experienced, but it also speaks more subtly to the guest about the character and experience of the occupant.
With the advent of Zoom and Covid and the general technology boom, many people either rarely share their home with guests or are rarely the guest. There is also a lot of pressure through social media to conform to an aesthetic if you are someone that regularly shares your home online. There is an even more intense pressure to have it be clean and presentable and relevant. Obviously, design is important, and homes require the upmost intentionality, but I would like to see more homes where people are not afraid to show their personality, their history and their mistakes because that’s what has real feeling!