What in the name of Zeus' beard is "org porn?!" It's the same question we had before we read an excerpt from the book, Everything (Almost) In Its Place. Although it sounds like something from Middle Earth, it's really the overdosing on unrealistic and staged photoshoot homes that you might find on TV or at the news stands each month. More from the article and our tips for combating it after the jump...
Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch, the authors of Everything (Almost) In Its Place, a book about how to get realistically organized, warn of the downsides of consuming too much ‘org porn.’ Here's a bit of what they have to say on the phenomenon:
“Don’t get us wrong, gazing at beautiful images of meticulously organized rooms, perfectly displayed collections, color-coordinated closets, flawless family schedules, pristine kitchens, tidy mud rooms, and picture-perfect work spaces can be titillating – even meditative. There’s a reason we call it ‘org porn,’” said Alicia Rockmore. "But when they become the primary yardstick by which you measure your own general state of organization is when it becomes unhealthy. An airbrushed land of perfect organization cannot be sustained in this messy, unpredictable world called real life.”
Although we are firm believers that the key to a happy and healthy home is everything having a place, we do understand the need to take it easy. We scour through hundreds (dare we say thousands) of pictures each month to find you amazing homes to share. Although the one place we put our focus is that real people, actually live there.
Having recently finished the Spring Home Cure, we're still in the mindset of living with only what you need and loving everything you have. We find that's those to be the most important words to live by when trying to eliminate clutter from your home to allow your spaces to feel more like the ones you might see in the magazines. Often times the hardest obstacle for us is knowing where to start and staying committed. Check out our past Cure entries to help find a foothold and watch the progress that 900 Curees made by taking on a little more each week (we suggest starting at the beginning!). Each one of them started "somewhere" and tackled more and more of their spaces each week, allowing them the freedom to make their homes into exactly what they wanted and needed them to be.
For those who might need additional inspiration, a few of our favorite Organizational and Cleaning Roundups are listed below!
(via Buttoned Up)
(Image: Metropolitan Home)
Jonya & Brad's Modern A–Frame 
Quick Cleaning Tip: Keep Baseboards Cleaner With Fabric Softner
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Essence Wine Glasse...
Mac and Cheese: The Secret to Making It Rich and Creamy
Summer Recipe: No-Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake
Comments (19)
Org Porn?
I thought it was Real Estate Porn...
Interesting...
I confess I am guilty of this vice. Thanks for the intervention.
house porn
I wish they did follow-up pictorials of the spreads in Met Home and Dwell, to see what the places look like without all the staging.
I still want my 495 sq ft studio to look like a NY penthouse. Can't help it.
Who makes that gorgeous white cut-out side table...? Very moroccan chic?
I bet you could even do an entire layout of shots from the 'other' side of a room where all the things that didn't make the staging cut are stacked. You know the real room is right behind the photographer's back.
Someone recently posted a 'good question' (about a lamp, I think) and someone criticized them for having box of tissues on the table in the photo. I'd say that was a good example of expectations being unrealistic, wouldn't you?
lol @ home body. I was wondering the same thing.
I don't like the pink room at all. It's just too much.
I am fond of 30 minutes of cleaning and organization each evening--no more, and sometimes less. ;) Whatever gets done in that time is what gets done, and it's usually enough.
Haha, my bf goes "Ork porn?"
Guilty as charged! But I suppose I should mention that my house IS one of those houses where everything has a place and where the stacks are perfectly aligned with the corner of the desk.
I'm a little twitchy, you see, ever since doing the Cure. I let go of so many things that were cluttering up my house that all the things I use and love actually feel like they've been curated in their places.
When you've stuck true to keeping only the items you love and that bring you good memories, how can you not cherish and honor them in aesthetically pleasing ways? :)
@Joan52 - I think you can tell when you live in a tiny pad when you know the square footage down to to the ones column. My baby is 575 sq ft of chaos and I love her.
What I like looking at are those clutter filled places where every item of clutter just *works* perfectly together. And then I think, how come my artsy clutter just looks messy??
Much like actual porn can lead to unrealistic expecations...so too, can design porn.
I'm weird: in the living room, the kitchen and the bedroom, I choose a place for everything, so that I can use (for instance) a certain appliance, and put it back in its place without making more that one or two paces. I reorganize my kitchen and my closets about twice a year to make them more practical.
But my desk is a real mess: four diy projects are just waiting there, tons of books, my cat (who just loves to be in the way, purr and shed), and my computer. I just love it that way.
I guess mess can be appealing, but not everywhere. Over-organization in the kitchen saves me so much time... and looking for an item once in a while is no problem, since it's only once in a while.
Sorry, but I had to read and reread the third paragraph after the jump a couple times, and I still don't get it. It's the last sentence that's throwing me: "Although the one place we put our focus is that real people, actually live there."
Are you implying that all photographs on AT are of "real" homes, i.e. homes where people live?
If yes, then... um, I disagree. If no, then what the heck do you mean?
Emika - I had intended to focus that implication on our house tours. It's linked in the sentence before that, I should relink it in the sentence below as well. Sorry for the confusion. We do show you other inspirational homes, but most often our focus is how to make that type of space work for you.
Thanks!
-Sarahrae
Hahaha, Ork Porn! (where there's a whip, there's a way...)
I am always entertained by residential architectural photography; often, new houses are photographed w/ rented furniture by the architects before the actual client moves in. Or the owner/occupiers (the occupant, one way or the other) furniture is moved to the side. There's a great picture of a spare Neutra house and then there is the uncropped version with all the lamps, plants, tchotchke (sp) shoved to the sides out of the intended shot.
I think it is bedroom porn