apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i was raised to not consider labels when buying things. just get what works for you. it's paid off because my home is very cute and exotic and is infused with my artistic and gardeny nature automatically even 'though' it's decorated with discount items and ebay finds. you can't buy a mood. you create one with what you surround yourself with.

Amen. He puts so succinctly a sort of underlying feeling I've had about my obsession with my home lately. I keep wondering why I spend so much time, energy & money on it, and yet am never satisfied.

I love this sentiment! We live our lives in the houses and apartments that we decorate and so I think that how those houses and apartments look should be a reflection of those lives. Instead of being obsessed with what another person considers beautiful or what the industry considers The Next Best Thing Ever, we should decorate our houses/apartments in ways that we, the dwellers, consider beautiful, in ways that inspire us and make us happy. And if that means displaying proudly that collection of plates or hanging on to that old afghan that your grandmother made for you, then all the more power to you.

I completely agree with this article (ok, I've only read the blurb so far, but I get the idea). This philosophy prevents us from all becoming the same. I object to the continual rat race of fashionable living. I don't have the time for it (nor the inclination, nor the desire to live in a show room, nor the funds... I like living debt free!).

Really, at AT, what I love most are the house tours of people who have ecclecticly (because life isn't uniform, is it?) and organically (I mean naturally, instinctively, not pesticide free) created spaces that work, solved problems and manage to keep clean/organized (that's my demon right there, organization, tidiness, even in writing it seems, as I re-read).

I would be quite upset to sell all my hand-me-downs and buy nice new furniture that's devoid of soul and exactly like everyone else's stuff.

Can't we avoid the newness/sameness of interior design and learn to work with what we've got?

by the way, i disagree with the notion that a home will have warts and be ugly and unfashionable if not filled with designer goods.

If home design makes you happy, go for it. I love hunting down the new and next. If it exhausts you or you've become disenchanted with it, it's not worth your energy or time.

I suppose it's fortunate I've never had the money to buy taste.

I actually do have a hard time with the "hard-sell" aspects of AT--all the pretty gew-gaws and latest this and latest that. But I do believe on'e home should be as pleasant as (reasonably) possible. So there'll always be warts, but no flying ducks.

Funny you should post this during Cure-time. A Lot of my time is being diverted from my family in order to work on the house. But then I tend to leave it alone between cures and focus my attention on people. As long as there is balance.

Absolutely right! One of the many benefits of downsizing, going green, promoting sustainability, or just simplifying the clutter in one's environment - a major boon is time, time that can be put to better use. One warning - I've found that the promise of clearing one's head by clearing one's environment is a fallacy. I could live in a completely blank space and still have mental clutter, alas. "Interior design" is a lovely phrase but in no way guarantees clear, responsible thinking.

I think he's 100% spot on.
I am a much happier person when I stop worrying about if my couch goes with my lamp (Or something equally as ridiculous). Life is about life, not about the things you fill your house with.

Who's obsessed? I just come here for the community.

I've always wondered about these so called design gurus who promote their visions which are basically a slight variation of the same clone. Do they shop at the same store?

If their so-called design dictum will not give us pleasure or enhance our lives why follow it. Design should serve the people not vice versa. Individuality rules- warts and all.

Um, Pixie?
Think about that.
One could say "the community" is a trifle obsessed.

I think there should always be balance. Make your house a home and keep it clean. How you choose to do that should only be decided by you and your family. If I were to ever have an Eames chair in my home, my friends would all know I was trying to "be somebody" because it just isn't me and it never will be.

Like many AT readers, I shall never have the financial means to jump from one up-and-coming trend to another. All the more reason to put thought into my purchases: because when we bought a new sofa last year it was a) the most expensive purchase we ever made for our home and b) intended to last for a solid decade or more. And, mind you, we ended up buying something for under a grand. We bought what we *liked* aesthetically and what was exceptionally comfortable. (By the way, I accidentally fell asleep on the sofa last night--didn't wake up & realize 'til 6:30 this morning.)

I seek out things to make ME happy in MY space.

Very true (and I do so love witty and discontented Brits).

It's funny - while preparing to undertake the Cure, I took a style quiz somewhere, can't remember where exactly, but it informed me that my style was "eclectic," which basically means I throw stuff that I love (that otherwise may or may not have common denominators) all together and if I'm lucky at all, it works. If it doesn't, I throw stuff together in a different composition. If I hate a lamp, I buy a lamp I love and I don't worry about whether or not it goes with my sofa. Does the lamp go with me? Does my sofa go with me? Good, then it all goes together. What's more important than what I fill my apartment with is the feeling my apartment gives me - if it's happiness, inspiration and contentment, then I must be doing something right.

;D

Does it seem ironic that Mr. Lott's very timely comments are followed by 10 opportunities to spend money on design elements? Hmmmmm.....

Is he regretting interior design or being a sucker for gimmicks? There is no excuse for someone who buys a leather top table and then complains about stains. He deserves his thrift-store junk.

Quiltmaster is exactly right. The article is to advertise those other places, to make people feel confident about buying cast-offs.

M - that's the question. There is a difference between design and designer goods. I'm assuming that good interior design will free you up to live your life.

Real home design has nothing to do with buying designer funishings, it is about filling one's home with objects that reflect the beauty of the occupant. I don't worry about the perfect couch or the "right" decoration because I only get things that I truly love and reflect my own personal style. perhaps it's unfashionable but it is beautiful to me and never a stress. When a home cause stress, what kind of home is that?

I come to AT to see other people's personal style and to be entertained. actually buying all the crap on here or changing my style based on a website? If it doesn't fit my own style, why do that.

Sorry but he is talking about decorating, not design.

It's not things but time that does make a life,I agree but what about a creative outlet? Some of us use our homes as a place where we are creative. It's not unlike painting or photography. Also, some of us are very "visual", I know if I come home to a bright, well organized place that i like to be in I'm happier. This is not materialistic or a consumer obsession. Most of the items in my home were given to me or bought at Target and I have not sold my soul to get these things. Some people might obsess over politics, religion or other things that aggrevate them, I say why not "obsess" over things you can actual change and have some control over and if it makes you happy, who cares!

I think his comments apply more to people that follow whats trendy/fashionable and have to have the latest new thing. There are a few people like that on AT and you can usually recognize them by their attempt to copy a page out of their favorite store catalog. I think most of us are trying to make our homes more attractive, comfortable and functional. AT has helped me define my style but it isn't going to make me by a new sofa if I don't need one. I've had the same bedroom set since 1989 (it was left by the previous home owner). I loved it then. I didn't have the vocabulary or design sense to recognize it as mid-century modern but now that I do I appreciate it any more. I also incorporate styles that are not as popular with the AT set.

Excellent article. Very glad you guys are big enough to step back and take in the bigger picture.

Hats off to you.

Flying Ducks?
Where can I buy them?

it is interesting to note that while he says he is disenchanted with "design" he did go out and buy furnishings (second hand and what not) that he left comfortable with (had a visceral connection to). there was design involved in the making of those things when they were new (a design that still resonates after much time has gone by)... so the connection is to older rather than new/trendier... (better craftmanship? a sense of history perhaps?)
we're being fooled into thinking that "NEW, BIGGER is better" but in our guts most of us know this is not true... we choose to go along with it because we want to "fit in". high School syndrome I call it.
You don't have to have a 60 inch plasma or a Boffi kitchen in order to have a warm, cozy, inviting, happy home.
that said, if those things really resonate with you and you can afford them, then by all means... but buy them because you really derive pleasure from them and, not just to keep up with the guy next door...

the thing that makes a comfortable home is the people living inside it. if someone's a jerk, they can have the most comfy couches and you won't feel comfortable and vice versa!

I like what he says about his designer kitchen, after he spent loads of dough on it and it started to crap out on him a few years later:
"We were duped into thinking we were paying for quality. What we were actually paying for was vanity, for a "design concept" perfect for people who do not have sufficient confidence in their own taste."

I am struck by the many people on those home buying programs that insist on getting granite counter-tops and stainless steel appliances. Granite lasts forever, but what going to happen when it's no longer fashionable?

Figure out a use for them and you'll make a fortune in a few years.

the flying ducks in question were the three affixed to Hilda Ogden's muriel; Hilda being the most beloved character in the history of the long-running British soap, Coronation Street. Needless to say, she thought they epitomized the height of stylish home decor.

The writer makes a great point -- when people get money, they buy expensive things in order to demonstrate good taste, and thus, class. I think a lot of times, the impetus is subconscious, and people really aren't aware of what they are doing.

Have confidence in personal ideas of worth -- not much different from what Ilse Crawford preaches in such books as Home is Where the Heart Is, and what Maxwell does here on AT.

It's funny how many posters here support this idea, yet when an idiosyncratic space comes up on a house tour, it gets critical comments, whereas the trendy spaces are more universally embraced.

oops -- personal ideas of beauty and comfort

I think he's pointing at one way to go overboard, and some people do seem to suffer from it. In the end, it's all about proportion and balance, really.

Taking time to make your home fit the way you live, to make your rooms places that please your eye and make you happy to spend time in, that's unlikely to be wasted time. Especially if you enjoy the creative process of problem-solving spaces and editing your possessions down to the ones you truly love. Chasing a trend by spending money, that's more likely to be only a temporary fizz of ephemeral pleasure. Both approaches can be called interior design, and used even by the same person.

I don't think interior design is a bad thing, when it is exercised in aid of making spaces work better and feel more comfortable, but then, I don't think interior design is strictly about making your house photogenic.

I think this is my absolute favorite post of the year. It certainly backs up Magnaverde Rule No. 1: Don't confuse decorating with shopping.