4.19.2011

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lately, I've stopped
posting images of
interior spaces



as inspiring
and seductive
as they are



something in my gut
tells me that we're being
over-saturated with everyone's
too cool for school "undecorated"
whatever you call-it, living spaces.



it all kinda makes
me feel empty.



unsatisfied



which is
ridiculous.



i have so much.




does anyone
feel this?




images via hemma




On a couple of occasions,
I've been asked to have
my apt photographed


I guess it now comes with
the territory when you
have a design blog.


but are we all sharing
too much of ourselves?
with our status updates
tweets and every-day
outfit posts.



shouldn't we leave
a little to mystery?



ps:

my feelings are especially
conflicted because a part of me
thinks it's really incredible that
interiors and fashion are no
longer subjected to the
standards of the
glossy mags.


blogs have played
a huge part in making
design more accessible
and democratic


it's great to see
homes that come in all
shapes and sizes.


which reinforces
the idea that money
doesn't determine or
guarantee style



but is it really healthy
for us to be so focused on
how we live and what we wear
that we simply forget to just live
and enjoy what we have?


32 comments:

mack said...

no, you're right, it's all i think about. interiors make me so queasy these days. i stopped posting them.. but these are nice, sparse, old.

jiminycrow said...

It's inspiring to see how wealthy people with taste or the money to purchase taste decorate their homes or their bodies, but there's a rarely a plot twist.

Unknown said...

I think your reflection is very pertinent. I hope you will continue to use the popularity of your blog to help educate and encourage the simplifying of women's lives. Teaching others the bounty of space uncluttered is a worthwhile goal. Hang in there.

One Woman's Thoughts said...

A thought provoking post.
I guess I understand what you're saying. I do believe a little mystery is good and exciting.
My surrounding interiors have changed many times over the years.

As a child of immigrant parents, the "decor" was thrifty, sturdy and simple with never anything getting thrown out and everything always CLEAN and cared for.
A young wife . . sparse, inexpensive, cutsey pie.
A young mother . . . childproof and mixing old and new.
With older children and better income . . . designer, contemporary and expensive taste with professional guidance.
A new divorcee . . . a cleansing.
A woman on her own . . . a new style and decor of warmth and special stories.
A woman with a new partner . . . a combination of tastes and styles with a desire for longevity.

And the times they are a changing . . . always.

Joseph Meade said...

Wow Thanks fr posting this. I couldn't agree more......being bombarded with images of cool is like eating too much candy......it can be fun and pleasurable when doing it but damn I feel sick after I have had to much!

After and hour of viewing great interiors, sometimes I feel like I should have been doing coming real instead of focusing on how cool it would be to live in a place like I have been seeing. I live in a great place!

erica lorraine scheidt said...

yes, i share that feeling. i covet and there's a way that it diminishes all that i have and love -- if that makes sense. coveting is not how i want to spend my time.

Betsy Timmer said...

I often find myself thinking "Where is the stuff, the real stuff?" You know, the junk mail, the remote controls, the shoes kicked off by the door from yesterday's outfit, etc. I have been thinking a lot about how everything we post is edited. My Facebook status, my blog entries...sure they are "me" but in an edited way. They are me as I want to be or want to be perceived.

borellana said...

"blogs have played
a huge part in making
design more accessible
and democratic"
Except that this isn't really true. We've just replaced one 'authority' for another. The stuff that really gets a lot of attention is still the stuff promoted by the most popular voices on the internet. We've traded one form of hegemonic sameness for another unfortunately. The smaller voices still just get drowned out. :(

louise and nivaldo de lima said...

I think you're right. I like to see nice interiors, but in a way they're all starting to look the same and I'm starting not to care too much. I think your home should be for you. That is your sanctuary. Your private space.
Love your blog!!

Mlle Paradis said...

you're right! which is why i like to take a break from time to time and do and think about anything but blog!

we will always come back to it, and to decorating because some how it gives us those good shivers.

but life and art (artifice - because the minute it gets posted, it is no longer a part of "real time" and real life), they are not always the same thing!

glad i stopped by here!

Tracey Frei said...

Two years ago I lost my home and all my belongings in a major flood. It was a fabulous home on beautiful acreage that had been in my family for 3 generations. Not only was it beautiful to the eye, it was the center of countless gatherings, holidays, deaths, births, sorrows and joys.
I was so sad after this loss and I realized that so much of my identity was wrapped in the physical existence of this remarkable place.
Two weeks after the flood when of our children were making plans to return home for Easter they all asked, "where do we go...where is home now?" It occurred to me that "home" is where my husband and I...whenever and wherever we are gathered as a family, we are home.
We bought another house and furnished it....I suppose it is lovely and someday this house will be home because memories will be created and cherished here now...
A home can be a reflection of ourselves but it is always and truly mysterious, mystical, private and intimate.

Raj said...

lovely, clean thoughts... thank you

I Love Saturdays said...

Reading such honest, straight up forward thoughts ... I really really enjoyed it. Alot.

You have me thinking ... and I need some time to process. The word over saturated sticks to mind - I think that word is correct. But thanks for sharing... I think perhaps you know 3 or 4 things ...

x

Sara said...

blogging and interior design on blogs are parts of complex questions. What i love about blogs that show interior spaces or even hands showing some thing someone appreciates-is that feeling of 'loving what is'- or coziness (Hygge)- just taking a second to snap a picture or blog a post of something inspiring.
Appreciating the day to day and seeing what others appreciate has been a way of traveling to different mental spaces for me.
AND i do get what you are saying. What's next after the next new shiny thing?

Jillian Hobbs said...

I totally agree with you on the living space. I mean as inspiring and wonderful as those spaces can be at times... they're totally unrealistic. There is nothing homey or comfortable about them... and these days I find myself looking to these posts for pieces... say a mirror or a bowl or a vase... not so much the space itself. I think what makes a living space beautiful is the life inside of it... the look of being lived in and loved of memories made...

just my two cents

by land by air by sea said...

bravo.
B

carl auböck architekt said...

our eyes and wishes just exchange the corset for a diet.
everything stays the same somehow.. we stay greedy for a little daily sensation and thats ok unless somebody else takes over control.
simplicity can tend to more kitsch than the will to rule the world

Kiki said...

The way your write, the way you think are so inspiring for me and charming to me. That's why I am following you.

Sitting In A Tree Kissing said...

The loft is just perfection. Love how simple and clean it is.

lolajohn said...

It depends.interiors: For some people is their mirror for others, for others a room of one´s own. Helena Christensen once said: Iam not mad about clothes, but i like them when they help me to define my self. I liked that.
Your whole blog is about products, objects and not sujects, and I like it like that. It´s about those ten minutes of fame that evrybody has...

Anonymous said...

Regarding your last question about perhaps the over-focus on how we live and what we wear is a bit curious coming from a blogger whose focus is design, since what you are displaying or drawing attention to are just those kinds of details that illustrate 'how we live' and 'what we wear.' So unless you quit your blog, how healthy are you?

Deb Booth said...

well, I suppose you are right in a way
I am a theatre designer, so I am not so interested in cool or even well designed but really how people live
how they create a space for themselves
essentially theirs
I don't think much of designed spaces
kind of empty and leaves me disappointed
living is what I am after
and a personal space
that can not help itself

Anonymous said...

Ah! I love posts like this. You sometimes say what is often running through my mind, only much more eloquently. All I can say is, "true dat."

ISA G. said...

Reference is important. It's inspirational, makes you go places without leaving, gives you new ideas.

But when feeling saturated and overwhelmed by crowds, I like to take a step back and experience new, different things/places/flavours/etc. Gives you the real perspective of what matters.

Lately I've been working in a Lina Bo Bardi's building, in São Paulo. Her architecture is so raw and so consistent in every detail. It has given me new perspectives on architecture and how people relate to it. It is truly inspiring.

antepostnow said...

if you have something to say, say it.

if you have something to show, do.

at your discretion,

i believe you may.

thank you!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for saying this (about under-decorated apartments). I always wonder myself if these people may have a room in which they keep all their personal belongings..

Carolyn Robbins said...

I like to shoot places where people live. I always have. But not the look where everything seems 'put away' but old chairs with books stacked up next to them, or closets with folded or not clothes. Or dishes stacked in a disarray. I suppose it's from being a designer of interiors for thirty years, I have realized there is a beauty in the simplistic form, like a sofa alone in a room. But who truly lives this way I've rarely found. So the form becomes just a form....not a soul. What transfixes me is seeing the identity of the person or people who live in a space. How do they express themselves....and usually this is a kind of mess. This 'mess't becomes the fire in my belly to design by. Thank you for your words....they are so true.

Tricia Rose Rough Linen said...

I can tell by the way I edit my blogroll - too much fashion, too many 'other people's photos', ANY cupcakes or chippy white with lace, they're out!
I am gravitating to spare, original photos (http://athoughtfuleye.wordpress.com/) and wonderful writing (http://spitalfieldslife.com/), among others.
It is such a privilege to have direct access to so many ideas, why waste it on dross?

(PS my word verification is 'realside', I swear the web is sentient)

gia said...

Amen! Choose your blogs wisely! Go deeper.

Anonymous said...

Your post strikes a chord with me, especially the 'over saturation' of images, and the sharing too much of oneself.

This train of thought has been beating a quiet rhythm in my mind for some time.

People seem obsessed in curating a life but in doing so miss living it.

By attempting to limit my internet time, and deleting myself from social networks, I am hoping to reclaim the mystery.

Bonito said...

There is something more than a Blogger/Designer/artist here!
Im 100% agree with your feelings!
Chau!
L.-

Sandra Eterovic said...

Yup, I have been feeling exactly the same....I find I am being more 'business-like' in my blog, sharing less and less, and wondering whether in the end people will stop checking it because of this 'shy' attitude.

It's in our nature to be curious about one another, but we have to draw our own line and respect the lines that others draw. Easier said than done.

Thank you for this post.