To think a lot of homes are “soulless” and all people care about is size?

I love my house, it's very much a riot of colour and thus I've found. In my living room I've papered my chimney breast with floral illustrations from a vintage book and instead of curtains I've got a sari I picked up on holiday above the window. I'm a glass artist so lots of bright colours and contrast. I also have a full on book case in every room as I love books and literature. Lots of plants too but I know my tastes are pretty extreme compared to most. My bathroom is jelly bean orange with turquoise fish wallpaper and a singing fish above the loo 😂

I think it's nice to have a mixture of both.
Too much clutter and a lot of things around stresses me out. I like minimalist stuff, but we do have plenty of pictures on the walls, fridge full of magnets from places we've been to and the kids school awards and artwork etc.
We do also have random ornaments and things where people ask either "Ooh where did you get that?" Or "Oh...what is it?" depending on the particular item 😅

Ps I disagree about needing money to achieve the boho or eclectic look. My friends and I have always gone for this look even back in the days we had hardly any money. It was cheaper to scour eBay and charity shops for second hand items. I couldn't have afforded new furniture so actually this look was the only option!

I agree OP. Looking on rightmove, trends for home decor have gone in a very bland, plain and dreary direction.

I'm not sure exactly when it changed and houses became so identical, bland and dull. Through the 70s, 80s and 90s people had more individual items on display and colour and patterned wallpaper.

I use Pinterest and fortunately there are still many inspirational homes and interiors there if you train it to your taste with the right searches. When I see stunning homes there that make use of antiques, plants, art, fabrics and natural materials, I can't grasp why anyone would stick with the tat found in a lot of shops nowadays.

I do appreciate that not everyone is interested in trawling flea markets, eBay or skips for treasure though!

Check out Jessie Burton's house on Instagram, she's got a very bold style.

I much prefer space to stuff. I like big windows, lots of light, a good view (I am lucky to live on the river and watch boats, paddleboaders, horses on the field opposite) etc.

I don't need loads of things in my home to bring personality. I fill my home with family and friends. They bring much more personality than trinkets and knick-knacks.

We've just come back from a holiday travelling across a few European countries. Didn't bring anything back with us as a souvenir. I'm not against bringing back souvenirs, but I don't feel obliged to find something just to give my eyes something to look at.

Well the OP has just called other people's homes boring and soulless. When in truth, others would call hers an eyesore.
Many people IMO don't even think about it. They have other priorities and just put things wherever.
I like ary and some carefully chosen pieces to draw the eye but loads and loads of crap like what the OP wants is just going to look like mess.. my house isn't a showcase of my personality.

To me, lots of ‘things’ means clutter and dust. Surfaces are much easier when you don’t have to move a hundred things. Clutter makes me think of confusion, clear space is calming.

You're being judgmental and obviously feel that your style is the correct one. I disagree.

My - as you would no doubt judge to be boring - home reflects my interests. I don't want my eyes kept 'busy' when I get home, quite the opposite. I work long hours in a mentally demanding job and like to spend my free time seeing friends and family, outside enjoying nature and being active. I like a calm, relaxing home which is easy to maintain and practical in terms of supporting my interests. I have no interest in going round flea markets or spending my time acquiring and curating stuff.

My parents' home is like yours, it works for them. They are happy to spend the time cleaning and tidying all their 'stuff' because the stuff itself gives them joy and they enjoy going round antique shops and markets and picking stuff out. I'm happy it makes them happy but it would make me stressed and unhappy. Different people want different things from their home. One isn't superior to another (excluding extreme issues like hoarding or particular health based needs).

I'd also like a larger house, it would allow me more space to host friends and family which again I value far above collecting stuff.

It also makes it easy to tell our DS "no" to random impulse purchases because we as adults just don't do that ourselves by routine so we aren't hypocritical.

He catches me looking at stuff sometimes and asks if I'm buying it and I'll say no, lll probably have forgotten about it next week or that I want to consider it a bit longer or that I can love something and appreciate its beautiful and not feel the need to own it.

You'll hate me. I used to buy souvenir knick knacks - a blanket, rug, plates. And I liked all the individual things. Still do. But in the end I gave a lot of them away as they weren't purposefully bought and didn't fit in with my actual style at home as I grew into my taste. Despite being beautiful items, they looked like eyesores in my actual home and looking at them made me feel a bit unsettled as they didn't fit in and felt like I was looking at a job - find a better place, redo the decorating to incorporate it better, pass on etc.

My home is a calm, colourful, practical, minimal and clutter free space. I have a few carefully chosen knick knacks that fit and make me smile and that i rotate. But stuff isn't happiness for me. Space, easy cleaning and purposeful spaces are my bliss.

It was a hard lesson and not for everyone. I'm not saying i don't have the odd mismatched item, I do. And I still buy trinkets IF I know exactly where they will go and how they will fit.

Why does anything need discussing? Other people's relationships are nobody's business but their own, their food choices sre their own business. Its a discussion forum!

Why does how other people choose to decorate their homes need discussing? It's nothing to do with anybody who doesn't live there.

I love looking at homes with personality too

Don't want to live in one

Or the cat! 🤣
Also, these days 90% of stuff 'picked up in flea markets' can be bought online anyway.
I agree with the needing design sense, I have none. I have some interesting paintings and stuff but no idea how to arrange them to produce the desired effect.

When I read your thread title, I was reminded of searching for a house to buy in a small Scottish town, having returned from living abroad for many years.

In the country where I was living, there was little pressure for space. Very few homes were built in estates of similar houses. Most were unique, even if small. I guess there would have been flats that were more modern and many similar, but it wasn’t that obvious.

I was kind of shocked by the blandness of so many of the modern homes. So many soulless estates with boring semis or tiny, square built detached houses. So many poky rooms. I ended up buying an old cottage, but I wondered when the UK housing industry became so unimaginative. I was at the bottom end of the market, which probably made it worse, but it was an odd experience.

But then, it must be what the market has driven. I’m kind of used to it again now, but that really was my first impression and that wasn’t about decor or things, it was about the houses themselves.

Goodness this has put so many people on the defensive!!!😲

It could be an interesting discussion if people can stop being offended.

I think fashion plays a much bigger part in home decor now than it ever used to and I think that is down to the collaboration between shops and Instagram type sites that use influencers to literally influence people into changing decor according to fashions.

And because of that I think it's also an age thing. Younger people tend to be more minimal and older people who tend not to use those sites so much might have more eclectic tastes.

I agree.

I can't stand white/grey homes.

That's not true. I offer as evidence my DSs bedroom that was completely renovated with everything brand new, let alone merely 'clean'. Within an hour of his return it looked like it had been burgled. Untidy refers merely to not putting things away out of sight and in their place. Nothing to do with how clean the place itself is.

My husband constantly argues with me about this.
He's picked up all sorts of artefacts and wooden carvings from the travelling round the world that we've done together. All these things have been collected by him. I always admired these things in their own countries, but I never looked at it all with any desire to cart it back to my home to England. At times I thought husband seemed bordering on obsessed to acquire all this stuff from all over the world. For example, he once paid a fortune to have an enormous aboriginal didgeridoo shipped home from where we were travelling in the northern territory of Australia. He can't play one. I couldn't understand why he was so elated with the purchase of one. The shipping and insurance cost way in excess of the didgeridoo. That's just one example of dozens and dozens of things he's bought from countries around the world. He's collected so many dark wooden carvings and artefacts and pieces of furniture and fabrics to lay over sofas and hang up on walls.
I admired all these things in their own countries, but I don't want to to live with my own home full of them all everywhere.
He wants our home filled with all the stuff he's either carted around Asia and Africa and Australia and New Zealand (think Maori wooden carvings) and Indonesia with him, or that he's had shipped home.
He's had every surface covered in his things from travelling, walls covered in tapestries and pictures from around the world, masses of photos everywhere of places we've been to.
My taste for home decor is completely and utterly different to this.
So after non stop years of arguing about him insisting on filling our home with all this stuff, whilst I've said for years that it's not to my taste, I've now put all of it in the loft. Except for one wooden statue from Indonesia that I've kept out cos our DC like it.
The arguing from my husband about it doesn't stop.
He constantly complains that our home is now souless and shows no personality whatsoever. He actually doesn't stop going on about it and says he hates the way our home looks now.
We live in a very small home, and all I keep feeling is the immense relief of not being surrounded by so much stuff, of feeling less cluttered, and of not living surrounded by things that are not to my own personal taste.
It's a never ending battle though.
We cannot agree.

I think Instagram and TV interior design progs have made everybody's homes seem like everyone else's business, when really it is somewhere you should feel able to arrange it exactly as you would like it. That's the point of home isn't it. Your stinky little nest.

See, I'd love to have a minimalist house, all airy and light and decorated fairly blandly. That's my dream. Unfortunately my house has lots of 'personality', it's fairly small and I've allowed the children (who are at the moving out stage almost) to include their favourite items too, plus past photos, stuff, and more stuff, so it has an eclectic vibe. None of us are good at tidying, so there is clutter. I do manage to keep on top of the bathrooms and kitchen, but dusting is not in my wheelhouse.

I want a large airy house!

My home is as you describe and very boho although a certain style wasn’t my aim it’s just my stuff
I do sometimes feel envy of beautiful uncluttered homes when I visit but I could never maintain that or see it as my home.
Personallyni dislike the grey hinch themes and generic canvases/ leather suites but I don’t live in anyone else’s home so it makes no odds

It seems immensely privileged to even have a decent home, much less the means to be travelling around the world picking up knick knacks in flea markets. Or the family to have family hierlooms. That’s just not reality for many people, surely.

Yes, this! It sounds cool but the sort of home that would belong to a posh person with lots of money.

@mothsandgoths

of course it can be.

i have too much 'stuff' in my house. Long boring story, but essentially ended up with it all. Sentimentally attached to a lot of it & will need the rest of it when I move. Move has been delayed due to 'life' happening.

its cluttered, but clean, very clean. I move stuff to clean under & behind things. It's not as easy as when it's not over full, but that just means it requires more EFFORT , not that it's not cleaned.

So behave yourself with your unwarranted judgement!!