Are show homes a new thing for people?

[Dojasayso]

Just musing through Instagram and I realised something.. most people's homes are borderline show home standard.

It's not a put down because my home is the same in terms of cleaning and nice decor with a lot of effort, time and expense.

But I growing up I don't remember the being as standard? I remember fridge magnets, pictures, ornaments etc.
I remember friends houses having carpets that don't match the sofas and a rug that was gifted 10 years ago that doesn't match the home but families kept anyway.

But now I can't think of a single friend or acquaintance with such a mis matched home.

Of course there were home fashions but these weren't the default standard in most homes.

Of course the grey homes with mirrored furniture were a thing (I hated that trend). But even so, people put a lot of money and time into creating that imagine.

I don't remember people putting as much into their home decor years ago.

Now most people I know have gorgeously decorated homes where things match and even family photos are up in black and white with stylish frames.

Is it a new thing to have a show home type house? What do you think has caused it?

I think it may be due to social media?

It’s worth looking on Twitter at the duvetknowitschristmas hashtag.

This runs every Christmas Eve where people post pictures of the room they are staying in at other peoples houses for Christmas Eve. I am always amazed at the clutter and crap in other peoples house. It’s worth a look for a dose of realism.

Even before IG people we doing it. Used to know a couple of people who didn't have an original idea between them. Their homes identical and all matched various pages from the next catalogue. And everytime a new trend popped up, off they went getting rid of stuff that was no longer in

I love mismatched. Some have fond memories attached to them about how I got them other than I copied from random people or page 82.

My house is gorgeous. But I can tell you that long ago from when I was 8 I used to design my house over and over with mood boards for each design. Instead of a kids magazine I had a subscription to Country living magazine and later, Ideal Homes instead of Cosmo. I insisted on browsing homeware and craft shops on holidays as a child instead of toy and sweet shops. I poured over internet property sites from the moment they were available. So my love of a nice home has not been influenced by social media.

But I guess people follow trends. And access to products and ranges has rocketed this last 10 years. And yes, expectations are also now different due to influence and progress.

@PurpleRainDancer

Stealth boast OP 🥱

Huh? Where have I once boasted?

Furniture is a lot cheaper than it used to be as it's mass made and easier to import from abroad. Online shopping has seen retailers drastically cut prices to keep up with competition so it's relatively inexpensive to make your house look 'insta' worthy compared to 30/4 years ago (not to mention there was no insta lifestyle to live up to these days)

Though they look to me look like a monochrome photograph most of them with all the grey and white - Mrs Hinch particularly, her house is so dull.

My house has nothing matching. All of my furniture is second hand from people I know and I’m awful at decorating. I live in a council house with pipes on the outside of the walls and very wobbly plastering I think it would cost me a fortune to get this place looking like a show home. My mums on the other hand is like a show home. There’s never a thing out of place and to me it feels very cold.

Boring people live in houses like that. I have a personality and my home reflects that.

I learnt how to replaster and more from watching youtube videos. Also watched them to undo my botches made before youtube lol.

IMO, it's a fashion and also it's a form of control. There's a strive for perfection these days. It makes the person feel like they too have just stepped out of the pages of a magazine. A sort of manicured, maintained celebrity look at a budget price.

I think it's fine when it's just adults in the house but the pressure to keep up that level of perfection with small children and toddlers must be immense and very unsettling.

If I didn't have stuff lying around which I am working on, my place would look like a show home (albeit in a different style to the show homes you are talking about - that's mainly because I'm in a different country so the flat itself is a different style to start off with)
But I'm creative and I read a lot so there's always stuff out and I have a lot of books.
Once you have more than a handful of coffee-table books or books artfully displayed on a shelf, the show home look goes out of the window.

I think it’s down to the fact that you can buy matchy tat pretty cheaply now so an entire room can be made to look showroom-like but on a comparatively low budget.

This. I remember growing up in the 80s/90s pre-social media, interior design wasn't really a 'thing' for most people - until Changing Rooms and Property Ladder-type programmes which turned everyone into DIY fanatics (anyone remember rag rolling? ). The main shops for homewares were places like B&Q, Homebase, BHS, Laura Ashley etc or catalogues like Argos/Index, plus IKEA etc, and things were more expensive so you couldn't afford to chop and change all the time or had to wait and save up.

Compare to now where every supermarket and budget chain store has their own homeware range which is super cheap and mostly tat. B&M, Home Bargains, Dunelm, Wilko, The Range - you could walk into any one of them and buy exactly the same stuff as everything is driven by social media trends.

I’m attached to my furniture, the shelves I bought for my first flat, the captain’s chair from a family business I worked in, the dresser DH haggled for, the chests of drawers that the children used to use.

New sofas and mattresses as required but I’m unlikely to buy anything else.

All their things are in the garage OP !
I live on a newish build estate and they’re starting to be resold after 3-4 years.
A nosey on Rightmove show them all pristine, bland and matchy matchy, but I’ve seen the inside of their double garages

Don't put my house on social media but I hate clutter and mess so it always looks like no one lives in it. Plenty of houses on rightmove are a mess though, im always shocked people hoard so much rubbish

I always wonder about this too! I think social media definitely influences it, there is a) slightly more pressure to keep up with the joneses/compare yourself to others and try to keep up but also b) more of a point to doing it, if you have social media and your home is the backdrop up your posts then there is incentive to make it look nice. I also feel like when I was growing up (90s) no one really had money and there wasn’t the mass production of good quality comparatively cheap trendy furniture like there is now.

I think our house was build about 20 years ago , we have been here nearly 12 years . When we moved in we spoke about putting in a new kitchen - it's still the same. Ditto bathroom . Still got the original curtains in the lounge , the rest were bought from a charity shop. My sofa is probably 20 years old . I have ornaments that are his matches .
Is it because I'm poor ? Mortgage is paid off , could buy another house outright if we wanted to , it's just that neither of us feel we need to live in a show house. If you come to ours, it's take us as you find us . The house is clean , I would have home baked goodies for you and I wouldn't have a fit if you dropped a few crumbs on the floor .

I'm in my mid 30s and live in an old, homely and lived in property. My furniture is mismatched and I'm definitely more maximalist than minamilist. There's clutter, loads of candles and loads of art work. I love it. I think 'show homey' homes often look cheap and mass produced. Where I grew up, everyone I knew was poor and our houses reflected that. There is certainly more money around now, as well as lots of cheap choices so people can create an aspirational look on a budget.

I’ve not got an issue with it unless those people that have very trendy matching homes will then in a few years chuck stuff out and buy new. That kind of wastefulness and consumerism is not cool at all.

My friends home is like this. What’s worse is she judges mine and for ages I was trying to keep up. If the kids had their arts and crafts stuff out on the table and she seen it, she would be shocked that I could possibly allow them to do this kind of thing. Paints, slime, play doh, glueing and sticking are banned in her house, and if the kids get it as a present she puts it straight in the bin!
I have LOVED this lockdown. No pressure, no mad rushing round to shove everything out of site when she’s coming round.

Actually I think you’ve got a good point op. Years ago plenty of people had lovely homes, and did decorate it, although I grew up in poverty my extended family were quite wealthy (long story) and the houses were beautiful, as were some of my school friends homes. I’m now 52. But there was not the focus on it that there is now.

The Difference I think now is that people are replacing kitchens, bathrooms, building extensions, landscaping their gardens, following trends etc, people put a lot more effort and thought into it now than they did before.

@Rallyaround

My friends home is like this. What’s worse is she judges mine and for ages I was trying to keep up. If the kids had their arts and crafts stuff out on the table and she seen it, she would be shocked that I could possibly allow them to do this kind of thing. Paints, slime, play doh, glueing and sticking are banned in her house, and if the kids get it as a present she puts it straight in the bin! I have LOVED this lockdown. No pressure, no mad rushing round to shove everything out of site when she’s coming round.

Poor kids!

mismatched

One day I will have a show home. For now, my home is spectacularly cluttered and mismatched.

My house is clean, but not what I would call cluttered but most certainly wouldn't be to lots of people's taste. If I wanted to market it the estate agent would likely ask me to move lots of things before taking photos or arranging viewings. I hate white and magnolia and most would consider my house to be too dark. I don't get the whole light and airy, ultra modern feel at all. I also don't care for trends.

I don;t know anyone with am instagram show home.
All my friends and relatives have comfortable mis-matched homes with lots of colour..