Home decor Instagram vs reality

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I love nothing more than browsing interior accounts on Instagram... except browsing homes on Rightmove. I love bold, bright, dark or heritage colour rooms, quirky style, retro, vintage, original features, real wood floors, lots of plants, colourful mural walls, lots of colourful books, industrial style, boho style, exposed brick walls, coloured bathroom suites, coloured woodwork etc all typical cliche insta style I thought? Or is that just all I see because the algorithms know I like it?

Anyway, what I've realised is that my insta and Rightmove browsing never, ever align. I don't think I have ever seen a house styled in this way on Rightmove, and I have been browsing for years. Furthermore, it is very rare that I see a house that isn't dated, plain, mismatched, uncoordinated, and well overdue decoration OR modern with trends like LED strip lights and grey laminate floors everywhere and astro turf in the garden, something I'd never see on Instagram. This is broken up with many that are grey all over inside and out and empty (usually done by investors cheaply).

But there is no shortage of tastefully decorated Instagram accounts. So, is my area just devoid of style? (I mostly browse locally, but not always) or are well decorated homes really very unusual? I don't just mean quirky in style, I can very often recognise Farrow and Ball and other designer paints from photos, and don't see it very often. Tasteful neutrally decorated houses also seem unusual to find. Maybe people who's hobby is decorating are less likely to want to move?

I don’t think those things are an insta cliche, more they are just your specific accounts you follow. If you widen your search you’ll see other styles.

Furthermore, it is very rare that I see a house that isn't dated, plain, mismatched, uncoordinated, and well overdue decoration OR modern with trends like LED strip lights and grey laminate floors everywhere and astro turf in the garden, something I'd never see on Instagram

Sorry I don’t really see this and see some lovely homes

What’s yours like?

But your insta houses are very ' now' - so extremely recently decorated and very current re trends. Whereas the houses of the market have 3ither been lived in a while so decorations are not per 2022 insta trends, OR they've had a neutral makeunder to sell.

Suspect you'll find the people putting their heart and soul into decorating their houses as you've described and being proud enough to show it off online aren't the ones likely to be selling. I'm seeing more of my friends decorating their houses in a very Instagram style... Lots of paneling going up and bold colours. So I think those few people doing it on Instagram (because it's still a tiny subset of the population) is starting to have a trickle down effect.

@Ricksteinsfishwife

Furthermore, it is very rare that I see a house that isn't dated, plain, mismatched, uncoordinated, and well overdue decoration OR modern with trends like LED strip lights and grey laminate floors everywhere and astro turf in the garden, something I'd never see on Instagram

Sorry I don’t really see this and see some lovely homes

What’s yours like?

I've been a home owner for less than a year, so I have many projects on the go still, but painting over all the grey walls and dull wallpaper was a priority! I've had some comments from friends that I am 'brave' with colour, but I really don't think I have anything really out there. I am leaning towards it being my specific area that I search on Rightmove.

Congrats on your new home! Are you having some doubts?

If I was being honest. If someone said to me, after seeing my newly decorated home, that’s brave, I’m not sure I’d consider it wholly complimentary.

Yes lots of homes are dated, or mismatched, or covered in grey with lots of next at home artwork and stuff, but also lots of homes are beautifully done, be it with colour or in more muted shades. Sometimes people lack money or imagination or even time or motivation. Some times people just have a knack for interior design and an eye for it. Everyone has different tastes. What one person thinks looks awful, others think looks fab.

For our own homes, the key thing is you and whomever lives with uou likes it. That and not being judgey about other peoples homes to be fair.

Can you post some generic pictures of the sort of style that you mean? I’m
Not on instagram and don’t really get what you’re saying

I follow tons of interior accounts on Instagram, the majority are large family homes and are luxurious new build type houses. I would say the vast majority of them are more muted neutrals. Grey is still a feature in places but it's no longer the only colour people decorate with (thank god!!). There still is a lot of neutral though, but it is more taupe/biscuit/beige shades and broken up with moodier dark blues, dark greens, and F&B railings type colours. For me that's the kind of thing insta shows me in massive amounts. So I guess the algorithms will show us all different things.

FWIW though I also love a bit of property browsing and it's very very very rare to see a house for sale that's decorated to Instagram standards. Mostly the interiors I see are a bit sad/unloved/dated.

I don't think that's surprising though. People aren't likely to be selling their huge brand new lovingly built/newly renovated homes right after they've finished decorating. Plus surely the percentage of homes decorated to an instagram interior account standard are very small. Only the pretty privileged can live in an "insta worthy" house - it's hardly the norm.

I also don't think these things are a cliche forthe whole Instagram, I feel like other accounts may offer very different styles. Besides, tastes differ and what looks somewhat off to you may be another person's dream come true and vice versa so I wouldn't pay attention to the 'brave' comments. Brave to them but perfect to you, that's the key point. At least that's what I've learnt from decorating my own place and when I showed my mom my Interior design 3d project she hated it . Still, I had it my way since I was the one to live there.

Lots of EAs tell people to make their homes neutral before sale. I know someone who had very trendy deep colours on the walls, and when they struggled to sell the advice they had was to paint everything cream and remove 90% of their houseplants, decor, and furniture for the photos.

@Xiaoxiong

Lots of EAs tell people to make their homes neutral before sale. I know someone who had very trendy deep colours on the walls, and when they struggled to sell the advice they had was to paint everything cream and remove 90% of their houseplants, decor, and furniture for the photos.

We did this and it sold in 4 days.

The beautiful houses are all on Inigo - there may be some insta-overlap there.

I think its because its actually a bit of a niche taste. We've just had our bathroom redone and its dark with brass fixtures and lots of plants etc. The plumbers kept making comments about the tiles being very "out-there", and friends and family have said we're very "brave" etc but people on instagram love it and we've had lots of compliments! I think in 'real life' people are very conservative in their tastes.

I’m not convinced that looking just like every other property on Instagram is a sign of having good style.

My insta wanker house is currently for sale on rm. It's only just gone up but I have the fear that my darkish, boldish decor will put people off

Most people just don’t live in insta worthy homes. Our homes are where we switch off and become comfortable, like when we get home and we change from our smart workwear and polished hair to wearing loungewear with a top knot. Our homes are generally not to be shown off online, we just want them clean, tidy and presentable.
Also some of those insta houses you describe - the owners must have spent thousands on decorating each room. Most people, with a mortgage and family just cannot spend that much, especially if you have kids or pets that would just destroy it anyway. £2k on the latest fashionable sofa or £2k on an all inclusive in the med?

Lots of reasons, most of which are pretty obvious really

1- House decor instagrammers are by definition people with a keen interest in home and design so their homes are always going to be more designed than those of the general public -its like saying I follow all these fashion blogs and read vogue but in real life most people seem to just wear joggers! Well, yeah!

2- people selling homes are always told to make them as blank as possible to appear to the majority of buyers. E.g. I've taken a lot of my prints/photos/various decorative objects off my walls/shelves so it looks much less insta- ready than it did before and a lot blander but this is on purpose

3 - insta trends are very new - the last thing someone who wants to sell their house in the next year is going to do is faff around putting up panelling or wall papering their ceiling - they will be focusing all their time, money and effort on just general tidying/fixing to, as above, make the house as appealing to the widest amount of potential purchasers. Maybe they are pinning ideas for their NEXT home but they won't be using them for this one

4 - a lot of trends are very short lived and lots of people just don't want to commit to things that will instantly date their homes whether that's all grey, fake panelling, maximally, an excess of flamingos....etc

5- some people just don't like the insta trends and prefer their own style. What seems boring and mismatched to you is homey and comfortable to them.

6 - a lot of people don't have money to spend redecorating their homes constantly. Once they get a few followers loads of instagrammers get loads of freebies from various companies in exchange for ads so can afford to drop a few hundred on wallpaper etc.

7 - people who have spent the last few years decorating probably did so having decided they were going to be in the same house for a bit so aren't on the market to sell

@Sunshinedreaming2022

Most people just don’t live in insta worthy homes. Our homes are where we switch off and become comfortable, like when we get home and we change from our smart workwear and polished hair to wearing loungewear with a top knot. Our homes are generally not to be shown off online, we just want them clean, tidy and presentable. Also some of those insta houses you describe - the owners must have spent thousands on decorating each room. Most people, with a mortgage and family just cannot spend that much, especially if you have kids or pets that would just destroy it anyway. £2k on the latest fashionable sofa or £2k on an all inclusive in the med?

I can understand people spending £2k on a sofa if they have the money, but I swear some of these "insta-wankers" as Samanabanana put it (love that) must have spent £2k on wall art and the like. I've spent a lot of time looking at kids decor and there's bunting and pennant flags and little hanging things everywhere on the walls and these things seem to cost £25+ a time.

You need to look on the modern house, not rightMove

My friend in an interior 'influencer' with the type of house you describe.
Once they reach a certain amount of followers you'll find that a huge amount if the stuff that they show is gifted or an advert. My friend has a price list for a reel/post etc.
You tend to notice that the same brands crop up over and over for this reason. A year or so ago everyone was raving about French chic, lick paint, snug sofas and so on for this reason.

Anyway back to the original question, a lot of the houses decorated with the style you describe tend to be period houses - Victorian, Edwardian or 1930s. Period paint colours, wooden floors and features lend themselves to these types of houses. In the area that I live in there aren't that many older houses. More often 1960s onwards with the grey/neutral decor that you describe. This could be one reason.
Also I think the insta trends tend to be at least 12 months ahead of the mainstream shops. You find stuff creeping into Next by the time it's old news on Insta!

Agree, properties should be decorated in line with their period, it’s jarring otherwise, so potentially the age of the property and type of property the op is looking at impacts.

You’d not design a relatively new house, seventies on like it was a period property or a New York industrial loft, and colourful woodwork is a very niche taste, plus very few people pick their books due to the colour of the cover.

I had a very “insta” flat and sold it on Rightmove! The estate agent said most people would want neutral decor, but not to change it as though we’d get less interest overall, whoever bought my flat would be completely dedicated to it so they’d stick with a chain or any issues. And lo, it was true! Our buyers even wrote a letter with the offer telling us their favourite parts of the decor – we left them the ceiling lights they’d loved.

It does take time and dedication to do your house like that. I see a few houses like that on Rightmove, mostly through Inigo (sister site to Modern House), but it makes sense to me that most houses are “normal” – decor is a time- and money-consuming hobby and who has either? And when you do, why sell the house? We only sold the flat as it was tiny; our current house is done up neutrally to sell. Next and hopefully final house I’ll go all-in on decor but then never put it up for sale.

Sorry for posting and disappearing, my phone died immediately after posting, and then every time I tried to get on Mumsnet it was down for maintenance, and then I forgot.

I think it's a mix of what everyone says, that trends take longer to trickle down than I expected, however, I don't think that is the main reason as I have seen insta popular home style items in bargain high street shops for a long time, but still don't see it used well in real life. I think the comparison to fashion makes perfect sense, and I hadn't thought of it that way before. I am someone who has very little interest in fashion, but can appreciate a very well put together outfit or style on someone else, be that vintage, eclectic, or modern. The styles I like the most I could certainly say 'I love it, but I wouldn't be brave enough' and mean it. So I think some people do say that about home decor and it doesn't always mean they hate it. Interesting point.

Also someone said they want to just have their home as somewhere to be comfortable in and not have to always work on presenting or showing it off, that is how I feel about clothes! So that has given me a fresh perspective. And I think the most spot on point is that decorating a home is either functional or a hobby, and only someone who had it as a hobby would have it to Instagram standard. That makes so much sense, like gardening.

I also had a browse on properties in a city 50 miles away, and there was much better decorated properties, I think my area is particularly unfashionable for everything! I'd not heard of the property sites mentioned, I'll have a look at those.