To ask what people mean when they say ‘show home’?

[churchandstate]

I’ve just been reading the ‘lived in’ house thread and have read a few others about tidy/messy homes. I’ve seen so many people on here say ‘my house isn’t a show home’, but I have literally never been inside a show home or heard anyone say their house is like a show home.

What do people mean when they say someone’s home (theirs or someone else’s) is like a show home?

Mine, before anyone asks, is a mess.

.....A show home in a new build estate. Made to look like the perfect home but not actually lived in. Just for show. 👍

Generally it's a bitchy way of saying someone's home is neat, tidy and well decorated and furnished.

I've been into a house that I'd say was like a show home.

It was utterly pristine, absolutely immaculate, everything perfectly co-ordinated and arranged. It was also utterly soulless, unbearably depressing, and despite the heating being turned well up, I never felt warm there. Or comfortable, or welcome.

The man was an emotionally and financially abusive misogynist bastard, who made his wife and daughter utterly miserable.

I have an aunty, single no kids barely home that her house looks like a show home literally! I think it’s when a house is too clean and perfect to really be lived in as such and like a show home you would visit on a brand newly built estate to see what the finished homes will be like before you buy😂 in my Aunty’s house it’s like nothing has ever been used and It’s all immaculate unlike my home which although clean is well lived in and things often out of place😂 I think another example would be like how mrs hinch has her home on Instagram if you follow it!

Show homes have everything in immaculate condition with no wear and tear; all of the furnishings are styled by interior designers so everything co-ordinates; there’s no clutter such as toys or loads of ornaments etc, just carefully chosen vases, clocks, mirrors etc; everything is spotlessly clean. In short, it’s a house which shows how lovely things could look...if you didn’t actually live in the house but just breezed through it for a few minutes occasionally.

I would class a 'showhome' as being immaculately decorated, spotless, no clutter. A Mrs Hinch style house basically. I know one person with a house like this and she never sits still. I would love to have a show home but myself and DH are quite naturally untidy so it takes all my effort just to keep things presentable.

Perfectly presented but with no hint at the character or preferences of its occupants as a showhome is just to give an idea of how the finished homes will look when built and decorated and doesn't actually have people living there.

A show home is usually decorated like one of the chavy home decoration magazines (imagine lots of feature walls with wall paper, plush carpets, ott mirrors with lots of panels) and is staged to look like it’s occupied (magazines fanned on the coffee table, colour co-ordinated books on the book case, unused scented candles etc). It’s horrid really. I don’t know why they do them like that, i really doubt that it helps with sales.

An estate agent once condescendingly described my house as looking like a show home.

I told him I bloody well hoped it did seeing as how I'd spent an entire week cleaning and preparing it for him to sell .. and he'd better sell it for a good price seeing as he's agreed it was in immaculate condition.

Pristine, matching, most things from Next.

My ILs are immaculate, but their homes are homely. The furnishings and decor feel personal, and built up over time.

A show home is also immaculate but everything is too matchy like they've just bought half of a home furnishing shop. It looks like it's come out of a catalogue with everything on trend. Photostock style professional canvas prints will be as personal as it gets.

Okay, so the definitions differ slightly, from very tidy, to very tidy but tacky, to very tidy but characterless, to almost empty of ‘stuff’...

Show homes don't have to be naff. Look through Country Homes & Interiors or Homes and Gardens. The houses are "styled" which is basically what a show home is.

When I was breastfeeding a newborn, I used to sit blank eyed watching a TV programme where this bossy woman visited people who couldn't sell their houses, told them they were pathetic, put all their stuff into storage, added a lick of paint, some new cushions and a vase or two and told them all she'd upped their house value by tens of thousands.
I think its that.

Okay, so another question, then: I don’t want my home to be characterless, or bland. It’s ‘lived in’ at the moment: laundry basket out, house plants looking a bit bedraggled, more cobwebs than I’d like, lots of my DH’s ‘stuff’ getting in the way of my tastefully-selected ‘stuff’.

How would people go about making their homes more presentable/attractive, without leaning towards ‘show home’?

Yes the definitions will vary because people react differently to show homes and the idea of living in a house that looks like one.

But show home are styled in a particular way. The homes in those magazines are usually expensive, classy and homely - unlike show homes

Brand new furniture all 100% coordinated, not a speck of dust to be seen, very bland decorations no sense of individuality. I don't think anyone would describe their house as a show home as it's not generally a compliment. You might say it's immaculate though. I know a few people who have houses which are a bit show home ish not to my taste at all. I also know people with very clean and tidy homes (definitely not me) which don't look like a show home at all.

Mine usually looks like a show home, on a Monday afternoon for about 30 minutes between me finishing my once weekly clean and the manchildren arriving home.

To me a show home is a modern well presented house, clean, tidy and organised. Which is were I fall down for 95% of the week as my hard work on Monday is undone gradually through the week.

See I wouldn’t say show home are necessarily bland and lack character but they’re very much decorated with a particular style and presentability (is that a word?) in mind.

You can tell its a showhome if there is a throw arranged on a diagonal on the sofa, with a laid-out tea tray on top.

And/or a vase of flowers on the hob.

And/or dining tables with full dinner sets laid as if the Queen is coming over later.

i.e. its a house that looks in no way like a lived-in home

There's definitely a type of house. You wouldn't describe e.g. this house (www.instagram.com/patirobins/) as a show home, yet it's amazingly designed/looks very cool, so it's not like it means 'decorated well'.

I'd agree with the PP - a soulless Mrs-Hinch-style grey vibe, with no personality. Immaculately clean, looks like a stereotypical 'insta home', a bit sterile. I wouldn't say it was necessarily a compliment, although some people are obviously a fan of that look or it wouldn't be a thing!

My house is definitely more towards the lived in end of things though because life is too short to Zoflora the underneath of my coffee table as a hobby!

Also if you look at it and think you have suddenly gone totally colour blind because everything is grey and white. And I mean everything.

When you see a mustard throw cushion (karate chopped on the top, naturally) you will feel like Dorothy when she goes outside and she is in Oz.

To me the phrase 'show home' in connection with houses that aren't actually show homes isn't about a particular style or taste in furnishings. It's about houses so immaculately kept that I feel uncomfortable. That I worry the owner would be upset if I put a dent in their perfectly plumped cushions, ruffle their throw or (inevitably as I have essential tremors) drop crumbs/spill coffee on the floor. I can never relax in a house like that.

Visited a few new build show homes some years ago, accompanying friends/family, when house hunting ourselves, and for some nosey fun!

New decor, often including “statement” things, v clean, enough furniture to look vaguely habitable but avoid showing up small rooms, eg small bedrooms would have a toddler bed and no wardrobe. A few “aspirational” kitchen utensils and tapas cookbooks on stands. No stuff/clutter, again because that would expose shortcomings of the properties.

DH is very houseproud and spends lots of time tidying and cleaning: he aspires to “showhome” standards and would regard it as a compliment!