Is this what 99% of mumsnetters homes look like

[Damaged27]

After all these interior design threads this is what I'm imagining everyone on mumsnets homes look like. Just curious if I'm way off because iv never been in a home like this. Maybe if the person is in their 80s. Do people really have bookshelves?

Makes me want to chuck all my books out.

@5thCommandment ha- I totally get you - I love books and my H used to joke I would read pig farmers monthly if it came through the door-but it does come over a bit Private Eye pseuds corner!

Knowing MN she means everything is grey with accent colours.

I always imagine mumsnet interiors to be that very clinical white kitchen with an island and grey carpets with a feature wall living rooms. That's my worst nightmare, and I probably live in theirs!

no because I live in the Palace of versailles

I have bookcases not book shelves with a thousand or two books. Yep to lamps and squashy sofas.

Nope just meant that most of my DH’s US colleagues have homes with large, book case filled living rooms whereas none of my UK friends have rooms that look anything like this.

Just an opinion. Nothing for MNers to get in a tizzy about. You can leave it and walk on by rather than make facetious comments.

I’m a writer so yes I have lots of books on bookshelves but my house doesn’t look like those pictures.

I’m in my early 30s.

And I have the kindle app on my phone but it’s got nothing on an actual physical book. The feel, the smell, looking at something non-electronic…it’s lush. The older the better! I often make notes in physical notebooks too.

Don’t read and donate much because I like to re-read or use non-fiction books for reference. I use the library a lot though.

I have mismatched furniture because I only replaced what needs it when it needs it. I wouldn’t re furnish an entire room because one or two things need replacing. So I buy stuff that I think looks nice or interesting with what is already there.

I've got bookshelves, plants and colour, but the house isn't as messy or mismatched as the original photo, it also isn't as sleek and smart as the house with the white shelves.
I love my books. The kids have outgrown theirs now, but I am struggling to give them away.

Not in a tizzy love.

You should see our vinyl and CD collection- some of you would be apoplectic !!

"Children who grow up in houses with books (regardless if they read them or not) achieve better academic outcomes than children who don’t."

Well, yes, but you can't just decide to buy bookshelves for that reason. It's being the children of the kind of people who own books that makes the difference.

I’m an equal opportunities reader 😂 I love reading , always have done and have hundreds of books which are kept on bookcases in a spare room. Nowadays I tend to have my fiction on kindle, I also enjoy Audible ( helps a whizz through household chores/ out for a long tramp with the dog etc ) but some books just really need to be in the physical form for me , cookery hobby reference, travel for example. I’m under 80. Y the way! Just as well we’re all different eh?

Nothing patronising at all about a ‘love’ thrown into a reply, is there?

where do you put your books?

God knows but the first one in particular is horrible. What are those 2 things in front of the chairs that look like camping toilets? I guess it looks like maybe someone in their 70s type room. The curtains look really dirty! I do like the bookshelves though. I have loads of my dads old books on my shelves and can't bear to chuck them, even though I'm not mad into Victorian Architecture, second word war history or American 1950s crime thrillers. Haha.
I'd envisage things looking a bit more modern for the average MN-er but this is purely a guess.

Genuine question - what is mismatched/messy about the photos?

Sure the chairs aren't exactly the same as each other but I wouldn't call it mismatched, the colours all blend ok to me? Now paranoid about my living room !

Oh and I have mismatched furniture because I live in an old cottage and new stuff just looks awful in there.

Just because something isn’t your style you don’t need to be unpleasant about it OP! I don’t like white plastic sleek-looking furniture and modern stuff but I wouldn’t be snobby about it a call people who do like it names. Variety is the spice and all that.

Our sitting room is similar to the second picture but without such nice lamps or objects as DH hates both.

I could cope with being married to someone who wasn't a reader. But sharing a bed with a man who hates lamps?? Hell no. Does he sit there like a barbarian with the Big Light on all the time?

Good Lord.

I like to read but hate clutter, once I've read a book don't see the point in holding onto it taking up space and gathering dust! (Obviously different story for kids books...) Lots of snobbery here about bookshelves ...mumsnet is an alternate reality 😄 their houses must be so dusty

Oh do stop whining.

My living room has similarities to the picture on the right. No books on the door, though, but I think a similar vibe to that room.

I hate clutter and my house is very minimalist so all books and bookcases are in the study, along with desks and a really comfy chair to curl up on with a good book. I’ve got rid of loads of books over the past few years in a bid to tidy up the space. I also get lots of books out of our local library every month. Our dc have their own bookcases in their rooms.

Why is there a difference between kids books and adult books?