Imagination graveyard
Have Too Many Likes and Pins nailed us in a Coffin of the Banal?
At their inception, online platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, showing images of designed homes were evocative and inspiring. Almost 15 years later, have they killed off our individual imaginations for a collective race to the recognizable middle of the road?
A friend I went to high school with grew up in a rambling Chestnut Hill home. This house, like many treasures of our area, had 5000 square ft of countless quirky features including odd sized rooms and doors, funky hardware and a hidden back staircase. After a massive renovation, I was struck by how much the house now feels like any other house you have seen countless times on Instagram. Like heirloom fruits and vegetables, that once had the distinct and rich flavors of their region, has Design become like Red Delicious and Granny Smith apples… a common denomination of easily recognizable choices?
There are many design elements that are now being installed in so many houses for no reason other than they check off the box of common appeal and have no relevance to the property. Houses have souls and many are screaming. A few examples of the low hanging fruit of social media driven design are as follows:
Open plan kitchens with three pendant lights over the island
Historic houses weren’t meant to have open kitchens with five seat bar height counter stools. Why not a kitchen table instead? The opportunity to close the door on a mountain of thanksgiving dishes has its merits.
Sliding Barn Doors
If a door is of an unusual size and salvaged from the carriage house…bring it on. If it is a home depot door, for no reason, hung to a powder room…No Bueno. The lack of sound protection is an added bummer. Light fixtures with Edison style light bulbs in a brass baton, an empty box or clear glass orb– these light fixtures are the poster child of the design zombie apocalypse. They also always look dusty.
Navy blue base kitchen cabinets with brass handles and brass faucets:
In 2012, this felt interesting. These were the chosen materials for the kitchens in NYC’s newly renovated Chelsea Hotel units. What would Patty and Robert have to say about this?
Navy cabinets and brass fixtures– 2022 renovation–Chelsea Hotel
The first time I saw a brass fixture I was reading Dwell magazine. It was a unique project by a couple in NYC. Their kitchen had a brass faucet. I tore out the page. This was how outstanding details used to hold a place in our creative vision. Instead of being flashed to us on our phones over and over.
From “Confessions of a Cleaning Lady” by our local domestic goddess Lois Volta, “The house sees and holds it all. It is volatile, alive and subject to change just like the people within it. It hears arguments and registers neglect: it carries trauma, depression and illness, all the while striving for restoration and wholeness.”
What would the ghosts of your house have to say?
