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Normalising Lived-in Homes
How Influencers Have Set Unrealistic Expectations for Home Aesthetics
It’s Tuesday morning. I walked into the house, engrossed in my thoughts.
After three days of listening to my five-year-old’s chatters, the silence is always welcoming. I sighed, feeling contented and ready to enjoy a morning of peace until I peered from the corner of my eyes… a smattering of toys with garish colours, a mish-mash of weird, inexplicable creations.
Worlds collide — Thomas the Tank Engine staring down Optimus Prime, Mrs Potato Head missing a nose, and Lego T-Rex on its back.
I looked around the house again: an assortment of knickknacks adorn my mid-century coffee table, and a wooden Kinderfeet trike has become a permanent decoration in my lounge. What a mess!!
For years, I’ve obsessed over Vogue Home and features in Architectural Digest, the type of home that screams Zen, where nothing looks out of place, and every single object in the house looks like it belongs. When my husband and I bought our first home as working professionals in our late twenties, we painstakingly ensured our house would look like something straight out of the catalogue: sleek, polished, clean. It's like we have finally got our act together.
