why homes in magazines look so good (houses, church, office)

[ellemint]

You never see an electrical cord or power strip or even an electrical outlet with things plugged in, in home interior photos. [You never see wastepaper baskets either, even in most bathroom photos.]

No wonder the rooms look so immaculate and perfect!

My rooms are absolutely lined with endless cables and cords and they are really unsightly.

What do you do with all your cables and cords?

[Lamplight]

I imagine when those pictures aren't being taken, those houses have just as many cables and garbage bins as any other. Although, the house I used to own had the kitchen garbage bin neatly hidden in the cabinets. You open the door, slide out the bin and drop your trash in, then slide it back and close the door.

[ellemint]

I wish someone created baseboards that flip up from the bottom, you could place cables and cords behind them and flip them back down.

[Lamplight]

That's actually a pretty darn clever idea! Come to think of it, you could probably build that yourself, although you'd have to conceal the hinge somehow.

[telex_610]

If anyone believes that 'magazine' homes are like that in real life, you need to get a clue. They're like photo shopped models on the front cover - Altered to convey a different image of something they are not.
Magazine houses merely look the way they do in order to sell more magazines. I'm sure the power cords and waste baskets are stowed away somewhere, and immediately after the shoot they're right back out in the open.

[straight shooter]

A piano hinge is probably the way to go.

[chet everett]

When it comes to electrical outlets I've seen all kinds of tricks -- floor mount outlets, outlets drilled into window sills,motets on the underside of overhanging cabinets... Similary tricks for telephone jacks and A/V cables,mince those are typically low voltage the skilled installers that specialize in high end work are generally able to tuck them into upholstered surfaces and other places so that end result is like a customized car with not a single visible wire.

Of course all these tricks still require MASSIVE amounts of time / labor to implement and changing anything means you have to call back the "custom installer" whose hourly rates look like the billing sheet for a law firm SO if you really want a "picture perfect" home that looks like it leapt out of a magazine be prepared to pay prices that even some 1%-ers can't / won't stomach...

There is some "trickle down" -- pull out trash bins / hampers are cheap and readily available from many firms. They are generally available in sizes for kitchens, bathrooms, and even closets/ bedrooms. Even regular Joe Sixpack style kitchens done on modest budgets routinely incorporate them these days. Been around since at least the 50s for higher end homes....

[Chango]

Originally Posted by ellemint

You never see an electrical cord or power strip or even an electrical outlet with things plugged in, in home interior photos. [You never see wastepaper baskets either, even in most bathroom photos.]

No wonder the rooms look so immaculate and perfect!

My rooms are absolutely lined with endless cables and cords and they are really unsightly.

What do you do with all your cables and cords?

It's the same reason women look so smoking hot in glamour magazines:

Careful staging and attention to angles, stage lighting and Photoshop. A "magazine house" is not a liveable house; it's a set to look at.

[Coldjensens]

Usually they are not taking pictures of the office or the utility room. Most requently it is the front parlor. Ours has 1 item plugged into an outlet. A tiffany type table lamp from 1910. You really do not see the cord.

We have loads of electronics in the back parlor and also a rowing machine in the middle of the room. However the TV, sound system DVD and Xbox are in an antique armore. Close the coor and all you see is a nice beveled mirror. The few other cords are conceled. The rowin machine and a laundry basket full of Xbox games and accessories cna be picked up in an instant. Ten minutes and "Viola" a cordless and clutterless appearing room.

Dining room has no cords.

THe rooms with cords running around simply would never be in those pictures. The libary has comuters and printers on big folding tables, book everywhere, tools and two huge bid cages. Mudroom has shoes, coats, scarves, sports stuff, crossbow all kinds of junk. Kids bedrooms look like a church rmmage sael gone bad. Those rooms would never make a magazine photo. Kitchen, they would probably only photograph elements in close ups rather than a big picture picture. I dont think they photo shop them much, but they are selective in taking the picture and selective in chosing pictures. If a cracked wall or something being repaired shows in the back ground, they move and zoom and change angles until it does nto show.


Also a lot of people (like me) really hate cords running around and either minimize them or hide them. I woudl rather just add an outlet than have cords running all over the place.

[CSD610]

All of my kitchen appliances and their cords are going to be installed within the cabinet with a rolling pull out and the cords will be stored under the cabinet, plugged in where they cannot be seen at all. I dislike all that cord mess. Currently my cords are stapled to the underside of my desk as much as possible and run along the leg as well or under the carpet as much as possible and the plug outlets are at the floor so the plug goes directly under the carpet into the outlet with very little showing.