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I'm thinking about how and/or if a single family home communicates something about the peope who live inside.
Do we generally try to make the public view of a house pleasant just for asthetics, or are we trying to communicate something about ourselves through a "display" of sorts?
Are we actually trying to say something about our economic status, stability, tastes for the arts, belief in/support of our neighborhood, ect?
If we are, is that a healthy way of being?
And here I go again with yet another rant against faux stuff, but when we use obviously fake, unusable and/or cheap mass-produced materials/designs on our house's "face" are we subliminally suggesting we are "putting on a facade" ourselves?
Great topic! I've wondered about this a lot, both as I was restoring old city houses, and while building the new house I currently live in. I enjoyed the creative outlet in both cases, but I also felt a sense of responsibility to make the 'right' choices, which made each decision feel much larger than personal...like it would impact the entire neighborhood, or at least the neighborhood's impression of me.
As much as 'we are what we eat,' I think we have truly become 'where we live,' as well.
I agree with you, Chango, about the faux stuff. I will also add that minimalism can carry its own form of pretense. (see Unhappy Hipsters for a laugh!)
Last edited by scdreamer; 01-04-2011 at 11:11 AM..
How about one of those shed kits you can get a Home Depot? In Denver, you don't even have to go to the burbs to get to a Home Deopt; they actually have located in the city.
Seriously, what is the point of this thread? People decorate their houses according to their own personal tastes, and sometimes, according to their needs. If you have someone handicapped, you build a ramp. If you have little kids, you might fence the yard. And so on.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 01-04-2011 at 10:05 PM..
Seriously, what is the point of this thread? People decorate their houses according to their own personal tastes, and sometimes, according to their needs. If you have someone handicapped, you build a ramp. If you have little kids, you might fence the yard. And so on.
That is the point. Do we do it just for ourselves, or to say something about ourselves to world around us?
i'll bite. i want to be proud of the place i come home to. that's why i keep it nice. i believe the house tells a story of the history of the neighborhood and its prior occupants and i want to be part of that story -- that's why i try to keep it original or at least respect the original design.
is it vain? yes. home ownership in general is a somewhat vain and selfish endeavor. when you're looking at houses and thinking, oh yes, i could use this restroom without leaving my bedroom or gee that dishwasher would be so handy or wow those paint colors really express who i am -- these are all pretty self-absorbed things to think about. but having a house is more than that, too.
I wonder about then when viewing massive houses on massive properties right next to the interstate. ... WTF?
Everyone, look at me and my wealth! I could've built this house anywhere but I built it where YOU can see it, commoner!
Interesting that you point this out because that attitude is not very common IMO. In the Victorian era, you wanted the house on a busy corner or a busy street so that people could see how much money you have. Today, it seems, the biggest and most expensive houses are relatively tucked away where nobody sees them. Being at the end of a dead end street is considered a good thing. A side effect of the desire for more seclusion is that in most cities you find a lot of houses on the main roads dilapidated or destroyed, while one or two blocks in you find beautiful neighborhoods.
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