WHY IS EVERYTHING SO UGLY: The Curse of Modernism
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 มิ.ย. 2024
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PRODUCTION
written by Mina Le
Edited by Israh S. and Mina Le
SOURCES
pagesix.com/2022/11/29/kim-ka...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
buntegoetter.liebieghaus.de/en/
hyperallergic.com/383776/why-...
lab.sciencemuseum.org.uk/colo...
www.cabinetmagazine.org/issue...
commonedge.org/the-boundless-...
fashionmagazine.com/style/bei...
www.refinery29.com/en-gb/how-...
www.architecturaldigest.com/s...
www.vam.ac.uk/articles/what-w...
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-44/...
www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-c...
www.theatlantic.com/technolog...
mcmansionhell.com/post/703763...
millennialmagazine.com/2019/1...
theconversation.com/clutterco...
www.archdaily.com/986167/make...
www.architecturaldigest.com/s...
www.thecollector.com/fascism-...
pharos.vassarspaces.net/2020/...
0:00 - intro
4:39 - the greige agenda
17:08 - ugly interior design
24:47 - conclusion - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
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I'm a maximalist as well! I'd recommend doing a gallery wall for that blank space on your wall, or you could do one large piece of artwork on the wall. I just did a gallery wall along my living room and dining room and it definitely added a lot of personality.
A very addictive game!
luving the minimalism of the game in a vid about cherishing maximalism🤔...love the contrast ngllll get that $$
sorry but the ad felt so out of place and unfitting for your viewer demographic, i get that you wanna make money to provide us with content, but please consider picking sponsors that are actually of interest to your subscribers. love you and your videos though!❤ just take this as constructive criticism.
Imagine being rich and choosing to make your house look like an H&M store.
I’d much rather live in an apartment that looks like it’s straight out of the show Friends than live in a house that has so little character and color like Kim’s
That'd be mee. Personal comfort over appearances 👍
North apparently hates it too😭
@@luanasilva7341 her house doesn’t look pretty nor comfortable, though 😭😭
FR
"A lot of people consider neutrals to be very classy and elegant and timeless"
You know what is truly classy, elegant and timeless? *WOOD.* Shades of brown and "earthy" colours in general are *truly* timeless and are considered classy throughout history. There is a reason why people look at those old studies made almost entirely of matching wood and go "wow".
Agreed! And you can do a lot with wood. Keep it plain, engrave it, gild it...
PREACH
My biggest pet peeve in home-decorating is people painting over beautiful wood grain!
Industrial style is where it’s at. Wood, brass, steel all have such nice colours that go with literally anything. Works great with minimalist style too but adds that bit of textures and colour it needs to stop it bordering on a hospital
I'm sorry but this is super subjective. Not saying the counter-argument is right but I've always found wood panel walls so ugly.
Imagine studying years to become an interior designer and being excited to finally design all these beautiful, unique homes. Then comes your first day at work and all of your clients tell you that they want their homes to look like a hospital, a prison and an empty warehouse had a baby 😩
It happens to me at work so often 😢
Most creative corporate works are examined and critiqued by people who have no clue what you are doing. This is why lots of things are ugly or boring. This is a good reason why I stopped being a graphic designer, because the field was full of cheapness, button pushers, and copycats. I don't tell the CEO how to run his business, but others who never studied design or color can tell you how to design.
Well I had oposite experience with house architecture. Wanted something english cottage style or historicly inspiered but there is no architect in my country who would do that with new build. All are trained and teached on modernism, so thats the only option now.
i mean its true for most creative work sadly. I work in motion and animation, once i thought i could make money with my experimental films, now i make gardening videos
the “sophisticated” thing gets to me because your home is SUPPOSED to be the place where you get to be weird, you’re SUPPOSED to feel comfortable in your home!! even looking at these houses makes me feel like I’m being watched, imagine trying to just lay down and eat a pizza or something, I would feel like I was being judged
So true. I like to be surrounded by my personnal mess, my books, my plants, my figures... I feel safe. These houses feel like some kind of terrifying future for me, like 1984... I'd rather not imagine eating pizza at Kim K's place !
I agree, but the thing is that for the longest time homes were supposed to be about showcasing your social status. They were there to receive and entertain guests, and had to project wealth - whatever style defined wealth at the time - even if you didn't have any. Rich people still carry on with that nonsense, while the rest of us now relax and make our homes our little personal universe.
Maybe they like it, like a "big brother" is watching you. Mainstream is and was always strange.
Right? How am I supposed to eat cold pizza pantsless at 3 am in the kitchen
Maybe they feel comfortable in that type of aesthetic/environment and it helps them relax? Not everyone wants a house where the colors are so loud and the walls are covered in “live laugh love” signs.
Im a residential interior designer and the term “alcatraz chic” has me ROLLING its too accurate
I think it’s because it’s kind of calming to some 😂
prison realness
Jail Aesthetic
Even alcatraz cells have green walls lol
I think Japan's minimalism looks are more preferable. They focus on creating a comfortable, calm atmosphere by integrating wood, natural stone building material and lighting instead of bathing everything in beige.
Also their traditional minimalistic rooms are small and have a lot of texture (tatami floors, paper shoji, old wood, lacquered dishes, raw ceramics..) in warm colours. Oh and they smell of grass (from the mats on the floor). Even a complete empty room is kinda cozy in these materials.
there's a lot of beige in Japanese interiors, not everyone can afford these fancy natural woods and stones
@@poisonbiscuits Interior trends are mostly set by rich people and signature works of architects. I never claimed beige interior isn't a thing there for common ppl. Still from what I've seen japanese bloggers still don't have such sterile interior like Kim.
Japanese minimalism is a style called Japandi which is funnily enough very different to the TikTok shown and is more similar ish to Kim’s house
Japanese minimalism looks good with their traditional housing. But in modern housing, it feels like a shell with hospital aesthetic with all the white.
My elementary school used to have an absolutely beautiful wildlife mural painted across all the walls, just recently every wall but one got painted eggshell white and I wanted to cry
That's so heartbreaking :( Children's universes should not be eggshell white! Not as tragic but my dentist's building used to have a super beautiful Bauhaus-era mural on one side. When they renovated the building, they painted over the mural in cream white. So stupid.
yeah, my primary school got my prep grade to help paint the kkid's area fences with little animals and drawings overtop a cute forest backdrop and its gone now :( just plain white, its actually rlly ugly tbh
my high school art classes lets students paint the ceiling tiles in every hallway to this day!
Some people are nuts. I don't get it. I've seen this happen elsewhere in a few different ways - on a Navy ship (at least twice), in some McDonalds, and a few other places.
I'm sure there are many more. You've got a beautiful art piece and some weird brain-damaged mofo wants to come get rid of it
“YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HAPPY, IF YOU AREN’T YOU’RE BROKEN AND SHOULD FIX IT WITH ANPHETAMINES”
I've always thought that as making things vividly colorful became more accessable (read: cheap), the snobby set decided to move away from them as a reaction to everyone else suddenly being able to afford them. Basically exchanging the old wealth-showing display of vividly colorful things for the display of 'pure' and often hard to keep clean neutrals. This is really obvious in how the early Worth gowns were seen, but really came to a head in the Days of Plastics :(
The irony is also not lost on me that it's called "timeless" when the extreme neutrals trend is only BARELY older than I am.
“Timeless” means “no attachments no history or humanity altogether”
I actually think we’re in the process of it switching back now that minimalism is everywhere. A lot of the trendy interiors now have a more vintage look or the clutter core that’s popular on tiktok.
I think the real tell of cheapness right now is all greige stuff you can tell came from Amazon or IKEA. It’s like the home equivalent of a quiet luxury look from Zara.
Lets make eating out of the trash a luxury only the rich can afford
I think this greige aesthetic will definitely fade away, and our grandkids will associate "grandma's house" with dull, minimalistic spaces 😂
Its so weird cause its what I already associated with my grandparents generation, but theyd be 90-105 now, but that was partly just the time. Post WWII what was available financially and plastic not being what it became, leather sofas and weaved natural material rugs etc. Natural colours were more default.
But.
I totally agree, i was saying this to my partner, we just got our house last month, since I was a kid I loved the look of wood panelling on walls, but its so "on trend" now, its EVERYWHERE, so I dont wanna do it. Its gonna be totally associated with old people for our kids and grandkids.
But, it is cyclical as fashion is. The cycle continues.
Yep this is my totally my boyfriends house it is only beige/cream and gray like he wont buy anything any other color...even our animals. Car, towels. Bowls, cups, counters, furniture, candles, tables, carpet, cabinets everything is beige/cream or gray and he doesnt let me buy anything any other color. It's kind of annoying but it does look good. But he also dresses in only gray or cream colors and it drives me insane, down to our shampoo bottles and dog beds just everything is this color. Me myself I Like color I love pink! And so it was hard for me to deal with this. But I know whenever people come over they love how clean it is and how it looks organized and 1 color.
As a play on your comment: you can't have something this soulless fade away because there wasn't anything to fade to begin with! But yes, hopefully this style becomes a thing of the past as soon as possible.
@Anthonystoychannel ummm bit of a red flag there, it's your space too you should be able to decorate it however you want just as he can. Your home should be your safe space where you feel like yourself the most. Unless he's trying to make it in one of those dumb cookie cutter home magazines, he can lay off a little.
@@Anthony.and.Bigsis babes if you can compromise he can as well? Is a bit of colour gonna kill him?
My aunt has been a realtor for 40+ years. She told me that if she goes into one more house that is greyge she's going to lose her mind. I've been house hunting for a while, mostly looking at old houses from 1900-1930. Seeing these beautiful Victorian exteriors with so much color and character, only to look at the interior and find out it's been gutted and replaced with modern greyge makes me want to cry.
If I had a nickel for every HGTV show I've seen where someone wanted a house with character, and then strips every inch of character out of it..."but we framed a piece of wallpaper to preserve the heritage"
Wow, thanks for telling me your aunts experience as a realtor! It shows the downfall of art 😭
Interiors are easy to change up with paint and your own furniture!
My dad has been a realtor for 30+ years and he can attest and agree with exactly what your aunt is talking about.
He and my mom have always kept away from going down the greige path in their own home and I just think my childhood home is soooo beautiful and has so much character.
And it still is clean and not over- cluttered! I love personalization, detail, art, and a solid color scheme… so important in design imo! ☺️
I would react the same way, it’s so frustrating if everything was just gray and bland
I have a yellow 1940 craftsman house. It's full of personality on it's own without any furniture in it - built-in bookcases, hand carved pillars, wainscoting, custom doors and cabinets all through out the house. Literally everything was made custom for this house when it was being built.
Our floors are a bit squeaking but it's because it's real wood flooring. A few of the doors are drafty but again, it's due to the fact that the doors were hand made over 70 years ago.
I adore my house and all it's character but I know it would be seen as low class or out of style compared to today's grey modern look. But I'm not bothered :)
That is very lucky because so many people are renting and can’t imagine a space made just for them. Enjoy it!! ❤
A Craftsman House is my dream house 😊
Your home sounds like pure heaven to me ❤
I'd totally buy a house like that (especially the built-in bookcases, omg that's my dream!)--if money were no object lol.
I think one major reason why neutral colors are now considered classy in comparison to reds, greens, yellows etc. is because fast fashion and cheap labor have resulted in those colors often looking cheap. if you compare a high quality red fabric with an h&m top for example, you can clearly see a difference but since many people cannot afford those richer colored clothes or are unwilling to pay for them, neutrals in comparison end up looking more expensive.
That actually makes a lot of sense. For most of history colors used to be a status symbol. Some color were even considered illegal to wear unless royalty, like purple or gold. Nowadays the prevalence of synthetic dyes have made color “lose their shine” for some people.
Wow! What a good point!
Very true
Exactly what I was thinking
Hear hear, finally a comment that makes sense! Pigments can be very expensive, just as good quality material.
I don’t personally like Kim K’s interior design, but it makes sense for her specifically. Her life seems…chaotic & over-stimulating to say the least. All that paparazzi and media attention…bright and flashy lights on a daily basis…I can see why ultra-minimalism is calming for her.
it looks like an empty art gallery. makes sense though.
I also imagine that her house is often on display in keeping up the kardasians (I never seen this show so I could totally be wrong) and other places and having her house be mostly empty means her personal items aren’t freely on display for the whole world like the rest of her life always is.
I never thought of that but that’s a good point!
Am I supposed to feel sorry for her? She chose this life.
North apparently hates their house😭
i feel like ppl think “minimalism” means “grey, colorless, beige, etc” when it can mean wood + one or two colors that are cohesive- ppl’s ideas of minimalism are just so sterile 😭
and me, here, dreaming of a nude brick wall in my livingroom
And extreme. In order to make a point, they turn to making extremist statements. Minimalism is just the perfect balance to me. A neutral palette with one or two accent colors.
It is a space that does not project itself to me, allows me room to think and manifest my own thoughts and intentions. I am calm, not overly stimulated and invested in responding to my space in a superficial way.
True, even a block of vivid color can become minimalist if were done correctly 😄
I think it's slowly changing now with modern organic becoming trendy, bringing more natural shapes and textures back :)
Gray in particular makes a perfect background for colors. That's why I really do like gray walls, because you can then have pops of colors from other things.
there are SUCH classist undertones to this trend, bc in order to keep kim’s house that clean and live a full working life, you inevitably have to be rich and have a league of cleaners that organise your house every week. the untainability of kim’s house is just another impossibly high bar she’s setting for everyone who looks up to her and these design choices
hmm... I do not really see that. Since I fell in love with colours, patterns and thick textiles and some ancient peaces for decoration I have to spent much more money on interior stuff. My white minimalism years ago was super cheap.
Another example of white = rich enough to keep it white (or buy new when it inevitably becomes grey) is Regency Era fashions. Rich women wore a lot of white, partly to show off their wealth.
Meanwhile my house was painted all white when I moved in 10+ years ago, and I never repainted it. The halls have spots that are grey and pink from me touching certain spots, and could do with a repaint.
Mina, thanks for this thread. My home decorating is a little bit not put together, and I've been trying to think how to make it look better. Watching your video makes me think that my darker wooden furniture could do with differently coloured walls.
your looking too far into it babe 💀
@@iluvuforever people don't actively follow celebs like the Kar-Jenner's and copy everything they do? To mimic their style and belongings, it would be a lot harder to accomplish if you are someone in a lower tax bracket and/or from a country with a less desirable economy.
Ummm. No….
She has the right to decorate and design her home as she wishes.
People feeling the “pressure”. Trying to be like of “keep up” with her are the idiots.
Be yourself.
Have your own style.
Be authentic.
I do not remember where I read it initially but there is a common pattern that a lot of people tend to go in the opposite direction with the interior design of their home after moving out of their parents home. If the parents home was mostly white and beige, the grown up kid would then want a home that either colourful or really dark looking. So there is a good chance a lot of the young people today will popularize a new interior design trend/style that's going to be taking over the current one.
I think one scenario where this “griege minimalism” style works is if you live in a home with views. If you have floor to ceiling windows showing the ocean, or a mountain, or woods, or something like that with tons of sunlight streaming in, then keeping the color palette inside the house very neutral makes sense
And a scenario it definitely wouldn't work is a london flat, if I decorated my flat like kim kardashians mansion I'd feel like I was living in some kind of whiteout but instead of being lost in snow/fog/cloud I would be surrounded by drizzly grey british winter, no thanks 😶🌫
Omg yes, I live in Poland and I would literally die of seasonal depression if I stayed in all gray house for the 10 months of the year when the weather is awful and you don't see the sun for weeks. Knowing that I can come back to the colorful and warm interior makes it at least tolerable 🙈
Very insightful ♡ !!
Eww no
Ah this makes sense! Like why all the seaside Malibu mansions are white.
I think another possible reason for the rise of minimalist, modern interior design is that the younger generations were raised by Gen X / Baby Boomers, who were raised by parents that experienced the Great Depression. My great-grandmother held onto the “waste not, want not” mentality of the 1930s and as a result, my grandmother and my mother became hoarders who couldn’t let go of anything. I’m now terrified of clutter and I’ve swung in the complete opposite direction towards minimalism since I’ve come to associate maximalism with hoarding.
That was also my experience growing up. My mother and grandmother are hoarders, so I really hate unorganized clutter and visually heavy spaces. I take time and tough whenever I'm buying new things because I don't want to buy something I will regret or not like later. My home is minimalist and neutral, but the different thing is that I try to make it cozy and avoid a cookie cutter look.
I also like having less, so it's easier to clean my home.
I like minimalism but I don't understand why it needs to come with bland monochromatic colours.
That is a very interesting take. My grandparents generation experienced war and famine and as a result the older generation and their offsprings (our parents) have an inherent tendency to make use of all things available and as a result they hoard everything, even garbage such as empty plastic bags and bottles.
You must be onto something bec. my sister and I (both millenials) struggle with hoarding: our mother raised us with the fear of throwing anything away, bec. "we might need it someday". We are slowing healing from that: updating and supporting each other on our progress.
for me it’s the opposite. i have adopted the ‘waste not, want not’ sensibilities of my parents/grandparents and i absolutely hate to let anything go X)
As a european Gen z interior designer and architect, I always recommend people to not blindly jump on trends with a sudden 180 stance of hating every single thing from the previous trend. Thats how you make your space look tacky in a couple years. Good design is all about collecting experiences and taking things from everything around you and making them your own cohesive ideas. Creativity is not grey nor rainbow colored and as much as you want to read conflicting books from different time periods about what colors and styles are liveable, calming or whatever you are looking for, at the end of they day we are all different and the answer should come from within.
You will make soo many great interior designs to happen. 😌💖
I am an architecture student, and this has been a very interesting phenomenon to experience during our final exams. Most people decide to make those blank concrete walls for literally EVERYTHING, from a house to a restaurant. It's honestly sad, because every building turns out to be this soulless concrete geometric shape sometimes with an accent wood floor.
It’s like the gray men from the book “Momo” by Michael Ende
All I want in life is a 60s pastel aqua kitchen, a barbie pink bathroom, and a moody maximilist living space.
Do it!!! That sounds absolutely amazing and possible! It reminds me of Trixie Motel, Christine McConnell’s old home in Cali, and Micarah Tewers’ RV makeovers.
I used to do new construction plumbing and we did work on a beautiful dusty pink vintage house, probably from the sixties, and let me tell you, everything was pink. Carpet, curtains, wallpapers, trims, everything. It was the vintage house of my dreams. We went back to it to do some more work and they gutted all of the beautiful pink and replaced it with modern greyge. I was legitimately heartbroken
NGL Howl's bedroom is the general vibe I'd love to live in
⬆️
Yes!!!!
This has been gnawing at me for weeks! I watch a show called 'The Ugliest House in America" where they literally take a home with quirky qualities and turn it into a soulless hospital ward in the name of 'beautifying' it. I truly thought my generation - boomers - traumatized young people with all our crazy colors and patterns and they vowed to remove it all from their lives when they grew up. I appreciate your thoughts on this as I've been baffled why everything looks so sterile and sad.
omg that show sounds so sad!! it reminds me of the 2000s trend of makeover shows where they did exactly that with humans who had "too much" personality. watching those as a kid used to upset me! so rude and so boring, which is a pretty impressive combination...
I was watching that show and they toured a beautiful 70s home with a functioning retro kitchen! It wasn’t even overly patterned, they just said it was “outdated” 😐
This is so funny my mom always wanted the most colorful house we had every room painted a different color and I can remember always being like when I can decorate my house is going to be so plain and boring no more color!
Yes I was watching that as well! Of course some of the houses were just not functional or over the top with some themes, but some of them actually looked okay and didn't need to be fixed. I wish they would have acknowledged some of the character of the houses and worked on making them more functional. Instead they really just gutted everything and made it very generic
This is such an interesting point! My mom's house is all 90s hunter green everything and warm burnt siennas and just looks like every day is thanksgiving but in a nice, cozy way. I happen to still enjoy color but I love my neutrals and when I do color in my home its cool toned and not the warm tones I grew up with!
My Aunts house used to be so magical to me because it was a hugeeeee house entirely decorated in early 2000s Tuscan interior design. I LOVED it! Her house felt so glamorous compared to my mothers mid-century modern style and I loved it there
I would say minimalism does not mean to not show any personality in your home it means to have it clutter free enough and not having crazy stuff going on so you are not feeling overwhelmed by looking at it. So I really don't like the only white/only beige/only grey theme. Having wooden furniture and some plants as a contrast to your white walls looks way much better and it give more life to the place you live in and it can still look minimalist.
Yeah I really don't understand why this awful trend happened when Mid-Century Modernism/ Scandinavian design is right there doing minimalism much better. I'm an Arts and Crafts movement freak though so this was never going to appeal to me in the first place tbf lol
@@theblackrose3130 Hear hear. Minimal doesn't have to mean dull.
Kim's house matches her clothes, make up and entire being. It's bizarre how much of every aspect of her life is a color-themed brand.
Soulless.
Purposely curated for the most basic.
That house, just like her, is completely fake!!
Thing is she wasnt like that. Kanye rebranded her beige and off white
@@jnm2088 I remember when she used to wear all sorts of colors before she married Kanye.
Another version of this trend is seen in #sadbeigebabies where ‘mommy bloggers’ all have the same neutral aesthetic and their kids rooms and wardrobes lack colour
YESS AND THEN THEY GOT MAD AT THE GOTH BABY
Yes! Currently 16 weeks pregnant and everything I’m seeing for babies is beige. What the heck happened to color? Holy moly!
@@tiffanyms2881congrats!! Also if you can find what you need either check thrifting online, eBay and Etsy. I can only imagine how frustrating that must be 😅
I think neutrals are great for kids... otherwise the clothes are super gendered and it's important that kids know blue is not a "boy color" and pink is not a "girl color". They don't make a lot of options besides blue, pink, and neutrals.
@@sophiacurrie8184 I think there are ways of avoiding overgendering everything around a child (buying both boy and girl toys and letting the kid naturally pick which they prefer, for example) without leaning into just beige. And even still, I'm not sure all neutral everything is a good approach to this problem. Plenty of overly traditional crunchy people are able to overgender everything with crunchy greige colors. Really, these things come down to how you parent and how you approach the problem, not the colors you put up in your nursery.
Thank you! Thank you!! I have been trying to pray away the gray for years now. It looks like it might finally be happening. The only upside to the interior design trend of the last 15-20 years has been it has saved me a FORTUNE because everything is too ungodly ugly to even consider buying. I inherited quite a bit of fairly good 18th century furniture and as trends have come and gone over the past 30 plus years paint colors have changed a bit (Chrome yellow hallway, vermilion sitting room, never all white or greige), textiles updated as they wore out but my furniture has sailed on timeless and truly classic. The most beautiful rooms (NOT the most expensive) I have ever been in EVOLVED over time.
love that you find in-depth and historical explanations to trends. i remember someone saying the greige minimalist style screams “new money,” where old money is all deep, rich wood and colors. and your deep dive’s timeline proves this theory in my mind. i miss the warmth and coziness of 90s decor.
I also think another reason why this minimalist, white wash is so prevalent right now is because its fairly easy to replicate. The modern consumer can color coordinate whites and beiges and call it *stylish,* without making any bold choices or risking making a mistake.
... and die of boredom 😆
As a custom framer that gets customers sent over by decorators... you are spot on. Some people are *terrified* of liking the wrong thing, they would rather feel a safe meh when looking at their home.
Totally! I colored my living room in dark blue and... It was a mistake. I am so proud of it cuz everyone around me can aloe themselves to be free (non-perfectionist). And now they all live in an all white places that is as comfy as your local hospital.
@@IgbyMurdoc I'm a Scandinavian NON-minimalist. Few weeks ago two guys in their 20'es had an errand in my appartment.
First thing one of them said, when they entered: Here is so cosy! The mate suplemented: Yah, this is really nice. Feels comfy!
Proud as a cocherel I send their mothers a thought... I bet they grew up in greige!
So, as always, it's a skill issue
My current home obsession is people painting their front door a fun color, it just gives so much personality to the house!
Indeed. I love going through my neighborhood and seeing their doors painted in fun colors. I have mine painted in a fun color too.
I picked red for my front door even though the main color of the exterior is grey. A small pop of color is easier to commit to and easier to change.
I friggin love teal doors and windows. Idk why i like those specifically, but I'm just so obsessed with them. Especially if they are rounded from the top.
I wish my house still had its original front door. I grew up in a 1950s council house with a bright, bold front door (red or green depending on the year - we swapped colours a couple of times). Now I live in a house around the same age and it's got a white plastic front door. I've made up for it a bit though by painting the internal doors green, yellow, pink and purple.
Makes me think of the time someone in Bath, UK painted their door yellow and everyone got super angry because this was the Crescent so everyone had to have the same exact colour door.
Anyway, I love whoever dared to rebel against those snobs
This is completely off-topic but I absolutely adore how you’ve taken the 1920s style and completely adopted it even down to the eyebrows it looks beautiful on you and you’re striking in its juxtaposition against all the Gen Z/Gen Alpha type girls on the Internet
As a zilennial who's been workin their ass off trying to save up money to buy a house, I definitely want to get a fixer-upper and work on it myself! If money is being put in to renovate, I'd rather put it in after buying than pay it all up-front for a flipped space that feels soulless. It's so painful looking at houses for sale, seeing beautiful historical wooden features and fireplaces "updated" with a coat of wall paint (so modern and classy! Just wait til the paint starts wearing!). Also very tired of seeing cheaply renovated, non-durable spaces being marketed as "luxury", ie, the vinyl flooring that can't be maintained like normal wood. Like, the word luxury has lost all meaning, and renters are paying extra for it because every apartment on the market has suddenly become a "luxury studio" regardless of actual quality.
I want my house to be ugly!! In a good way! Full of color and personality and a little mismatch! I want to look at my future house and feel proud of the work I put in to make it my own flavor of beautiful. I want to upcycle old materials when I can, because it's cheaper and more sustainable than buying new things. I want to fill my place with my art, my friends' art, cool things I found in antique stores. I want to see the sun in yellow walls and the forest in green walls-- that's far more relaxing for me than large, empty spaces. Sure, my work won't look as neat as work done by a professional, but it'll be something I can still take pride in.
Also, literally no one I know my age actually *likes* flipper grey.
This has become a plague in the UK. So many beautiful homes are being gutted to look like monochromatic nude dentist offices. It’s so depressing
Same here in the Nordics. I guess we love snow so much we want our homes to look like you left the front door open during a blizzard
Oh no, that’s so sad! I lived in England in the mid-nineties and as soon as I returned to my native Germany I started to paint my rooms in different colours. The interior design magazines I bought there have been a strong influence on my apartments ever since. People here still react strongly to my colours (Sage green? Now that’s a bold choice…), but I love it and if I leave a room white I do it intentionally.
it is so depressing!
"monochromatic nude dentist offices" --> make it a macmansion² and you'll get a rich to ultra rich people' house hahaha
yeah its awful to see, esp when the uk has a rich history of beautiful exterior and interior desgin. i hate how we always end up following america trends
Gray is sad. As someone who wakes up in the morning and it's gray outside for over 5 months, it's depressing and I try to put as much color in my apartment as I can.
Agree! (I'm from Finland and the year is like 3/4 gray and rainy) 🙃
I live in St. petersburg and I still like gray wall. Gray and white allows you to add color accent of you choice and change them. I like how the whole room changes feeling when I put different sheets or curtains. It also makes my greens pop, so overall I like it.
If a colour is beautiful is not debatable. You like it or not. Besides that: there are zillion variations on 'grey', not to mentions the endless color combinations in which grey(s) are a component. I bet you have some objects in colors in your house that look grey because they are positioned in a dark place or in a room with cooler light, or stand beside a color with less grey in it than the object itself. 'Grey' doesn't exist.
Oh, you won't believe the latest trend, guys! Apparently, having loads of money now means you get to live in a mind-blowingly exciting gray home. Like, seriously, who needs colors and vibrancy when you can have a whole house that looks like a never-ending grayscale filter? It's the epitome of excitement and adventure! I can't wait to join the party and turn my life into a thrilling black-and-white masterpiece. So exhilarating! 😂🖤
One of the main reasons I changed my major (I was studying Architecture) was the incredible and annoying emphasis on this kind of soulless and dull aesthetic from ALL my teachers and peers. I felt TRAPPED! I love organic design but despite getting very good grades, I felt constantly lectured and shamed by my teachers, who would roll their eyes at my designs every single time for not using enough right angles, or not being minimalist enough! I ended up HATING the major; constantly "rebelling" against the faculty exhausted me emotionally and after a year I changed majors. As I writer, my whimsical architectural ideas are all over my novels, where I finally feel free to express my own aesthetic. Anyways, great video!!! I thoroughly enjoyed it and agree with you 100%!
It's disgusting how they literally pushed you out of the field because you were too *checks notes* innovative. No wonder why we're swamped by same boring soulless designs 😭
It's crazy because the original architects of the 1700- 1800s in Europe and America used lots of detailing and sun orientation to make grand houses beautiful .
As a fellow design school grad turned writer, I can totally relate. Design school was so exhausting. The teachers basically were: "all the famous designers are doing this, and you are not doing what they are doing. You are not famous, so you must be wrong" I went to art school thinking I would be around inventive, experimental people who were pushing the envelop in terms of creativity, instead it was the most conformist environment I was ever in. It seems this shift started happening in the 80s and has gotten worse, to the point there are no longer any old-school profs left who actually invent things.
It's aesthetic group think. They are NPCs.
Hilarious that Kim thinks her house is calming when I think that it looks like a terrifying liminal space of endless showrooms in some sort of twisted IKEA utterly devoid of color
Also, a lot of tapestries are cute, big, and in fun colors, you could put one on your wall for a really cozy look, either a really big one that goes across the whole top of the couch or maybe a smaller one paired with an art print
Thank you! 👏It’s like the sodding backrooms in there!
Ikea displays have more colour than her house. (That might be an Australian Ikea thing, but they never shy from colours and crazy pattern fabrics here)
@@meikahidenori Yes, that's why it's twisted
Would be an excellent setting for a horror movie
It might be calming if you're actually there, but it looks dystopian.
FRESH OUTTA OVEN!!!!
As someone with severe anxiety and sensory overload stuck living with a parent with a severe hoarding habit, the grey biege combo with no clutter would transcendent and peaceful.
Living with a hoarder is literally the fucking worst I hope you can get out of there soon ❤
SAME
I like beige and white walls as a base in a home. That being said, I want pops of color throughout the home. I want to have velvets in jewel tones, houseplants, and anything that suits my fancy! I don't want to live in a home that's decorated for someone else! Thank you for all your research and thoughtfulness, Mina! You always have wonderful things to share!
As a Greek we learnt at school and at museum visits that the ancient statues were painted back then and all the figures demonstrated around buildings like the Parthenon in Athens, as well part of their structures were painted with various colours. But obviously the paint fainted through the centuries. I'm really happy to hear you also mention that. You always do great and in depth research.
The misconception that greek statues were white is so prevalent, that one of the first things they show in the Archaic part of the Acropolis Museum is how the statues looked like in all their colorful glory...
I am German and I learnt the same thing in school. But what I don't like about this video is how she talks about white people trying to white wash everything, when races really don't exist. Like look at the "darker" people in the pictures she was talking about. As a "normal" European, you would still think they look European, right? because we come in all shapes, hair types, hair colour and skin tones! Someone from Greece is just as much European as someone from Iceland. Also, the Nazis did not condemn somebody just because he/she had darker hair or eyes (if that where the case most Nazis would be f***ed lol). Take me for example, I am very much German and I have dark hair and eyes.
Also hated how she pronounced every name
Im surprised you’re taught this. I see European outside of Greece and self-hating, Europe worshipping people in my home country, are more defensive about the statues. Anytime I bring it up, people outside Greece, especially Western Europeans get angry.
not only that, the victorians scrubbed the statues of all the beautiful paint to turn them back to plain white marble.
And if I remember well, the Parthenon was also painted.... Most if not all temples of the Ancient world were actualy decorated and painted
I was a house painter for a few years and I've only painted 3 houses in my whole career that weren't gray, beige or white. Maybe from your experience most people aren't jumping on this trend but for me this video hit so close to to home. Ever since becoming a painter I can't even see those colors the same way anymore they all just meld into a big depressing blob and I hate it so much I would literally paint anyone's house for free if they picked a nice color.
And a lot of the houses I've painted already had furniture in them, which was also greige
I used to work at a Paint store and 95% of the paints that I sold were off-white or some shade of greige.
I think neutral wall colors make sense. It goes with any photos/painting you want, all the furniture, and it opens up the space rather than choosing purple, mustard yellow, or turquoise. It's very reasonable.
I rent so I had to keep my colors neutral but I painted my bathroom periwinkle and my bedroom lilac. I NEED color in my life and those two rooms will be easy to repaint when I move out.
@lrody2723 we have beige walls throughout but hired a paint team to paint an access wall, and ceilings, in several rooms. We have a lot of art so that helps keep the house more appealing.
@user-kk2mu8pm5d you can have neutral without being boring, though.
I kind of get Kim’s house because of her specific lifestyle, which is so loud and chaotic and fast-paced. I’d probably want a padded cell looking living space, too. 😂 However, personally, I’m definitely with you in that I love an eclectic decor approach with lots of antiques and items that tell a story!
I live in northern germany and the sky is gray a lot here i hate that we use less and less color in clothes and buildings and everything it kinda makes me fell depressed
Tbh, even in sunny CA, I stand out with not only my size, but my occasional colorful clothing. It’s so chic to tromp around in Be early Hills in ugly gray and dusty charcoal. And they haven’t the courage to go goth black
I am an art historian and I'm very pleased that you mentioned the myth of whiteness and aesthetic "purity" linked to greek statues as well as I was excited about you mentioning Winckelmann. Love that your videos have such a historical, philosophical, political and cultural depth. Keep on going! I'll just continue watching everything you do.
Same, Fine Art restorer here and this sort of talk always gets me excited!
I had a presentation about Winckelmann. In December. He really had just one image of Greek statues.
@@unrulycrow6299 Conservator here, and ditto! People have such warped ideas of what both objects and people used to be like!
Also a little detail that was not mentioned, as far as I know greek statues were actually made out of bronze and painted over, the romans were the ones to make them out of marble.
@@lavinia_diana No, that's not true at all. There are many, many examples of still existing Greek marble statutes (I mean, the Parthenon marbles, just to name one group??).
I adore Victorian architecture and seeing what flippers are doing to these beautiful houses makes me want to scream. They strip out all the beautiful natural wood and paint EVERYTHING white, beige, or taupe. ARRRRGGGHH! Open shelving is also horrible. So are open concept floor plans. Different rooms for different purposes help keep people living in those spaces from driving each other up the wall.
Right???
Right like even living on my own I don’t think I could ever go back to living like I did in a studio apartment, I need the partition from my workspace and my bedroom, open concept plans just seem like bad feng shui to me
Its also a lot noisier if theres more than 2 people living in said house. Youd be amazed how much noise dampening even just one paper thin wall can do. And when you take that away how the noise just amplifies.
@@sergeantbigmac yes! I look at all those open plan houses and wonder how much noise carries from one end to the other, same with smells, I couldn't have an open kitchen, every time I'd cook it all would spread around the living space. I also wonder how well heated all those open spaces can be and how expensive it is, living in a colder climate I can't imagine living like this, I would be constantly cold
@@kaiseayaandruis1597 Yes those are all super valid reasons as well! Walls funnel and trap heat, and the smell thing oh boy I wish 'enclosed kitchen' designs were a thing. I would seal my kitchen up when I cook if I could!
Most people dont think enough about household smells. My grandparents dont have a working hood vent in their kitchen and their house is very large and open, and I swear the whole place has a 'used cooking oil' smell. Not trying to be rude but stuff like walls/partitions/vents etc exists for a reason!
I recently painted my room greige as a backdrop to my eccentric decoration ideals. Prior to decorating with prints, red stars, tapestries, and wall hangings, I absolutely hated this greige colour and had extreme regret about painting it. I'm glad I finally love my room after covering it up with personality :)
I refuse to fall into the stage of ugly decor. I'm goin full on colorful, witchy Maximalism no matter how much money I have. It's gon look like a scene out of The Wiz in my house lol
As a neurodivergent I understand some people decorate their home in certain ways to avoid feeling overstimulated and overwhelmed. I'm not one to criticize Kim's home because I also prefer neutral tones, muted greens, and light wood tones for warmth. It's visually pleasing and calming for me. Decorating one's home is such a personal thing that I rarely bother to say what I think about a specific home because I don't live there.
My feeling exactly
Yes, i need to my home to be cozy and calm, because my life is the opposite of my home
Same I like personality in interior design but I also like calm colors. When the place is too saturated I just feel uncomfortable.
ok but calming isn't the same as empty and sterile. Kim's home is empty and sterile.
@@AliciaB. Yeah but it's her home so it's supposed to match what she needs not anyone else
I am a nanny that works for middle to higher end (generally suburban) clients, and honestly my impression is it's a mix of having to fill a giant home with stuff and wanting a "sophisticated" (i.e. wealthy) look, but not having much of a design style. And I don't really mean that as an insult (though there is definitely some shade), but the type of people who seek to make a lot of money aren't necessarily the type of people who cultivate strong internal senses of style of aesthetic. If your house is a display, then you want it to be "museum-like" rather than to express a personality. Obvious not all people, but if you don't really care about design, then boring geige fills the need to show "subtle" wealth and easy to match everything in a unnecessarily huge space.
Story time: the most terrifying house I have ever walked into was ALL WHITE. Furniture-white. Walls-white. Pottery-white. Carpets-white. Dog-white. Literal fucking Christmas tree and all its decorations-WHIIIIITTTTEEEE. I felt true fear in that house.
As someone who loves wood, it makes me very sad. Bring back the dumb colors
This is definitely an "old money" vs "new money" sort of thing. It's definitely a privilege to grow up around beautiful things and have parents teach you about them, and then have the time to shop and find your own identity as an adult. Someone who is a tech millionaire by 30 probably has not had these advantages.
Funnily enough, this was touched upon in Ferris Buller, Cameron's house was mentioned as the "museum". You can argue that all of them are wealthy suburban teenagers, but Cameron is the one with the vintage Ferrari. That kind of sterile environment also reflected in the character, as Cameron is anxious and fastidious.
Were the kids in The White House happy?
We cannot have it all I guess. I do have customers with lots of money but no sense of style at all as well. Their houses are usually chaotic or without personality and empty, if they haven't hire someone to style it for them.
Okay I’m a bit odd here, but i loooove white. Living with a hoarder family, That’s like my dream house right there. Clean & Airy, full of space and easy on the eyes
I hate the ‘sleek, straight lines, white, grey, clean’ look so many places look these days.
I currently live in a condo so I’m not really up for making it look very different but I use the furniture to make it look like it’s got some character.
If I got a house though I’ll definitely make it look more like a place, not a mental ward.
I LOVE the 70's color palette of greens, oranges, yellows, and browns. It always looks so comfy. Bonus points if there's wood paneling
Yes! And all those patterns and textures, so much fun ❤
I grew up in a postcommunistic country. We were poor so nothing was ever thrown away (including washing yoghurt cups for further repurposing). My mom kept the apartment really tidy, but when she passed I couldn't keep up (I was 13 and no one was helping me). I struggle with cleaning to this day (I'm 33 now) so I make a very conscious choice of picking the furniture and decor that requires least possible amount of cleaning, dusting or any other kind of maintenance. I am also regularly looking through my stuff and getting rid of things I no longer need and I consider every purchase carefully with cleaning and clutter in mind. But I do prefer deeper tones. I like connecting poudre pinks with deep browns, white with deep forest greens etc. I prefer natural decor, stone, wood, canvas as decor. I do need my space to feel peaceful, clean and uncluttered, but never ever boring or barren.
I still save those cups.. for seed starting.
same
This comment will probably save my life after I get my own house/apartment 😂
"never boring or barren" is such a good phrase
I’m the exact same!
this seems like part of a larger trend in art, media, etc. over the last few decades, involving an overall aversion to aesthetic risk-taking.
Yeah. People started to distance themselves from the vibrant colours of the 80's-early 90's because they were suddenly seen as "whack" after grunge took off.
@@MajimaEnterprises even though grunge was only simple colors because it was started by poor people who couldn't afford the brightly colored trends lol
Whenever I watch the shows and movies I used to watch as a kid back in the 90s and 00s, I love how lived-in all of the background sets looked. Everything reflected the time it took place, kids rooms looked like kids rooms with Hot Wheels, toys, computer games, etc. Teenager rooms looked like teenager rooms with band posters, skateboards, random piles of clothes thrown on the floor or bed, etc. But where are we going now? Corporate grey? Dental office white? Rodeo beige? Italian same? Why do people want their house to look like unrendered game backgrounds? What happened to the rich homeowners who were like "I HAVE THE M&M DISPENSER FROM M&MS WORLD!"
As a greek person, I can tell that all the racists that are obsessed with this pure white ancient greece, have really not met any mediterrenean people. We are so diverse skin color wise. I have friends who could be mistaken for germans and I also have friends who could be mistaken for middle easterns.
YES I've been thinking this since I was a child watching those house 'restoration' shows with my parents on HGTV where they've made some of the most coziest houses look bland and ugly and devoid of personality
I’d much rather live in an apartment that looks like it’s straight out of the show Friends than live in a house that has so little character and color like Kim’s
I deeply, deeply miss the warm tone and wood furnishings of the 90s. Everything looked so much homier and more welcoming.
Me too! My aunts house was a 90s cliche, but I've never felt so cozy and safe. Tired of today's H&M aesthetic 😂
I love 90s homes
Seen a lot of comments and stuff on home design subreddits saying that greige is absolutely over. It's overdone, it looks cheap, and it's too "easy" to put together - you can make a greige room with just a couple of trips to the store or a couple of online orders. To actually tailor a space you need time and effort. Personality is in, art is in, and a lot of people are saying "add fabric, colour, texture, anything but neutral greige walls."
YES I’m so glad other people find “modern home” design so ugly.
What makes Kim K’s decor feel so sterile, cold and even liminal is the lack of lower level lighting. She just doesn’t seem to have lamps to at least bring in some warmth and highlight the architectural interior. I’m sure she has lights on the floor and ceiling, but that just makes it feel more like a public space-an office, a hospital-and not a home.
I also would like to say if she were to just ad a bit of dirty blue, green, yellow or coral like in a calming ocean painting, or a shorthaired rug. Her house would be so much more comfie.
When I say Kim Kardashians house for the first time, I remember thinking how awful, soulless, and ridiculous it looked. As if it was an abandoned house.
That's it. It's the lighting. I don't think she needs to add color. But the problem is the type, positioning and level of lighting she has
I’d much rather live in an apartment that looks like it’s straight out of the show Friends than live in a house that has so little character and color like Kim’s
@@iknowexactlywhoyouare8701 Do you have to put the same comment over and over again?!
my partner and i were extremely fortunate to be able to buy our own home and it's covered wall to wall with GORGEOUS wooden paneling from the late 60's. one of the reasons i think we were approved by the sellers (the original builders of the home) was that i guaranteed them that we would leave all of the wood paneling in tact, as other buyers were saying it was "outdated." i am absolutely obsessed with our cozy 70's home and i am so grateful that we were able to buy it and retain the history and architecture!!! down with grey!!! down with minimalism!!! i want a home that feels LIVED IN and COZY!
Wood panelling IS very outdated, but you’re not wrong for liking it. A lot of the colors popular in the 60’s and 70’s make me feel ill, personally. But your home, your space, and judging you negatively would be entitlement.
@@Author.Noelle.Alexandria lol ok?
The house I grew up in had that wood paneling, and I used to hate it. However now after living through these greige times, I love wood paneling! My neighbor's house has the really dark style wood paneling, and they painting the non-paneled walls a deep turquoise, and it's so comforting and cozy, especially in the winter.
me and my husband's house was built in '67 or 68 and has a lot of oak in it-- it's not my favorite wood but I'm loving the design challenge of making it fit with my taste!
@@arpoehler yes!! most of the materials used in our home are all natural (wood, stone) and i feel like it makes SUCH a difference in our mood to be surrounded by coziness
I love your videos, you don’t like to stick to the same topics like a broken record, and i just love the journeys each video takes us on. It’s never as straight forward as the title may make you guess, the versatility and range of content is refreshing! I can only imagine how much research goes into each if your video, but it’s genuinely appreciated.
I cannot put into words how much I love your videos. I'm not even into pop culture, fashion, interior or anything like that, but your videos are extremely interesting. It's really impressive how deep you dive into the topics with all the history and research. This is better than watching any show or movie.
I see a lot of people commenting that it may be a neurodivergent thing to like the minimalist style. but as someone who is also neurodivergent, I absolutely HATE greige/ minimalist (or as I like to call it: HGTV style). Remember, having decorations doesn’t mean your home is cluttered. I enjoy having my thoughts and the colors and things that I enjoy in my living space and OUTSIDE of my head.
Thank you, I almost already started to suspect "wait, I'm I actually neurodivergent after all?" Imposter syndrome was creeping in! Like, I don't find that calming at all, it's boring and dull and everything just fades together, where's that elegance... but each on their own! You can make a place calming also by using colours, just going for all greige seems uncreative. And before anyone comes at me with "but it's her own house! She can do what she wants!!" or "but I like that style! :( " etc., : no one is stopping her, or you. Some of us just don't see the appeal of this trend, and it's not collectively The ND Experience to find this style calming.
(And having some colors and stuff does not automatically make it saturated, hoarded clutter mess :D)
@@v.l.h.9193 exactly! Like greige aesthetic can actually be kinda distressing to me sometimes, I feel like I’m in the backrooms or something
Everyone is different. I'm not neurodivergent but I like minimalism because clutter gives me anxiety. Loud colors are fun with neon aesthetics but I also like dark academia which is more neutral. It's all down to what YOU yourself like.
I think the hate of minimalism comes from a presumption that the people who use it look down on maximalists and are pompous, particularly those who use greige, but I've never seen evidence to that... Only the opposite lmfao. I don't mind greige because I like grey, that doesn't mean I want my whole house in it, but what other people do in their homes isn't my business lol
@@aff77141 you never seen that? That's pretty common where I live and in my side of the internet at least with adults in their 30s and teenage girls who are overly obsessed about having the perfect aesthetic
Younger people are the ones usually judging their teste
It's probably just like what happened in the 80s to the 90s or the 90s to the 00s, Younger people get bored or overwhelmed by the old aesthetic and replace it with the opposite
As someone who grew up in an old rotting farm house with many issues from no heat to a flooding kitchen those cardboard minimalist apartments and houses seemed so fancy and ideal. I loved going to hotels and feeling comforted by how clean everything was. I'd go to my friends houses that were all the same lay out and brand new in the suburbs where the water never stopped working and the shower was always available. But now I really love older cluttered areas with outdated facilities because they remind me of home lol
Exactly. .. I totally agree 👍
Same here
Same. My bathroom was totally wood covered, even on the ceiling. I would stare at the knots in the wood and create characters and faces from them in my mind. My mom still has everything the same!
I understand why people like to go for something simple and almost boring look. For me, when there is TOO much going on in your life, you just want to come home in an environment that is just plain, simple, neat, clean and easy to look at so you can breathe, relax and emptied your mind. For Kim's house, it will be better to add more plants. Maximalism just give me headache, migraine, and suffocation
This video was my intro to your channel and I'm really impressed. I thought this would be a really shallow discussion but instead you provided nuance, complexity, and historical context. I'm looking forward to watching your other videos!
I understand Kim wanting a hyper-minimalist home, she live a fast pace lifestyle of thousands of paparazzi events/runway shows. But this is not something the average person should aspire to, it's a glorified padded cell room for someone subjected to an unhealthy amount of stimulus/stress.
I don't think she's a minimalist considering that she uses a warehouse to store her old clothes.
@@violet18 this is aesthetic minimalism, not the functional kind.
@@Androgynary I didn’t realise there were different variations, that’s really cool to know 😊. Only just developing my own style so I’m enjoying the TH-cam design rabbit hole lol
@@Androgynary I don't agree because Kim K says that she wants her home to be able to give her a feeling of quietness which is not something you can look at.
I just feel like if anyone is lucky enough to be able to buy a house, they should be able to decorate it however they want. Renters have a harder time, as obviously a lot of us can't paint the walls, change the floors, or even hang anything up on the walls...but it's your space. If YOU like it, that's what matters. The research behind all this was, as always, incredibly interesting though. I think the 'landlord core' of painting over things instead of fixing them, and keeping everything looking new without replacing anything is truly the ugliest problem we have.
As someone who's immuncompromised and moved into a rental where the mould and water damage was painted over instead of rectified I agree wholeheartedly
@@rachael5807 exactly!! mould is way worse than any colour. I'd be happy in a grey flat, but not a mouldy one!
I used to live in a bad neighborhood with a slum lord landlord and omg you hit the nail on the head!
Exactly this
Petition to make "landlordcore" a permanent fixture in interior design vocabulary
Thank you for saying this cause I see it everywhere and I find it so depressing. I want to go to homes filled with personal details, unique quirks, and pops of color!
I started watching cuz I am procrastinating to write an essay and the first half of the video was actually relevant to the topic so I can do some further research lol thank you, Mina💖
the thing is, classy interiors have always been soulless. I was reading an interesting book called “Among the Bohemians” which detailed in one chapter what interiors were like pre and post the Bohemian boom in the late 18/early 1900’s. Even though back then, a “classy” interior tended to me more maximalist than today, it was all about curating an identity as opposed to simply existing in a space. And that, whether is is maximalist, minimalist, colourful, greige, Marie-Antoinette or Kim Kardashian, will always feel soulless. My favourite spaces show signs of an actual human living there, hints of contradiction and small messes or imperfections, anything that shows signs of life. That to me is calming and reduces anxiety, everything else is simply class aspirationality.
Ok this is an EXCELLENT insight. Gotta check out that book!
I’d much rather live in an apartment that looks like it’s straight out of the show Friends than live in a house that has so little character and color like Kim’s
When decorating houses, I feel like some people put too much emphasis on how others will perceive their living space rather than decorating for their own joy, which leaves houses looking so non-personable. Like, if your house is covered in live laugh love signs or turtles because you love that phrase or that animal that much I’ll fucking love your house. It’s a mess but it makes me so happy! I’d take it over any house that is aesthetically pleasing, but you can’t tell if someone lives there permanently or if it’s an Airbnb
@@Etaoinshrdlu69 That’s so true too! I sometimes think the intrusion of industry makes it difficult to do this, but then lots of the design trends from the late 20th century that we consider quirky and worth preserving now were industry mandated as much as those round flower vases with the hole in the middle are today 😂 time and distance sometimes creates an attachment to something that was previously considered soulless and industry mandated because suddenly a whole generation fondly misses the pink plastic tiles in Granny’s shower. Which kind of contradicts my original comment 😂 but there is nuance in this discussion to be sure!
@@Kay-kg6ny Aw, thanks! Do, I just stumbled on it in a second hand bookstore but I reckon it’ll be on Amazon or Ebay. It’s a good read, even if I did have to suppress some serious eye-rolls at how normalized cultural appropriation was back then 😂 but different times I guess
As someone who works in architecture ( and specialised in interiors specifically) you have definitely hit the nail on the head when it comes to the marketability of neutral designs. It’s a shame and frustration many of us know we are not designing for us but for a client market that doesn’t take a lot of creative risk. My university projects were a lot more colourful and playful than my current work but even then we were constantly being told to tone down our designs. As someone who lives and breathes architectural design I always gravitate towards the more colourful, fun and eccletric house tours on architectural Digest, vogue or New York Magazine. It’s a shame that those ones make up the minority of design today.
I'm an architect too and I think that her house screams more about her fear of judgment from others than anything = picking the more "neutral" mainstream possible idea and going all the way with it but in a expensive way and with no creative risk at all, so she can display wealth and status without being accused of making a "faute de gout" (like a design faux pas ?)... But idk paying someone to decorate your space shows in itself that you don't have enough taste to do it yourself / enough time to develop an aesthetic and do it yourself, so idk if there's a lot of merit in choosing an interior designer to make your house interesting either
really well spoken on the marble statues! we had a long discussion in my freshman art history class about whether we liked the colored replicas more, whether preference should matter at all in a historical context, and levied the huge 'can we actually view art without bias' question. huge example of the encoded biases historians (not just art historians ofc ofc) are having to work off of. it's very interesting to think of embedding in such a global context! love the video as always, thank you
10:24 I had no idea you have been talking about my home in this video. And you are right. Edit: My personal opinion is that too much white/grey is cold. Spent a semester in Groningen, the Netherlands. In early 2016, they were renovating the university library. One floor was early 2000s style-red office chairs, warm brown cabinets and desks, and the floor carpeted in a greenish shade. The already renovated floor above has the modern, all white - walls and desks, with black only chairs to contrast. I don't even remember the carpet work, but I do remember it made feel cold and sad.
As someone who adores the color green, in all of its shades and tones, I cannot wait to cover my walls with the color that brings me joy 💚
I love both green and turquoise. A lot of the interiors I remember from my early childhood were decorated in the 80's-early 90's. Green and turquoise were a lot more popular in those days, so seeing those colours now takes me back to my childhood.
I am discovering the beauty of green and I’m obsessed with it recently. Especially sage and earthy green tones. OBSESSED. I’m going to make my home in the future filled with green
I think another thing to consider about the historic use of colour is the natural light available - if you look at very northern places where the winters are longer and the light gets greyer and darker, you find there isn't a lot of vibrant color used (though colours are used especially for special occasions and pops of colour, think Scandi). There is a lot of lighter tones to reflect and enhance the light they are working with. The further south you get, the colours get brighter, the light becomes more yellow, the warm seasons long. Warm places like India and the Caribbean are famous for use of vibrant colours because it looks great with the light they have. Not to say that there aren't exceptions, I just mean in a general sense, that's what I've noticed.
That’s super interesting to think about
very good, important and interesting perspective!
@@Aha.SoWhat your profile name cracks me up!😂 I love it!
@@sunkissdj5608 hehe, thank you. :D
Honestly, as someone who lives in a northern country, I just don't understand why grey and white is so common here. All it creates are buildings that fade into the background, and makes things even more sad and tiring during winter. Those houses that have brighter and often warmer color has the completely opposite effect; giving some much needed color during seasons that are very grey and dark.
OMG thank you for this eye opening video ❤️ so interesting and well researched - as always 🙏🏻
This video is gold!!! We are so lucky to have you
this is a major reason why i LOVE older houses from the 50-60s. They had character and STYLE. I think that is why Emma chamberlain house is GOALS because it has character.
Ugh yes her house is so gorgeous!!
Or the apartment from Friends? I love 90s interior design 🔥
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The house I grew up in hast really changed much in the shared rooms since the 90s, so it's pretty colourful. Each room has a different main colour, with the only ecceptions being the bathroom and kitchen wich were done up recently and as a a result have more neutral colours, and probably will stay that way untill my mum or dad decides they need a new coat of paint. Oh, and mine and my brother's rooms which both have a main colour of blue with because we both like the colour blue alot.
But the living room in purple (pale, slight reddish hint) with yellow and brown accents in the soft furnishings, the dining room is pale green with dark wooden furniture (even if it is just IKEA furniture with dark wood stains because it's cheaper like that). My parents room is deep red with cream to brighten it a little and rich looking prints (that cost £30 total, but hey, they look good). The main landing is bright yellow because there's no windows and the floor is a dark colour, so it's bright but still colourful.
But it's also all done in a way that's not too much, so it's not overstimulating. It's colourful, but not eye-poppingly so.
I also like 90s homes because despite its minimalism , the taste and class is rich like the houses in Parent Trap and Father of the Bride
I think the important thing to remember is that our homes are not made to be put on the internet, they’re made to be lived in. Your place will never look constantly Pinterest ready, so living up to that ideal makes no sense. It took me a long time to stop expecting myself and others to live up to that ideal.
I love decorating my home to make it mine, but the amount of laundry I constantly have on display air-drying all over the place means my home will never be Pinterest-ready haha
So true! In my case I'm a student so books and papers are permanent fixtures.@@lsamoa
On some parts, this is why I never understood getting a mansion or a really big house. On one hand if you have a lot of kids it’s understandable, but when things go wrong it builds up and becomes troublesome. Painting, cleaning, house maintenance, cables, moving furniture, etc. It all becomes way too much! I’ve always liked townhomes or even just one story houses. Yet there’s always a lot of circumstances where those might be unfortunate like with natural disasters. I’ll leave it up with each person to their own, but that’s just my general preference. Pretty and neat is nice but you have to put a lot more work into it than you think.
I love the way you bring history into your assessment of our modern world - excellent story telling too!!!
Honestly, this is mindblowing. Thank you Mina for this video
As an Elder Millennial who has lived in apartments for 2/3 of her life...when we finally (FINALLY) buy our first home it ~WILL~ be colorful! I'm tired of endless white walls. Two of my siblings and I are all artists (plus my husband), so you better believe there's going to be a couple murals. 😤
Same situation. I'm excited to make every wall a statement wall.
What the what. Gen X artist here. I lived in apartments until I was 29. If they wouldn't let me paint, I hung tapestries over every inch of wall space. Who allows white walls. That's what fabric is for.
@@RowanLovecraft2 Sadly, my current apartment is so strict that they won't allow us to hang anything large on the walls. 😵😭 It's absolutely ridiculous. I had my Kimono (I lived in Japan as a Missionary for a year and a half for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) hung up at one point, and we got dinged for it. The same thing happened when we hung a decorative shower curtain over the window in lieu of a regular curtain. Other people had flags hanging from their windows and had to take them down. It was a very sad series of events. 😔
@@Shahrezad1 That's like a communist level of controlling!
@@RowanLovecraft2 I know. 😭 The building I live in is low income housing, and it's a building specifically made to accommodate those with disabilities, who are on the Autism Spectrum, those who have previously been Homeless, and those who are incredibly poor. (I am in the last category. Unsurprisingly, I work for the local school district. 😐) The building was funded by donations and investors, so they are constantly stopping by and inspecting the place. As a result, the company who runs the building has mandated no large decorations, as that will make everything look "cheaper" and less elegant. 🤦
I saw a reel once that explained it perfectly. That the key to the “calm” aesthetic isn’t plain, neutral colours, it’s using earth tones instead like greens, woods, blues and clay colours. Gives such a more lively feel to the home
Yess, I follow this. More Nordic or Japanese than these modernist crap. Wood, clay, plants and knitted stuff feels way more calming and cozy
This is true. My home is done in mostly earth tones and fall colors. I know that psychologically, green is considered one of the most calming colors to humans.
As an autistic person who needs minimalism/openness to feel calm I actually love this kind of interior design. Not even maximalism but just the in between of minimalism and maximalism (just normal lol) can make me feel very stressed out and makes me get very depressed and even have panic attacks sometimes. It makes me sad sometimes to see people ripping on this style so much but ig it makes sense for it to be ripped on as a general trend rather than a necessary need because of a psychological condition lol
Le Corbusier, the so-called Great Grandaddy of minimalist architecture and design was thought to be autistic, so I believe you when you say that there is a connection. However, most people aren't neurodivergent, and if you read more about Le Corbusier, he wasn't content to just design buildings on commission for patrons who admired his work. The man was hell-bent on remaking the entire world's architecture according to his own design principles, and his design principles were not just empty aesthetic choices, but based on a pretty arrogant worldview. In fact, many of his ideas were hijacked by midcentury - era city planning officials to back the whole disasterous slum-clearance/ build public housing towers in segregated areas movement. This is why you shouldn't take personal offense when people criticise sweeping design movements, they have negative effects and consequences on/for too many other people for criticism to be something meant to single people with your specific disability out.
@@solomonmiriam get her jade.
The last home my husband and I had had all light grey and dark grey walls. He told me ‘it’s too grey’ but I never subscribed to the grey or beige craze and I said don’t worry, I will add color. And we added warm wood floors, beautiful light brown leather colors, red carpet, tan and embroidered cushions, and it ended up looking gorgeous. We also added a ton of artwork and wooden souvenirs that we collected from our travels. I always thought too much of one thing is just not nice.
If you search "Antique framed tapestry" you'll find great items. Also if you go to thrift stores you can find pictures and paintings for good deals. I once found a tapestry for $30 and its a large one based off of a Fragonard painting called The Meeting from a series of paintings that were called the progress of love. They were commissioned but never paid for by Madame DuBarry and now the originals hang in the Frick Collection in Manhattan
Thank you for the discovery! I think this could add beautiful contrast to my minimal-style space ☺️
The wearing of white and beige is a class marker. A diesel mechanic would never wear light colors because dirt would show.
Anyone with kids or dogs and white furniture will be heading for endless headaches keeping them clean, unless of course you have a squad of maids coming in to scrub everything down.
I just love your videos & vibe … been binge watching throughout my day - icon!
Just found your channel. I love how much research and education you put into these videos!
Her style gives me 1920s flapper girl and I absolutely am in LOVEEE with her look
I know, she's so adorable!
I love your profile name, btw!
@@jacquelinej143 Tysm! And right she’s like Betty boop and she rocks it is so cute😭
I notice this with how westerners interpreted Marie Kondo. To me, she spread a message of how to live with what you have which really resonated with lower income folks I know. Yet white westerners demonized her for her "minimalism" (like people misquoting her book advice) which wasnt what she was advocating for at all.
Her "spark joy" works well with William Morris's “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” - for me at least and I use "beautiful" rather loosely.
I honestly have no clue how people misunderstood Marie Kondo. I've only watched her show, but it definitely helped me stop internalizing the "minimalism is always best" mentality that a lot of other cleaning advice sources will tell you. I've always had a maximalist aesthetic, and all the sources saying that clutter or useless items are bad and should be tossed really preventing me from actually understanding what gives an item value. Basing the items you keep on what "sparks joy" for me helped me get rid of things I didn't need, but also didn't make me feel forced to get rid of the silly items I like.
Totally agree ! Sometimes I feel like hating her is trendy because it's the backlash of previous popularity...
I didn’t realize anyone demonized Marie Kondo. The people I know all have her book. I guess I’m in a bubble? Idk
@@MA-zg2pz yea there were a few people saying stuff like "oh she says you can't have more than 15 books" and making her seem like she was pushing a purely minimalist aesthetic. Which is wild because her advice even takes into account climate change and pollution.
I loved this video, thank you for making it! I’m a Gen Z minimalist but I strive to invest in things that are either handmade or ethically sourced.
Thank you for talking about polychrome ancient sculptures! As someone who majored in Art History, I took a course that spent a lot of time talking about Winckelmann and how much he messed up our current understanding of ancient art. Bias leaks into historical analyses all the time, and art history is not void of those biases.
An issue I have with the new cardboard houses that clutter suburban america nowadays is how flimsy they are, cardboard is a great descriptor
My dad is a career firefighter in a super busy urban county and he said that they crumble within a couple minutes at best and that it's extremely dangerous bc it's super easy to get trapped whereas mid century and earlier houses are much more sturdy and it's much safer to have to go in because they won't evaporate like the new ones do
Wow! That’s so scary 🥴
Unfortunately all the well built older houses get bought up in one second once the go for sale. The only new houses being made is suburbia quality houses or pop modern apartments.
The ability to close doors and have separation between rooms (e.g. doors to your living room, an enclosed kitchen, etc.) can make the difference between a fire spreading in seconds vs minutes. Even the cheapest doors can slow down a fire enough to give people the time needed to get out. People don't realise how easy it is for fires to get out of hand. I once saw a reno show where the couch backed into an island that had a stovetop on it - a huge fire safety risk and all for the sake of open concept living!
Particle board ikea house baby
Mid century or earlier homes also had quality issues as well, especially ones built after ww2 and more suburbs popped up due to the baby boom. A lot of those homes were quickly built to keep up with housing for new families and white flight from the cities. You could also buy homes from a Sears catalogue back then. It’s just the shitty ones that didn’t make it from that era aren’t around anymore and got rebuilt into something different. So only the homes from earlier eras that were built structurally sound/were well-taken care of are still around, making us think that all/most homes back then are better than the homes we have now. That’s why buying a newer built home isn’t always the best idea as you don’t know how long they’ll last compared to a home from like the 80s or the 50s that’s shown that it can withstand time
I feel that cold monochromes and empty spaces are so boring, depressing and miserable. So I painted my doors yellow, my bathroom is blue, cupboards are painted with blue leaves and fantastic creatures. It's totally MY place!
I agree, I want my space to feel cozy. This minimal, cold looking style is so uninviting and doesn't feel like it's a space meant to be lived in.
Not everyone likes that. Let people like their boring spaces if that's what they like 🙄
have you posted pictures anywhere? would love to see it
Pops of color in a gray space are also refreshing
i like monochromatic rooms or painted with just really pale colors. its calming and helps me focus. a lot of colors, specially vibrant ones feels like its too much. i dont think kim's home is THAT bad and boring lmao
to each their own
This was a really well done! There are alot of points i had never thought of before