155: Reasons To Live in a Show Home.
I hear it all the time.
I think it’s in the top three things people say to me about their home.
I don’t want to live in a show home.
I know what they mean. They want to feel as though they actually live there.
They want it to be a family home with personality.
I’ve said it myself
“You know, I know it’s not a show home, you have to live here.”
But, and I’m going to be honest here, I don’t mean that.
Yikes, I said it
That show home statement that I hear so often, feels a bit like wanting an excuse for not making it beautiful for you to live in because it’s a lot of effort.
As if a beautiful home isn’t a priority for busy everyday life.
As if it’s frivolous.
But you deserve things to be lovely.
All the time. And if you don’t want it to be that way, you won’t be thinking about your home so much.
Ok ok, I know we’re busy. There’s kids and pets and dinner to make.
There are shoes to put away and coats to hang up.
There’s the piles of letters and bills stacking up on the kitchen countertop.
I know! I too, have the letter pile. I too, don’t always put my stuff away. Sometimes, that’s just life.
But I’m also kind of in my show home era.
Show homes are great - I mean they’re often so well done that they convince us to part with many thousands of our hard-earned pounds because they sell us a dream. They convince us we could live like that and inspire us to feel excited about our home.
I think we should always feel excited about being at home.
So I’m not saying, you have to live in this untouched perfect space, where you can’t have any mess and you have to levitate about an inch above your carpet so it doesn’t get ruined.
However, I am saying there are lessons you can take from the show homes and it’s not a bad thing.
Learn how to style your home.
One of the reasons show homes look so pretty is because they’re well-styled. You can look around every room and find visually appealing things. It’s the same reason we love hotel rooms and nice restaurants. It makes you feel a bit fancy and we should all feel fancy sometimes. Right?
So embrace the plants, the candles, the scatter cushions. Create small vignettes in your rooms, using the rule of three to group and, play with texture to add interest and dimension (more on that here).
Not everything in your room has to be functional. It’s not pointless if it doesn’t do anything other than look nice (yes, I’ve had that conversation too). When my other half first came to my house, he looked at some shelves I’d styled in the kitchen and genuinely said “ Is it always like that in here?”
Yes. It is.
Remember it’s not about filling your home with stuff you can’t touch. You just want to create little pockets of joy.
Even down to family photos. Display them properly, and create a gorgeous gallery wall. Get your favourites enlarged and framed and make it an art piece. Not every surface and wall has to be covered so we know you live there. Just be a little more considerate about what you want up. It’ll feel good, I promise.
Everything has its place.
Show homes are empty because there are no belongings. You do have many belongings so you’re going to need storage.
Toy boxes, Ikea Kallax, the cupboard that looks like Monica’s (bonus points to you, if you appreciate a Friends reference). We all need storage.
My flat is notoriously short on it, so I have boxes under the bed, an ottoman sofa and baskets in the hall where the pile of letters often ends up. My window seat doubles up as storage for my Christmas tree, so multifunction is a plus.
I’ve worked with families that want some adult space, but inevitably it becomes filled with toys and games.
This need for proper storage is paramount, somewhere to hide it all, but don’t forget to consider your layout here. If you can, zone the room with rugs or furniture - in one instance we placed the toy cupboard behind the sofa, so on an evening the adults didn’t have a pile of Squishmallows in their line of vision.
Keeping some of the clutter away does give you peace of mind.
Build a cohesive scheme.
We all talk about flow around the house, ensuring it feels seamless. I don’t think you need to have every room the same in style and colour - but just enough so it doesn’t feel disjointed. Build a style that works for you, no matter where you are on the spectrum between neutral minimalist and bold maximalist.
Be playful and interested in your interiors. One feature wall does not make a room. Sorry.
Take inspiration from show homes, social media and your Pinterest boards. Look at exactly how they’ve created a space and if you want, copy it. But commit to it. Make it yours.
Go big and then you can go home and stay there.
In a space that feels gorgeous.
And like you live in it.
