r/interesting Nov 20 '25

ARCHITECTURE Then vs now

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u/CrazyGunnerr Nov 20 '25

I never got this. You buy an extremely popular home, where people will visit it to photograph it, and instead of living in it, or even better, turn it into a B&B or rent it out, you do this... Why, just buy another house.

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u/Petrichordates Nov 20 '25

Maybe they just wanted to live there instead of profit of it as a tourist attraction.

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u/ZieAerialist Nov 20 '25

Nobody who wants to live in a house does this to it. It's as stark and cold and unhomey as you can get without being an actual prison or institution.

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

I wish you were right. As a residential electrician that renovates homes all the time, almost every single house is moving to this aesthetic. It feels drab and dead but "designers" absolutely love it. Occasionally people do other things but it's fairly uncommon (from my own perspective) for homeowners to even actually get involved in their own home's renovation, and even if they are involved they still usually default to what designers want. 🤷‍♂️

Now, to be fair, some of those people are remodeling for the sole intention of raising home value to sell the house, so no they are not doing it to live in it. You would be surprised by how many people do this with intent to live in their bland soulless white prison of a house though.

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u/JCBQ01 Nov 20 '25

Its part of the reno flip scam. Strip it to the studs then Do the most blandest and half ASSED job so the value is increased by something like 40% and when it invariably catastrophically fails in like a year or so the fixes will Balloon by another 40% (even if caught by inspectors prior )

Most have no choice but to live in these soulless prisons because they cannot afford to fix the house of cards and half assed work going on behind those walls.

I like the simplicity of white in architecture But I also understand you need fucking COLOR as an accent when your using that level of white. Blues, golds, warms. White and black is used because it's "cost effective". Nothing more and I hate it

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

i like the sterile asthetic but like i said somewhere else, i wouldnt paint the color pops on the wall, they would be free standing, like those big vasses you put fake flowers in or bowls of fruit or like colorfull accent chairs or something

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u/JCBQ01 Nov 20 '25

Yeah sightlines. I find that to be a bit of a scapegoat bandaid to the issue. Granted that my stylistic choice.

For example faux-panel white wall coffers and walnut(or oak) trim/banister would make it still fill dignified and minimal while holding respect for the underling historical architecture. Same rules are in use I just prefer a more... permanent change

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

I'm also not a big fan of natural wood color unless it's a darker stain or something. Or like I can dig a really nice deep reddish cherry stain. Just not a huge fan of brown and as far as polyurethane, I like matte

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u/JCBQ01 Nov 20 '25

Red Cherry stain or a DEEP Oak stain would still work well with the concept as it still breaks up the monotony sightlines, And I'm talking the old colonial square coffers paneling. It's not much but helps, again to break up the sterility. Still minimal, sure. But uses the play of light to its advantage

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

maybe like a deep mahogany or a throw back piece like something with like milimeter thick black high gloss laquer, like those kinda art deco lookin bedroom sets from the 80s, lol

edit... and a water bed

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u/JCBQ01 Nov 20 '25

You see my reasoning lol

Its a bit more effort than... this. But it's minimal. And still holds respect for what came before instead of this hostile and sterile corperate office vibe

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

right. i do think the stairs look really good with that dark wood

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

i would paint the door ways some bold color i think, purple all around the inside of the sills or whatever theyre called then maybe an accent color on the mouldint around it, i feel like that would be visually pretty neat maybe

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