To dive deeper into the question why everything looks the same and is boring I recommend the videos of Design Theory. Many of these videos are very insightful.
Some time ago I watched a video that also did try to explain thy question of How Did The World Get So Ugly?
Also cars. Next time you look at traffic, try to see the amount of white, gray or black cars. It must be at least 80%.
I have a nice blue volvo and it’s beautiful because it has a fucking color. :)
Got my first gray car this autumn, but also my first used car, so I had less of a choice. It does have two shades of gray and black rims, so it breaks up the grayness. Otherwise I have always had blue cars.
Yayyyy Volvo
No heart. No soul. Appliances built to fail.
Pre War is not good enough for such luxury. What you need is:
antebellum
“Wow, this vinyl flooring. SO Antebellum!”
I hate that flooring. Just so you know, don’t place car tires on it because it will burn in the tire tread. (Didn’t want my tires stolen before I put them on)
Good to know, but how exactly would someone accidentally get in a situation where a car is driving in their kitchen on the third floor of an apartment building? Edit: oh you mean even simply placing a disembodied tire onto the surface of grey laminate flooring will burn tire tread right into it? 🤔 How about putting something like a moving blanket onto the floor first, (update: I couldn’t finish writing my thought because my phone keyboard switched to Russian and wouldn’t let me switch back to English so I had to restart my phone. I’m back now. Keyboard back in english now thank goodness.)
It’s luxury not because of any element in the house, rather because the return on investment needed to justify building housing over just putting the money in the stock market require it be priced as a luxury unit.
It’s just missing the thinnest granite countertops you’ve ever seen.
I live in a 100 year old building and would kill for those appliances
For real my house is falling apart and I’d love just to have a normal functioning house 😔
Older buildings are so beautiful but living in them if not maintained is a literal nightmare. My old apartment building was 100+ years old with pipes that banged like crazy against the walls and the waterlines were so badly corroded they shut the hot water off for a week to fix them (which got them a complaint from the health department because they didn’t offer us alternate lodging).
Antebellum
Textured-grey, durable flooring: a life-saver when you have kids.
Really? I had to add flooring like that to match the horrible millennium gray carpets that were installed by the family before me. It is horrible with dirt. Dirt is more brownish than gray and it stands out like crazy.
Surely It’s easier to rip out the carpets than to install new flooring
No way, millennial grey carpets (brand new, mind you) all over the house and clashing vinyl in three bathrooms. The choice was really, replace all the brand new carpets AND the 30 year old vinyl, or just replace the vinyl.
That’s the kitchen in the condo I bought. It’s slightly redeemed by oak cupboards. I also painted the walls a minty-green and sewed a matching floral cafe curtain, and redid the counters in slightly glitter white. These all help liven it up.
Millennial here, I remember hunting for apartments and the staff of one place proudly said let me show you the upgraded unit. I went in and couldn’t hide how I much I disliked the greyscale upgrade. They were then like well we have one unit that hasn’t been upgraded. Showed me that unit and I was like “oh wow this is way better”. At that point they were super angry as if they upgraded their home the same way and I just said they had the ugliest home.
Our house was built in the 60’s and pretty much untouched since the 80’s (except for motor shutters and security doors put in the 2010’s). Fucking love it.
(Although we did paint (WITH COLOURS) and remove the 50 year old carpet)
Me as a cabinetmaker 20 years ago when everything went white everywhere. Why would you throw away these nice maple cabinets for this white melamine?
Yeah, I’ve seen a few of the modern home improvement shows where the first thing they do is paint bricks in the house with a thick white latex paint. That’s not an improvement. There are other ways to brighten up a place like installing lights…
Honestly if they replaced stuff with higher quality stuff that needs less maintenance and lasts even longer it would be cool, but it’s almost always a net loss of quality over the old stuff.
YES!
and unlike art deco - this kind of luxury is dirt cheap.
I am eager for faux wood vinyl planks to go out.
I don’t mind vinyl, but just find the attempt to imitate wood makes it feel obviously like cheaping out.
Polished concrete is way underrated.
Too bad most people pour epoxy over their concrete.
you mean concrete paint?
or clear sealant?
ok for garages, I suppose. Inside the house, maybe not so much unless you are into that look.
I was thinking more this…
Oh, no. I’m not most people. I guess it could have been interpreted that way though.
Terrazzo is one of my favorite textures, and polishing it, is simply peak.
TBH, I’m a sucker for the ceramic tiles that have a bit of wood grain. I think it’s because you can easily tell it’s not real wood because it’s cold, but the ceramic gives it a comfy hefty and the wood look gives visual interest and a texture that improves texture.
The plastic fake wood is convenient. It came with my kitchen and is both water resistant and easy to clean. I’m not sure what I’d go with if I redid my floor.
Oh I am fine with the vinyl, I would just prefer some non wood appearance for it . Also would favor tile over plank.
Wood is not good for longevity, especially in a hot and humid location near the ocean. These full vinyl planks will survive a lot of abuse in addition to the environemnt. Do they have to lool like wood, no, but what should they look like?
I prefer a vaguely stoney look, but again not trying to look too much like specific stone. Further I favor larger tiles over plank form factor.
Or some sort of design untethered from imitating some other material, though I admit I don’t know of any examples of that off hand.
Just something about very specific wood looking with a plastic feel, especially the ones that have a bit of ridges along the grain that actual wood wouldn’t have.
But absolutely agree that a decent thick vinyl plank or tile is a great material.
I guess the plank form factor is because wood has grain which runs lengthwise in a direction and lends itself to planks. I doubt you could ever get planks to line up and look like stone, or tiles to line up and look like wood for that matter. Tiles and stone might work, but there may be some industry thing about avoiding the look of the older asbestos tiles.
In general, making things look like something it’s not just feels wrong. Unironically painting plaster walls to look like stone or brick comes to mind - you’re ruining the plaster.
that shit has a layer that is literally printed onto a thin sheet of vinyl.
The better quality stuff has quite a thick ‘wear layer’, with the effect all the way through that layer, so they don’t lose it too quickly.
Nah, this is war alright
