Just say no to HGTV
thoughts on popular interior design trends, makeover shows, and breaking free from the modern farmhouse
In the dystopian world of modern social media, there’s something specific about being a 30-something millennial on Instagram that just doesn’t hit anymore. Years of being mocked for taking pictures of our food, using the Kelvin filter, and terrible, blurry attempts at capturing fireworks, the thrill of sharing personal pictures on the internet has lost most of its charm. Pile the lack of urge to post vacation pictures likely to be deemed “boring” with the fear of sharing an opinion on just about anything, and it’s truly a wonder I still spend so much time sucked into Zuck’s digital, doom scrolling, black hole.
My fear of sharing an opinion on the internet reached its peak sometime in late February 2020, when the rumblings of the pandemic began to bubble and I started to realize that common sense isn’t a flower that grows in everyones garden and that empathy, for most folks, is the road less travelled.
So imagine my surprise this week when I got the wild hair up my ass to repost a Washington Post article by Rachel Kurzius titled, “HGTV is making our homes boring and us sad, one study says” onto my Instagram story. People, well, they had a lot of opinions. And for once, the internet wasn’t a flaming garbage can of bad behavior and “whataboutism.”
Turns out, hating HGTV is what brings most of us together.
Kurzius’ article focuses primarily on the fact that homeowners look at their properties as their largest asset, therefore, they stray away from bold interior design choices, feeling pressured to keep their home neutral and drowning in shades of grey, ready to add to an MLS listing at any given time. She goes on laying out facts and figures about paint colors correlating with home values and the psychological reasoning people tend to go with the masses— the masses here being the influence of makeover shows on HGTV. And while all of this is wildly fascinating, I find the harmful side effects of HGTV to be so much more than telling homeowners charcoal grey is the best paint color for their investment.
Enter: my messy inner swirling cluttered thoughts on interior design, makeover shows, and the depressing future of architecture. Let’s begin.
My biggest beef with the Home and Garden Television channel lies within the formula. No matter the combination of hosts, location of the town, or budget for renovation, the end result always looks exactly the same: a navy and cream color palette, cheap Wayfair furniture, fake book props and a strange amount of beaded ropes in the final shots as the homeowners gasp and cry at their beautiful “new” kitchen drowning in cheap “Positano” printed tile.
The biggest mindfuck in this category being that Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent, both interior designers noted on the AD100 list, have a television show in which they follow the exact same HGTV formula as their fellow network cast mates, despite having a completely different interior design aesthetic outside the four walls of home makeover television.
Upon attempting to make small talk with Leanne Ford at Round Top last year, I asked if we would be seeing more of her on HGTV. She politely tip toed right over the question by saying she was working on bigger, more exciting projects and then immediately walked away (lol.) This didn’t surprise me though, given the amount of absolutely horrible reviews her show has, mostly from hardcore HGTV followers who found her style to be too “out of the box.” (This feels ironic to me, given that there’s nothing she loves more than a neutral paint color.) I give her props though, as she’s the only designer I’ve seen on the network stick to her niche even if the result was getting completely roasted by the 50-something Karens clinging desperately to their “Gather” signs.
HGTV is keeping America dumb by continuing to pump out one homogenized look they believe to be digestible to the masses, rather than showcasing a variety of aesthetics from leading interior designs across the United States. Not to mention the extreme lack of diversity across their casts, with little representation from BIPOC, POC, and AAPI designers.
While a lover of the kitschy whimsy of 1950s/60s architecture and design, I feel blessed to live as an adult post 1990s, where we have broken free from the unvarying design and fashion that dictated every day life for most of the western world. No longer are we expected to shop at the same five department stores, wear the same exact clothing, and use the same interior decorators to design the same living rooms.
Networks like HGTV have pulled most of America back into the throws of believing that every home has to have the same look, feel, and trends in order to be tasteful, bring happiness, and sell for top dollar. They’ve given us the “Miranda Priestly trickle down” of trends, with every store from Target to Homegoods filled with the same basic crap that will inevitably end up in a landfill because of its cheap quality and the fact some day someone will realize they don’t need a faux distressed giant fake farmhouse wall clock. I know this because I see them all the time at Goodwill. (And let me be clear here — if you do love a farmhouse wall clock, more power to you! I’m not here to shame the shiplap lovers or farmhouse fanatics or whatever your interior favorites are — if it makes you happy, fill your space with it. If you’re doing it because it’s all you see on TV and you feel pressured to succumb to a trend, ditch it!!)
Statistically speaking, the world is losing color. Neutral cars, architecture, and advertising are on the rise, with the idea that neutral attracts a broader spectrum of buyers, bringing us right back to the original article in question. But as humans, we need to be stimulated by colors! And not just ones of the navy and yellow variety! Also, why can’t we enjoy what we have while we have it?! As consumers we’ve become obsessed with the idea of buying only to resell— a continual cycle of new, new, new until the day we die.
Most of us millennials aren’t even sure if buying a home has a square on our lifetime Bingo card, let alone if we need to be keeping the walls neutral for a good resale value. I think of the “time capsule” homes I often see when I’m estate sale-ing — mid century homes someone spent the last 60+ years of their life, the interior untouched from the day they moved in. I can only assume there was a comfort in knowing when you bought a home it was simply your space to live in for as long as you deemed fit, not this modern panic of continuing to pour value into your home so you can resell and move your way up the ranks of starter home to a place that maybe, if you’re lucky, has a yard over 100sq ft.
Live, laugh, love your home - paint can be, well, repainted. When we moved into our current home, the living space was an absolutely yucky baby poopy mustard and the primary bathroom was heinously teal. Three coats of primer and paint later, it’s like nothing ever happened.
Speaking of paint, the cherry on top of my HGTV hate sundae, is their personal participation in the booming internet niche of terrible DIYers and remodel obsessed junkies. Painting an accent wall is one thing, but shitty bathroom remodels are unforgivable. Every time I come across a sliding barn door (!!! I hate sliding barn doors!!) or cheap floor-to-ceiling subway tile, I curse the heavens for allowing HGTV to exist! Bubbling damask wallpaper, leaking fixtures, buckling vinyl floors, the common man suddenly thinks having access to a tape measure and Home Depot makes them the star of their own reality makeover show. The environmental impact of remodeling is rarely discussed, let alone the environmental impact of a terrible remodel that needs to be ripped out and redone in order to pass inspection.
And lest we not forget that television is a lie made up of creative camera angles and lighting!! Dozens of lawsuits have popped up in recent years from people who signed up for HGTV shows only to realize their new dream kitchen was rushed through an inhumane timeline leading to a half assed remodel complete with failed inspections, water damage, structural issues and thousands of dollars of wasted time, energy, and money.
So let this be your sign to convince the people in your life to ditch HGTV and embrace the weird wacky wildness of letting your personality show in your space. Ignore the viral trends, lists of “rules,” and what your friends are doing and embrace that making a house a home is a process that takes time. A home is a living entity, it should inhale and exhale throughout the chapters in your life and become a space that grows as you do.
With so many streaming options nowadays, I’m shocked no one has taken on creating an interior design channel that offers insight into the process of dreaming up, creating, and executing a home remodel and interior transformation. I would love to see Domino, Dwell, Architectural Digest or even The Expert feature more “behind the scenes” from their favorite designers and give viewers an honest look at the time and energy it takes to make magic for their clients. So if you work at any of those places, hit me up because I have ideas 😉
Developing personal style is a process. The fast churn of the world has us thinking that everything should be picture perfect instantly. But collecting takes time!! Finding the-perfect-thing-to-fit-that-perfect-space is something that shouldn’t be rushed!! I think of some of my favorite kooky-old-white-lady-socialite inspiration like Diana Vreeland, Gloria Vanderbilt, Fleur Cowles, and Iris Apfel. Their homes, though over-the-top and decadent, always showcased their favorite colors, trips around the world, and tchotchkes filled with memories and stories.
Since I could easily write another 1000 words on the topic, tune in next week for my thoughts and feels on what I love about an eclectic, lived in home, and how to make your space more personal without giving into the newest arrivals at Homegoods. It will be filled with inspiration, some not so scary DIYs, and some of my favorite vintage furniture finds.
See ya Friday,
xo,
G
PS - Leave a comment! Reply to this email! Tell me your thoughts!
Agree! Agree! Agree! (Except I do actually love subway tile, I gotta say 😅)
The Joanna Gaines picture gave me hives just looking at it. The clock?????????? 💀💀