Why It’s Time to Stop Designing Homes for Social Media and Design for Real Life

When you’re decorating and designing a home, it’s easy to get lost in a doomscroll of inspiration on your phone. After all, it’s right at your fingertips; you don’t have to flip through magazines and catalogues, you can just type in the exact look you’re going for, and it’s there within seconds.

But somewhere along the way, social media has transformed homes into performative spaces that are designed around photography and likes. They’re not designed to be lived in, and homes are supposed to be spaces you can hide from the world, rest, and recuperate. Not spaces that strangers on social media can rank.

What is a Performative Home & Why Is It Exhausting?

A performative home is a space designed for social media. It’s carefully curated for content; from artfully arranged coffee tables to impractically white sofas, these homes prioritise aesthetics over functionality. They chase trends and validation in the form of likes, follows, and viral reach. Constantly hoping to be the next big thing that everyone sees online.

And while there’s nothing wrong with loving design or having a beautiful space, trying to keep up with online-perfect standards is exhausting. It feels like an endless job because it’s not just about how a room looks. Instead, it’s about how “on-trend” it is. Meaning these spaces are constantly being changed and adapted to fit in with the latest style. It takes away from discovering what works for you and what feels right for you, not what works for the strangers online who’ll comment their love or hatred.

Design Trends That Push Back

There’s a growing wave of styles and philosophies that are pushing back against performative decorating. There’s some irony that these anti-trends are still trends, but they’re less forceful and don’t care about perfection. Instead, they’re sole focus is imperfection, authenticity, and comfort over curation. They’re not about to tell you what you have to do with your interior design; instead, they offer simple tips and advice on how to create a space that’s unique to you and your needs.

Non-Aesthetic Homes: Embracing personality over polish, non-aesthetic spaces reflect real habits and hobbies. It’s about stacks of books that are being read and blankets being tossed onto furniture. It’s about displaying your trinkets, letting shelves be practical and personal, embracing mismatched furniture, and letting rooms evolve naturally. It’s a lived-in, layered look that favours substance over surface.

Slow Decorating: You don’t need to rush to complete a space; you can take time. It’s important to live in a space before you decide how it should look, so that you know what you need from this space. A great way to go about it is to focus on the foundational choices, such as whether you want a light vinyl floor or perhaps you have a specific colour in mind for the walls. Unfinished corners and empty walls aren’t something to stress about; instead, let your home grow with you.

Anti-Trend Decorating: Even more on the nose, the anti-trend philosophy is quite literally about rejecting what’s fashionable in favour of what feels right for your lifestyle. It isn’t about shunning trends, it’s about embracing what you love and not changing your home for the next seasonal colour palette or TikTok’s latest must-have.

How to Reclaim Your Space

The fight against the performative pull of social media doesn’t mean you have to abandon aesthetics altogether. It simply means shifting your priorities to focus on your home and lifestyle, instead of what will make you go viral.

Decorate Slowly: Avoid the temptation to finish a space quickly; instead, let the space evolve naturally. Live in it, see how it feels, and eventually, let your décor reflect your day-to-day life.

Prioritise Function Over Form: Make sure to choose items that serve a purpose or bring joy. Whether it’s a vintage dresser that reminds you of childhood or a durable engineered wood floor that can handle an active home.

Embrace Imperfection: Real life means leaving a drying rack full of dishes and letting the mail pile up on a side table. You don’t need to hide these everyday realities, and you shouldn’t feel obliged to.

Mix Old and New: Not only does this help you resist the fast-consumption cycle that trends encourage, but pre-loved furniture, antique finds, and hand-me-downs are full of character and add personality to your space.

Beyond the Filter

Reclaiming the home as a private, personal space instead of a public stage is definitely worthwhile. It helps create a sense of belonging, while easing the pressure to follow trends and encouraging a deeper connection to the things that matter: comfort, memory, and meaning.

Author Bio:

Sophie Marlowe is a digital content writer and outreach executive for Luxury Flooring. She specialises in crafting engaging blogs on home improvement and home decor with a focus on flooring. Sophie writes handy how-tos, easy guides, and helpful comparisons, letting the reader be informed and inspired to take their home to the next level.