Our Homes Aren’t Weird Enough

Weekend Reads 31.10.2025

Photo by Nasim Keshmiri on Unsplash

Great design is a gift. From homes to clothes to parking garages, thoughtful design can make life easier and more enjoyable. Take the sitting room arranged for conversations and places to rest your drink. A coat with perfectly placed pockets ensures items are safely tucked away sans unsightly bulge. A parking garage designed with confused out-of-towners in mind might just reduce road rage. Maybe.

If design can positively impact nearly every aspect of our daily lives, why are so many of our homes absolutely boring?

As we collectively leave the era of Millennial grey behind, design magazines are speculating on what comes next in terms of design trends for our homes. I for one hope home design’s next chapter resembles the sentiments shared in this House Beautiful article:

“We hide our clutter, over-curate our collections, and mute our preferences. We get so wrapped up in chasing the picture-perfect, Instagram-ready home—which is often so polished that it barely looks lived-in—that we forget what homes are really for: reflecting our truest selves.”

Interior designer and HGTV star Erin Napier has long called for the sea change currently hitting the home decor world, what with her use of bright colors and fondness for patterns. The sentiments she shared in this video on Instagram mirror what many people desire from their home decor, “I want to put down my phone and turn off 2025, and cozy into the sofa from Kathleen Kelly’s apartment or Lorelai Gilmore’s house or the pages of Martha Stewart Living in the 90s.”

Looking back on the aforementioned House Beautiful article, I think the author is right to say “our homes aren’t weird enough.” Maybe timeless design isn’t about color palettes or hardware finishes but what makes you you. That’s true for the sets representing Kathleen Kelly’s charming apartment in You’ve Got Mail or Lorelai Gilmore’s cozy kitchen on The Gilmore Girls because the most memorable homes typically tell the story of the resident.

I think back on a friend’s tiny home tucked away off a busy street in Belfast and how she transformed wooden produce crates into floating shelves when her budget wouldn’t allow for a trip to Habitat on the High Street. The result was quirky and mindful of the environment – two qualities that embodied that friend. Nothing about her house felt cookie cutter or “on trend.”

The same can be said for people I’ve never met. After watching a short video tour of famed designer Ken Fulk’s San Francisco home, I felt as though I’d just gotten to know him. His home is designed with entertaining in mind and is layered with mementos from around the world. (Case in point: a stuffed and very gigantic giraffe perched high above a sitting room.) It’s clear in the video that he has emotional attachment to the giraffe, and his decision to essentially build this room around it speaks volumes about his personality. He is someone who clearly loves to host and to dazzle his guests with memorable experiences.

So often, we take the easy route. I suppose this is why our homes could often be a bit weirder. It’s tempting to borrow someone else’s life, even if that life isn’t a life at all but a mood board dreamt up by a team of designers on commission for a furniture catalog. It feels safe to follow the rules when you are pulling a room together, and perhaps we should generally try to stick to guidelines about lighting and paint and how high to hang your artwork. And curtains. Please, world, stop with the curtains that dangle 6 inches above the ground.

But as with so many aspects of life, people are the magic that makes things interesting. And weird. So, go on and display the funky artwork or pick the daring paint color. If you don’t like it, you can always revert back to the safe choices found in a furniture catalog.

---

Is Heidi Klum the Queen of Halloween? This retrospective of her Halloween looks sure proves she is committed to slaying in the costume department.

NFL to nursing? Some NFL players are trading in their pads and helmets for scrubs. (NYTimes gift link)

NameDrop is a thoughtful service for those with beautifully unique names. “We believe that no one should have to hear a broken version of their name. So we made it easy for you to share your name with the world, in your own voice. Simply record your name as it’s meant to be said, and get your personal name link.”

Have you ever heard of “elevenses?” I noticed the term in this post about a vegetable-adjacent cake (another new-to-me-term!), and I thought, “Huh. What’s that?” Turns out, I enjoyed this 11am past-time on a near daily basis when I lived in Northern Ireland and just never knew the ritual had a name. I think I may need to bring this back into my life.

I received a small version of True Hue’s Bergamot + Black Tea candle with a bouquet of flowers (thanks, Mom!), and I enjoyed the scent so much that I went back for more.

If you’re hosting Thanksgiving, take a look at the beautiful supplies and decorations from Bonjour Fête. Not hosting but looking for a fun hostess gift? These Thanksgiving crackers and other party favors could be a good option.

Are there people in your life you’ve never met, aren’t influencers, and yet they hold tremendous value for you when it comes to recommendations? Be it travel, food, or art, you’ve found these strangers have taste that matches yours exactly? This is how I feel about the couple behind Glen Dye Cabins and Cottages, an estate featuring holiday cottages and adventures on the east coast of Scotland. I’ve never visited the property, nor have I laid eyes on the owners – Charlie and Caroline Gladstone – and yet I often turn to them for recommendations on music and books. Thankfully Charlie publishes a regular email newsletter sharing his most recent finds, including these five book recommendations:

Buckeye, “The story follows the lives of two married couples as they navigate life from the beginning of World War II until the end of the 20th Century. This is a beautifully written, epic and engaging novel that you’ll want to recommend to your friends as soon as you’ve finished. Truly, a wonderful book to lose yourself in.”

The Rest of Our Lives, “This is beautifully written, understated, and engaging. It’s gently funny and very human and I recommend it highly.”

Benbecula, “The story is gripping, the characters and their lifestyles are beautifully illustrated, and it all races along. I won’t spoil the ending, but a lot here actually happened. A terrific novel (from a Booker shortlisted writer, no less).” U.S. release date is 11 November.

Conversation with the Sea, “This is a book about the impact of place and of nature on the way that we feel. It’s a highly literary, almost poetic novel that is stuffed with remarkably memorable incidents. Fantastic stuff!”

So Long, See You Tomorrow, “I picked this up on a quick trip to Waterstones when I’d run out of books and had a train journey. The person running the shop recommended it so enthusiastically that I had to buy it (I love enthusiasts in any shop). It was first published in 1979, in two parts, in the New Yorker. I didn’t love it like I loved the other books above, but it is undoubtedly an elegant, sophisticated book (and in 2019 was listed by the BBC as one of the 100 most influential novels ever written).”

This is a beautiful essay about a very painful experience, “I could not Goop my way out of infertility.”

Is AI a bubble about to burst?

Take gentle care of yourself this weekend!

And a note that this post contains a few Amazon Affiliate links. If you make a purchase — thank you! — I may earn a small commission.