It's behind you...!
It’s behind you…!
21.4.20
An unexpected upside to all this #WFH malarkey (it literally took me days to work out what WFH stood for…
I thought people were swearing at me in a WTF kind of way) is that seeing into so many peoples homes is assuaging an ongoing obsession that I have with the interiors of other people’s homes.
It goes with the day job…
Of course, it’s a bit of an unsatisfied craving because, for starters, you only see a small little snippet of a room in the background of the remote transmission, and secondly, you only get to see what the participant chooses to let you see. I spend 90% of my time not looking at the person speaking, but trying to see the details of the room behind them or round the corners of their chosen backdrop, spotting what’s on their #shelfie or assessing their tastes in art.
I have made the assumption that everyone thinks very carefully about what they are revealing of their home, what they are sitting in front of, what that choice might say about them, in the same way that Instagram addicts will vet every photograph before posting. But, of course, this current remote access into our homes is a little less curated, a bit more ‘real time’. God forbid the camera gets knocked, your phone falls over, or the cat knocks your screen…that way lies all the stuff you moved into a big pile to clear out your selected back drop. Kind of Marie Condo for a 6ft x6ft wall section.
So, as a result of my ongoing informal research I have discovered the following little insights, gleaned from remote meetings, catch ups with friends, news briefings and reporters WFH broadcasts, and from the nosy interior designers best snooping opportunity,
the ‘One World : Together at Home’ online concert :
1. There are certain people on the media that are not putting any thought into this backdrop situation at all, or if they are, they have little or no interest in what judgey-judgey people (me) might think about their interior design choices. Admittedly, these people tend to be ‘Very-Important-People-In-The-Current-Situation’. So maybe they are too busy to be thinking about what I might be thinking about their magnolia walls.
2. Some people HAVE BEEN banished to their spare rooms, OR need some help with their hoarding.
3. Or are so embarrassed about their homes that they film from their car.
4. Some clever peeps have seen the advertising potential of this whole situation…
5. Look out for some ‘double whammy’ opportunities, to see into two homes at once! Interior Design Snooping gold!
6 People have a lot of books. Or they have some books, all of which they have placed behind themselves. OR Some people fill their shelves with vinyl as an alternative, way cooler, option.
7. There are countless opportunities to analyse people via their interiors. And spot those who have turned to alcohol in the current crisis (all of us?!). And are those crisp packets stuffed round the microwave?
8. Robert Peston is only prepared to reveal his ceiling.
9. Elton John was savvy and didn’t want to show us anymore than he had to, so he popped himself on his servants entrance driveway next to a big hedge.
10. Billie Eilish has patently moved home since she did Car Pool Karaoke with James Cordon.
11. Oprah Winfrey has had Kelly Hoppen in.
12. The Rolling Stones all pretty much follow the trad English approach to interior design.
13. Matt Hancock has a very nice study. And lots of books.
14. Jennifer Lopez has moved into an illuminated wedding dress shop
15. AND FINALLY, John Legend wins the ‘nice house’ award. Not that he needs any more awards. He has quite a few already.
So in the same way as you might be choosing what to wear every day (on a scale of
’likeliness-to-be-seen’), whether that be your PJ’s, full on formal, or something in between, a la Anchorman,
I suggest you put a moment or two aside to also look behind you.
Or move your face so close to the camera that any viewers have no chance of seeing past your head,
but that has a whole different set of repercussions on the subject of nose hair.
Or failing that, you can always adopt one of the fantasy backgrounds and pop yourself on a beach or in Buckingham Palace….
or disguise yourself as a potato.
Written by Rebecca Hunt, Director at Suna Interior Design.
To subscribe to our Journal and receive notification of new posts please go to SUBSCRIBE and select JOURNAL, thank you!