It’s Time to Normalize Real-Life Home Updates

In a world where we’ve tried to make everything Instagram-worthy, maybe what we really need is less perfection and more reality. It’s time to normalize real-life home updates.

I always say I love a tiny home project, and what I mean by that is those little updates that you do during the normal course of living in your home for maintenance, to make your home feel comfortable to live in, and to help things feel up-to-date. In other words, the real-life projects. The ones that aren’t necessarily for the ‘gram, but that make your home feel a little cozier and a little more beautiful just for you. They might not be expensive, or have a lot of “wow factor,” but they make a difference. Increasingly, I’m seeing home creators apologizing for the real homes that they live in, as if it’s unacceptable to share an idea for updating an old, out-of-date kitchen without redoing everything from top to bottom. As if they’re the only ones living in a real home and it’s absolutely appalling to the rest of us. Stop it. We need to normalize real homes and real home updates.

More decorating ideas for real homes: Bookshelf Wealth is the Trend That Needs to Not Be Just a Trend

Stop Apologizing For Not Ripping Out Entire Rooms

Very few of us are continously tearing rooms apart and starting from scratch, so why do we keep pretending that’s the only satisfactory way of making a cozy home? When we do embark on a full scale renovation, the truth is that it’s only after living in a very imperfect home for a little while, or a long while. Even then, most of us are taking what works for us, keeping it, and adding a few thoughtful upgrades here and there, and we’re doing it a little at a time. Yes, even people who live in huge dream homes. Yes, even people with unlimited budgets.

We visit the real homes of people who have recently completed renovations every day to capture them with our interior photography business, and honestly, these homes that look incredible in the photos are real houses, too, and these people are doing things in bits and pieces as well, just like the rest of us.

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People Are Tired of Unattainable Homes

Pictured above: Ruggable | Cubby Baskets | Shelf Baskets | Tote Bags | French Market Basket

People are just tired of unreachable home goals, and it’s time to read the room. Showing only incredibly perfect, polished, minimalist homes isn’t helpful, and doesn’t provide anyone with the inspiration they can actually implement in their real lives. People want ideas that are actually useful and applicable, not just an endless sea of unachievable inspiration images drawn up by AI to make you feel like everyone else is living in a home where the color palette is always exactly on-trend, and the lighting is always just right.

We want that moment, that spark, when you see an idea and suddenly realize “Wait! I could do that!” We want to connect meaningfully with our friends, neighbours, and kindly internet acquaintances, and be inspired to try an idea, or test out a home solution that we think might just be the thing. We don’t need to be told, yet again, that if we can’t afford brand new everything in the exact style of the moment, we might as well not even try.

Pictured Above: Mirror | Toile Curtains (use code CH12 for 20% off)

We’re seeing this in a return to quirky, personal spaces with lots of layers, and a collected look that tells a story of being gathered over time. This is a style that can be brought into our real homes in big ways and little ways, fits into our daily lives and budgets, and actually makes us feel like we’ve made progress in creating a more beautiful home. This is design inspiration that feels good for so many of us, and it’s resonating for a reason. So, if you’re only doing little home projects, from re-arranging furniture, to adding a wall of hooks, to hanging thrift store artwork in an interesting way, you’re right on the mark.

More decoration inspiration for your home: 7 Things Every Traditional Room Needs

Real Homes Over Performative Houses

For years we’ve been trying to sell people on the idea that you need to spend thousands to have an acceptable home, but the truth is that you can (and always have been able to) create a cozy home using creative, budget friendly solutions, working with what you have, and being resourceful with what’s available to you. And it’s so much more interesting that way.

Maybe we’ve slowly brainwashed ourselves over the years with too many episodes of House Hunters where the would-be homeowners blazingly declared that perfectly lovely homes just wouldn’t do because they weren’t grand enough, didn’t have enough closet space, or didn’t have the perfect view.

Maybe now we’re starting to realize that’s not what we really want. We don’t want to stretch to afford the biggest house possible so that we can meet some invisible standard that we think exists. We don’t want to “refresh” everything we own every two years to stay on trend. What we really want is a cozy, safe home, where we can spend time with our loved ones, and maybe express a little bit of our creativity now and then. And that’s not something we need to apologize for.

Homes are shelters, safe-havens, and gathering places; not just investments or performance opportunities. So if you do a little project that brings you joy, no matter how tiny, you go right ahead and share it with the world. I’ll be happy to see it, and I’ll keep coming back for more. Because those tiny moments are really what it’s all about.

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