Hey, guys.
It's Chelsea from The Financial Diet,
and this week's video is sponsored by advisor.com.
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And today, I wanted to talk about a trend in home decor
that I think is representative of larger trends in our society
that are worth talking and thinking about.
Now, part of it is just purely from an aesthetic place,
I will admit, but I do think that this particular phenomenon
has a lot of reaches outside of just what we aesthetically
happen to choose to be in vogue at any given minute.
And I am talking about the all-white/gray home trend,
which I also sometimes think of as "Airbnb chic"
or the aesthetic of the TikTok real estate flipper.
Now, for context, the all-white/gray interiors have
been fairly dominant on places like Instagram and Pinterest
for years now, although many outlets are now pretty
confidently stating that this trend is out, it's over,
it's already dated.
"Toussaint Derby, a lead designer at Havenly,
said, sleek, all-white interiors are
going to be replaced with colorful ones.
She told Insider the 'the all-white aesthetic may have
felt a little too cold and impersonal,' so it's falling
out of favor as people try to cozy up their spaces."
Now, anyone who has ever watched my videos probably
knows by now that I am definitely not
a minimalist or a white-on-white girly
when it comes to the spaces that I live in.
But it's interesting to consider that while minimalism
and the white-on-gray-on-white aesthetic makes superficial
aesthetic gestures to being accessible or universal,
it has also long been a signifier of wealth and a very
specific type of wealth.
Now, sometimes people do pick all-white or neutrals
due to decision fatigue or just personal taste.
But all-white homes have often been an aesthetic choice
as a product of minimalism.
And while minimalism is meant to simply
be an anticonsumerist movement and a way to live with less,
it has, in many cases, turned into an aesthetic that
is associated with wealth--
i.e. having fewer things when you could afford to buy more
is, in its way, conspicuous non-consumption
when you're privileged enough to be able to downsize
your belongings.
And rich people like Kim Kardashian,
back when she was married to Kanye, and the Beckhams have
shelled out fortunes to get an empty whitewashed look, which,
of course, influences plenty of copycats and trickles down
to the everyday people who are scrolling through social media.
And even when it comes to upkeep and maintenance,
owning white-on-white-on-white belongings,
especially if those belongings are made out of fabric,
is also a signifier that you're able to maintain their upkeep
and keep them looking perfect.
But setting aside the aesthetics of conspicuous non-consumption,
there is also another dynamic at play,
as I mentioned in my intro, with the Airbnb chic.
These extremely neutral and, let's
be clear, often very cheaply-made
interiors are a way of neutralizing living spaces,
so that anyone can project themselves into them,
find them instantly recognizable,
and feel familiar in them regardless of where
they might be in the world.
This is also something we saw with, for example,
the massive proliferation of workspaces in the mid-teens,
with things like WeWork.
To be able to be anywhere in the world
and immediately recognize a certain amount of aesthetics
is, in itself, a kind of class signifier.
But when we're thinking about the kinds of looks that really
dominated this white-on-gray era--
I'm thinking things like gray vinyl flooring,
matching furniture sets, white-and-cream tufted
headboards, silver--
and mass-produced art that's generally
made to be as inoffensive as possible,
this is also a key aesthetic of things like house-flipping,
which, in many cases, is just a slightly less
abrasive term for things like gentrification
and displacement.
Neutral decor is a go-to for people
looking to sell their homes, because the less personal
a house looks, the more sellable it is.
As Sharon Brown, Dallas General Manager at Digital Real Estate
Platform Opendoor put it, "Generally,
going with neutral colors like shades of white, beige,
taupe, and grays leads to a faster sale.
Neutral colors are also more appealing to potential buyers,
because they may want the creative freedom
of a blank canvas to add their personal touches to when
looking for a new place to call home."
From a seller's point of view, it
can be risky, having bright, bold paint colors,
because personal preference ranges greatly
from person to person.
And house-flipping, buying a fixer-upper home, often
after a foreclosure, investing money in upgrades,
and then selling it for a profit,
has become a popular means of generating income, illustrated
by the popularity of reality shows like Flip or Flop.
And when people flip a home, what do they do to it?
They often make it white, gray, or otherwise devoid
of personality, so that it becomes easier to sell.
The average house-flipping return on investment
reached 38.9% in 2021, and then dropped
to a 13-year low of 25.8% in 2022.
Yet, the house-flipping rate increased at that same time.
A report, "published by the real estate data analytics
firm Attom, showed that 114,706 single-family homes and condos
were flipped during the first quarter of the year,
representing 9.6% of all transactions
in that period," which is "up from 6.9%
in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 4.9%
in the first quarter of 2021."
So this means that more people are
taking on the risk and the work of flipping homes, which,
in some respects, can be a good thing, in the sense
that usually, this means investing into the existing
homes, rather than tearing them down to make for cheap builds,
as is often the case with bigger developers.
But at the same time, house flipping massively
impacts things like gentrification and displacement
of communities, because typically, a crucial part
of house flipping is identifying a home in an area that's
up and coming, i.e.
used to be pretty inexpensive and is likely
going to be massively more expensive in the coming years.
From a 2017 article in Gothamist,
"Gothamist mapped house flipping in New York City
by zip code for every year since 2003.
Our analysis shows that the number of flips
has been steadily increasing since 2011,
returning to a level not seen since the collapse
of the subprime mortgage industry in 2007.
The Center for NYC Neighborhoods recently published a report
detailing this increase in flipping and the effects
that the practice can have on New York City's
most affordable neighborhoods.
In a place like New York City, where affordable housing
is scarce, flipping removes affordable homes
from the housing stock and gentrifies lower-income areas.
And the expansion of overly neutral home decor beyond just
house flipping is indicative of homeowners wanting
to 'look expensive,' which often ends up making every home look
the same."
From one Atlantic article called,
"The HGTV-ification of America," "In the hands of flippers
and landlords, these choices are generally
made not by people who want to fill the world with the best,
safest, most comfortable homes possible,
but by those looking for a return on the bets
they've made on the place where you'll start your family
or play with your future grandkids.
They've chosen these things just as much for what they
aren't as for what they are--
inoffensive, inexpensive, innocuous.
These houses aren't necessarily designed to be lived in.
They're designed to go into contract."
Now, it should be noted that trends are cyclical.
And places like "Architectural Digest"
are already talking about the fact
that there is a new sort of white-chocolate minimalism
that's another trend to look out for on the horizon.
And I should stress that whatever
your personal tastes happen to be, there is no good or bad.
My taste, which tends toward more colorful and maximalist,
is not going to be everyone else's, and I also
understand that some of the choices I made
may wax and wane with time as well, in terms of popularity.
However, I do think it's important,
when we look at the kinds of trends that we're seeing
and what is considered, for example, buyable,
that we're reading a little further into what
these trends mean about the culture that we live in.
Moving to a viewpoint of homes that sort of removes
every aspect of them that makes them a home,
rather than just a piece of property,
by making them as neutral and interchangeable as possible,
with absolutely zero regard to the community or history that
happened to be in them before--
this can also often be seen in things like removing historical
flourishes, moldings, trims, stained-glass doors--
basically, everything that initially gave the house
character-- we can see some truly
horrendous Victorian before-and-afters here--
doesn't just mean erasing architectural or decorative
flourishes.
It also means erasing the fact that homes
are, at the end of the day, something
that is meant to be lived in.
Combined with the private-equity-ization
of our housing market and the extent to which it's becoming
more and more difficult for the average person to even get
a foothold in what used to be considered a starter home,
and we can see how much this mass neutralization
of our interiors points toward a larger problem--
that when everything is a commodity that can just
be flipped and sold on a dime, nothing is actually worth
living in.
And now, it's time for me to answer the two society
questions of the video.
As a reminder, click the Join button below
to become a member of our amazing society.
You get tons of awesome perks and exclusives and bonus stuff.
But you also get to ask me questions
that I answer every month, like a little mailbag.
What is the mail song from Blue's Clues? (SINGING)
We just got a letter.
We just got a question from our little members.
I wonder what they said.
OK.
Do you use any organizational apps and templates
to organize your life and work?
If so, would you please share?
Absolutely.
I am probably more organized in my personal life
than I am in my work life, just because I always
have a lot of things that I like doing at any given time,
but I'm a very aggressive user of Google Calendar and Google
Sheets.
I have spreadsheets for everything in my life,
and everything goes on Google Calendar.
I also have a wall calendar in my kitchen
that I put everything from my Google Calendar onto, that's
color-coded as well, because I like
to just be able to look at it and see what's
coming up at any given time.
It's also convenient for my husband
to see what we're up to.
So I do that.
I have my notebooks that I use.
I like to do a lot of my work on pen and paper
as well, like my to-do list I typically keep in a journal.
I have a dedicated journal for different things,
like I use a specific journal for my home decor
planning and my renovations.
I use a specific journal for certain projects.
Like if I have a really big project I'm taking on,
I'll typically dedicate its own journal to it.
So yeah, I use a lot of tools to help me be organized.
I also use voice notes constantly.
I'm constantly just like, note to self, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
And you can also use speech-to-text to convert those
into notes that you can then upload.
Yeah, I'm an organized little girl.
I am.
Because I noticed that the more organized I became,
the better my life was in every possible way.
And it did not come naturally to me, I must say.
It was quite an uphill battle at first.
But now, I can say that I'm very organized.
What is something you wished more people knew or talked
about with regards to starting and running your own business?
Number one is that perception is everything.
I think a lot of people don't put enough upfront investment
in the presentation of themselves online.
Like, they don't have a domain name, like a website landing
page, attached to their business that
has all the relevant information and presents a very
professional image.
They don't have email addresses attached to that website.
Like, it should be like, Hello, at your website,
or your name at your website.
It shouldn't be your business name at gmail.com.
These are fairly affordable in the scale of things.
They're pretty darn affordable.
But it's a step that a lot of people skip.
And I think it really kind of impacts them negatively
for discoverability, for marketing,
for reaching your audience.
Like, you should have all of the handles on social media
for your business.
Even if you're not using them yet,
you should protect those names, so
that no one can buy them, and then
extort you for money after to get you to pay them for it.
So setting up a really coherent and easy-to-find and
easy-to-navigate online presence is a step
that I think does not get talked about nearly enough.
Also, like, we have Canva now.
Like, you don't even need to be--
it doesn't not need to be that fancy.
I am certainly not a designer by any means,
but even I can do a lot of stuff with Squarespace and Canva
and things like that.
And the other thing that no one really talks about
is that you may not be able to afford therapy during it,
although I would recommend it if you can afford therapy
while going through the first couple of years
of starting a business.
But having some sort of safe space
that you can regularly speak about the mental and emotional
toll that it takes, I think, is essential,
because I think a lot of people--
like, the stress and anxiety and pressure and workload
of starting a business in the early years
can really bring out the worst in people.
It can cause rifts.
It can damage relationships.
It can damage marriages.
It can be really, really toxic.
And I'm grateful that I made it through and with, pretty much,
my whole life intact, and having made something
that I'm proud of.
But I think I could have handled a lot of things differently,
and I wish I had.
And I wish that I had dedicated resources
to taking care of my mental health,
because it is an unusually stressful time
in a human being's life that I think a lot of us
don't properly prepare for.
That's it.
As always, guys, thank you for watching,
and don't forget to hit the Subscribe button
and to come back every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday,
for new and awesome videos.
Bye.