What is the status of residential housing in this country today?

The demands of the market, changes of life styles cause by the pandemic, interest rates, labor, materials, availability, job market, inflation, global warming, et cetera have all caused major changes, and still do, in the residential housing market of the life we experience today.

Shelter from the elements is the foremost and most basic function of residential existence and is not one which is optional.

Above and beyond being basic shelter from the elements, our homes also fill necessary emotional, psychological, physical, legal, health, some time spiritual and religious, business, social, et cetera needs and requirements.

For our daily lives to be livable there has to be a balance of finances between housing costs and income in relation to the other aspects of one’s life.

This balance will vary in different locations, times, circumstances et cetera during our present time and future ones.

So, how do we put all this stuff together in a desirable manifesting way?

The history of the human race through the ages has manifest endless varying results of how these elements have come together.

For a housing process to be successful there has to be responsibility, action, cooperation, fairness, et cetera from all members of society including business, finance, government, environmentalists, designers of many professions, labor, health, and others working together as a team to have all of a population well housed.

What do you see today as the major challenges facing housing the population of this country? What do you see as the solutions? How and what do we have to do to put it altogether and have it work?

How does all of such affect you personally and the people who are important in your life?

What, if anything, are you going to do about the current situation?

Food for thought.

Status: ” position or rank in relation to others” Webster

Status has been a behavior pattern though out much of history manifesting from animals to humans.

Achievements, finances, family history, intelligence, education, positions, location, et cetera are all traits that can be manifest as status.

Much of the strength of status is it’s characteristic supposedly superiority in that aspect of their lives.

While such may be true it does not necessarily in and of itself present itself in other parts of their lives.

The personal choices of residential surroundings of those with the highest status, what ever that status may be, is not necessarily the highest level of aesthetics therein.

Being a superior plumber does not make one an excellent electrician.

Have you ever noticed the residential interior designs of movie stars, politicians, the wealthy, old and new, sports champions, and others, who have the resources and freedom, choose to manifest their personal surroundings?

It matters not what is your status or your available options, a high level of beauty will not result without the intelligent use of the laws of physics and the principles of aesthetics,

In these situations, as well as many others in life, emotions trump intelligence.

Food for thought.

While waiting at my local library for books of Marcus Aurelis, and of course you know who he is, a book on manners for the contemporary male came to my attention.

Much of it’s content was what has been taught and practiced for generations.

What caught my attention was the quantity of what behavior patterns he is “always” to or not to manifest.

It reminded me of the strong, and often ignorant, positions that some people take when it comes to residential interior design.

One of my favorite, and often heard, is that “you always put the couch on the longest wall”.

Residential interior design is not a combination of “always does and always don’t does” nor is it a “one size fits all” nor is it a book of etiquette for conformity and rules.

To achieve a successfully designed residential interior space the function, personality of it’s users, and the principles of aesthetics must be freely applied with creativity and imagination and intelligence.

As you have seen residential spaces everywhere over the course of you life, how many had the “always” conformity applied and did you notice and what was your reaction, if any, to such?

Most of housing is, and has been, determined by economics and resources and geared toward a mass market consumption.

Where do you fit in with your personal interior residential spaces?

Do you “always” follow the rules, trends, conformity?

Or do you seek to manifest a higher level of aesthetics and individuality by determining your own direction.

The choices are yours to make for the manifestation you experience.

Food for thought.

It is a basic law of human behavior that people are affected and react to their surroundings.

This law is used and manifest in many areas of life including businesses, professions, education, health, religion, social, sexual, et cetera of which we may or not be aware.

” Surroundings move you toward them. “

If such is true, which it is, is it not of merit to make our surroundings reflect where you want to go?

What type of behavior patterns do you wish to experience where you live

for the portions of your life that you spend there?

Have you really thought about how such affects you or has such fallen into where it is being determined by other factors?

How important are your personal home life experiences to you?

How important is it to you to go where you want to go?

What are you going, or not going, to do about the situation?

Your choices determine what results are manifest in your life.

Food for thought.

A recently come across profile of a world wide known fashion designer revealed that he was of the position that: ” Black goes with everything. “

Where does it go?

Have you recently noticed how many interiors of new cars are black?

A residential real estate study found that in many cases painting the front door black added many thousands of dollars to the selling price of a house.

Winston Churchill often spoke of his depression as ” the black dog “.

At what age did you learn of the laws of physics that manifest the color we call black?

How do you respond emotionally, intellectually, psychologically, and aesthetically when you encounter the the color black in your day-to-day living or when it makes a bold appearance unexpectedly?

What do you see as the role of the color black in our current culture, in this country and around the world, and do you see such as good or bad aesthetics?

With the apparently increased use and acceptance of the color black what do you think that it says about the future direction of human aesthetic environments?

In the majority of tests results when given a choice of a black or a color situation the results were color.

Food for thought.

When it comes to the design of our residences many people are afraid of change.

Why?

The most common response is related to the familiarity of what we know vs what is new.

Behavior testing validates this position in the majority of instances.

Another major factor is that, of high importance to some people, what is “old” is of a higher status that that which is “nouveau riche”.

Looking at houses all across this country how many do you see that are of designs of the present day vs designs of past periods of history?

Some people are just too lazy, afraid, or don’t have the confidence to make a change.

Other people are too heavily influence by others, friends, neighbors, relatives, to make their own decisions.

Others are subservient to conformity.

Have you notices that some housing areas all conform to the same designs and in some areas this conformity is required or rule or law.

What is new or old is neither good or bad design based on that factor alone.

Only that which manifest it’s time of becoming is of merit.

Food for thought.

There is not a lot of common knowledge known about fabrics used for the furnishings of residential home interiors as other factors over ride it in making final decisions for such.

Yet it is a factor of which the savvy individual should be aware.

There are two parts which describe a fabric and affect the uses there of.

Weave is how the majority of fabrics are made of which plain, twill, and satin are the most often used although there are about twenty different types of weave overall.

Fiber is the material of which the fabric is made and can be natural or man made.

In evaluating the best fabric for any use in an interior residential space determining for what the fabric is to be used, how it will be used, how much use it will get, cleaning and maintenance, et cetera are all factors that should be considered.

Leather, linen, cotton, silk, and wool are the leading natural fibers, and are generally considered the best for interior residential furnishings, along with a constantly changing and growing number of man made materials.

There is no one size fits all answer for what is the best choice in these situations.

Before making final fabric choices for your interior home furnishings, do some research and conclude what is the best fabric choice for you, your life style, personality, image, status, et cetera and go in that direction.

It is generally wise and smart in these situations not to be persuaded by the opinions of others, popularity, trends, fashions, et cetera.

Food for thought.

In my experience there have been a lot of people who have manifest ignorance, and their two siblings, arrogance and snobbishness in their behavior patterns concerning the various aspects of residential interior design.

They live in their own world, have and are the best of everything, and know everything there is to know.

The rest of us are and know less.

During one of my psychology classes in college neurotics were described as people who build castles in the air. Psychotics were described and people who build castles in the air . And live in them.

For all of their snobbish and arrogant behavior what these people are probably unaware of is what they are missing and not getting of because of their insistence in retaining their behavior patterns.

There is an old saying: There are none so blind as those who will not see.

Each of us has choices we make which are big factors in how our lives are manifest.

Age, social-economic status, traditions, personal preferences, politics, trends, fashions, ego, greed, marriage, religion, government, et cetera in and of themselves do not determine the quality of the intellectual level of aesthetics or the laws of physics manifestations results in the designing of the interiors of residential living spaces.

What is your reaction to this information and how may it apply to your choices, view of the world and life, and how you live?

“As a man sees, so he is.” William Blake

Food for thought.

When it comes to building a new house or remodeling an old one most people look at the houses in their area, what contractors have done in the past, printed media, social media, what people they know have done, their experiences with their past living spaces, et cetera.

All of which can be well and good to a certain extent, but most times leads to the designing and construction of residences that end up looking from the past.

When you are driving a car you generally know where you want to go and you look through the windshield to get you there.

How often do you look through the rear view mirror to get where you are driving?

Why do so many people take the rear view mirror approach when thinking of changes in their residential living spaces?

When you are preparing to make these changes to your home, plot out what are your functional needs, your lifestyles, your likes and dislikes, your personality and it’s traits, et cetera and go forth with enthusiasm toward that goal thinking of what can be done and not what has been done in the past.

In many aspects of life progress is never made by limiting activities to what was done in the past as opposed to what can be done now and in the future.

Opening yourself to such an approach can broaden your horizons and carry your residential living to new heights and depths of beauty, joy, and function that you never dreamed were possible or that you could experience in living your life.

But then, may be you like living your life by looking at the rear view mirror when making changes in your residential living spaces.

The choice is yours.

Remember: How you use the laws of physics and the principles of design will determine the results you get.

Food for thought.

Do you ever stump your shoes when getting up from a table?

Have you ever bumped your head going down stairs?

Have you ever had to go in front of some one when leaving a conversation group?

Are you ever lacking comfortable elbow room or seat and table height when eating?

These, and many others, uncomfortable situations are the result of bad proportions.

Good proportions are not relevant to just the sizes of objects used in the designing of home furnishings but also to the functional placements of such things.

People participate in activities in rooms.

What are these activities and how can furnishings be placed so that these activities, regardless of what they are, can be experienced comfortably are the result of intelligent planning for a well designed residential interior space.

The most beautiful, expensive, desirable, and prominent interior spaces are poorly designed if people are uncomfortable using them.

Think of the highly important aspects of proportions in all parts of a residential interior space from the largest to the smallest one.

After all is said and done remember that someone will be living there.

Food for thought.