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| War on “Naked Interior Syndrome” The innovative design professionals at InvitingHome.com have a quick and simple request of today's homeowner: Close your eyes and then visualize the interior of your house or apartment in its current state. Now, imagine your home stripped of all possessions, furniture, art and wall hangings, window treatments – absolutely everything that isn't nailed down. More to the point, visualize your home stark naked. What do you see? What does the barren space convey to you and how does it make you feel? Homeowners who visualize a featureless, interior space absent of character, devoid of life and vacant of any sense of vibrancy can then be diagnosed as suffering from an acute case of what these design professionals jokingly call "Naked Interior Syndrome". Simply put, NIS is the inability to picture decorating your home with interior design elements such as corbels, moldings, columns and carvings. The tragedy of Naked Interior Syndrome is that the interior design elements it forces ignorance of are as easy to D.I.Y. as hanging a boring painting or purchasing yet another thirsty plant. Although the syndrome is a product of the imagination, today's multi-billion dollar home improvement market is a stark reality. Even more indisputable are the scores of homeowners who drive the market in their relentless quest to impart their homes with a persona that reflects their own unique tastes. So, how does a homeowner begin to create such a lasting impression? "Character and interest lies in the architectural details of the interior," says one design professional. "One of the easiest ways you can dress up your interior is through incorporating some well-placed architectural details; these are elegant ways to give your home a distinctive look and feel." Architectural details is an umbrella term used to describe a range of decorative products ranging from smaller-scaled wood carvings such as rosettes to decorative friezes, functional wall niches, to the substantial columns traditionally associated with ancient civilizations. In a way, learning about architectural details and then going back to your sparse home can be a somewhat uncomfortable experience. Gradually, a general feeling of self-consciousness may begin to creep into the psyche: have you ever had the dream where you are out in public and suddenly become aware that you are stark naked? Call it a very sudden onset of homeowners' self-awareness; and with all of the effort today's homeowners put into making their homes reflections of themselves, this realization can be somewhat painful. "Naked Interiors Syndrome is often treated superficially," says InvitingHome.com's Julia Delaney with a half-serious tone. "Everyone can relate to attempts made in trying to create a mood in a space through the use of furnishings and accessories alone. While the homeowner may succeed in filling the room with "stuff", all he or she really succeeds in doing is glossing over the issue with vanilla frosting. Real substance should be lurking beneath it all. If you take it all away and are left with an empty, featureless room, you realize that there was never any real character to your home to begin with. This is a classic case of Naked Interior Syndrome." This concept becomes true to life when you consider the realities: imagine the sound you hear when walking through an empty house – a cold symphony of echoes. When placing your home on the market an empty space with a depersonalized feel is going to be a harder sell than an empty one with an inviting quality. Interior design elements are as useful in conveying a comfortable feeling in someone entering a home for the first time as they are to the permanent resident. write your comments about the article :: © 2008 Construction News :: home page |