Decorations...

Caveat: Today isn't a post on being new. Sorry.

I realized the other night in Bible study that it's technically normal to have a house that looks like the showroom: colors and styles all match, even smaller decorations follow a theme. In contrast, I grew up with a very eclectic decorating scheme: golden shag carpet, flowered couch, orange chair, decorations were pictures of family or figurines my parents had lying around. There wasn't much in the house that didn't have a story or practical use.

The lady's house where we meet is definitely from the showroom. The room we watch the videos in has all these fun African-themed decorations: maps, wooden giraffes, other animals, etc. I almost asked her, "When did you go to Africa? What part? What did you do there?" and then I realized she probably didn't go there and just bought the figurines at a outrageous price to decorate the room.

To me, that's kind of boring. There's no character - what's the point of decorating your house in certain themes if you have no personal tie to them? Even if it doesn't really match, I want my house to speak a story of where I've been and also be functional. Nothing bothers me more than useless pieces of decorations. Why do you need a bowl of fake fruit? Why not put REAL fruit in it? Why the facade?

My opinion may seem harsh, but honestly, why do we as Americans have this idea we can have the extra, useless stuff just to make everything look pretty? Why not just be real and decorate with your personality?

Don't get me wrong, you can still use colors and make the room flow. But I just feel it has more character if the decorations and house could only be recognized as yours. In contrast, houses from the showroom have no personality - you wouldn't know who owned them unless you asked or knew.

Thoughts?