I have to admit the girl has impeccable taste. It seems that every item was chosen with great care. The home is very hip and every piece is about as current as you can get. But I am surprised by the impersonal, sterile look of the house. This could be a photo shoot of rooms from any one of a hundred hotels around the world.
Part of the fun of seeing celebrity homes in our favorite rags is to see how they live. To peak into their personal lives and live vicariously through their mementos and personal objects. This house could belong to anyone. It looks like it has been staged to sell by removing any personal hint of the owner (except for the ever so subtle product placement of her perfume and face cream on the nightstand- sell sell sell) .
In the fabulous behind the scenes post by Habitually Chic you get the sense that even the photographer was having trouble giving the space a human feel. They have added "props" like shoes and child's steps in an attempt to make the reader believe that people actually live in this space. If you took away the photo of Gwyneth you would have no idea what kind of person lived in this home.
A pair of sneakers posed in the front room. Is this to remind us that she has a husband? Where are the family photos? The mementos of her career? Her Oscar? They do show a couple of toys here and there but where are the kids paintings or personal items?
How do you put a sisal rug in the main room when you have two kids crawling around? This is a beach house and they must be in shorts most of the time. Those poor little knees!
I love the canopy treatment in Apple's bedroom but isn't it a bit old looking for a 3 year old? The only personal touch in the whole home is the monogrammed pillowcases. Does this look like a room where toddlers would play? The room looks cold and sterile to me. A stark white rug in a kids room! Come On! I think it looks kind of creepy in a weird hospital room sort of way.
The Moral of This Story.......The ability to buy expensive, trendy furniture and accessories does not mean you will be able to automatically produce a beautiful, comfortable home. Without your own personal touch and inclusion of some of the messy clutter of life you are merely producing a hollow picture of a room.
I hope at the end of the day after producing all of these unemotional photos she took out all of her real stuff from the closets, pulled the shoes out from under the bed, brought the kids toys back inside from the garage, made a mess in the kitchen preparing dinner, poured a glass of wine and flopped down on one of those perfect sofas and looked around to see a perfectly beautiful mess!
What do you think?
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