Seems like only months ago we were still awash with -core trends: #cottagecore, #Barbiecore, #beachcore. Just as we bid them a not-so-fond adieu, we’re drowning in #sofawealth, #bookshelfwealth, and other -wealth fads.
This need to give every micro-mini trend a name has to stop. Just as some thoughts are better left unexpressed, some commonality of styles are best left unrecognized. Especially when they’re as inane as #sofawealth.
Aka the rich couch theory, #sofawealth posits that a signifier of prosperity is not having your sofa flush against a wall. Apparently wealthy people have rooms large enough that they can float their sofas or, at the very least, fit a console table between the sofa back and the wall.
That may be true. But this living room hardly screams poverty:
Photo courtesy of @consideredthings.
A sumptuously upholstered sofa with handcrafted details (like the impossibly slender, marvelously turned front legs of the sofa above) will elevate a room no matter where it’s placed. Conversely, a knock-off plywood-and-polyester couch will not, no matter where you position it.
Though I will say, if possible, move your couch at least a half-dozen centimeters/a few inches from the wall, rather than keeping it utterly flush. This gives a space an almost imperceptible sense of greater depth. Of course, sometimes that’s just not possible. The flat I’m currently living in has an already-furnished lounge that’s barely the size of a snug. If I moved the sofa (a classic brown leather Chesterfield that has seen better days—then again, so have I!) even a hair’s breadth from the wall, I’d barely be able to brush past the fireplace.
As for #bookshelfwealth, it seems to be little more than ensuring that 1) your abode has bookshelves and 2) said bookshelves display books and decor. Seems I’ve been wealthy since I was a toddler—hurrah for me!
No #sofawealth but plenty of #bookshelfwealth… so I guess that sitting room is middle class (or rather, #middleclass). Photo by Pickawood/Unsplash.
Whatever will be next? #Eatinkitchenwealth? #Windowwealth? #Doghairwealth? (My niece has already mastered that.) And if I may wax philosophical for a moment, why the obsession with #wealth decor anyway? This may sound rich (heh heh) coming from one who made a living helping well-off individuals outfit their homes, but wanting your surroundings to reflect, or create the illusion of, financial success seems rather sad. Never have I worked with anyone whose brief included “make sure anyone who enters my home knows I have funds in the bank.” People have wanted to show off favorite artworks, yes, or display items from travels, or invest in one-of-a-kind rugs that literally took artisans years to craft. But not one ever said, “Make me look rich.”
Then again, they didn’t have to.