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Livingetc’s “The Meaning of Home” series examines how social media has given domestic spaces a public life, shaping what people see as desirable interiors. The report highlights a tension between homes designed for visual presentation and homes used for everyday living; how much that changes residents’ choices is not established.
Livingetc has published a report on how social media is changing the way homes are presented and judged, describing a tension between domestic spaces made to look compelling online and the practical realities of living in them. The report draws on architect and academic Javier Fernández Contreras and the experience of content creators Dima and Guy of The Berlin Chapters; it does not establish how widespread these pressures are or quantify their effect on household decisions.
The report argues that a home has long communicated identity, status and aspiration, but social platforms have given that image a potentially lasting audience. Instagram, TikTok, Twitch and Pinterest can make rooms function as places to live and as images intended for others, according to Fernández Contreras, author of The Interiors of Social Media: Architecture, Space, and Technology in the 21st Century.
Fernández Contreras says platforms can produce what he calls “aspirational futures” and make the home a “container for visual representation.” The report links this shift to changes in how rooms are arranged and objects displayed: art, furniture and lighting may be composed for visual effect, while everyday belongings are put away or given less prominence. These examples describe design tendencies, not rules followed by all households.
The pandemic, Livingetc says, accelerated the use of homes as places of work and broadcast. Bookshelves appeared behind people on video calls, kitchen islands became work or filming spaces, and walls behind desks took on a role as backdrops. For creators, the report adds, renovation can become a series of shareable stages, from demolition and sourcing to a finished-room reveal.
When Home Becomes Public
The issue matters because online images can influence how people assess spaces that are also meant to support rest, work and ordinary routines. If homes are judged through visual ideals, residents may feel pressure to prioritize presentation, although Livingetc’s report does not measure that pressure or show that it leads to particular purchases or renovations.
The report also resists treating online visibility as proof that a home has become merely a set. Dima and Guy say their home remains theirs when they are not making content. Their account points to a distinction between a space’s public image and private use: a room can be photographed and shared without its occupants experiencing every moment as a performance.
At the same time, the gallery-like display of furniture and art can overlap with genuine domestic use. Livingetc notes that blurred boundaries between art, craft and furniture have contributed to contemporary interiors. The practical question is not simply whether a home looks curated, but whether its design still serves the people living there.
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From Private Rooms to Backdrops
Livingetc presents the report as part of “The Meaning of Home,” a series about the cultural and personal forces shaping domestic life. Its central premise is that homes have always been expressive; social media changes the scale and durability of their audience by making interior images easy to publish and circulate.
The pandemic forms a specific part of that account, as more people worked or appeared on camera from home. The report does not claim that the shift began then: it describes social media as an existing influence that the pandemic accelerated. It also discusses the home as a gallery, where a chair, artwork or lamp may be isolated and lit so it reads as an object for close attention.
Dima and Guy, the creative duo behind The Berlin Chapters, began sharing snapshots of their home and design approach on Instagram the previous year, according to the report. Livingetc says their account had nearly 82,000 followers at the time described; it does not give a date for that figure, so it should not be read as a current count.
“Social media can produce “aspirational futures” and turn the home into a “container for visual representation.””
— Javier Fernández Contreras, architect and academic
The Scale of the Pressure
The report offers observations and individual accounts, not a survey of homeowners or evidence that social media causes people to renovate, spend more or sacrifice comfort. It does not establish how often residents change their homes for online approval, or whether the effect differs between creators and people who only browse interior content.
It is also unclear how the nearly 82,000-follower figure for The Berlin Chapters has changed since the report was prepared. Livingetc’s supplied material gives no publication date for the article, and the creators’ comments do not detail whether audience expectations have affected specific design decisions. The degree to which a curated appearance conflicts with practical needs remains a question rather than a measured finding.
A Question for Everyday Design
Livingetc frames the issue as an open question about what people expect their homes to do: provide a place to live, express identity, and, for some, serve as a portfolio or production space. The report does not announce a policy change, study or follow-up milestone. Its next step is the broader inquiry set out by the series: examining how culture and personal experience shape domestic life.
For readers, the distinction raised by the report is practical rather than prescriptive: who is a room designed for—the people using it, an online audience, or both? The source does not offer a universal answer, and the balance is likely to vary by household and by whether its residents create content.
Key Questions
What is the “performed home”?
It is the idea that a home can be both a lived-in space and a setting presented to an audience, particularly through social media. Livingetc uses the concept to examine how visual presentation may influence domestic expectations.
No. The report discusses possible pressures and changing design ideals, but it does not claim everyone experiences their home as a set. Dima and Guy say they do not feel that way when they are not creating content.
What role did the pandemic play?
Livingetc says the pandemic accelerated an existing shift by bringing work, video calls and broadcasting into homes. It does not describe the pandemic as the start of social media’s influence on interior design.
How many followers do The Berlin Chapters have?
Livingetc reported nearly 82,000 followers when describing the duo’s account. The source provides no publication date for that figure, so it may not reflect the account’s current audience.
Does the report show that people sacrifice comfort for appearance?
No. It raises the tension between a visually curated home and everyday use, but supplies no data showing how often people make that trade-off or what choices they make.
Source: livingetc.com
