Social changes coupled with advances in technology have had a significant impact on the way we update and interact with our homes.
Until the middle of the last century, floors were covered with rugs, which could be picked up and beaten clean by a domestic servant or housewife. With the introduction of vacuum cleaners, rooms could have fitted carpets. These were such a hit that even kitchens and bathrooms were carpeted. “In the 1970s, there was the idea of bathrooms becoming comfortable luxurious places,” says Zoe Hendon, head of collections at Middlesex University’s Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture.
Central heating and the arrival of double-glazing in the 1970s meant that some people began to yank up their carpets in favour of minimalistic wooden floorboards. According to the Geffrye Museum of the Home: “The polished boards suited the 1970s aesthetic of stripped pine and earthy colours.”
Wooden floors were complemented by “natural” wall coverings, such as cork and hessian. Fitted carpets were seen as incompatible with the loft-space aesthetic of the 1980s. Bare wood, tile or concrete floors were de rigueur in these industrial-chic conversions, and walls and windows were left unadorned. Untreated brick usurped paint and wallpaper.
Soft furnishings also changed: the once-ubiquitous sight of net curtains on terraced streets started to decline in many urban areas. Ikea, which put down roots in the UK in 1987, encouraged Brits to “chuck out your chintz” in a 1996 TV ad campaign, encouraging people to adopt minimalist design. Many people followed the Swedes’ advice, taking advantage of the advances in technology that made laminate flooring possible. This replaced floral fitted carpets.
With the increase in popularity of Scandinavian simplicity, curtains of all types - and their accompanying pelmets - have been replaced by blinds, and more recently by smart glass that changes tint depending on the light outside or a homeowner using an app.
Technology isn’t just affecting the materials used to build our homes though, it’s also changing how we interact with them. Personal possessions are are increasingly disappearing into the ether. Books, music, films and photographs are becoming virtual.
The position of lights in the home used to be dependent on the whereabouts of plug sockets. Rooms were cluttered with standard lamps and table lamps to supplement the single pendant light dangling from the ceiling. With innovations in the way we light our homes, this has changed. Spotlights embedded into the ceiling now mean that the positioning of furniture is no longer dictated by the overhead light source or the plug points.
Even central heating has been enhanced by innovation. Connected, easy-to-use thermostats such as Hive are changing how people interact with their homes – heating can now be controlled remotely using a smartphone app. “As Hive evolves into a family of complementary connected home products we’re meeting real everyday needs,” says Kassir Hussain, director of British Gas Connected Homes, the creators of Hive. “You’ll be able to check you’ve switched your iron and your straighteners off after you’ve left home.”
Technology is both simplifying the way we control our homes and influencing the way we interact with them. In many ways it’s making “accidental minimalists” of us. The upshot is that we may at last achieve the sort of monastically spare living space championed by the designer John Pawson and his followers. A more likely scenario, however, is that those floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on either side of the fireplace will be freed up to house ever-more stylish “objets”.
