Do wealthy people have fewer possessions in their homes?

StephenHero · Apr 18, 2011

Most wealthy people are too busy experiencing things that actually bring happiness rather than accumulating **** for its own sake.

Bhowie · Apr 18, 2011

Originally Posted by StephenHero

Most wealthy people are too busy experiencing things that actually bring happiness rather than accumulating **** for its own sake.

lol

CouttsClient · Apr 18, 2011

Originally Posted by dhaller

I think a large measure of this is having a maid... not in the obvious sense, though.

Since I hired a maid, I find myself much less likely to keep things cluttered. On the one hand I sort of feel "bad" messing up the house, and on the other hand I know if I clutter things up it makes her job harder and irritates her

It's funny, in a way... having a maid at times makes ME feel like "the guest": she has her little flourished and way of doing things (for example, she arranges a tissue in a sort of origami rosette atop all the tissue boxes in the bathrooms, and she folds the towels in a certain complex, decorative way). I'll even sometimes reposition a statue or something, only to discover later that she's put it back in the "right place".

Now, I'm a complete pushover, obviously, but I suspect that wealthy folk are often somewhat beholden to their staff, in the same way we often are to our assistants (anyone who has ever had a really competent executive or personal assistant knows that sometimes it feels like they're more boss than employee).

Certainly I don't dare clutter *her* house!

DH

I somewhat know what this is like. Do you have a household handbook that outlines how things should be kept to your liking?

Pantisocrat · Apr 18, 2011

Rich people tend to live in smaller spaces with MUCH MORE stuff. I speak from experience assisting a New Orleans architect some years ago. Most of them are loners too, so living in a big house scares the **** out of them.

StephenHero · Apr 18, 2011

Why do you think they invest in garden gnomes?

Pantisocrat · Apr 18, 2011

Originally Posted by StephenHero

Why do you think they invest in garden gnomes?

You're thinking of old Jewish people rich...not the current rich, who are younger and more mobile. Then there are many rich Africans and Asians who are 10-20 years younger than the rich in the West and who don't give a **** about garden gnomes. They spend most of their time accumulating ****, which fills the house to the brim.

Hombre Secreto · Apr 18, 2011

I guess it could depend if they are "old money."

ALFAMALE · Apr 18, 2011

same amount of stuff...larger space

Don Carlos · Apr 18, 2011

Originally Posted by jenlain

I think that the wealthy who are included in AD have less crappy stuff. Their sense of style is why they are included in AD. Most wealthy have lots of crap accumulated over time. They have no better taste then less wealthy people.
Err, no. It's usually not their sense of style, but their interior designer's. And many will hire a designer who's well-known and well-connected precisely because he or she has a reasonable shot at getting the home into AD. Secondary benefits include getting access to rare or unique pieces. A good designer will take the owners' tastes and preferences as her starting point, and she'll let the owners give a thumbs up / thumbs down to tactical purchases and decisions. But she is the mastermind behind the overall layout. This is what separates wealthy people from teh poors when it comes to taste.

Blackhood · Apr 18, 2011

Don Carlos · Apr 18, 2011

Originally Posted by Blackhood

She?

Nine times out of ten, it's a woman or a gay man. In my experience (family, not mine personally), it's been a woman.

RSS · Apr 18, 2011

Originally Posted by CouttsClient

When A.D. comes to the home they heavily stage the house so in photographs it looks it's best.
That's my experience as well.

In one case it was a near disaster for a gallery that loaned a painting to my client for a photoshoot. The owner who had consigned it to the gallery saw it in AD and called to ask why they had not been paid.

Originally Posted by Don Carlos

Err, no. It's usually not their sense of style, but their interior designer's. And many will hire a designer who's well-known and well-connected precisely because he or she has a reasonable shot at getting the home into AD. Secondary benefits include getting access to rare or unique pieces.

A good designer will take the owners' tastes and preferences as her starting point, and she'll let the owners give a thumbs up / thumbs down to tactical purchases and decisions. But she is the mastermind behind the overall layout.

This is what separates wealthy people from teh poors when it comes to taste.

For many this is true. That said, there are more than a few people who don't want photos of their house published. There are even people who require confidentiality clauses in the owner/architect agreement that forbid the taking of any photographs.

CouttsClient · Apr 18, 2011

Originally Posted by RSS

In one case it was a near disaster for a gallery that loaned a painting to my client for a photoshoot. The owner who had consigned it to the gallery saw it in AD and called to ask why they had not been paid.

Dakota rube · Apr 18, 2011

I believe the wealthy are cleaning their houses out of expensive possessions in anticipation of the coming class warfare and resultant looting.

Harold falcon · Apr 18, 2011

Originally Posted by Pantisocrat

Rich people tend to live in smaller spaces with MUCH MORE stuff. I speak from experience assisting a New Orleans architect some years ago. Most of them are loners too, so living in a big house scares the **** out of them.

What does this even mean?

Do wealthy people have fewer possessions in their homes?

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