We’ve written about many design trends since we started this blog. However, we have a constant refrain: Stamp your home with your own unique personality. Do not follow trends slavishly.
This article is for the bold and brave. Many may not have the confidence but you can always fake being a maverick till you make it. If you’re iffy about how to start and where to start, use a moodboard (a vision board with elements of your dream home) and start small like your bedroom or bathroom.
What’s a maverick? It means someone who rebels against norms, an independent thinker, or a nonconformist who marches to the sound of his own drum. Those who watched Top Gun may recognize the term because the film used it. That is Tom Cruise’s character Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, an aviator who refused to follow standard rules but followed his own instinct instead.
Become a Maverick
A maverick is original, bold, and unconventional. The design style calls for a person’s willingness to do playful experimentation. Be fearless in your choices, and reflect this personality in your home.
We are bombarded today by overused aesthetic trends in posters and artworks or boring turns of phrase used by many a content creator. It’s not surprising that many (art)works are trite because these are AI-generated, lacking in cultural nuance or human imperfection. Same cadence, same grid, same trendy fonts, same focal points. Companies use this mainly for convenience. If everything starts to look so similar, there’s going to be a loss of identity, for sure. Are we all really striving for safe, soulless, and sterile? And would you want that for your home?
For something as important as your sanctuary, it will be beneficial to you and your housemates to come home to a place that fits your needs to a t, expresses and reflects the meaning of home to you, and nurtures and embraces you the way you want to be cared for and protected.
If the final result shows artistic eccentricity because it is what your soul craves, then, this is the X-factor that could make your home become a standout. This, of course, is not the point. The point is to make a home that is your kind of perfect.
Listen to your voice
Go offline to fully experience real life. It’s hard to be singular in today’s world when almost everyone is boxed in and limited within a filter bubble or an echo chamber because of the algorithms in the social media platforms and search engines that most of us use.
We also live in a wired world where AI is increasingly used. Many people just copy what AI generates, out of convenience or ignorance or for whatever personal reason.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with using AI. As long as it is used as a tool. The creative brain that controls the process should be yours. Don’t give up being a critical thinker so that you can craft your own style that expresses your authenticity and originality. Use your experience to define what home means to you.
Designing a home is a form of storytelling. Remember that only you can tell your life story.
Use unexpected colors and fresh combinations
Bright, saturated colors take center stage. Reach out for unexpected colors instead of the usual “safe” color choices. Create an even more stunning visual impact by combining new colors in a fresh way.
Our archipelago has endless gorgeous views that can help you create a novel color palette. Merge that with local scenes of fiestas you’ve celebrated. We have incredibly colorful ones, like the Pahiyas festival in Quezon, Sinulog in Cebu, Ati-Atihan in Aklan, and Masskara in Bacolod. Then, layer in the emotions evoked by certain colors that come from your life experiences.
Filipinos are maximalists at heart. Some start with minimalist interiors like Scandi or Japandi. #Teamputi will gladly paint the whole house white, inside and outside. But it is to be expected that the Pinoy aesthetics will come to the fore. Down the road, abubot and burloloy will start cropping up to populate empty spaces. They say “nature abhors a vacuum”. So do Filipinos.
Quirky Decor
Allow yourself to do something “crazy” like positioning a solo statement piece (or two) in the middle of a circulation path just because. There is no rhyme or reason, except that you like it like that.
You may already have a striking decor that expresses your personal style. Maybe you’ve inherited it, found it in a secondhand shop, or picked it up from your travels. Give it pride of place in your home.
These remind me of a handcrafted piece composed of bowls, saucers, and cups stacked to make a table decor. If you find yourself in Gallery 5 of Likhang Filipino, try to look for it. It is quirky, colorful, fun, and wonder of wonders, also functional. If it’s not to your liking, there are many other handcrafted products made by local artisans that may catch your fancy.
When Personal History is a Bedrock of Originality
Allow me to share the works of this architect-artist.
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Practicing architect Myrsini Alexandridi, also trained in visual arts, creates very detailed paintings on ceramics. She marries her Mediterranean heritage of colors, symbols, and rhythms with the aesthetics of the North, since part of her world now is Stockholm where she lives at certain times of the year.
The amalgamation of disciplines, the heritages of two disparate lands she calls home, and her inimitable way of seeing the world make for a fertile ground where she creates such beautiful and original expressions of art.
Be Bold and Brave
We all have a unique voice. Let’s use it when making our home. Prioritize personal expression, quirky or not, unconventional or not.
In the age of AI, let’s not compete with machines on speed and volume. Let’s use our flawed and imperfect human experience to create something uniquely personal.
As long as we use our real-world lived experiences, raw facts and observations that we’ve gathered firsthand, specific life lessons, and allow rough edges to be there instead of smoothening them out like the much-beloved filters used by influencers, we will be able to create a home that is our perfect match.
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