I was looking forward to getting my spring edition of the Lowe’s “Creative Ideas” magazine. In the past, it has been a good magazine to spur creativity with stuff you have around the house to build stuff you need around the house. Like shelves under staircases or dressed-up corkboards.
Wow, has it changed.
I’ve noticed that “home improvement” magazines are less and less about improving the home and more and more about all the doo-dads people can buy at the stores to continue to fill their lives with clutter, and debt.
Here’s what’s new in the “Creative Ideas” mag:
- Install a mega-coffee bar in your bedroom ($750)
- Install a Butler’s Pantry ($2250)
- Build a cabana for your pool ($6,130)
- Build a fancy deck fit for the Rockefeller’s ($14,000)
- Build a 15-foot brick wall divider ($5,600)
- Convert an “unused, extra” garage into a “hobby” room ($3,000)
These aren’t “creative ideas,” these are debt-dunking projects! I’m not against a little marketing, but wow. This is over the top. Where are all those ideas about shoe shelves or gardening space savers? To be fair, the magazine did have some things about coloring plant pots and building a basic 1-foot square wooden box. But most of the projects were for millionaires. Or people willing to spend like millionaires.
I’d really, really like to see a trend toward making do with what we have, not spending more and more of what we don’t have and don’t need. With the housing market and the economy the way its going (and it’s been going in this direction for a good two years, if you have been paying attention), there should be a concerted effort to slim things down and work toward being more efficient. These kinds of “ideas” are just bloatware for the home.
18. March 2008 at 1:11 pm
I agree.
We have things we would like to do to increase the value of our home. We plan to sell in the next year or two. We want to work with what we have – a crap kitchen where the cabinets need refacing – not replacing. We don’t want to spend tens of thousands, just a LITTLE to spruce things up.
I guess I rambled enough, you hit a sore spot with me too!
18. March 2008 at 1:56 pm
The debt problem in the country makes it hard for everyone in the country, not to mention that is is a very precarious condition to be up to our necks in debt on a personal, state, and federal level. If loans were to be called in, which is very possible and even more possible with the devaluation of the dollar and foreign competition, our country would think the Great Depression was Paradise.
It irks me to no end to see marketing companies exploit consumers. My husband made a great point– we are no longer have a capitalist economy in this country; it’s a consumerist economy. That’s why we are encouraged to spend and fuel debt. Hard times are coming unless there is some change, me thinks.
Of course, I’d love solid surfacing countertops as much as any other woman… but I like frugal living. I like the challenge, and it keeps my mind sharp. Some things are worth paying more for, like solid surfacing countertops, because they lasty longer and are just better than cheapo laminate. But in some of the home magazines I;ve seen MAHOGANY countertops! And Italian marble backsplashes! Holy cow!
18. March 2008 at 9:05 pm
Hi! I’m reminded of the hugely expensive “outdoor kitchens” that were being installed at a feverish pace down in CA before the big RE market tailspin. People just had to have these huge ostentatious, stainless steel appliances outside in the yard, steps away from their huge deluxe kitchens. Now, those outdoor kitchens are unused dinosaurs – you mean they have to be dusted? Cleaned? you mean birds can poop out there? I hope that folks can learn about spotting these nonsensical consumerist trends, and are able to move past the need to spend sooo much money, I guess just to feel better, impress the neighbors, whaaa?