How to Manage Expectation vs Reality at Home

When we look through a furniture magazine or browse the internet for home style ideas, we are presented with images that are very, very far from the truth. Images of perfect homes, gatherings of friends and family sitting around beautifully cooked food and color schemes of perfection. Anyone who has their own home will know that these images of expectations are very far from reality. To highlight the gulf between the two, furniture company IKEA recently did a survey to find out what reality is like versus these expectations and the results were pretty interesting.

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Spending Time With Family and Friends

In a world of 24 hour opening times, many people work strange hours that rarely give them the time to host or attend gatherings with friends or family. Of those surveyed 34% of those that live alone stated that they would like to eat with people more often and when it comes to home cooking 70% stated that they cook to make themselves feel more at home. Whilst this number is pretty high, 42% said that they find it difficult to do this everyday. Cooking for friends and family is a rewarding and fun thing to do, plan ahead of time to make sure everyone is free and put some time aside to knock up some delicious food for them.

Social Media Should Unite and Inspire

Whilst social media does bring people from all over the World together, it often has a negative impact on the level of communication at home. An interesting result of the survey showed that 23% of people would prefer to have a reliable internet connection than space in the home to socialize. Social media isn’t all bad however, especially when it comes to food, 60% of the people who answered questions said that they use social media for food ideas and 16% of the 18-29 year olds surveyed said that they regular upload pictures of food online. Whilst social media may isolate people it also encourages them to think differently when it comes to their food.

Spacious and Inviting Home

Everyone wants a home that is spacious, inviting and welcoming, the keys to this are using space to the best of your ability and keeping your home tidy. 39% of the people surveyed said that a messy home is a weekly annoyance, especially in the kitchen. Naturally you never see a messy home in the glossy mags but dedicating time to cleaning your home can remove that annoyance and help you to create a more welcoming environment. Many of the people asked didn’t think that they had sufficient space in their home and it is important that even if you only have a small space in the kitchen or living room, that you make each bit of the space work for you. There are some great ideas online for how you can do this.

Following the survey IKEA produced this video about expectations vs reality in the home.