Parents Are Embracing Normal Houses and It’s So Refreshing

Tired of Instagram-perfect lifestyles, more families are normalizing the clutter and letting their houses look lived-in, online and IRL.

Fact checked by Karen Cilli

Social media would have you believe that everyone is living an aesthetically pleasing life. The walls are a flawless beige and the houses get bigger the further you scroll on Pinterest and Instagram. And the perfect mom aesthetic seems to be neutral-toned playrooms and houses that look pristine at all times. The kitchen cabinets are all white and sunshine pours through big windows. It's an energy suck of perfection.

This is probably why @hannahhomeeducates took to TikTok to ask if anyone else wants to keep it real, online and off. "I'm curious to know if anyone lives in a vaguely normal house anymore?" she asked.

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Hannah then goes on to explain how she doesn't go on "the picture app" anymore because everything from the homes to the clothes to the people are just pretty. "Does anyone else have like...paint on the ceiling? And this is the wrong color because I never finished painting it," she says while showing off her example. She continues the minute-long video by offering a tour of her house to illustrate all of the things that would be deemed imperfections in our social media-obsessed world. And it looks like a house that's actually lived in.

As a mom who spends a good majority of her time creating content online, it's easy to understand where Hannah is coming from. I've fallen victim to being ashamed of my house for not looking "good enough" to post online. My couch is regularly covered in laundry, I trip over shoes and toys on the regular, and I live in New York City, so my kitchen is inadequate by influencer standards. But I am very much a normal mom living in a normal house. And in the most expensive city in the United States, some would even say I'm fortunate!

Even organization expert Marie Kondo is changing her priorities at home since the birth of her third child. “My home is messy, but the way I am spending my time is the right way for me at this time at this stage of my life,” she said in an interview with the Washington Post. We might not see it on her Instagram feed, but we bet her house would look pretty normal if we visited for a playdate.

Parents are taking Hannah's video and stitching it to show the complete normalcy that is the "normal home". Dad of three @pans_of_steel_ne stitched and replied, "Uhhh yea, 100% we have a normal house and let me show you what exactly it is."

What follows is a home tour in which he shows viewers his bedroom, his daughters' room, complete with nail polish on the walls and stickers on the door, and their bathroom with things everywhere. He also notes that it frustrates him that other people feel bad when they aren't living up to the gray, white, perfect aesthetic that social media portrays and demands.

Several other creators have responded with stitches to answer Hannah's question, too.

Stay-at-home dad Joey shows us how he keeps holes in the wall covered.

Work-from-home mom Jennifer gives us a tour of her "home office."

If these creators have nothing else in common, they all have beautiful homes. And it's refreshing to see that the pressures of social media have encouraged some people to come out and share what "real" life is like. As parents, we have so much more to worry about than playing the comparison game or trying to measure up to social media standards. As one user commented, reminding dad @pans_of_steel_ne—and all of us: "This a perfect example of the difference between a house and a home. Life and love happens there and it's wonderful to see."

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