Yes, I watch television.
This might sound kind of goofy (I’m pretty sure once you’ve used the word “goofy” to describe something, you’re really only describing yourself), but I actually deliberated over whether to shoot around my television set when I was taking photos for the AT tour.
Over the years that I’ve been reading interior decor/home magazines, I’ve noticed that television sets are conspicuously missing from the ones I am drawn to the most. There’s something a bit gauche about showing a TV, apparently, perhaps because the appearance of one is an automatic indicator that the owner of the house does not, in fact, spend all of their free time either reading the The New Yorker, listening to NPR, or teaching their kids about classical music. I suppose there’s a part of me that wishes I didn’t watch TV, and that I spent more of my time at home, say, reading. Or scraping paint off of the radiators.
Anything but watching Rock of Love and Celebrity Rehab (see, I’m not taking the easy road here and just name-checking Project Runway, even though I watch that, too—go, Christian!). I don’t know, maybe I’m still recovering from a non-TV-intensive childhood (We played outside with little animals out of pine cones and sticks!). Or maybe I just like crappy reality TV. Either way, watching television in the evenings is a reality for me, and I’m not going to pretend that I only own a small set that stays hidden in a closet somewhere unless we’re watching a rented movie (foreign, of course—with subtitles).
Honestly, it’s only a matter of time before Bret Michaels is a guest on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, right? High and low culture usually wind up crossing paths eventually, anyway.
So the TV stays, and I’m not going to hide it. Our Sharp LCD gets to sit right there in the living room (yes, directly opposite the sofa, imagine that!), next to the fireplace, and I’m not going to put it behind a door or a curtain. I’d still know it’s there, and I have a feeling it would be even worse having to come to terms with how often I’d be opening that door or pulling back the curtain. At least we only have one TV, and we rarely watch it on the weekends.
And I don’t watch Tyra, because she is crazy.
40 Comments so far
Leave a reply
Im so glad you posted this because I feel exactly the same way. I refuse to pretend I don’t watch television. I like to think of myself as well rounded with an eye for design but I love watching trash tv too. Whats wrong with that? It really irks me that so many of the home decor mags/porn never show the trace of a television no less all the gadgets and doodads that go along with. Shouldn’t we just get it in the open - we ALL watch tv - so lets address the issue of getting it to look good in our homes.
Ok, can you tell this is a subject I feel strongly about? Haha
Good for you!
I’m also very glad you addressed this. I enjoy and love TV in the evenings. I think many people are afraid to admit this because they feel they come across as lazy and not intelligent. But, TV is here to stay and has even become a way to make small talk like, “hey did you see who got fired last night?!” Instant conversation. I LOVE when artists and designers openly admit their love for TV too…shows you can be creative, successful, and still get in your tv reality fix.
When flipping through design magazines I also think, where is their TV? What can I do with mine? Many try to hide/cover it up, but today TVs are looking slim and hot - why not show off your expensive purchase!
Thanks again for the post - GREAT talk. I might have to bring your comments over to my blog if you don’t mind - I love this topic.
I think of this everytime I flip through the pages of a decor magazine. I know these people have tv’s. I can just see the stylist stuffing it away for the shot. Good for you, keeping it real and all :) Can’t wait to go do a virtual walk through your home. It’s lovely.
I was actually happy when I saw your tv. I do like how it’s not the focus though, it’s just off to the side. And I don’t watch television but I watch TONS of movies.
LOL! Seriously, I would love to see design magazines that showed TV’s because we are a big TV (61 inches big) couple and sometimes designing around it is the biggest challenge. I mean honestly, even if you aren’t watching actual TV broadcasts, don’t these people at least watch movies at home?
Your fireplace is gorgeous!
Rock of Love is seriously the best show ever. Anyone who doesn’t think so sucks. I always wondered about the no-TV-in-the-design-mag thing too. Besides, if we didn’t have a TV, where would we point our furniture?
I watch loads of TV and movies during my evenings…
i even have a tiny portable DVD player that i bring around the apartment with me. Only joking..not really:)
” hi I’m Nathalie
and i am a TV-holic :) ”
TVs should feature, maybe they don’t often because they ruin the shot, if Apple would start making TV’s, they would defenetly be part of the ” perfect ” interiors magazine world !
I do get the feeling they hide the TV away for those magazine shoots, right before they bring in cooler throw pillows and gorgeous flowers. And models to pose as the homeowners. (hee!)
We have a flat tv like yours, though I think it’s a bit smaller? I don’t know; it’s about the right size for the room we have it in so I don’t really pay attention. We are lucky to be able to put ours in our guest room, which has a futon and is a great place to stow the stereo and tv and things. Having it in the living room would have been horribly awkward due to the layout of the room and our constant winter use of the fireplace.
But I’m with you–I hate to see houses centered around tv, but I am happy to get a chance to watch PR, Ace of Cakes, and a few other things stashed on the DVR…
It is funny that you would address the TV as when I watched the AT home tour this was one of the photos that I paused on, because of the TV. Flipping through the design magazines/websites there are so few examples of how to live our classy lifestyles with that big black box. I mean we can’t all afford recessed flat screens that live behind automated panels.
I often struggle on where to put my television and I really enjoyed and appreciated seeing where you placed your TV and how it was off center.
I’m glad you mention what I call the “imaginary TV” phenomenon hitting homes across America! I’m currently planning my apartment and have been seriously frustrated with the lack of TVs in design magazines and the lack of design in TV furniture. I find myself going through House to Home and Apartment Therapy Tours searching for TVs! And media furniture all looks the same, except Ikea who embraces the idea that most people do have TVs in their living rooms. I’m by no means a TV glutton (25, work full time, go to school part time), but I do love Law and Order marathons and the News.
So cheers to you and your TV! Hope to see more pics of TVs in the future!
X- Julia
I have two words for the people in the design magazines who pretend not to be TV watchers: Mad Men.
(Thanks for being real, Anna.)
I love Rock of Love and Celebrity Rehab!! My guilty pleasures! Flavor of Love is too over the top for me though. And I watch Tyra sometimes, just becaquse she is crazy and wears the worst wigs!
Thank you for representin’! Seriously though, my mother-in-law is always so condescending. “I don’t care for television”. It’s like okay, we’re so not worthy. I was really glad to see you’re tv in your pictures like a normal person. And I just have to add that after discovering your blog and seeing your house I want to move out there and get a house of my own. It’s not really in the cards for me right now (I’m only 21). I love your eye for design, and the way you make me look at placement of objects differently. And I love love love how many things you have from Ikea.
-Jen
“your” tv
I didn’t even notice the TV.
really loved the pictures. your home looks great.
;) What a fun topic! Actually, I didn’t notice your television on the photos, and I never actually realised that they were hidden for shoots in magazines. But now that you say so, I must admit that I never see them on photos. Though I don’t really miss them either…
Like you, I grew up with very little watching television. My parents didn’t want us to watch much television and promoted stuff like reading, which I did a lot as a child. Though my parents nowadays watch a lot of television themselves, some of their rejection of the telly probably still resonates in me. I still prefer reading above watching television (though reading includes crappy gossip magazines, so it certainly isn’t all Dostojevski).
Me and my boyfriend we argue a lot about the role of television in the house. My boyfriend is a television journalist, so making and watching television is both his work and hobby. He has this huge television (no flatscreen!) and also a beamer with a big screen, and he wants all of this to have a central place in our living room. I don’t like the television to be the center of all attention. But when it’s on, it automatically becomes the center of attention, and when it’s not on, you still see that big and ugly thing in the center of your living room. That’s why I prefer to hide it in a cupboard or something: not because I’m ashamed of it, but because I think it’s an ugly machine and I don’t want it to gain too much attention. I just don’t like the television to be this big sort of altar in your living room… So in our household, the television is subject of a lot of arguing.
By the way when I do watch television, it’s mostly kind of crappy stuff like America’s next top model or gossip programmes…
i absolutely LOVE this post for the utility of the topic and your frankness and humor.
as i’m sure you remember, i was absolutely weened on television growing up, which is why i find it rather funny how little i seem to watch now (obsessive renting of multiple series on DVD doesn’t count, right?). i tried for a while to somehow disguise the fact that we had a huge honkin’ tv in our living room and then finally resigned myself to the fact that it’s just a part of life. but i do like how you have arranged yours so that it’s clearly there, but not the center of attention. i’m not sure how i could logistically work that in a room with two doors and two walls of windows, but it’s worth a shot.
and adam’s right. one watches tyra for the very reason that she is crazy.
Ha! That’s so funny… so many times I flick through interior magazines and wonder where the TV is… I also believe that the homes are always as beautifully styled and tidy as when the pictures were taken.
oh, and love the picture if your living room. No sprise there!
Seriously though, TV is a HUGE part of our culture. Pretending to have no interest in it at all, just seems as weird to me as not reading books at all, or never watching movies.
I find Celebrity Rehab a little too depressing, but bring on the Rock of Love!
God, once i worked with this girl who banged on about how she never watched tv blah blah blah and she never knew what you were talking about half the time because she didnt own a TV - like that were her excuse for just being dumb.
I mean really, I LOVE MY TV. I love watching trash. I am very proud. She never really liked it when I said this to her. Bloody pain the ass Hippy.
LOL!
Ours, I have to say, is hidden in millwork and we have has more than one person say “uncle” and demand to know where it’s hidden. Call me the COMPLETE modernist!!!
EVERYBODY watches too much TV. Fact. It is ridiculously pretentious to pretend you don’t. Good post!
I watch certain shows religiously, and it is something I look forward to doing. Great way to relax.
Re: The “no tv” crowd. I got a kick out of this:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28694
I just bought a 40 inch TV to put on my fireplace after debating for six months (yes, way too long, I know).
I had originally planned for a projector so I could roll up the screen and hide the box and look like an ultra-sophisticate who spends her time making cookies and reading Proust…. but seriously, good projectors cost more than extra large TV’s. So, now me and my LOST are reunited once again.
And anyone who says they don’t watch TV is lying!
So, at least you don’t have TWO TVs! Who do you know that does? Here you are defending TV watching while putting down people who have two TVs. And your own mother!
The thing is, we don’t want to miss the news (PBS, naturally), which is on right during our dinner time. And we like watching while we cook and even while we EAT. Is this the same mother that wanted to shield her kids from TV? You are old enough to finally hear the truth: parents are hypocrites and never do as they teach. You’ll be happy to know, we are contemplating maybe getting rid of that second one because now that we can tape the news we can watch it in the other room, after dinner. It will be a huge adjustment - especially at our age - and we would have to figure out all over again what to discuss during dinner. Other than our kids.
I’m proud that my children have finally started to amount to something useful; I get free interior design consultation from one and nutritional guidance from another…
Anna, I need help with our living room, please! It looks so gloomy.
I think my mom has 4 TVs in her house. It is crazy!
I love how hilarious it is when people are so proud that they do not watch TV, but then they have no idea what is going on in the world–as if it is such a great thing! The Onion article posted above is perfect.
Such a lovely tour of your home on AT.
And I like the t.v. discussion going on here. I cannot stand the way the t.v. looks i nour place and would really love to ditch it. I like that you were honest with the presence of yours.
Great post, beautiful home and lovely tour, so many great comments here, I do hate the look of having a TV set in my living room, but if you have one and you use one wheres the sense in hiding it! It does seem quite fashionable (if not a little sad) to deny all knowledge of watching or owning a TV. But I have to confess I love it!!
your home is lovely & charming. i especially love the elisabeth dunker print next to the eames hang-it-all!
cheers for not letting design mags make you feel like you should be ashamed of owning a tv!
me & my roommate have a tiny one in the living room, and every week we crowd around it with all our friends to watch project runway. and our bravo comes in fuzzy. we definitely don’t have the best entertainment center out of all our friends.. i think they come for the snacks.
I also have a fireplace DVD and a groovetube that we can put on during parties so there’s not a big black rectangle staring at us.
you’ve managed to make yours unobtrusive, which is not an easy thing to do.
I’m totally a recovering “non-tv-intensive child” (: We never watched TV as kids and my friends would alway bug my because when I got in front of one, I wouldn’t take my eyes from it. What?! Go Christian?? Too much attitude! Although, I do think he’ll make it to the top three (perhaps he has already, I haven’t seen the past could episodes).
Ahhhh, i think it’s really refreshing to see a tv, it shows that people who live in beautiful houses are normal too and i do get a bit sick of seeing the same old mid-century danish sideboard etc!
a truly lovely blog (and house), just hopped over from smosch.
i agree, TV is a really great way to kick back and relax. after spending all day reading and writing for my job, i cannot look at another magazine or book! TV is really fun and inspiring — project runway and 30 rock and the office….
and grays anatomy is like porn for women:) i love it and couldn’t do without:)
LOVED this post. you are awesome. xo
I think the shelter mags don’t show them because even the best looking TVs are still really ugly and detract (at least slightly) from the decor. As visual objects they have nothing to recommend them. For me that’s the issue more than any desire to be or appear to be more cultured and highbrow.
What a beautiful fireplace! I am doing my fireplaces right now in Marrakech and there is *no* white fireplace bricks for the interior. It is such a bummer.
Having a visible tv is human I believe. Your home is beautiful.
I just found this post via an image on ffffound and thought of your post:
http://desiretoinspire.blogspot.com/2007/11/dealing-with-tv-in-your-living-room.html
It is an interesting subject. I have to put my hand up as someone who has the TV in a cabinet (although a glass doored one) - along with the stereo/playstation/dvd/video/freeview etc etc.
your HOUSE IS SOOO ADORABLE!!! I love ur style and how you put everything together within the space. The brownstone is such a classic look…love it;
Jen Ramos
TV is a part of most people’s lives so the fact that it is absent in many home tours is because either 1) it’s ugly 2) it has been removed and replaced with decorative accessories for the sake of the shoot 3) fancy people in those magazines have such cool lives that they don’t need no stinking TV. haha. whatevs.
I love this room…from what I see your home is beautiful and the TV is just fine.
- Jessie -
I just found your blog and love it. I looked over your home photos too - such a cute house.