Why So Many Homes Are Starting to Look the Same (And How to Create One That Doesn't)
There's been a thought rattling around in my head lately, and it was reinforced when fellow designer Chloe Legras of Boxwood Avenue shared a similar observation on Instagram. The topic? Whether Pinterest is actually making our homes feel more dated.
At first, I wasn't entirely convinced, though I agreed with the sentiment that so many things are starting to look alike in design. As an interior designer, I use Pinterest with every client. It's one of the most valuable tools we have for gathering inspiration, understanding preferences, and helping homeowners put words to the styles they're drawn toward. Pinterest isn't going anywhere, and frankly, I wouldn't want it to.
But the more I thought about Chloe's point, the more I realized she was touching on something bigger. It's not that Pinterest is making homes dated. It's that we're all looking at the same things. Whether it's Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, or even design publications, today's algorithms are incredibly effective at showing us what is already popular. The more engagement a particular kitchen, living room, or design detail receives, the more people see it. Designers save it. Homeowners pin it. Builders incorporate it into model homes. Manufacturers create products inspired by it. Before long, a trend that started with a handful of spaces becomes the visual language everyone is speaking.
As someone who designs homes throughout the Twin Cities, I see this play out frequently in newer neighborhoods. Builders (Lennar, D.R. Horton, Pulte, M/I Homes, Robert Thomas, etc.) are doing exactly what they're supposed to do—creating homes that appeal to a wide audience. The result is often beautiful. The finishes are current. The floor plans function well. The homes photograph beautifully. But when the same handful of floor plans are repeated throughout a neighborhood and homeowners are pulling inspiration from the same online sources, it's easy for entire communities to begin feeling remarkably similar. And, I hear versions of this from clients all the time:
"We love our house, but it feels like everyone else's."
"We moved into a beautiful home, but it doesn't quite feel like us."
"We've saved hundreds of inspiration photos, and now we're more confused than when we started."
The challenge isn't that these homeowners have bad taste. The challenge is that they're trying to create something personal using inspiration that was designed for the masses.
What's interesting is that this isn't just happening in interior design. I've noticed it in content creation too. One designer shares a particular style of Reel, and suddenly everyone is creating their own version. A certain type of educational post gains traction, and before long it feels like every designer is posting the same content with slightly different wording. As creatives, we're all influenced by what we consume. Myself included.
That's why I've become increasingly intentional about where I look for inspiration. Yes, I save images online. Yes, I use Pinterest. But some of my favorite design ideas come from places algorithms can't predict.
This summer I'll be traveling to Montreal, and I already know I'll come home with a camera roll full of things most people won't think twice about. Historic stone buildings. Iron railings. Storefront details. Color combinations that naturally occur within a city. The way old architecture sits alongside something modern. It’s because some of my favorite inspiration comes from historic homes that have stood the test of time. Sometimes it's a beautifully tailored outfit, a restaurant that gets the lighting exactly right, or something as simple as noticing the way afternoon sunlight moves across a room in my own home.
Those influences tend to create spaces with more depth because they're rooted in observation rather than replication. And that's where I think we sometimes get stuck.
Many homeowners believe the goal is to find the perfect inspiration photo and recreate it. In reality, the most successful homes rarely come from copying a single image. (Not even the ones being generated today by chatGPT and other AI platforms.) They come from understanding why you're drawn to it in the first place.
Is it the warmth of the materials?
The architecture?
The feeling of calm?
The scale of the room?
The natural light?
Often the answer has very little to do with the actual furniture or finishes and much more to do with the feeling the space creates.
At Lennox Road Interiors, one of the things we spend the most time doing is helping clients identify those underlying patterns. We look beyond the individual images and start asking better questions. Why does this room resonate with you? What do all of your saved photos have in common? What story do you want your home to tell?
Because truthfully, the goal isn't to avoid trends altogether. Every era has trends. Every designer incorporates them in some way. It’s just that the real goal is to create a home that still feels like you after the trend has passed.
The homes I remember most aren't necessarily the trendiest ones. They're the homes that reflect the people who live there—their travels, their interests, their routines, their memories, and their personalities. Those are the spaces that feel timeless because they were never trying to be like everyone else's in the first place.
So, to end…my real thoughts are that Pinterest isn't the problem. Social media isn't the problem. The real challenge is remembering that inspiration should be the starting point of the conversation, not the final destination. And perhaps the best homes aren't the ones that perfectly capture what's trending today. Perhaps they're the ones that couldn't belong to anyone else.
If you're building, renovating, or furnishing a home in Lakeville, Rosemount, Prior Lake, or anywhere in the Twin Cities, we'd love to help you create a home that feels personal, timeless, and uniquely yours.r
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Ways to work with Lennox Road Interiors:
Full-Service Interior Design (start to finish)
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