Why do extremely wealthy gay guys have such sterile houses?

It’s not because he’s gay; it’s because he has $ and no taste.

It was decorated by his dear friend, First Lady Melania Trump, architect, Supermodel, polyglot, and dedicated mom.

Cold as ice. Like a corporate office.

Gay men often want their houses to look like they're ready for Architectural Digest, so they strip them of anything that would make them look personalized,.

Ro-cokehead-co.

That’s sterile? I thought it was extremely decadent. Fascinating but not my taste.

I thought by sterile you meant Bettina and Max:

Why buy an old colonial just to do THAT to it? A modern minimalistic A frame would be better suited to that style.

R7 to be fair they made it sound like it was an old colonial but mention that it in fact was a 2005 “colonial-style” in one of the paragraphs. I cringed looking at all the low and sharp edges just waiting for a four year old to run head-first into them.

Boys. BOYS! How many times have I told you not to build forts on the immense black granite countertops. You'll fall off and crack your heads open on the terrazzo marble floor! Please build your forts on the PEFC sustainable Black Locust decking in or outside the Syrie Maugham breakfast gazebo.

Twins at 57? Those poor children are his future carers in their teens.

It's fine. He's doing him.

He's done very well in real estate and knows what sells.

Also, it can be fun growing up in a house like that.

The kids probably have a blast.

If he's so rich why does he own that tacky Peter Tunney Warhol knockoff?

I think they are sterile because ultimately the house is for show, and not to make a true home. I have a husband, two teenagers, two cats, and a dog. The amount of dirt, junk, trash, clothes, and food ( all over the house) would make most gays scream into the night. But everyday I feel like I am home, in our cottage, because I am coming home to love. These rich gays don't know how to love- only to project. That is why their homes look like museums. They will probably never know a real home because they will never know real love.

R13 that might be true but it paints a broad negative stroke against a man we don't know. He might just be OCD Type A neat freak who CAN love.

I question the wisdom of designing an interior so that the house sells, r11. He has to live in the fucking thing.

I’m definitely a DLer but I just don’t understand the attachment to a residence. Those HGTV shows look insufferable and the people have homeownership as their entire personality.

Your impression OP- not fact.

Because every gay man wants to be a cold rich bitch like Martha Stewart or Beth Jarrett.

The poors do it too: White, light gray to gray palette. They all look like prisons.

The place in the article looks like an airport lounge. No one has taste anymore.

I'm not extremely wealthy but I have a house I suppose people might describe as sterile. It's bare-bones functionalism and easy to clean, which is all I care about. I entertain, but not at home, so no need to impress anyone.

I don't mind other people's décor and admire it when it's done well, but I don't care to live with that sort of thing personally.

I do love architecture but put that into a different visual category. A great building is still a great building when it's empty.

I have to restrain Eldergay from too many prints and patterns, we had a friend who would gay up things far too much, like everything was a french whore house, whatever happened to subtle and sophisticated? You can have too many Precious Moments you know, they just collect fucking dust.

I like it and I think it’s chic. Maybe not ideal for raising young children but I have sofa envy for sure.

Long hallways stretch in two directions: the arched openings are painted in colors that progress from darker to lighter, with yellows and greens on one side and blues on the moldings facing the other direction to enhance a feeling of anticipation, Gonzalez says.

I wonder if walking the opposite direction enhances a feeling of dread?

Westworld. Season 1 was nothing short of a masterpiece. After that the show really went to Idiotsville fast.

[quote] But everyday I feel like I am home, in our cottage, because I am coming home to love. These rich gays don't know how to love- only to project. That is why their homes look like museums. They will probably never know a real home because they will never know real love.

MARY.

R19 While both demographics are lacking in taste, the results are VERY different. I didn't see any plastic covered furniture or overstuffed double wide lounge-sofas facing massive TV screens with a gaming console to five littering the stained, depressing, beige carpeting.

I wouldn't use the word sterile, rather more like austere.

That house looks gorgeous. I suspect many posters on this thread have houses designed like their grandmother's houses, with garish pops of color everywhere. Eww.

Being extremely wealthy is a psychosis.

More than that sofa, I want those sheep.

A lot of gay men didn't grow up with much so they gravitate towards easily recognizable design and labels. They are not comfortable combining things to show their own personal style because they don't have one. They are more about looking luxurious or high end.

A house can't be sterile if someone lives in it. That's not a bad thing.

It’s a McMansion that’s been tarted up. Lipstick on a pig.

I think it’s sweet that the guy compromised on his home to create a comfortable environment for his family. But he probably hates it and is probably getting ready to sell it. Which is the reason for the article.

OP types poor. Are you poor OP? Namaste. I have faith that you will pull yourself out of this situation.

[quote]It’s not because he’s gay; it’s because he has $ and no taste.

This. R1 nails it.

[quote]Cold as ice. Like a corporate office.

This too, although I've seen worse

[quote]A lot of gay men didn't grow up with much so they gravitate towards easily recognizable design and labels. They are not comfortable combining things to show their own personal style because they don't have one. They are more about looking luxurious or high end.

R30 lack of personal style - thats a common affliction, and not just with gay mean, its pretty much universal, they just copy whatever they see on HGTV or the interior decor mags. That said to be fair if there had been an HGTV in 1880 I could fairly be accused of copying that.

[quote]I have to restrain Eldergay from too many prints and patterns, we had a friend who would gay up things far too much, like everything was a french whore house, whatever happened to subtle and sophisticated?

R21 pics? I think I would like your friend - it sounds like he definitely has a personal style of his own. Maybe leave him to it

I saw maybe two coffee-table books on a shelf, and no kids’ toys. Are those kids real?

And only short-sleeved 80’s Versace blouses in that wardrobe .

“only goes out once a week”. It’s Miami, hun, you foolin’ no-one.

That’s where a mean character from AMERICAN HORROR STORY lives!

My husband and I built our house a few years ago. Our architect really pushed us to have it photographed and written about for her sake as she was going for some big award. The photographers came the day before and completely stripped everything that made it seem like a lived in home and the photographs of our home look as sterile as these, but I promise you that on a day to day basis our house is very personal and lived in. They did, however, let our dog be in one of the photographs, but didn't take a picture of our mud room with all the boots, leashes, and coat clutter. Anyway, my point is, these types of articles/photos do not represent how the person really lives.

[quote] That house looks gorgeous. I suspect many posters on this thread have houses designed like their grandmother's houses, with garish pops of color everywhere. Eww.

That explains the number of posters who decorate their tree with multicoloured lights.

He has two catalogue order cookie cutter boys to add to the generic name brand furniture.

Lots of money and little taste.

Well he's not splurging on art, that's for sure.

[quote]I think they are sterile because ultimately the house is for show, and not to make a true home. I have a husband, two teenagers, two cats, and a dog. The amount of dirt, junk, trash, clothes, and food ( all over the house) would make most gays scream into the night. But everyday I feel like I am home, in our cottage, because I am coming home to love. These rich gays don't know how to love- only to project. That is why their homes look like museums. They will probably never know a real home because they will never know real love.

What nonsense. I suppose you think that no rich people know anything about love or happiness? That they are all miserable? That only frazzled soccer moms or gay dads with children's vomit in their self-cut hair, and a house full of dogs and cats and lizards and screaming kids knee deep in dirty clothes and chaos can know love or happiness? That anybody who makes a priority of keeping s house that doesn't look like the aftermath of a tornado is a pretentious cunt living a loveless lie in his "museum"?

At least you are not alone in your popular delusion.

Some people like order at home. Sone people with children and pets like order at home. Some people spend some of their money on art and good furniture, and keep their laundry baskets in the laundry, and their dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and piles of shit in the trash or wherever it rightly belongs.

I'm happy that you have love in your house and that you have a nice life. I have the same, but in one of those "museum" houses you dislike and distrust. I like the objects in it, AND, beyond that, I also like the house is a shelter for love and a happy life. That things are in their place in my house doesn't mean I'm unhappy, it just means different mean have different interests and additional (not mutually exclusive) priorities.

If a single man or couple wants to live in a place that looks like Patrick Bateman's bachelor pad, have at it. But it doesn't look child friendly at all.

Doesn’t look like a home.

This is their walk-in closet.

Give me maximalism any day!

That's definitely got personality R45. The colors are lovely.

Will we see fewer puff pieces like this now that we’re assassinating the wealthy on the streets?

[quote] A lot of gay men didn't grow up with much so they gravitate towards easily recognizable design and labels. They are not comfortable combining things to show their own personal style because they don't have one. They are more about looking luxurious or high end.

It wasn't always this way. We used to be the best thrift store and estate sale shoppers in the world, getting both quality and style for a fraction of the price. AIDS killed the apotheosis of that kind of queen. There's still some around, most of them over 45, but it's a fading breed. Take a look at the "What do rich people buy for bedding?" thread to see this in action.

Get a grip R47.

R9 that cherry wood kitchen cabinetry with the black granite countertops looks so dated - I’d say circa 1997-2003

If you like that R46 then you really need to meet the designer: ChatGPT (or Midjourney).

Colour palates are dead easy for AI to do.

My mom's condo neighbors here in FL (middle aged straight couple) have white walls with almost nothing on them, white furniture. That would drive me nuts!

Those throwing color everywhere should probably have your therapists on speed dial. Tacky, tacky, tacky. A nice, clean look with understated tones is timeless. That photo at R45 is horrendous. Who would live in that mess?

Not extremely wealthy but a gay artist and interior designer in London and Tangier who describes his style as maximalist. His houses are not surgically spare and precise like some of the minimalist houses OP alludes to, but they are tidy and carefully ordered by someone who likes things and some complexity.

Jacques Grange, a very well known gay interior designer who is a high order maximalist, truly maximalist, but very academic taste and super luxe things and aesthetic. Some of his work is very fucking French Classical, but none of it is cold and clinical.

I think that super sparse "cold" style is largely down to a Y chromosome. It's acceptable to be an aficionado of some esoteric Mid-Century Modern designers, or a niche interest in 1970s Italian design movement, or to say that your aesthetic is a "nice, clean look with understated tones", but let it get too busy or cluttered and it's considered (by men) a less masculine taste. A gay or straight man can be applauded if he sticks to some super spare aesthetic with "that fucking Tom Ford book" on a coffee table; if he likes something a little more cluttered some people will think it's too fusty and granny and faggy. Minimalism may or may not be boring, but it is always safe for men.

[quote] piles of shit in the trash or wherever it rightly belongs.

Stuff doesn’t “rightly belong” in any particular place. You just think it does because of your personal need for order.

You characterize this as a “preference” for order. Given your words, I suspect it is a phobia of disorder.

No matter. Entropy gets us all in the end.

Other link for R55

Oooo a CANDY CANE!!!!!!!

Why do all these wealthy gays need to procreate? It’s kinda the current gay status symbol

My problem is the mirrored surfaces, especially on the ceilings. Tacky. The stone is good around the fireplace where it makes some sense, though the mirrors there ruin it for me. But that assembly of stone and mirrors at the base of the stairs really annoys me. It serves no purpose other than to say ”look at me! I’m expensive.” I’d much rather have a great sculpture in that space.

I hate bookcases that don’t have any books and instead are filled with objects purchased to fill the shelves. If you don’t have any books, don’t build a huge bookcase.

Oh, and the little glass coffee tables in front of that huge sofa are out of scale. That would have been a good spot for a huge slab of stone.

Why do log cabin gays post paywalled WSJ articles?

R9 is that an image of Audrey Hepburn? Oh my!

Sofia Loren, you rube!

[quote]Why do log cabin gays post paywalled WSJ articles?

It's not paywalled, it's a free link.

This house is a mess. It's the designer's fault. Haphazard mix of styles, finishes, materials, bad lighting... etc etc. The black leather sofa set is a really great set, but in black and in leather it reads more hospitality than residential.

I agree with other posters...having stuff on every available surface does not make a house a home. But this place has no order or rigour to the spaces or how they're organized, or what is in them. The scale of some of the spaces is bizarre and it's just not good. This is not a minimalist project or a sterile space for those claiming that it is either. It's post modern if anything but even still...idk just bad.

Also afaict the sheep are knock offs :/

[quote] My problem is the mirrored surfaces, especially on the ceilings.

Huh? Mirrored ceilings? Haven't heard of that since the '70s.

This house has mirrored ceilings.

Also, why put an elaborate fireplace as the focal point of your living room and then place a sofa in front facing away from the fireplace?

Never mind. I see the pieces in front of the fireplace are just ottomans (ottoman? )

^ottomen?

I’m depressed in East Hampton . I have a huge home. Lots of stuff.

At some point, tasteful became a dreary terror of any color whatsoever. Sadly, wealthy gay men desperate to fit into some stupid and nonsensical ideal lost all belief in anything but "fitting in." It's a sad part of our decline as a community.

Of course, this is what happens when some pathetic puritanical ideal of "haute bourgeoisie" replaces anything truly original or individual, which is what happens when you have an actual aristocracy. Living in a constant state of terror that visitors might disapprove of your decor is the opposite of that.

I don’t endorse any generalizations about the taste of wealthy gay men. If anything, they are going to have better taste than other gay men because they have the means to express themselves through decorating which tends to mean they spend more time with professional designers and are more exposed to nice things (which tends to be expensive.)

Money does not decorative arts appreciation make. They still have to pick the designer.

More like the whole thing becomes a circle jerk r75. Professional designers all use the same playbook, and everybody conforms to their fake ideal of what "good taste" is, if they can afford it. All are afraid of committing the ultimate sin in our society: not fitting in.

You obviously have not been to Palm Springs.

If I had this house (although I would never have done this architecture) and the amount of money this guy has, I would never even consider using a professional designer. I could find billions of things to fill the house with, and some of them might look tacky or out of place to other people, but they would all reflect me - my tastes, my character, my interests. This house looks like it was designed by a corporate board. Maybe it would look better, as someone says above, when it's not cleaned up for the photographer. But this house makes me think its owner is very boring (which is likely the case, since he's an investment banker).

[quote] I would never even consider using a professional designer.

Good luck getting a contractor.

I don’t think money can buy taste. Money can buy you a consultant or designer. Even if you get the best designer, it may still not inform your palette. The house will look like the designer, not you.

I think creativity comes from parameters.

Money can’t buy taste, but a person with money is able to spend more time shopping for furniture in high-end showrooms than someone who can’t afford to buy anything, thus honing his eye. And he will be less limited in his options. Therefore, having money makes achieving a well-designed home easier.

I'm the one who spent several years living and travelling with Middle Eastern royals through their palaces and mega estates in Europe and the Middle East. These were all new constructions, such as the US gilded age mansions and estates were, and wildly extravagant. "Extravagant" and "luxurious" are "tastes", in fact. Rather than historical accuracy, or the vision of a known and talented decorated.

Yet, they all had French and English decorators.

And after my eyes adjusted, I would almost everyday stumble upon an object or detail or room or area that I had to admit was fine and tasteful.

I felt like Owl Eyes in The Great Gatsby, the character how as fascinated and delighted by Gatsby's library collection. You, cynical, could even assume Gatsby, or my Arab princes, didn't know the treasures his riches had collected. But don't be so sure of yourself.

So in fact, if you hire the right people, who do have taste, and a colossal budget, you may very well end up with some spots of good taste in your splendiferous ostentatiousness.

Also, the superyachts are full of impressive design.

[quote]I don’t think money can buy taste. Money can buy you a consultant or designer. Even if you get the best designer, it may still not inform your palette. The house will look like the designer, not you

Money can buy taste, to a point. One can buy the designer's signature style or approach in its entirety and show up on move-in day, evey detail perfectly in place. Given some clients' tastes, that's not always a bad approach.

I've seen people spend a lot of money on a famous designer only to be so fucking specific and controlling about little thing that the designer gives in and gives them what might be a chaotic mess, or a very timid space. The designer just wraps it up quickly and doesn't include it in his portfolio, betting that the bad clients have bad friends and that his reputation will survive the project.

Bad designers impose their own template and details on every project. Good ones can be good.psychologists and realize a compromise between what they would.like to do and what the client can be persuaded to love. This compromise can work out very well in many cases.

Even people with very specific and developed taste and knowledge hire interior designers. And in those cases the designer takes pains to make the client happy and to introduce some elements that emphasize the value of having hired the designer. A good designer has a huge network of sources and also resources if talent and specialist, and he coordinates everything well because it's his his job, his expertise. Furnishing a big new house all at once is a big task, even if reusing almost everything from a previous house.

Most people are really terrible at imagining how anything would look on their own house. They don't understand scale or have a good memory (and notes) of dimensions, err on the side of grey on grey to be safe, and generally can't picture the effect of one object in a space or it's relation to any other. Some people have a clear idea if the type of look they want, they just don't have a good approach to assembling it and ensuring some sort of harmony.

A good interior designer will usually like the challenge of a look that's their usual range, though their client may we'll have chosen them to turn out yet another "signature look."

The bigger problem is bad pairings of designer and client, usually where both share a good measure of fault. Most clients don't have the ability to outline what they want and how they want the project yo come together. Many designers listen to only a couple of the clients' points and disregard everything else. Or the client has a designer picked out from a.magazine, but the designer usually spends 200,000 per room and the clients' budget in 30,000, so everything starts with a severe compromise.

[quote] I'm the one who spent several years living and travelling with Middle Eastern royals through their palaces and mega estates in Europe and the Middle East

Are you a prostitution whore?

R86 no dear. No sex involved, not that I wasn't tempted a few times.

I’m into cherry pomegranate crystal light

Sorry OP, link did not work at at first. Now it does, thanks.

"Even people with very specific and developed taste and knowledge hire interior designers."

As a design professional person that works with interior designers on high-end homes, I have been in three separate client meetings where the interior designers from three separate firms have shown exactly the same two photos of projects as inspiration.

It seems culling Pinterest and Landscape architecture books is hard work.

Wow, R90. Showing other people's work from Pinterest boards and published books as their own projects, or even as inspiration? What class. What professionalism. What originality.

I would embarrass the bejesus out if the fuckers.

Stealing from someone's Pinterest board is about the last word in low (or brazen ineptitude )

Calling this "sterile" completely undersells it. He's accepted being single? No kidding. This is the kind of place that says, "this is my world, I am in control here, your views do not interest me."

The designer had free rein:

[quote] he [the designer] knew that Jacobson would be open to a more extensive, art-focused transformation and wouldn’t put in design restrictions.

He said he didn't have time to build a modern house:

[quote] “I would have built my own new modern house, but I didn’t have time.” Building a new house would take at least three years, he says.

But seems like he could have found something that he wasn't fighting with.

Children are not allowed in his bedroom, his sitting room, his office (most of the time), the formal dining room, and the main living room:

[quote] The main bedroom suite is usually off-limits to the rest of the family: It includes a sitting room where Jacobson likes to relax on his own. The boys are also rarely in his office, the formal dining room or the main living room with the sculptural light fixture and red marble, he says.

He's a renegade, a trendsetter:

[quote] “My life is path breaking. I’m a single, gay, older dad. I didn’t have any role models,”

His wardrobe looks limited and he's got his Louis Vuitton box out on display.

Ahhhhh-self hating fags trying to achieve perfection?

R45

Gorgeous. So sumptuous and rich in texture and color.

The pic R45 posted looks AI generated... but still lovely, I'd live in that, although personally I'd have more colours, more gilt and more Rococco chintz and High Victorian.

I think it’s AI-generated, but I wasn’t sure when I quickly posted it.

R97 r96 Pretty sure r45 is AI generated, as the orange objet on the round side table seems to defy the principles of gravity & physics.

As does the light on that large leaf behind it. Nice colors & composition, though.

Not to mention the painting on the right that is bleeding onto the wall under the lamp.

One more time- they don’t. This is one of those threads concocted by an OP who has issues with gay men.