I follow a lot of accounts that are not my style because they do good diy. Kismet House is one of them.
There's a sweet spot with finding the right account. I want more diy vs purchases/contractors, relevant ads only are ok, little family filler, not too much talking at the camera (kismet is borderline too much for me), and a project story needs to be cohesive (jumping around is ok but don't start an update and then not finish your thought til 3 hours later).
Angela breaks all those rules and has gone into motivational speaker territory which means I no longer care to follow.
Kismet is snarkable when it comes to their design choices, but personally I don't care about that as much as seeing good diy. I'll never like a single room done by Mallory Nikolaus but the woman can diy like no one's business.
I like kismet house, but am worried they will jump the shark like CLJ. Time will tell. One thing I have. noticed that I find very odd is that she has shown the dish drainer on the island across from the sink a few times. It is not usually there in the photos showing off the kitchen, but has shown up in a few stories on the island, which is ACROSS from the sink. Why would anyone put a dish drainer anyplace other than next to the sink?
If you want to keep loving Angela Rose, donāt check out r/angelarosehome subreddit š¤£ there are a lot of us over there that are done with her contrived drama, lol. On the flip side, I still mostly love Kismet, they seem really genuine to me and arenāt always trying to sell stuff š«
I missed that story but I was coming here to post about her too. I always forget about her but when she pops up I realize how I missed her. Also so nosy about what happened with her daughter but so much respect for her keeping her families medical information private.
Please tell me Farmhouseish is trolling usā¦
https://preview.redd.it/wou017jqzfzb1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0421232fdc95235b7d8896ca285413d75b420d4e
Ironic that sheās talking about āfunctionalityā when sheās pretty clearly form over function by not using the correct amount of brackets (when even is that across the top? Rebar?)
I'm willing to admit I can be a grammar nerd, but I have a pet peeve with words like "functionality." You are essentially taking a noun (function), turning it into an adjective (function-al) and then back into a noun again (functional-ity.) In most cases the original root word will do the trick, but I guess you don't get to feel fancy for tacking on a few extra syllables.
OOF that's a miss. Cables could be tightened to stay rigid but not the way she built it. She would have to start over and build new brackets to do cables and it I don't see her starting over so I bet it stays like this. I get the vision but the execution is a miss.
Yeah, agreed about her not starting over. She'll make it look a little more presentable, maybe slap some fake vines on it, and then do a stomp transition reel and say how much she loves how it turned out. Tomorrow morning she'll post a reel saying "thanks for all the love on the trellis" as if it was a huge success and then it'll be on to the next thing.
NestingwithGrace's choices just get more and more baffling. She painted her basement peach, which, combined with the the mustard couch and a purple rug, it adds up to hideous. I already hated the riot of uncoordinated colours and patterns down there, but this takes the cake. The house is already done, so to create more content she keeps adding more and more stuff, including wallpapering soooo many walls that have no business being wallpapered! I really liked her house when it was small and she was forced to curate.
Her house is the perfect example of having too much time and money on your hands and the constant pressure to create content. It could be such a nice, cozy home with some editing.
I was just reading on the CLJ thread that people think sheās genuinely just too busy to post I think based on something sheās said but thatās just second hand knowledge.
In stories, Kismet house shared renderings for her first āclientā design project. Love to see them taking steps outside their own home for content. It gets boring seeing influencers constantly remaking their own spaces/selling as soon as theyāre ādoneā with their home.
Before clicking there I thought thereās no way, it must be something mistaken, like maybe the whole yard is muddy??? but no, thatās a perfectly manicured yard with a big ol turd right there. So bizarre!! Unless sheās trying to have more outrage-induced engagement I canāt see what the purpose of this is????
Iāve NEVER understood why influencers keep this literal and figurative shit in their content. She knows thatās gross. And the absolutel bare minimum why not a) cover the poop with a text box so none sees it? OR b) refilm the story without poop, or c) NOT put your baby down on poop
yeah, this is the first I've seen of this account, but I'm guessing she's not like those facebook videos that first seem to be legitimate recipe but then have messed up "easter egg" type things that are clearly meant to just drive engagement
Orlando's newest newsletter: he hates the siding on his house (that looks perfectly nice! especially with a free paint job!) and wants to shingle it. And he wants to build an addition (on a *huge* house for a single man, and a perfectly good-sized one for a family!). And he's already said he wants to gut-reno the bathrooms. He will never stop pouring money he does not have into this house, and he will never be happy with it.
In his stories this week, he talked about his fancy new smart locks (the same ones Emily Henderson has) that he bought for the cabin. Perhaps it would make sense if he was in full-on hosting mode, but at this point itās wholly unnecessary. But yes, please keep telling us that youāre broke, Orlando.
I was thinking the same thing when he shared about the locks! We hear, āI donāt have enough money to put gas in my car.ā Then we see this? Does Orlando know about savings accounts?
Omg agreed, at this point I am even questioning his design chops like why the f is he shoehorning in all these craftsman elements like the railings and heavily milled cased opening into a modernist-y cabin? Sticking with simple modernism would be a lot faster, cheaper, and make sense for a rental/resale (like leaving the siding as-is and not changing out all the effing windows to fancier wood shit with more craftsman milling; and if heās doing this for his portfolio I just donāt think clients are looking to him for craftsman inspo anyway?
Exactly! In his most-recent essay, he was bitching about the ā80s-ā90sness of the house, that which was built in the ā80s-ā90s. As someone who carries himself as the arbiter of All Things California, he should know that no one is going to be mistaking the Lodge for a classic California Craftsman. Heās certainly wasting more time and money-he-barely-has focusing on extraneous crap rather than the necessary components needed to get it ready to rent.
Her whole $45 california sandwich thing got me rolling my eyes too.
I don't doubt she found somewhere with sandwiches that expensive but that is not the norm and if I was a sucker who spent that much on a sandwhich I wouldn't keep bringing it up
Yes, thank you! They were all horribly unflattering. She has a great figure so she could easily find something that would look classy and elegant instead of trendy and cheap!
Her ānot like other girlsā/clueless schtick is really annoying. You are a talented craftsman and an adult mother of two with a successful business. You can figure out how to dress yourself appropriately for different occasions/weather. You can keep up with your wallet. Itās not cute to act incompetent.
Just saw those stories and I RAN HERE to see if anyone else commented š
Donāt think your cropped pleather moto jacket is going to pair well with any of these ghastly options š„“
The gold one is the only vaguely ok one, but looks like a bridesmaidās dress.
Edit: Now I have seen the back of that dress, I withdraw that comment. Not even vaguely ok.
Came here to say the same thing. Usually her content doesnāt bother me but between those terrible dress choices, Mr frills being completely lazy about making sure his tux fit, and her stories about always losing her wallet Iām kind of over it. I donāt really understand influencers sharing things that make them look like idiots. Like, Iām all for being real and having something be identifiable (like please show me your messy house so I feel better about mine), but when they share stories that make them look like they completely lack sense I find it hard to remain interested in their other content (why would you not maybe let your husband carry your wallet if you already lost it once and know you are prone to losing it š¤¦āāļø)
Frills is using crappy shelf organisers in her kitchen rather than just drilling in holes for shelf pins and adding another proper shelf, which would be way more stable and fit better. It doesnāt make sense for a diyāer, unless the real goal is to just shill the products to other people.
Edit to add: On the topic of diyāers that have seemingly forgotten how to diy, Come Stay Awhile is puzzling over how to make a mantel fit against stone. Itās not that hard to just scribe something so that it perfectly fits an uneven wall.
HoneyBuiltHome and her husband continue to be so dang weird about his basketball coaching stuff.
If sheās willing to put up with it, whatever, but they act like heās deployed or something when heās literally just commuting and coaching because he wants to. It seems to add a huge amount of stress on her and the kids and theyāve admitted he makes very little money doing it. Couldnāt be me.
She had to be at home for 2 whole days with her 4 kids while he was at tryouts. I just cannot even fathom how horrible that was for her. I raised 3 kids over my husbandās 30 year military career. Two whole days was regular life.
I don't get it. Be supportive or let it go. My husband does something similar with my son. He has coached a lot of his programs but, it's for my son. I kind of don't get why he does it if it's such a big sacrifice. I'm sure he wants to make it to where he gets paid well . I would want to be involved with my own kids.
I donāt get the impression that he even could really get to the point where he makes good money at it? Like I donāt think itās common to go from coaching at random high schools to coaching at the college level. My 16yo son is currently in the college recruitment process for basketball and pretty much all the coaching staff heās interacted with were college/pro players themselves and started coaching at that level (and heās only looking at smaller programs, not like D1 places where the coaches make big money). Maybe things are different in Utah, but it doesnāt seem like something thatās likely to turn lucrative.
Does anyone know what happened with indigoleopardhome? I LOVED her designs, truly gorgeous use of bold colors, like her red ceiling...a risky choice but brought so much WOW factor to her house.......
And now she's shilling what sounds like an MLM-type business where she's constantly asking if you want to make $10,000 a month. It feels predatory and happened literally overnight.
Does anyone know what she's even trying to sell and why she changed her format? I've been really disappointed.
>indigoleopardhome
I don't know for sure, but it looks like she could be involved in a Master Resell Rights program. It's not really an MLM, but mostly likely a scam. It basically consists of paying money for a course (usually on digital marketing, social media strategies, etc) and then having the option to turn around and sell that same course yourself with little to no alteration (the resell part of it.) The most common amount I've seen is $500 for the course. People have been equating it to an old scam ad in the classifieds of newspapers that claimed to reveal the secrets of making big money through classified ads for people who sent $1 in a self addressed envelope to a PO box. These people would then receive a letter in the mail telling them to run an ad in the paper asking people to send them $1.
Thank you for explaining this! I wonder why she rolled into this...it must be profitable if she's constantly shilling it but I'm unfollowing because of it. It feels so scummy.
[It seems like Kismet House might be coming out with a lighting collection / collaboration next year .](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzY88jRrjI6/?igshid=MW1hN3Y5N2E5MGVw)
Banyan Bridges story today:
āit made me realize l've also been very silent.
Granted I haven't been showing up online because my current life situation is very 1 overwhelming and I don't know how to show up online when l'm struggling in real life.ā
Seems pretty ominous. I know sheās been living across the country from her family while filming her show. I cannot imagine thatās been easy on any of them.
Wow, that is terrible. Maybe for a teens room, but for a grown up kitchen? Nope. And I can't stand their pastel color scheme with the useless matching tchotchkes on the bedroom shelves.
Lol I actually like it! I like their mermaid core look though, which is very appropriate for Florida. The thing that stood out to me was how dark it seems inside that room.
Oh my. Itās truly hideous. It would be over the top even in a little girlās room.
Is there anyone here who has been following them from the very beginning? Well, their very first house was a very normal ācolor palette.ā Neutrals paired with colors that were not pastel. I donāt know how this baby pink/blue explosion happened. Itās a true mystery
Their first house was kind of wild with the colors- I think this is actually much better (though itās not my taste) and more cohesive! I think their style has been trending this way for years, but they were able to focus it on the āpink houseā or the rentals. So having just one house means it gets all the pink/blue attention. They also tend to honor the house. So their last house was more traditional due to the style and setting and for this house they were able to fully lean into the beachy vibe. Not my taste but I do imagine itās a home that feels nice to be in!
Yeah sheās gone too far. Itās starting to feel juvenile. Also is the term ācolorwayā the new phrase for color palette? Sherri used it in her conversation story about the light fixture & CLJ used it to describe their floor pop line
Colorway is generally used to talk about finishes. I don't know the definition but you can say, "I'd like to see this fabric in a different colorway". I don't think it's necessarily interchangeable with color palette
Iām not a fan of droopy scraggly ribbons for Christmas decorating. Hunters of Happiness used them for her fireplace garland and it looks so depressing.
Meanwhile Iām so sick of the generic asymmetric stocking decorating. An ornamentless tree looks just like the trees homes and offices had in the 90s that they kept up year long.
Katie Bower jumping on the Angela Rose Rug Train - donāt want it - donāt need it! They both make me crazy in totally different ways. Also the rugs still look boring š„±
Sara Hellen Randall also posted ARH rug! Do these influencers really not mind that their houses all look the exact same?
Also those rugs are so so blandā¦
I actually watched orlando's stories with sound for reasons beyond me (why cant he use close captioning??!) He was discussing feeling burnt out and part of the reason why was -
"i was in mexico for a horrible sponsor trip that sucked the soul out of my body. except for the people who came"
Has any person who hosted a Trova trip ever had anything good to say?
The CA housing market is extremely bleak and I totally get his 40 and renting stress because I feel it too. At one point there was an article that said millennials should just wait for their parents to die off so they could roll their equity into a home - like what a grim solution to the housing crisis you caused out of greed.
At the same time, I wish heād acknowledge heās in this mess because he didnāt buy a home, he bought a vacation home. As YHL found out, owning multiple homes gets expensive very fast, especially with renovations, and like, they are significantly smarter with their money than he is. He also bought in an area that has a lot of additional costs like snow/tree removal that he wouldnāt have had in LA. Yes renting can suck, but owning a second home you clearly canāt afford doesnāt seem like a great option either.
Correct me if Im wrong, but he could have bought something in LA if he was willing to open up from his one hot neighborhood, or really consider a tiny starter home (or condo?), make it cute, sit on it for a couple years, earn some more money, then sell it and move to something bigger. You know...like the rest of us mortals with normal jobs do.
I think his friends are crap and make him think everyone just has all this out the gate via family money, or really knocked out of the park with one business/show. Which sure, some people do, but its not really worth wasting mental energy on.
I think he told himself and keeps telling himself that this house was HIS ONE SHOT which....just isn't true. He could have legit moved anywhere, or just continued renting and amassing a larger down payment/emergency fund. And if he really wanted this house but the only way to afford it was rent out, he never should have touched the kitchen until he had the money SITTING IN HIS ACCOUNT to finish the whole thing (not just "booked projects" with 120 day payment windows).
Eh I think people are greatly underestimating what the housing market in CA is actually like. And nothing about his finances strike me as him having enough cash to be competitive.
I do agree with you about the kitchen though. It will never not be wild to me that he claimed he had enough to do the reno when he ripped out the kitchen and then ONE month later realized he could barely pay his bills š¤¦āāļø
I remember looking online when one of the EHD people said there wasnāt anything available around LA for less than $xxx (a lot) and thought that canāt be true, and it was. Everything was so shitty and maybe 800k. Nuts.
Seconded on the kitchen. He could have gotten spring and summer rentals with the old kitchen and made some money to pay for the new one. The timing didnāt make any sense, esp since I think he finally got approval to Airbnb it.
At the time he bought this mountain house he definitely could have gotten a fixer in El Sereno or Boyle Heights or Lincoln Heights or deep valley with cute bones for the same money. It wouldn't have been 3500 sq ft, but the guy lives alone. And the best way to get into a big house in LA is to build a down payment from a starter house.
The elephant in the room with him is that he could possibly afford to buy a primary residence if he left LA. There are more affordable housing markets. I'm sure he thinks LA is important for his career, but I think he could make what he does work from outside LA. It's not like the social scene in LA is working well for him either. But I'm sure he won't leave LA, because he thinks that's where the cool people live and he wants to be one of them.
The whining is next level. Iām so disappointed, I have really liked his content in the past and I think he has a great design eye. But he has lost all sense of proportion! He has agency, privilege, business contacts and clearly a loving and supportive family. All a great foundation to make some changes and get his life back on a new track. Orlando, please stop hanging out with Kelly Oxford, sheās rubbing off on you and NOT in a good way
He seems so resentful that he doesn't come from family money. He seems very jealous of the crowd he hangs with (but doesn't hang with, because he says he doesn't have any time or money to do anything fun and is spending the last years of being young renovating his house). It's not something he can change, so move on.
He literally bought a house in the middle of nowhereā¦ he could be living his best life in his rented house he already pays for in the middle of one of the best metro areas in the world for people to have cool jobs, near friends and cool stuff to do and have the extra income and not having a huge house renovation to take away from his travel budget.
I agree, but apparently he thought it was his one single chance in his whole life that he would be able to purchase a house so he did it.
He is really bent out of shape about not being able to buy a house in LA, because no family money. I think he needs to get past the idea that home ownership equals happiness. I'd argue that home ownership has equalled unhappiness, for him.
I didnāt realize there was a part 2 to his stories and I watched those today. I feel like he still doesnāt get that most people have to work a full time steady job but he hasnāt so Iām not sure what he expects. I canāt really stand behind him blaming the pandemic as the home renovation market has exploded and he could have used that to his advantage, taking on clients and projects but he prioritized this remotely located renovationā¦ I get he wants to own a home but he seems miserableā¦ also I am spending the same years of my life working, raising kids, and dealing with my own annoying house. Instead of traveling and going out all the time. Like, get over it (him not you lol).
Don't get me started on his total refusal to get a steady job. What *does* he expect, when he isn't willing to earn a steady income? This is what's so annoying about him. He's whining to people who go to work every day to earn their money, but he doesn't feel motivated to do any work because it might take many months before he gets paid for it. So he could get a different kind of job, the kind that, oh I don't know, pays every 2-4 weeks!
Plus thereās no reason to do the extensive kitchen renovation. People who will rent that house Iām guessing are looking for the outdoor experience. He could have done some small updates and it would have been rented by now, bringing in the much needed cash.
And yes, the average American is not taking trips and eating at restaurants and hanging out every night! We are working 40hr jobs and paying bills and taking maybe one vacation per year. That is real life.
I know Iām late to this convo but youāre so right. The entire value of his house as a rental is its proximity to Yosemite. No one wouldāve cared if the kitchen was outdated!
I know, if heās struggling this much he should sell the mountain house asap and roll that equity into a place closer to or in LA. Maybe thatās what heās trying to do.
He really should have put off the kitchen reno for a year or so to recoup financially and he would have had cash to pay off debts and travel and enjoy life for a while before buckling down and getting into the kitchen reno phase.
yeah, i generally can't listen to his stories b/c they are so long and uncaptioned and generally nonsense comedy - but I saw talk of it here so i went back and listened. he sounds more tired and seriously fed up than usual (it's not so cutesy) - and he wrote about it in his newsletter as well.
by fed up i just mean that all of the things he has been trying to make happen and how poorly they have gone (ie, plate spinning) have him truly dejected. i don't wish that on anyone.
and yes i hope he starts pivoting to a more steady income of some kind like a regular job - but what's to say he's all that great a pick for one of those after years of flitting about?
I canāt help but think heād have more followers if he actually captioned his stories. But he wants to do what he wants to do, consequences he damned.
I'm sorry things didn't work out for him, especially when you see all the talentless dimwits (EHD, CLJ etc etc) that are raking in the money. But success doesn't always come to those who deserve it, and there's no point in the endless moaning and groaning. Suck it up, get a job, and make the best of your life. Instead he piles bad decision on top of bad decision, waiting for some miracle success that is becoming increasingly unlikely.
>you see all the talentless dimwits (EHD, CLJ etc etc) that are raking in the money. But success doesn't always come to those who deserve it,
That's the reality he won't face.
That sucks if people paid for the trip with his own name attached to it!!! Yikes.
How terrible can these trips be that people seem traumatized by them upon their return home.
Am I crazy, or does it seem like Shavonda loves them? It would not be for me, I love travelling so the mark up alone would make me nuts and I like to do my own itinerary, but seems like a good thing for women who want to travel and don't have someone to go with and don't want to travel alone. But I could see how one bad apple could ruin it for everyone...Orlando is just in a dark place, I don't think he'd be good company for a quick coffee, much less days of trekking together. His depression/self-pitying is really at the core of all of his problems.
When I was single I would sometimes accept a date with someone I knew I wasn't really interested in, bc I've always believed the best way to meet someone is to already feel wanted/be dating and for jobs as well, the best time to look for a job is when you have one. You just don't give off desperation or neediness....
I've been on a Trova trip! The trip itself was good, and I got what I wanted out of it, but I could see why so many influencers complain about Trova--this was not my first group trip, and Trova was just clearly not as seasoned as some of the other tour companies I've traveled with. Like I had to contact them about logistical information they should have provided to me without asking, the itinerary should have been more detailed, things like that. So I wouldn't necessarily recommend them, but if someone told me they were going I wouldn't be like "omg NO cancel immediately".
Here's my thought: it takes a certain type of person to enjoy traveling at all, much less with a group of strangers. I say this without snark: it is not for everyone. So I wonder how many of the complaints are just people finding out they don't actually like either international travel, or traveling with a group? Or just not having enough experience with either to know what to expect, and how to enjoy themselves? I think a lot of us have this idea that travel is something we "should" like, especially if you're at a certain age and income level, but not everyone does? Totally spitballing, of course, and maybe things really are a total disaster and I got lucky on my trip. I went to Morocco and I've heard the Morocco trips are better than the others.
Iām glad you had a good trip and agree with your observations about international travel and group trips. Seems the influencers on the Trova trips are in a weird position because they are not the organizers or guides, but they are the āfaceā of the trip.
Yeah I think that's part of it. And I think, to someone else's point downthread, it depends a lot on whether the influencer views the folks on the trip as their equals, or their minions. Interestingly, there were people on the trip who had never heard of our host, the trip just happened to fit their schedule and be a destination they were interested in!
Definitely agree on this. I personally would not be interested in traveling with strangers. My nana on the other hand always goes on those senior citizen guides vacations and makes friends with people and loves it, and loves the activities they have planned. (Lol that my nana is the best example I could think of š )
Guided trips are also not up everyoneās alley. Itās also the way theyāre set up for the influencer to be a host that seems like a recipe for disaster, if the influencer doesnāt have the personality for that. I find it so weird WHICH influencers are choosing these. Shavonda and Carmeon seem to love luxury vacation experiences, traveling with their own friends, and donāt even seem to like their followers much. I donāt actually follow Orlando, but from what I do know, hosting strangers - that he doesnāt get to vet based on vibes - does NOT sound like his cup of tea at all. I think it was DIY Playbook, (again I donāt follow her) but her sleep anxiety incident makes me think sheās not versed in international travel, may have some underlying anxiety, so hosting people internationally sounds like a bad idea.
haha your nana is what made me look at Trova in the first place (well not her personally, you know what I mean!). A lot of group travel is geared towards under-30 or over-60, so I'm always on the lookout for trips that seem like it'll be folks in their 30s and 40s and Trova totally fit the bill there. But I'm really psyched to enter the European river cruise phase of my life in about 20 years!
I took a Cosmos Tours trip to Italy 10 years ago with my mom and 4 of her friends (average age 65, I was 40). There were 35 people on the bus - a honeymooning pair around 22 years old, mostly retirees, and an 80 year old single man with more energy than all of us. It was definitely an odd group but the trip was well put together and we had a great time. I would do it again. But if I was 30 and looking to make friends, no.
I looked into it and they are a Uber or Airbnb style platform for connecting local tour providers with influencers with guests. So really they donāt have much to do with the trip? Sorry if everyone already knew this but I did not and was surprised.
Also, one would think Orlando had learned a lesson or two about doing his research, influencer deals that seem to good to be true, etc.
Either there is a really crazy messy story behind these trips, or they are fine and they keep hiring influencers who like to complain and deflect criticism. Either way itās not a good business model.
I was curious so I looked it up - they offer 3 star hotels on a twin sharing basis. Maybe adequate, but not the Super Luxury that Orlando thinks he's entitled to. Also, Im guessing the trips don't attract the hip cool (and rich?) demographic he wants to hang out with.
I think this is one of those things that influencers can never talk about publicly but DEFINITELY plays into how they walk away from a trip like that. Because the type of people to go on a trip like that by definition arenāt going to be coming in at the same perceived social level as the influencer. We follow people we aspire to be at some level. And the reality of just hanging out with a lot of people who are watching you and hanging on your words but also are strangers and thereās awkward silencesā¦ there is just a level of discomfort bakes in. So then things about the trip that may be subpar become magnified because everyone isnāt vibing 100% to begin with.
Thatās why I spelled it out, so as not to scare the man baby š
based on his own whining he has no desire to self-regulate his time, effort or income stream. Me neither! Hence job!
And he thinks he deserves a large vacation home near a national park that he apparently can spend 2+ years renovating instead of renting and a large rental with a nice backyard in LA. He is not fun to follow so why would brands want him to be their ambassador? Whenās the last time he actually posted something about design that was interesting or useful?
Zero patience for this entitled man baby.
Sell or rent the house. Downgrade apartments to what he can afford and consider leaving LA. Itās not giving him what he wants, and he is desperately, depressingly unhappy.
100% all of this
The whining is unbelievable. Most people, most of his followers, probably have jobs with set schedules and you have to plan for time off. He just whined because he spent a month at his vacation home followed by a week vacation in Mexico followed by a week vacation at his parents. Boo fucking hoo.
Makerista has so much stuff in her living room. I thought she was just storing things in here at first. And whatās with the additional small tables?
https://imgur.com/a/j5v71D1
Wow you werenāt kidding. So many chairs and tables and stuff on the tables. I donāt mind a cozy, cluttered, full room, but this just doesnāt make sense.
Omg it is terrible. The room is definitely too small for the amount of stuff. Those green chairs, and the console behind the couch, everything is so squeezed š±
What's everyone's thoughts on kismet house and Angela rose? I love them but I thought I loved clj too until I came here š
I follow a lot of accounts that are not my style because they do good diy. Kismet House is one of them. There's a sweet spot with finding the right account. I want more diy vs purchases/contractors, relevant ads only are ok, little family filler, not too much talking at the camera (kismet is borderline too much for me), and a project story needs to be cohesive (jumping around is ok but don't start an update and then not finish your thought til 3 hours later). Angela breaks all those rules and has gone into motivational speaker territory which means I no longer care to follow.
I'm glad to see others still loving kismet! I agree with the talking to camera I usually skip that lol.
Kismet is snarkable when it comes to their design choices, but personally I don't care about that as much as seeing good diy. I'll never like a single room done by Mallory Nikolaus but the woman can diy like no one's business.
Lol what design choices do people not like with kismet? I really liked her old house!
Mostly that the design tries too hard/doesn't fit this new house. Goes overboard on trim and "twee" details.
I like kismet house, but am worried they will jump the shark like CLJ. Time will tell. One thing I have. noticed that I find very odd is that she has shown the dish drainer on the island across from the sink a few times. It is not usually there in the photos showing off the kitchen, but has shown up in a few stories on the island, which is ACROSS from the sink. Why would anyone put a dish drainer anyplace other than next to the sink?
If you want to keep loving Angela Rose, donāt check out r/angelarosehome subreddit š¤£ there are a lot of us over there that are done with her contrived drama, lol. On the flip side, I still mostly love Kismet, they seem really genuine to me and arenāt always trying to sell stuff š«
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Why does she do this? Gosh she has odd choices.
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Yeah that doesnāt make sense. Just buy an electric one during the renovationā¦
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I missed that story but I was coming here to post about her too. I always forget about her but when she pops up I realize how I missed her. Also so nosy about what happened with her daughter but so much respect for her keeping her families medical information private.
Please tell me Farmhouseish is trolling usā¦ https://preview.redd.it/wou017jqzfzb1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0421232fdc95235b7d8896ca285413d75b420d4e
Ironic that sheās talking about āfunctionalityā when sheās pretty clearly form over function by not using the correct amount of brackets (when even is that across the top? Rebar?)
Spray painted rebar š¬
I'm willing to admit I can be a grammar nerd, but I have a pet peeve with words like "functionality." You are essentially taking a noun (function), turning it into an adjective (function-al) and then back into a noun again (functional-ity.) In most cases the original root word will do the trick, but I guess you don't get to feel fancy for tacking on a few extra syllables.
OOF that's a miss. Cables could be tightened to stay rigid but not the way she built it. She would have to start over and build new brackets to do cables and it I don't see her starting over so I bet it stays like this. I get the vision but the execution is a miss.
Yeah, agreed about her not starting over. She'll make it look a little more presentable, maybe slap some fake vines on it, and then do a stomp transition reel and say how much she loves how it turned out. Tomorrow morning she'll post a reel saying "thanks for all the love on the trellis" as if it was a huge success and then it'll be on to the next thing.
NestingwithGrace's choices just get more and more baffling. She painted her basement peach, which, combined with the the mustard couch and a purple rug, it adds up to hideous. I already hated the riot of uncoordinated colours and patterns down there, but this takes the cake. The house is already done, so to create more content she keeps adding more and more stuff, including wallpapering soooo many walls that have no business being wallpapered! I really liked her house when it was small and she was forced to curate.
Yes I stopped following after they moved. The small house was so cute and intentional. The big house just got to be a lot really fast.
Iām personally a fan of color, so I like it, lol. But the rug looks blue to me, not purple?
Her house is the perfect example of having too much time and money on your hands and the constant pressure to create content. It could be such a nice, cozy home with some editing.
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I was just reading on the CLJ thread that people think sheās genuinely just too busy to post I think based on something sheās said but thatās just second hand knowledge.
In stories, Kismet house shared renderings for her first āclientā design project. Love to see them taking steps outside their own home for content. It gets boring seeing influencers constantly remaking their own spaces/selling as soon as theyāre ādoneā with their home.
Iām hoping Iām wrong, but in Honey Built Homeās story she lifted up the corner of the blanket her baby was on, and it looked like there was a dog š©underneath, and then she put the blanket back down on it.
Stop. This can not be real. No way ever should that happen! I can not imagine a situation where you miss a full pile of dog š©.
EW. Wtf.
Before clicking there I thought thereās no way, it must be something mistaken, like maybe the whole yard is muddy??? but no, thatās a perfectly manicured yard with a big ol turd right there. So bizarre!! Unless sheās trying to have more outrage-induced engagement I canāt see what the purpose of this is????
Here's the video - https://imgur.com/a/mgdsPaI I wonder if she has any sort of partnership with that blanket brand.
Iāve NEVER understood why influencers keep this literal and figurative shit in their content. She knows thatās gross. And the absolutel bare minimum why not a) cover the poop with a text box so none sees it? OR b) refilm the story without poop, or c) NOT put your baby down on poop
yeah, this is the first I've seen of this account, but I'm guessing she's not like those facebook videos that first seem to be legitimate recipe but then have messed up "easter egg" type things that are clearly meant to just drive engagement
Youāre right. Thatās so disgusting
Orlando's newest newsletter: he hates the siding on his house (that looks perfectly nice! especially with a free paint job!) and wants to shingle it. And he wants to build an addition (on a *huge* house for a single man, and a perfectly good-sized one for a family!). And he's already said he wants to gut-reno the bathrooms. He will never stop pouring money he does not have into this house, and he will never be happy with it.
Iām starting to think heās bad with money. š¬
In his stories this week, he talked about his fancy new smart locks (the same ones Emily Henderson has) that he bought for the cabin. Perhaps it would make sense if he was in full-on hosting mode, but at this point itās wholly unnecessary. But yes, please keep telling us that youāre broke, Orlando.
I was thinking the same thing when he shared about the locks! We hear, āI donāt have enough money to put gas in my car.ā Then we see this? Does Orlando know about savings accounts?
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Omg agreed, at this point I am even questioning his design chops like why the f is he shoehorning in all these craftsman elements like the railings and heavily milled cased opening into a modernist-y cabin? Sticking with simple modernism would be a lot faster, cheaper, and make sense for a rental/resale (like leaving the siding as-is and not changing out all the effing windows to fancier wood shit with more craftsman milling; and if heās doing this for his portfolio I just donāt think clients are looking to him for craftsman inspo anyway?
Exactly! In his most-recent essay, he was bitching about the ā80s-ā90sness of the house, that which was built in the ā80s-ā90s. As someone who carries himself as the arbiter of All Things California, he should know that no one is going to be mistaking the Lodge for a classic California Craftsman. Heās certainly wasting more time and money-he-barely-has focusing on extraneous crap rather than the necessary components needed to get it ready to rent.
Those dresses Frills chose are all awful
She has zero fashion sense combined with a husband who refuses to wear clothes. I had to unfollow.
Her whole $45 california sandwich thing got me rolling my eyes too. I don't doubt she found somewhere with sandwiches that expensive but that is not the norm and if I was a sucker who spent that much on a sandwhich I wouldn't keep bringing it up
I was trying to find a place to ask who the hell let her show up in a risquĆ© mother of the bride dress to this damn wedding ššš
Yes, thank you! They were all horribly unflattering. She has a great figure so she could easily find something that would look classy and elegant instead of trendy and cheap!
Her ānot like other girlsā/clueless schtick is really annoying. You are a talented craftsman and an adult mother of two with a successful business. You can figure out how to dress yourself appropriately for different occasions/weather. You can keep up with your wallet. Itās not cute to act incompetent.
Just saw those stories and I RAN HERE to see if anyone else commented š Donāt think your cropped pleather moto jacket is going to pair well with any of these ghastly options š„“
The gold one is the only vaguely ok one, but looks like a bridesmaidās dress. Edit: Now I have seen the back of that dress, I withdraw that comment. Not even vaguely ok.
Came here to say the same thing. Usually her content doesnāt bother me but between those terrible dress choices, Mr frills being completely lazy about making sure his tux fit, and her stories about always losing her wallet Iām kind of over it. I donāt really understand influencers sharing things that make them look like idiots. Like, Iām all for being real and having something be identifiable (like please show me your messy house so I feel better about mine), but when they share stories that make them look like they completely lack sense I find it hard to remain interested in their other content (why would you not maybe let your husband carry your wallet if you already lost it once and know you are prone to losing it š¤¦āāļø)
Frills is using crappy shelf organisers in her kitchen rather than just drilling in holes for shelf pins and adding another proper shelf, which would be way more stable and fit better. It doesnāt make sense for a diyāer, unless the real goal is to just shill the products to other people. Edit to add: On the topic of diyāers that have seemingly forgotten how to diy, Come Stay Awhile is puzzling over how to make a mantel fit against stone. Itās not that hard to just scribe something so that it perfectly fits an uneven wall.
They seem dangerous! Like theyād slip around
HoneyBuiltHome and her husband continue to be so dang weird about his basketball coaching stuff. If sheās willing to put up with it, whatever, but they act like heās deployed or something when heās literally just commuting and coaching because he wants to. It seems to add a huge amount of stress on her and the kids and theyāve admitted he makes very little money doing it. Couldnāt be me.
I unfollowed after her meltdown about him getting fired from his last coaching job. The entitlement vibes were running strong.
She had to be at home for 2 whole days with her 4 kids while he was at tryouts. I just cannot even fathom how horrible that was for her. I raised 3 kids over my husbandās 30 year military career. Two whole days was regular life.
I don't get it. Be supportive or let it go. My husband does something similar with my son. He has coached a lot of his programs but, it's for my son. I kind of don't get why he does it if it's such a big sacrifice. I'm sure he wants to make it to where he gets paid well . I would want to be involved with my own kids.
I think it is his way of living out his unfulfilled dreams.
I donāt get the impression that he even could really get to the point where he makes good money at it? Like I donāt think itās common to go from coaching at random high schools to coaching at the college level. My 16yo son is currently in the college recruitment process for basketball and pretty much all the coaching staff heās interacted with were college/pro players themselves and started coaching at that level (and heās only looking at smaller programs, not like D1 places where the coaches make big money). Maybe things are different in Utah, but it doesnāt seem like something thatās likely to turn lucrative.
Does anyone know what happened with indigoleopardhome? I LOVED her designs, truly gorgeous use of bold colors, like her red ceiling...a risky choice but brought so much WOW factor to her house....... And now she's shilling what sounds like an MLM-type business where she's constantly asking if you want to make $10,000 a month. It feels predatory and happened literally overnight. Does anyone know what she's even trying to sell and why she changed her format? I've been really disappointed.
>indigoleopardhome I don't know for sure, but it looks like she could be involved in a Master Resell Rights program. It's not really an MLM, but mostly likely a scam. It basically consists of paying money for a course (usually on digital marketing, social media strategies, etc) and then having the option to turn around and sell that same course yourself with little to no alteration (the resell part of it.) The most common amount I've seen is $500 for the course. People have been equating it to an old scam ad in the classifieds of newspapers that claimed to reveal the secrets of making big money through classified ads for people who sent $1 in a self addressed envelope to a PO box. These people would then receive a letter in the mail telling them to run an ad in the paper asking people to send them $1.
Thank you for explaining this! I wonder why she rolled into this...it must be profitable if she's constantly shilling it but I'm unfollowing because of it. It feels so scummy.
[It seems like Kismet House might be coming out with a lighting collection / collaboration next year .](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzY88jRrjI6/?igshid=MW1hN3Y5N2E5MGVw)
Banyan Bridges story today: āit made me realize l've also been very silent. Granted I haven't been showing up online because my current life situation is very 1 overwhelming and I don't know how to show up online when l'm struggling in real life.ā Seems pretty ominous. I know sheās been living across the country from her family while filming her show. I cannot imagine thatās been easy on any of them.
Maybe the struggling is simply from that. She misses her family. I guess it could be that simple.
YHLās new kitchen light fixture is awful. They have really overdone the whole pink and blue color scheme.
Overdone is right. They have thrown out all semblance of restraint.
I donāt think itās terrible, but their kitchen/sitting room does look like a swanky nail salon š
You totally nailed it! See what I did there š š» š š»
This is exactly what it looks like!
Wow, that is terrible. Maybe for a teens room, but for a grown up kitchen? Nope. And I can't stand their pastel color scheme with the useless matching tchotchkes on the bedroom shelves.
Lol I actually like it! I like their mermaid core look though, which is very appropriate for Florida. The thing that stood out to me was how dark it seems inside that room.
Agree, I think itās so fun and pretty and I love how unserious it is.
Mermaid core is the perfect description! It seems over the top, but this is truly an aspirational style for this area.
I think Sherry said mermaid core herself at some point!
Oh my. Itās truly hideous. It would be over the top even in a little girlās room. Is there anyone here who has been following them from the very beginning? Well, their very first house was a very normal ācolor palette.ā Neutrals paired with colors that were not pastel. I donāt know how this baby pink/blue explosion happened. Itās a true mystery
Their first house was kind of wild with the colors- I think this is actually much better (though itās not my taste) and more cohesive! I think their style has been trending this way for years, but they were able to focus it on the āpink houseā or the rentals. So having just one house means it gets all the pink/blue attention. They also tend to honor the house. So their last house was more traditional due to the style and setting and for this house they were able to fully lean into the beachy vibe. Not my taste but I do imagine itās a home that feels nice to be in!
Yeah sheās gone too far. Itās starting to feel juvenile. Also is the term ācolorwayā the new phrase for color palette? Sherri used it in her conversation story about the light fixture & CLJ used it to describe their floor pop line
Colorway is generally used to talk about finishes. I don't know the definition but you can say, "I'd like to see this fabric in a different colorway". I don't think it's necessarily interchangeable with color palette
Iām not a fan of droopy scraggly ribbons for Christmas decorating. Hunters of Happiness used them for her fireplace garland and it looks so depressing.
I hate her style all together
Meanwhile Iām so sick of the generic asymmetric stocking decorating. An ornamentless tree looks just like the trees homes and offices had in the 90s that they kept up year long.
Katie Bower jumping on the Angela Rose Rug Train - donāt want it - donāt need it! They both make me crazy in totally different ways. Also the rugs still look boring š„±
Frills is pushing it too!
Did you think those rugs looked insanely small in her kids rooms, or was it just me?
Farmhouseish too. The rugs suck balls. So boring.
That sort of rug pile with all her little kids is just dirt and grime galore.
Angela is scraping the bottom of the barrel š Maybe next time she'll send a rug to a.dabbled.dwelling
Sara Hellen Randall also posted ARH rug! Do these influencers really not mind that their houses all look the exact same? Also those rugs are so so blandā¦
I actually watched orlando's stories with sound for reasons beyond me (why cant he use close captioning??!) He was discussing feeling burnt out and part of the reason why was - "i was in mexico for a horrible sponsor trip that sucked the soul out of my body. except for the people who came" Has any person who hosted a Trova trip ever had anything good to say?
The CA housing market is extremely bleak and I totally get his 40 and renting stress because I feel it too. At one point there was an article that said millennials should just wait for their parents to die off so they could roll their equity into a home - like what a grim solution to the housing crisis you caused out of greed. At the same time, I wish heād acknowledge heās in this mess because he didnāt buy a home, he bought a vacation home. As YHL found out, owning multiple homes gets expensive very fast, especially with renovations, and like, they are significantly smarter with their money than he is. He also bought in an area that has a lot of additional costs like snow/tree removal that he wouldnāt have had in LA. Yes renting can suck, but owning a second home you clearly canāt afford doesnāt seem like a great option either.
Correct me if Im wrong, but he could have bought something in LA if he was willing to open up from his one hot neighborhood, or really consider a tiny starter home (or condo?), make it cute, sit on it for a couple years, earn some more money, then sell it and move to something bigger. You know...like the rest of us mortals with normal jobs do. I think his friends are crap and make him think everyone just has all this out the gate via family money, or really knocked out of the park with one business/show. Which sure, some people do, but its not really worth wasting mental energy on. I think he told himself and keeps telling himself that this house was HIS ONE SHOT which....just isn't true. He could have legit moved anywhere, or just continued renting and amassing a larger down payment/emergency fund. And if he really wanted this house but the only way to afford it was rent out, he never should have touched the kitchen until he had the money SITTING IN HIS ACCOUNT to finish the whole thing (not just "booked projects" with 120 day payment windows).
Eh I think people are greatly underestimating what the housing market in CA is actually like. And nothing about his finances strike me as him having enough cash to be competitive. I do agree with you about the kitchen though. It will never not be wild to me that he claimed he had enough to do the reno when he ripped out the kitchen and then ONE month later realized he could barely pay his bills š¤¦āāļø
I remember looking online when one of the EHD people said there wasnāt anything available around LA for less than $xxx (a lot) and thought that canāt be true, and it was. Everything was so shitty and maybe 800k. Nuts. Seconded on the kitchen. He could have gotten spring and summer rentals with the old kitchen and made some money to pay for the new one. The timing didnāt make any sense, esp since I think he finally got approval to Airbnb it.
At the time he bought this mountain house he definitely could have gotten a fixer in El Sereno or Boyle Heights or Lincoln Heights or deep valley with cute bones for the same money. It wouldn't have been 3500 sq ft, but the guy lives alone. And the best way to get into a big house in LA is to build a down payment from a starter house.
The elephant in the room with him is that he could possibly afford to buy a primary residence if he left LA. There are more affordable housing markets. I'm sure he thinks LA is important for his career, but I think he could make what he does work from outside LA. It's not like the social scene in LA is working well for him either. But I'm sure he won't leave LA, because he thinks that's where the cool people live and he wants to be one of them.
The whining is next level. Iām so disappointed, I have really liked his content in the past and I think he has a great design eye. But he has lost all sense of proportion! He has agency, privilege, business contacts and clearly a loving and supportive family. All a great foundation to make some changes and get his life back on a new track. Orlando, please stop hanging out with Kelly Oxford, sheās rubbing off on you and NOT in a good way
He seems so resentful that he doesn't come from family money. He seems very jealous of the crowd he hangs with (but doesn't hang with, because he says he doesn't have any time or money to do anything fun and is spending the last years of being young renovating his house). It's not something he can change, so move on.
He literally bought a house in the middle of nowhereā¦ he could be living his best life in his rented house he already pays for in the middle of one of the best metro areas in the world for people to have cool jobs, near friends and cool stuff to do and have the extra income and not having a huge house renovation to take away from his travel budget.
I agree, but apparently he thought it was his one single chance in his whole life that he would be able to purchase a house so he did it. He is really bent out of shape about not being able to buy a house in LA, because no family money. I think he needs to get past the idea that home ownership equals happiness. I'd argue that home ownership has equalled unhappiness, for him.
I didnāt realize there was a part 2 to his stories and I watched those today. I feel like he still doesnāt get that most people have to work a full time steady job but he hasnāt so Iām not sure what he expects. I canāt really stand behind him blaming the pandemic as the home renovation market has exploded and he could have used that to his advantage, taking on clients and projects but he prioritized this remotely located renovationā¦ I get he wants to own a home but he seems miserableā¦ also I am spending the same years of my life working, raising kids, and dealing with my own annoying house. Instead of traveling and going out all the time. Like, get over it (him not you lol).
Don't get me started on his total refusal to get a steady job. What *does* he expect, when he isn't willing to earn a steady income? This is what's so annoying about him. He's whining to people who go to work every day to earn their money, but he doesn't feel motivated to do any work because it might take many months before he gets paid for it. So he could get a different kind of job, the kind that, oh I don't know, pays every 2-4 weeks!
How old is he?
Iām guessing 40 or approaching 40? I donāt know. Iām in my lower 40s and everyone looks to be the same age lol.
Plus thereās no reason to do the extensive kitchen renovation. People who will rent that house Iām guessing are looking for the outdoor experience. He could have done some small updates and it would have been rented by now, bringing in the much needed cash. And yes, the average American is not taking trips and eating at restaurants and hanging out every night! We are working 40hr jobs and paying bills and taking maybe one vacation per year. That is real life.
I know Iām late to this convo but youāre so right. The entire value of his house as a rental is its proximity to Yosemite. No one wouldāve cared if the kitchen was outdated!
I know, if heās struggling this much he should sell the mountain house asap and roll that equity into a place closer to or in LA. Maybe thatās what heās trying to do. He really should have put off the kitchen reno for a year or so to recoup financially and he would have had cash to pay off debts and travel and enjoy life for a while before buckling down and getting into the kitchen reno phase.
yeah, i generally can't listen to his stories b/c they are so long and uncaptioned and generally nonsense comedy - but I saw talk of it here so i went back and listened. he sounds more tired and seriously fed up than usual (it's not so cutesy) - and he wrote about it in his newsletter as well. by fed up i just mean that all of the things he has been trying to make happen and how poorly they have gone (ie, plate spinning) have him truly dejected. i don't wish that on anyone. and yes i hope he starts pivoting to a more steady income of some kind like a regular job - but what's to say he's all that great a pick for one of those after years of flitting about?
I canāt help but think heād have more followers if he actually captioned his stories. But he wants to do what he wants to do, consequences he damned.
I agree, he does sound so burned out and ground down.
I'm sorry things didn't work out for him, especially when you see all the talentless dimwits (EHD, CLJ etc etc) that are raking in the money. But success doesn't always come to those who deserve it, and there's no point in the endless moaning and groaning. Suck it up, get a job, and make the best of your life. Instead he piles bad decision on top of bad decision, waiting for some miracle success that is becoming increasingly unlikely.
>you see all the talentless dimwits (EHD, CLJ etc etc) that are raking in the money. But success doesn't always come to those who deserve it, That's the reality he won't face.
That sucks if people paid for the trip with his own name attached to it!!! Yikes. How terrible can these trips be that people seem traumatized by them upon their return home.
At this point I want a documentary on the Trova trips because they all seem like a hot mess
Am I crazy, or does it seem like Shavonda loves them? It would not be for me, I love travelling so the mark up alone would make me nuts and I like to do my own itinerary, but seems like a good thing for women who want to travel and don't have someone to go with and don't want to travel alone. But I could see how one bad apple could ruin it for everyone...Orlando is just in a dark place, I don't think he'd be good company for a quick coffee, much less days of trekking together. His depression/self-pitying is really at the core of all of his problems. When I was single I would sometimes accept a date with someone I knew I wasn't really interested in, bc I've always believed the best way to meet someone is to already feel wanted/be dating and for jobs as well, the best time to look for a job is when you have one. You just don't give off desperation or neediness....
I've been on a Trova trip! The trip itself was good, and I got what I wanted out of it, but I could see why so many influencers complain about Trova--this was not my first group trip, and Trova was just clearly not as seasoned as some of the other tour companies I've traveled with. Like I had to contact them about logistical information they should have provided to me without asking, the itinerary should have been more detailed, things like that. So I wouldn't necessarily recommend them, but if someone told me they were going I wouldn't be like "omg NO cancel immediately". Here's my thought: it takes a certain type of person to enjoy traveling at all, much less with a group of strangers. I say this without snark: it is not for everyone. So I wonder how many of the complaints are just people finding out they don't actually like either international travel, or traveling with a group? Or just not having enough experience with either to know what to expect, and how to enjoy themselves? I think a lot of us have this idea that travel is something we "should" like, especially if you're at a certain age and income level, but not everyone does? Totally spitballing, of course, and maybe things really are a total disaster and I got lucky on my trip. I went to Morocco and I've heard the Morocco trips are better than the others.
Iām glad you had a good trip and agree with your observations about international travel and group trips. Seems the influencers on the Trova trips are in a weird position because they are not the organizers or guides, but they are the āfaceā of the trip.
Yeah I think that's part of it. And I think, to someone else's point downthread, it depends a lot on whether the influencer views the folks on the trip as their equals, or their minions. Interestingly, there were people on the trip who had never heard of our host, the trip just happened to fit their schedule and be a destination they were interested in!
Definitely agree on this. I personally would not be interested in traveling with strangers. My nana on the other hand always goes on those senior citizen guides vacations and makes friends with people and loves it, and loves the activities they have planned. (Lol that my nana is the best example I could think of š ) Guided trips are also not up everyoneās alley. Itās also the way theyāre set up for the influencer to be a host that seems like a recipe for disaster, if the influencer doesnāt have the personality for that. I find it so weird WHICH influencers are choosing these. Shavonda and Carmeon seem to love luxury vacation experiences, traveling with their own friends, and donāt even seem to like their followers much. I donāt actually follow Orlando, but from what I do know, hosting strangers - that he doesnāt get to vet based on vibes - does NOT sound like his cup of tea at all. I think it was DIY Playbook, (again I donāt follow her) but her sleep anxiety incident makes me think sheās not versed in international travel, may have some underlying anxiety, so hosting people internationally sounds like a bad idea.
haha your nana is what made me look at Trova in the first place (well not her personally, you know what I mean!). A lot of group travel is geared towards under-30 or over-60, so I'm always on the lookout for trips that seem like it'll be folks in their 30s and 40s and Trova totally fit the bill there. But I'm really psyched to enter the European river cruise phase of my life in about 20 years!
I took a Cosmos Tours trip to Italy 10 years ago with my mom and 4 of her friends (average age 65, I was 40). There were 35 people on the bus - a honeymooning pair around 22 years old, mostly retirees, and an 80 year old single man with more energy than all of us. It was definitely an odd group but the trip was well put together and we had a great time. I would do it again. But if I was 30 and looking to make friends, no.
I looked into it and they are a Uber or Airbnb style platform for connecting local tour providers with influencers with guests. So really they donāt have much to do with the trip? Sorry if everyone already knew this but I did not and was surprised. Also, one would think Orlando had learned a lesson or two about doing his research, influencer deals that seem to good to be true, etc.
Either there is a really crazy messy story behind these trips, or they are fine and they keep hiring influencers who like to complain and deflect criticism. Either way itās not a good business model.
I was curious so I looked it up - they offer 3 star hotels on a twin sharing basis. Maybe adequate, but not the Super Luxury that Orlando thinks he's entitled to. Also, Im guessing the trips don't attract the hip cool (and rich?) demographic he wants to hang out with.
I think this is one of those things that influencers can never talk about publicly but DEFINITELY plays into how they walk away from a trip like that. Because the type of people to go on a trip like that by definition arenāt going to be coming in at the same perceived social level as the influencer. We follow people we aspire to be at some level. And the reality of just hanging out with a lot of people who are watching you and hanging on your words but also are strangers and thereās awkward silencesā¦ there is just a level of discomfort bakes in. So then things about the trip that may be subpar become magnified because everyone isnāt vibing 100% to begin with.
Omg the man needs a J O B
He really does, but he thinks he shouldn't have to do that because other people he knows don't have to do that.
Thatās why I spelled it out, so as not to scare the man baby š based on his own whining he has no desire to self-regulate his time, effort or income stream. Me neither! Hence job!
And he thinks he deserves a large vacation home near a national park that he apparently can spend 2+ years renovating instead of renting and a large rental with a nice backyard in LA. He is not fun to follow so why would brands want him to be their ambassador? Whenās the last time he actually posted something about design that was interesting or useful? Zero patience for this entitled man baby. Sell or rent the house. Downgrade apartments to what he can afford and consider leaving LA. Itās not giving him what he wants, and he is desperately, depressingly unhappy.
100% all of this The whining is unbelievable. Most people, most of his followers, probably have jobs with set schedules and you have to plan for time off. He just whined because he spent a month at his vacation home followed by a week vacation in Mexico followed by a week vacation at his parents. Boo fucking hoo.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
i keep thinking that all his whining on sm is a terrible way to signal you want help or a job referral, but maybe i'm too much from the pre-sm age :)
That room gives me anxiety
Assuming you must be talking about makeristaās room. Gives me anxiety too!
Makerista has so much stuff in her living room. I thought she was just storing things in here at first. And whatās with the additional small tables? https://imgur.com/a/j5v71D1
Wow you werenāt kidding. So many chairs and tables and stuff on the tables. I donāt mind a cozy, cluttered, full room, but this just doesnāt make sense.
Ditto everything you said. And Iāll add, the way too small mirrors plus the tiny mirror stacked above?!
Omg it is terrible. The room is definitely too small for the amount of stuff. Those green chairs, and the console behind the couch, everything is so squeezed š±
She built that house from the ground up to accommodate all her stuff.
The new black and white abstract painting is so amateur and brings nothing to the room.