I've identified my favorite interior design style as "student ghetto chic". I'm no longer a student, and do own, not rent, but still that rental heritage house look is still the best to me. I remember it when my mother went back to University when I was 9 y.o., and visiting her at her rental suites, and visiting her friends' places... They were so much more wonderful looking than the middle class new-furniture neighborhoods that I was used to.
So now, as an adult, for reasons of environmental concerns, as well as aesthetic preference, I will always go for second hand if I can find it. Everything from spatulas to futons.
Although I can see the flaws in these following images in terms of visual appeal... I somehow find them more inspiring in their austerity and lived-in-ness than many of the beautiful images that look more stylishly designed.
Somehow images like these make me think of a "third brother" in fairy tales. The brother who did not want riches, but instead wanted just a pear tree, or a charitable wife or something.. and so in these stories the boy and his wife live in simple happy poverty until a fairy/witch/god, gives them rewards of riches and parental preference for their virtue.
Although these suites are just empty, because they are rentals, or b&bs, I imagine that they are owned by an austere and beautiful person(s) who do little else than sweep and dust, and make simple meals from scratch. Certainly never buying anything other than a nail or some other repair necessity.
