Hacker News Reader

Comment by pringk02 | Hacker News Reader

[flagged]

>The board game room looks like somewhere you'd have a conference call.

The author literally labeled that room the "Upstairs Office".

The rest of the house (kitchen, family room, etc) that's not dedicated to LAN computers looks like a normal Euro/Scandinavian type of clean minimalism aesthetic which a lot of people like.

My home currently has a lot of "traditional" style furniture and decorations hanging on the walls which some might call "warm & cozy". But others would disagree and think of it as "grandma's house" and as I've aged, I tend to agree. I'd like to eventually dial it back and redo the interior to be more minimalistic but I have other higher priorities than remodeling the house.

I think a lot of it is lighting - I imagine they have the "house lights" on for these photos. Turn the temperature down and it becomes a lot cozier. The normal parts of the house look great.

I think you are correct about the lighting. It was seeing the kids bedroom that made me feel the most taken aback, but I think with some warmer light the effect would be less stark

It's funny because there's a comment about the cabinetry being expensive despite it just being a 'bunch of wood' but actually if they opted for the right wood panels instead of the standard veneered chipboard used in a lot of offices, it probably would have made the whole setup look a lot more homely. They probably do need a bit of colour and some items on the wall to break it up too.

Saying that, I'd live there in a heartbeat.

Yeah, I can't claim I wouldn't live in it if given the chance (even if I'd redecorate). I think you are correct about the wood. If I reflect on it some amount of it is that everything looks like the same yellow laminate I am most used to seeing on office furniture, and have spent a bunch of time sat at. Maybe darker wood tones would completely change the effect this has on me

I guess I'm boring because I really like it :-/ Maybe some cozier lighting/plants could be nice in the LAN/party spaces. I think the bones are pretty good. Just needs some finishing touches.

Agreed. It's clear that the owners have considerable financial resources, but seemingly no one thought to hire an interior designer/architect to consider how the place looks or functions outside of the gaming aspect. If that's their style, then more power to them; it just seems incredibly generic and like wasted potential.

If you read TFA you will see that the house was architected by his father, an accomplished architect.

> Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that".

Did you look through the accomplishments? I don't mean to be crass but I like a bit of weight for "accomplished".

I mean, the American Express office looks like a track stop or mall you will find along the highway.

You should really go visit the musical instrument museum if you ever have the opportunity. Just the shortlist of his stuff is pretty objectively impressive, dunno maybe I'm replying to some secret famous person's account shrug.

I used to work for a firm that did custom homes for wealthy clients. Even when we paired them up with designers some of them just preferred a very plain appearance.

That said, I thought the games room with rows of hide-away PCs looked like a call centre or at best a 90s internet cafe.

The building was designed by his dad Richard Varda, an architect: https://vardaarchitecture.com/

It’s likely just his preference. My wife and I also rather like a relatively “IKEA” aesthetic so I think it’s just preference.

Reminds me a lot of big tech campus interior decoration. A lot of greys, neutral colors, very little color or personality.

Pretty much what you'd expect from techies that never really thought too hard about their living space beyond functionality.

I mean, I'm the same, so no judgement, but I did hire an interior decorator for my own place. Definitely worth the money and my house has all kinds of funky fun stuff and colors going on (on top of being 130 years old and super wonky everywhere, ha ha).

The will to do and the power to do does not mean well to do.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com