I have been doing more than my fair share of revenge bedtime procrastination. Night-time is when I get to have complete silence, but nature abhors a vacuum, and my phone agrees.
Right now, all I’m watching are home makeover videos. People – usually women – try to do something new with something old, throw together all their influences, and get their hands dirty to make it all come out splendidly.
I’m struck by how quick makeovers are nowadays. The time pressure of the television show, Changing Rooms, was clearly manufactured by the producers; why else would you attempt to redecorate that much square footage in less than a week? But I get it: the tension is exciting, and it leaves room for regret, which is TV gold.
I am drawn more and more to the slower projects. People who take years to redo their entire house, and then walk me through each and every design decision. This is what our parents and grandparents did, no? The homes so many of us grew up in were not subject to annual refreshing – who had the time or will to strip all that wallpaper? Not my mum! And we were no poorer for it.
One of my faves is Medina Grillo. She and her family were long-term renters until they recently bought their own home, and I adore how she makes room for trial and error. Her design choices always charm me (I’ve copied her idea of turning dish racks into book and vinyl shelving), and she is so calm and chill.
I also follow Anna Stephens on TikTok. She has a series called “three tweaks per week”, in which she undertakes three little projects and slowly shifts the vibe of her home. It has been almost a year of the videos, and I’m not sick of them yet. It’s such a simple, no-pressure idea. An ideal bedtime scroll destination.
• Bim Adewunmi is a freelance journalist
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