Georgina Wilson Reveals Five Instagram Design Myths That Could Be Ruining Your Home

Instagram may be full of dreamy interiors, but architect Georgina Wilson says what works on social media doesn’t always translate to real life.

As one of Australia’s most-followed architects, Wilson has seen first-hand how influencer-led design shapes—and sometimes sabotages—our homes.

From impractical layouts to fast-fashion finishes, here are five biggest myths she’s busting.

1. Form Over Function

That statement pendant light might rake in likes, but can you actually open your kitchen drawers?

Many influencer-inspired designs prioritise visual drama over practicality, sacrificing comfort, efficiency and long-term usability in the process.

2. Set Design, Not Home Design

Fluted cabinetry, curved walls, oversized arches—they look great in a styled shot but aren’t always built to last.

Wilson warns that these trends are often “set pieces,” designed for impact rather than daily living.

3. The DIY Myth

With time-lapses and tutorials galore, influencers make renovations look deceptively easy.

But Wilson says DIY often results in costly missteps: “Designing a great space requires experience, technical skill and planning—there are no shortcuts.”

4. Trends Over Timelessness

What’s hot today will feel tired tomorrow. Chasing viral aesthetics can lead to expensive regrets, especially if it means compromising on layout, materials, or functionality.

“Good design should outlast any algorithm,” says Wilson.

5. Influencer Projects Are Often Free – Yours Won’t Be

Wilson points out a crucial reality: most influencer renovations are heavily subsidised by brand partnerships.

Homeowners, meanwhile, foot the full bill—sometimes for design choices that don’t serve them long-term.

Social media is a powerful source of inspiration, but Wilson urges homeowners to think beyond the grid.

“A truly great home isn’t built for the ‘after’ photo,” she says. “It’s built to be lived in—comfortably, beautifully, every day.”

The Apple growth and profit machine is wavering, and the boost from price increases might not be enough to keep it going at historic rates. That dials up the pressure on Apple’s new chief executive, John Ternus.

The company saved the bad news for its earnings call, an hour after it posted its results for the September quarter, projecting that for the current quarter its high-margin services business will continue to slow and that its widely watched gross profit margin will continue to fall.

Apple AAPL -1.83%decrease; down pointing triangle shares had been flat in post-close trading but declined as much as 4% after the company made the projections, which fell short of Wall Street estimates.

The impact of high memory costs are weighing even more heavily on the company, Ternus and Apple Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said on the company’s earnings call. Apple has stockpiled cheaper components purchased earlier, but those inventories are dwindling.

When Ternus took over as Apple’s third chief executive of the past 29 years on Sept. 1, he inherited sky-high expectations. The men he followed were among the most successful company leaders in American business history. Steve Jobs revolutionized consumer devices multiple times. Tim Cook expanded Jobs’s creation to spectacular heights.

The expectations are reflected in Apple’s huge valuation. Oppenheimer analyst Martin Yang noted that Apple stock trades at 36 times next year’s expected earnings, a premium to the overall market, even though its earnings are only expected to grow 1%, which is slower than its tech peers.

“We see insufficient upside to justify the premium,” Yang wrote in an investor note, adding that Apple needs to boost iPhone sales growth and turn around its slowing services business to make him more bullish.

Investors have bid up Apple shares because it has been a port in the AI storm—a reliable and capital-efficient business that stands apart from rivals which are spending hundreds of billions of dollars racing to the AI frontier.

While others invest in data centers, Apple has been pouring its own cash into buybacks and dividends. But that safety may be challenged if Ternus can’t speed up Apple’s innovation engine.

Apple’s lagging performance in AI was evident when its new “Siri AI” chatbot arrived this past quarter. Its long-maligned assistant was already stale the day it arrived, surpassed by agents such as Instinct and Muse that can complete multistep tasks for consumers, while Siri still sets kitchen timers.

Apple needs to give people reasons to buy its devices as they get more expensive. The company raised prices across the board last quarter to help offset higher costs. Without compelling new features, a big question is whether consumers will slow the frequency of iPhone upgrades.

The new iPhone Duo appears to be a bright spot. Consumers are scooping up the $1,999 foldable smartphone despite mixed reviews—so many that Apple can’t keep up with demand. Shipping dates jumped out to January soon after the device went on sale, a disappointment for the normally reliable Apple supply chain.

Apple said its revenue grew 12% in the September quarter, slightly ahead of Wall Street’s expectations. Its widely tracked gross profit margin, at 47.9%, also came in just ahead of analyst estimates.

Apple will need to find new growth avenues because a reliable engine during the Cook era—the services business—is slowing. Courts and regulators worldwide have limited Apple’s ability to charge developers big fees to distribute apps through its App Store, the biggest component of the company’s services segment.

One of its most lucrative App Store fee generators has been the ChatGPT app from OpenAI. Around the time Apple accused OpenAI of trade-secret theft this past summer, OpenAI began redirecting potential subscribers to pay via its website instead of the App Store, skirting Apple’s tollbooth.

Apple’s valuation has bumped up against a ceiling in recent weeks. Six times it traded above a $5 trillion market capitalization intraday before finally closing above the threshold, which it has already fallen back below.

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