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.”

When it comes to rewarding workers financially, cash isn’t always king.

Companies frequently give employees monetary bonuses, but a new study suggests that paid vacation time is a perk employers should also consider.

The study’s authors say that while they didn’t explicitly look into whether employees prefer time off, the study found that receiving extra vacation time rather than bonus money makes workers feel less like a mere cog in a wheel and more like people who are recognised and valued as individuals with a life beyond work.

It makes them feel more human, in the researchers’ terms.

And that feeling benefits employers as well as employees, says Sanford DeVoe, a professor at the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles, and one of the study’s authors.

Feeling more human is strongly correlated with higher job satisfaction, greater engagement with work, better relationships with colleagues and less inclination to leave a job, he says.

Feeling seen

In one experiment, the researchers asked about 1,500 participants to recall times when they received a monetary bonus or paid time off—all had received both—and how that made them feel.

Participants responded to the question on a 7-point scale, from feeling more like a robot on the low end of the scale to feeling more human on the high end. Monetary bonuses were given an average score of 5.04, compared with 5.4 for paid vacation time.

“While that difference may sound modest numerically, it represents a meaningful psychological shift,” says DeVoe. “It’s the difference between feeling neutral and feeling genuinely seen as a person.”

The authors then sought to better understand why paid vacation time made employees feel more human. In another experiment, about 500 participants were asked to imagine starting a new job where they might be awarded a bonus. Some were told the bonus would be an extra week of vacation, others were told it would be an extra week of pay.

Participants were then asked about their expectations for being able to keep their work and home lives separate in the new job. Those who could hope for a bonus of extra time off expected more separation between their work and personal lives than those whose potential bonus would be extra pay.

They also reported feeling more human on the 7-point scale. This suggested to the researchers that time off makes people feel more human because it creates a clearer psychological distance from work than a monetary bonus.

No interruptions, please

In a third experiment, the researchers further tested the idea that clear boundaries between work and personal lives were driving their results.

Two hundred participants were told to imagine being on a vacation and receiving two texts, including one from their mother. Half were told the second text was from a friend and half were told the second text was from their boss.

The authors then measured how human participants felt after each scenario. The average score for those receiving a text from a friend was 5.4 on the 7-point scale, compared with 4.16 for those receiving a text from the boss.

The difference in the scores “demonstrates that even minimal work intrusions can undo the psychological benefits of time off,” says DeVoe. “It shows that it’s not just time away that matters—it’s whether work actually lets go.”

All of this is important for employers looking to get the most out of their workers, he says. “For managers concerned with sustainable productivity, giving people uninterrupted time away from work can be a powerful lever.”