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Bring in da Funk: How Humble Touches Give a Home Soul

Shake up expectations and stir up interest with pieces that show patina, create contrast or offer a jolt of surprise

Fred Albert November 6, 2013

Houzz Contributor. Fred has written about architecture and design for many Web sites and magazines, including Houzz, Metropolitan Home, House Beautiful and Style 1900.

Houzz Contributor. Fred has written about architecture and design for many Web sites... More

Comment139

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Two months after moving into my new home, I stood back to survey the decor. It wasn’t working.

At first I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. I’d purchased new furniture and new window treatments, and hung my art. But still the place didn’t feel inviting. Then it occurred to me: My home didn’t have any funk.

What’s funk? It’s those rough edges that challenge your expectations and give a composition soul. It’s what separates Pat Metheny from Pat Boone, Langston Hughes from Hallmark.

I hit the antiques stores and the Internet, looking for quirky, one-of-a-kind items that would lend personality to my space and give it a sense of having been decorated over time. Some of the objects weren’t things I would normally pick. But this wasn’t about the individual pieces; it was about the cumulative effect. And once the funk was in place, my home finally warmed up — and I warmed up to it.

Here are some other homes that celebrate the redemptive powers of funk.

Lisa Tharp Design

When most of your furnishings are new, funk helps to introduce a sense of age into the room. The patina of rust on this coffee table keeps the space from looking too perfect and pristine. The side table on the right is an old display case for pies.

Groundswell Design Group Inc.

With its clean, contemporary lines and foggy color palette, this residence could easily have felt cold. But the patchwork of corrugated metal on the wall (salvaged roofing from an old chicken coop) adds an undercurrent of character that ties the whole thing together. Who knew rusty metal could be so warming?

gosto design & lifestyle

Interiors need contrast. Vintage school lockers provide the perfect counterpoint for minimalist contemporary pieces here.

Margeaux Interiors - Margaret Skinner

A piece of equipment from an old gear factory was put to work as a table base in this Detroit home, reining in the formality just a bit and no doubt prompting a few conversations.

The vintage six-pack of soda on the floor adds a pop art accent.

Bruce Bierman Design

A vintage sign lends graphic punch to this all-white office on New York's Fire Island.

Northworks Architects + Planners

Another sign was sawn in half and used to create sliding barn doors in a rural Wisconsin home.

Paul Rice Architecture

Barbed wire in a bathroom? The display is simple, but the material is so unexpected, it elevates something pedestrian into a work of art. Irony is a key ingredient in funk.

Sandy Koepke

The creamy walls and cluster of orchids here are pretty but tame. The rusticated vanity and salvaged tin ceiling enclosing the tub are what give this room the jolt it needed.

Mina Brinkey

I love that these fancy chairs are paired with a light fixture fabricated from a rusty scrap of metal. High meets low — and both benefit from the introduction.

Sure, the designer could have used an elegant vessel sink in this San Francisco bathroom. But the rusty trough is so unexpected, it makes washing your hands an event.

ROMABIO / Interior & Exterior Mineral Based Paints

With its formal cabinetry, marble counters and elaborate cooktop enclosure, this kitchen could have felt a bit standoffish. But the pockmarked industrial pendants cut the fussy factor down to size.

Jamie Laubhan-Oliver

In this Dallas living room, it's a question of scale — literally. The old industrial scale offers a humble counterpoint to the sleek white furnishings and anchors the collection of ephemera that surrounds it.

More: Contrast and Conquer

Comment139

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Comments (139)

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User

Enough is enough, I want my coop roof back, from Chook Chook.

Like January 10, 2014 at 9:58AM

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PRO

Barnhart Gallery

Good point Natasha -- I've worked with so many incredible foster kids who don't even have a photo of themselves at a younger age to reflect upon, let alone a parent, family or ancestor. Such beginnings leave a hole that can't exactly be filled but certainly can be admirably patched by personalized touches of "soul."

3 Likes January 10, 2014 at 12:21PM

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mountainrunner

Some of this might be acceptable if the rust was covered with some sort of protective coating that would prevent the oxidized metal particles from falling down and rubbing off on things. For the most part , however, refer to " The Emperor's New Clothes" re this trend.

Like February 23, 2014 at 9:14AM