eprintid: 10190703
rev_number: 18
eprint_status: archive
userid: 699
dir: disk0/10/19/07/03
datestamp: 2024-04-16 10:44:29
lastmod: 2025-03-07 10:58:05
status_changed: 2024-04-16 10:44:29
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 699
creators_name: Varley, Ann
title: Beyond the chintz: making room to live. Reviewing Living Rooms by Sam Johnson-Schlee, London, Peninsula Press, 2022, 160 pp, ISBN 978-1-913-51219-4 (paper)
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B03
divisions: C03
divisions: F26
keywords: Living Rooms, home, Walter Benjamin, commodities, dwelling
note: Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
abstract: Walter Benjamin’s criticisms of dwelling and the modern interior are well known. The middle classes retreated from the alienation of nineteenth-century city life into domestic seclusion, surrounding themselves with soft furnishings in a search for comfort. In Living Rooms (2022), Sam Johnson-Schlee uses objects typically found in the living room or lounge as his starting point for the development of Benjamin’s ideas. Recognising the labour invested in domestic commodities would allow us to realise our dreams of connecting with others and escaping the confines of capitalism like roots breaking out of a plant pot. The personal observations used to support the arguments reflect the experience of Generation Rent. They inform an attempt to relate IKEA’s 1996 ‘Chuck out that chintz!’ advert to crucial changes in the British housing market. The emphasis on labour largely sidelines household labour and its gendering, with the exception of the activities of ‘cleanfluencer’ Mrs. Hinch. The link between domestic commodities and our longing for intimacy is effectively depicted using a combination of historical research, cultural references and family stories. Plants and flowers are used throughout to illustrate specific arguments and to serve as a symbol of a different, and better, life.
date: 2024
date_type: published
publisher: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14702541.2024.2324128
oa_status: green
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
article_type: review
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 2264743
doi: 10.1080/14702541.2024.2324128
lyricists_name: Varley, Ann
lyricists_id: AVARL77
actors_name: Varley, Ann
actors_id: AVARL77
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: Scottish Geographical Journal
volume: 140
number: 1-2
pagerange: 303-310
pages: 8
citation:        Varley, Ann;      (2024)    Beyond the chintz: making room to live. Reviewing Living Rooms by Sam Johnson-Schlee, London, Peninsula Press, 2022, 160 pp, ISBN 978-1-913-51219-4 (paper).           [Review].        Scottish Geographical Journal , 140  (1-2)   pp. 303-310.    10.1080/14702541.2024.2324128 <https://doi.org/10.1080/14702541.2024.2324128>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10190703/1/Varley_Beyond%20the%20chintz%20%20making%20room%20to%20live.pdf