In every industry, there is valuable insight and proprietary knowledge that companies want to protect from the competition. The interior design and home construction field is no exception, as professionals try to protect their trade secrets and prevent them from becoming public knowledge. However, in 2021, Ariel Magidson – who goes by @arielarts on TikTok – went viral for sharing what she claims is one of her industry’s “biggest trade secrets” that had largely gone unspoken. She posted a video in which she differentiated between two images that showed one trendy and another timeless decor for elegant interiors.
The video has been viewed millions of times and received thousands of comments since its release. Magidson’s analysis of classic and trendy interior design concepts has impressed everyone.
“This is the biggest interior design secret of all time and nobody talks about it,” she says at the beginning of the video. “Here’s the difference: One theme, so the top image, uses literal themes from the beach, this bottom image uses ideas or thoughts or references to the beach like color, pattern or texture.” She’s referring to images of two different living rooms decorated in distinctly different styles.
“The one above is a theme and this is a concept,” she points to the image above the video. “Both make you feel like you’re at the beach, but number two is more subtle and works every time.”
“That’s the difference between classic and trendy,” she continues. “The concept will last much longer in classic design.” People had to share their thoughts on this video and some even decided to explain Magdison’s video further in layman’s terms. “Upstairs is a rented vacation home, downstairs is a beach house where people actually live,” joked @peanutbrittle222.
@emmahoel claimed in the comments that they gave their home a new look just like the picture below that Magidson uploaded, and now it feels like they’re “in Greece and Paris without it being cheesy.”
The TikTok creator has also created a series of other follow-up videos to help people differentiate between timeless and trendy or over-the-top interior design. In another video she posted in 2022, Magidson shared two new images to demonstrate how to differentiate between a concept and a theme when decorating your dream home.
“The main difference here is that you can see different objects down here,” she points to the darkly decorated room in the picture below. “There is alchemy, ancient pictures and old objects everywhere.” She then points to the picture above and explains why it is different from the picture below.
“The concept image above also gives off gothic vibes, but in a literal sense. You can see antique mirrors and different textures and it basically hints at an idea, which is why it will remain classic and not trendy for a long time to come,” she concluded. So far, it seems like her videos have helped several internet users make the right decisions before investing an insane amount of money in interior decoration that they may end up hating at some point in the future.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on November 28, 2023. It has since been updated.
