Even though most homes that I visited in Sweden were of a better standard than English homes, the project participants had similar opinions about their homes: it was the mess they were most embarrassed about. However, I thought that most people had an acceptable level of mess.
People in Sweden had more luxury problems compared to people in England. A small bathroom is better than a damp bathroom ...
(The picture is of my own sink as I don't want to embarrass the people I stayed with by showing pictures of their mess.)
What people in Sweden were most embarrassed about in their homes:
The floor in the hallway and the bedroom
The bathroom is a bit too small
The garden, the stairs that are falling apart
That I don't have any skirting boards in the kitchen
That the laundry place is outside
That we haven't decorated yet
The oblong rice lamp
A tendency to let everything become chaotic, bad organising
The messy kitchen
That it's always so messy
The flower on the wall, that they've painted the wall red and finished half-way through
That I should wash the windows
The wallpaper by the bed, you can see greasy spots from the guy who lived here before
That I haven't used my hoover
That the laundry room is in a mess
What people in England were most embarrassed about in their homes:
The window in my room is dirty
Some DVDs, "some people judge me by my films, but some of them belong to my old housemates”
The damp upstairs
The damp in the kitchen and the bathroom
The location, the surroundings aren't that nice
My landlord's girlfriend ("It would upset me if I treated her the way she treats me.")
My family calendar
A vase I piss in when I can't be bothered (The person had a looong way to the toilet)
It could be tidier
The messyness, things we still need to be doing
That my plumbing is only half-finished
The clutter
The massive telly (that belongs to my housemate)
The carpet in the front room
The dripping tap
The only thing I'm embarrassed about in my new home is that one of my two plants is about to die. I don't know if I've given it too much or too little or water of if it just had a sunstroke.
This study is by no means scientific, the answers are based on interviewing 15 people in England and 15 people in Sweden, aged 22-59. Look out for the next question: What's your dream job?
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