Home decor duplicity
![President Moon Jae-in looks around a well-decorated 280-square-foot public apartment in Dongtan, Gyeonggi, last week. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2020/12/17/9a84d47f-28d3-4c7a-9bc8-52407d641fde.jpg)
President Moon Jae-in looks around a well-decorated 280-square-foot public apartment in Dongtan, Gyeonggi, last week. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]
The author is the head of financial planning team of the JoongAng Ilbo.
“Lately, everyone is staying home, so we have many delayed orders. If you order now, you can get it two months later,” said the owner of a bed store. The store was busy with customers. I visited to look around, but I ended up buying a bed. I didn’t want to have to wait too long.
The home interior industry is booming as people are forced to spend more time home because of Covid-19. As people stay home, the old furniture or decor bothers them. Since they can’t travel or need to dress up or put make-up on, why not redecorate the house?
The psychology led to increased spending on interior decoration, appliances and furniture. Experts were right to say that people’s interest in spending on food, clothing and shelter increases as per-capita income goes up.
A photo of President Moon Jae-in touring a public rental apartment in Dongtan, Gyeonggi, caught my attention. It was not because of the event itself or the president’s comments. The 26-square-meter (280-square-foot) unit boasted spectacular interior decoration. A gray-hued double curtain, light grey fabric sofa and ivory-striped rug, vases and frames all reminded me of a magazine. The kids room features a bunk bed along with bunny decorations on the wall in a yellow and grey combination. They were the Penton’s 2021 colors of the year,: “Ultimate Grey” and “Illuminating Yellow.” That demonstrated extraordinary design talent.
The highlight was the space where the president had a chat with the outgoing land minister and her successor, former CEO of the state-owned Korea Land and Housing Corporation. A beautiful picture frame and orange tulips in a vase caught my eye. A cat figurine and coffee dripper added to the mood. It was right out of a cafe or gallery. The decorator must have paid special heed to the space, knowing that the president would spend the most time right here.
It was too perfect, so it was unrealistic. The Blue House posted the video of the visit on its YouTube channel and put a title, “Changing your perception on public rental housing. Checking on the housing that people want to live in.” Did they have to pay special attention to interior decoration to change people’s prejudice on public apartments? The total cost of the interior design on the two units the president visited was over 40 million won ($36,613).
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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