IMO it is implied that there is a total lack of material honesty in a McMansion. Eg. those column capitals are not made of stone, they are painted styrofoam with a steel post hidden inside for structure.
edit: wrong word.
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Yeah, but if Cory had the means don’t you think that he’d eventually build his own re-creation of the Haunted Mansion? I’ve long wanted to have at least rooms if not entire structures that duplicate the Disney park experience, or various historic sites and interiors. Maybe something like that will be available as a type of VR someday.
Well, she gets her material mostly from real estate agent catalogs, so a lot of the furniture is simply staged to make an otherwise empty house look “lived in”. And some of that furniture may actually have come from a hotel clearance sale or something. (This doesn’t excuse the horrible interiors in general, of course!)
That said, I wouldn’t expect the inhabitants of your typical McMansion Hell house to have good, or even adequate, tastes in furniture. If they did, they wouldn’t be living in that eyesore in the first place.
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Personally I am not so shocked at the concept of someone owning 10 yachts that I need the leading “literally”. Clearly some people find such a fact so inconceivable that it must be preceded by “literally” in order to convince them it is not a wind-up. Cory seems to think his audience needs the “literally”, though I cannot think why - it’s just lazy writing.
And only slightly tangentially, we know that ad hominem attacks can be a sign of defeat and it is better to be civil and persuade your opponent via reason. But when some people demonstrate a lack of reason or charity or concern or any human or civil feelings other than “MONEY! POWER! THERE! IT MUST BE MINE!!” then they are beyond reason. But ad hominem attacks still feel cheap. Given this is Betsy DeVos we are talking about, we must not do anything that makes us feel cheap. But I feel we can at least go as far as to agree that ad domum and ad celox (house and yacht) attacks are a perfectly legitimate tool of ridicule - being the one treatment these people cannot stand. Sadly, I fear Betsy may never see this wonderful deconstruction (if only THAT were literal!) of her architectural tastes.
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You seem to be winning the internet a bit, recently. Keep up the good work.
For some of them it’s because they have never lived in (or even been in) a ‘normal’ house and have no concept of such, having only ever seen 5-star hotels and houses decorated and furnished like them. They genuinely think their shit is normal. Theory: THIS is why they are all such soul-less fucks.
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From the interior shots, I don’t think anyone actually lives there. When they’re there, the family just plugs into recharging slots.
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That is the type of construction people do when they:
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have no taste.
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need to spend the evidence.
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That’s so much wasted space for a large wooded area and a small house. I never understand why rich people want big homes when natural beauty is far more rare and precious than empty space encompassed by poor architecture.
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I would much rather have sweeping yard space and gardens and landscaping and spend money paying to service and maintain that, then spend the money on taxes for the house, cleaning, utilities, and maintenance. Housing costs are a drain on the environment…landscaping costs are generally either balanced or even a positive gain.
If I had that property, there would be a small pool and hot tub sure. House big enough for our family of 5 and one extra room for guest. And then a massive summer garden of herbs and veggies to live off of all summer long. And I would be there every single day because i’d be living off my investments and my “job” would be enjoying a comfortable life!!! I really do not understand these 1% elites.
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Ostentatious displays of wealth aren’t for the wealthy, they’re for reminding the proles that they’re proles. The bigger and uglier, the better for reminding us average Joes and Janes that we’re not super wealthy, and never will be.
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I would probably go full permaculture or no-till agriculture like Masanobu Fukuoka. Just plant the right kind of plants (native mostly) for the area and let me a common area for the neighbors to come so long as they don’t trash the place or dump their garbage. Yeah, I’m a dirty hippie at heart. heh
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They tore down the previous DeVos “shack” and put this place up.
THE DEVOS PROPOERTY: BEFORE & AFTER
PREVIOUS HOME ON THE SITE:
Owner: Richard and Helen DeVos
Main house: 12,000 square feet
Number of bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 8 1/2
Garage: 3-car
Guest house: 1,100 square feet
Value: $4.5 millionNEW HOME ON THE SITE:
Owner: Dick and Betsy DeVos
Main house: 22,000 square feet
Number of bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 5 full and 5 half-baths
Garage: 3 buildings
Guest house: 6,000 square feet
Value: Still being assessed; building permits over $3 million
In a neighborhood of mansions, it’s overbuilt.
Although some have complained the house dwarfs the other mansions along the Holland waterfront, Crossman said the property won’t hurt housing values in this tony neighborhood.
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‘lmao it’s 110% roof. s** looks like when a book gets wet and the pages curl up’* and ‘Architect: what kinda house u want?, Betsy: Just f** my shit up.’*
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the house on the right side looks fairly normal sized to me…not mansion material. Hard to really gauge I suppose.
and the obvious question is…wtf is with the bathrooms?!? Do these people refuse to share bathroom space or something? I do not understand.
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Maybe she has so many bathrooms because, like Lady Macbeth, she’s aware of the horrors she commits and just can’t get the blood off.
Or as a child she went on a long road trip and her parents refused to stop the damned car. AS GOD AS MY WITNESS, NEVER AGAIN!
I like to think some of these are in that house:
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Outdoors is for the little people, silly.
As for their concept of beauty, the decoration tells all we need to know about that.
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Yeah, reminds me of Murray Bookchin’s comments about how the pyramids were their own era’s form of conspicuous consumption. I personally despise such things, it’s just sad humans keep doing this primal status marking crap.
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You are most kind.
But I am aware that I am standing on the shoulders of giants.
