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SPONTANEOUS ASSOCIATIONS WITH THE WORD HOME
In spontaneous associations, home is identified with a
shelter, a
"bunker" in opposition to the outer world.
Home must be a safe place which protects you from outer enemies and so must be equipped with appropriate safe
plants/systems (video entry phone, alarms, video cams, …)
Home is also a "psychological bunker" to flee from an increasingly frenetic and stressful everyday life, a place to satisfy everyone's needs of affection and privacy, in contrast with the outer working world, considered as source of trouble, and the social sphere, potentially dangerous.
Counter-trend: home is negatively considered by a minority; it is seen as a suffocating place (especially by middle-aged women suffering from a family crisis) or as simple dormitory (by young single
men).
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HOME ROOMS
The most "exploited rooms" in a house are the
kitchen and the living-room area (living room, sitting room). In particular, in metropolis and in Northern Italy, the living- sitting room represents the heart of it, while in Southern Italy, where houses are generally bigger, the kitchen is at the first place. In general, although home rooms, except bed-sitting rooms, maintain their traditional roles, there is a
progressive broadening of the functions of the most exploited rooms: the kitchen is no longer just the place to prepare and have meals, but also to watch TV, read the newspaper, meet friends, telephone or chat with the family, while the sitting room, once the favourite place to welcome friends, is now to watch TV, read and sleep
too.
Equipped kitchen
The "equipped kitchen", i.e. the kitchen to live in and welcome friends, is among the greatest ambitions of
Italians.
Children's bedrooms
The children's bedrooms are turning into multifunctional rooms: they are mini bed-sitting rooms young people go out from just for their meals.
Children's bedrooms' furniture is generally decided by parents. The decisional role of children in choosing the furniture of their room, is increasing: in particular they ask for a functional space for their PCs, which becomes the most important part of the whole room.
Bathroom
The bathroom, in a world where the body-care and the pursuit of psycho-physical health is increasingly important, is nowadays the trendiest room. Time and activities in the bathroom have considerably increased in the latest
years.
Other objects in the house
Today objects originally destined to other uses are employed as home furniture: generally they are classical objects, like an old cradle transformed into flowerpot, a plate rack used as a towel compartment for the bathroom, a chest turned into a TV-rest.
Among Northern and Central young metropolitan generations, "bric-ŕ-brac" of modern objects is getting more and more important: the rear seat of an old car becomes a three-seater sofa, or a motorbike rim transformed into a lamp. This trend is typical of young metropolitan singles, living in bed-sitting rooms, ready to experience new forms of decor and of
"hybridising" of styles (fusion).
TECHNOLOGIES
In general, technology is not considered a "disturbing element", altering the pleasantness of home furniture, even more than the classical one.
On the contrary, technologies must contribute to furnish homes, often determining the furniture of some rooms: the sitting room, in particular, is designed to have a certain TV point of view.
The "technical trolley" is the favourite solution chosen by young well-educated families. It is the perfect combination of decor and technology, or better, the best expression of technology becoming
decor.
EXTERIORS
In general, today there is a scarce self-consciousness of the influences of outer world on one's
home. Indeed, home and outer world are completely different: the first is a "shelter" and has to be comfortable, a quality not expected from the outer world.
Young people often refer to public places (pubs, bars, etc.), where TV (wide and small screen) is an integrating part of the place, a permanent background for customers'
conversations.
FAVOURITE MATERIALS
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Wood
is the favourite material.
Wood is appreciated all over Italy because it is: warm, natural, beautiful and elegant, intimate and cosy, healthy and clean,
vital. Secondly, there is steel, described as solid, strong, powerful, essential, clean, cold, technological, and
glass, considered clean, limpid, transparent, luminous. Steel and
glass are appreciated in Northern-Central Italy. Thirdly there are
earthenware, conceived as warm, antique, cosy, practical; marble, appreciated for its beauty, elegance, solidity, luxury, and
mosaic, for its colour conception and considered pleasant, fanciful and lively, modern or antique (according to the matches).
Marble is the most appreciated material in Southern Italy.
WOOD
It is particularly taken into
consideration:
 because it enlivens the house
because it is traditional though original
because it is an furnishing element
for its flexibility in use
Moreover, the current possibilities for the wood treatment, which enable its use in places since now excluded, make it an adequate material also for bathrooms and
kitchens.
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