She said it’s the difference between what makes a piece trendy and timeless.
Ariel Magidson (@arielarts) shared the interior advice in a video with over 400,000 TikTok followers.
“This is the biggest interior design secret ever and nobody is talking about it,” she said.
The expert pulled up two images of homes in different styles: “The top one is a theme and this one right here is a concept,” she said.
“Here’s the difference: A theme, AKA the top image, is using literal themes from the beach, this bottom picture is using ideas or thoughts or relations back to the beach like color, pattern, or texture,” she said.
“You feel like you’re at the beach in both but number two is more subliminal and it works every single time.
“This is the difference between remaining classic and remaining trendy,” she said.
“The concept will last way longer in classic design.”
People took to the comments to share their thoughts.
Some took it upon themselves to break the concept down into layman’s terms.
“Top is a rental vacation house, bottom is a beach house where people actually live,” said one commenter.
“I did number two with my apartment, and I feel like I’m in Greece and Paris without it being tacky,” said another.
“I literally just had this conversation with someone yesterday. Just because you live near the beach doesn’t mean you need shells and lighthouses,” said a third.