Oh and Best Buy owes its survival to investing heavily into cell phone plans and contracts. They would’ve folded without it.
Radio Shack limped along for maybe a decade after their core business stopped making sense, because of their cell phone deals. This Onion article from 2007 captures the cultural place that RadioShack operated in at the time, and they didn’t file bankruptcy until 2015 (and then reorganized and filed bankruptcy again in 2017).
Hang some shit on that wall. Paintings. Photographs. Random yard sale taxidermy.
Modern styles can still have plenty of personality. Yes, one of the modern trends is minimalism, but that’s not the only modern trend, and there are plenty of ways to explore your own sense of style within a modern sensibility.
I like having a house with really, really good insulation, with good plumbing and electrical up to 21st century fire/safety standards. I like having ducts for my central heat pump and air conditioning.
I can fill in the appearance and style stuff after that on my own.