by Eddie Pipkin

Image by 1tamara2 from Pixabay

I was reading about an emerging design trend for 2025 that sounded like something I could embrace: a concept called “pretty-ugly.”  It’s not about intentionally including something discomfiting as part of the décor: “This isn’t about collecting aesthetic disasters—it’s about curating pieces that raise a few eyebrows, spark some conversation, and reveal your true personality,” says Julia Cancilla’s article over on the Décor website.  I’ve been decorating that way for years!  It’s reassuring to have an official endorsement, an expert opinion to show my skeptical wife, one that verifies my status as a cutting edge stylist.  It’s also an aesthetic that church communities should embrace.  In a world in which everything increasingly looks the same, it’s nice to maintain the quirky elements of charm that make a local faith gathering unique.

You can read the article I quoted from at this link, “Why Designers Everywhere Are Embracing the ‘Pretty-Ugly’ Trend.”

Cancilla traces the derivation of the ‘pretty-ugly’ description to a French phrase, jolie laide, and she gives examples, like that hideous lamp that once belonged to your dearly departed favorite aunt.  You’d never go to the furniture store and purchase that lamp to complete your newly refurbished living room, but it sure does make for an unusual discussion starter when friends come over.  It leads to a good story.  It fits in the room in an attention-grabbing way.  It resonates with you for a reason, and ultimately it communicates something about who you are.

It’s something that is meaningful, that kick-starts conversation, that tells a worthwhile tale, and that keeps the space from feeling magazine-photo-generic.  That last part is important, because in the Instagram age, there is a real danger that all our communal spaces are becoming homogenized.  When we’re redesigning any gathering area, we turn to the popular design aesthetic of the moment, and because we are influenced by what’s popular on social media, we emulate what the mega-church down the road is doing.  It’s beautiful and inviting, but it can ultimately come off as sterile if we’re not careful.  That is, it may end up looking like every other public space that’s trying to be hip and relevant.  Is it a Starbucks or a spa or a yoga studio or a bank lobby?  I say this all the time about breweries as I travel the country.  When breweries first became a thing a couple of decades ago, they had personalities that reflected where you were geographically and culturally.  Boston felt different than Denver than Atlanta than Orlando.  Now it’s like everybody shops out of the same brewery design warehouse, and if you were teleported to Denver or Atlanta, there’s no way to differentiate what territory you have landed in from any other.

Church spaces can fall into that same design rut.  Even though it’s a clean, crisp, inviting new design, the question is whether it authentically communicates the personality of your faith family.

That’s where ‘pretty-ugly’ comes in.

Don’t forget to retain some heartfelt aspects of your former space or decorate with representative icons from your story.  Sure, the decorator who has worked so hard to breathe new life into your old rooms may do a little pearl clutching when you want to hang an old handmade confirmation banner in a pristinely preened space, but narrative is important when helping people connect with your story, and sacred objects establish narrative:

The beauty of jolie laide lies in its deeply personal nature. Unlike the cookie-cutter aesthetics that have dominated in the past, this approach encourages genuine self-expression.

There are many ways such self-expression can manifest in a local church setting:

  • Handcrafted art pieces, like that confirmation banner I mentioned.
  • New art handcrafted to decorate a new space, which captures the core values or the heart of the story of your community.
  • Historically significant architectural pieces like old door or window frames, repurposed as wall frames.  Stained glass retained from an old location.
  • Historically significant furniture, like old pews, one or two of which could be saved and repurposed, as well as old pulpits, or an antique baptismal font that could be a centerpiece of a new space.
  • One out of place chair that was the one always used by influential church patriarch (just imagine the conversation starter: “Why is that one old, out of place chair here?”)
  • A few strategically placed old hymnals.
  • Old signage which could be reimagined as art.
  • Significant landscape pieces (by which I mean trees or other plantings) that can be retained even as outdoor space is repurposed, or cuttings from which could be featured in a new garden.

These are the kinds of things that bring personality to your space and give you a chance to talk about what makes it and its people special.  They are also the kinds of reminders we routinely need as leaders to remember our roots.

Does your ministry space feature some ‘pretty-ugly’ items that immediately sprang to mind as you were reading this blog?  Did being reminded of them prompt a smile and a happy memory (because that’s a great sign that they are just the objet d’art we’re talking about)? What might be some examples you can haul out of exile from the attic?  Share some favorite examples in the comments section below.