>It's full of pictures of furniture and other design objects that are usually impossible to source -- just like Pinterest, [...] It's so hard to source design.I get your frustration but keep in mind that you're running up against the intended ethos of the Houzz website.
- Pinterest photos are mostly about "things" and a social network of sharing "collections".
- Houzz design photos are about "professionals" -- even though they usually don't have people in the photos. Notice that the vast majority of design photos are uploaded by professionals such as architects, interior designers, and home builders. Those business people are showcasing their portfolio. This is why the individual "things" in the photos are not easy to source.
Some users do attempt to source the products by submitting a question to the professional contractor that uploaded the photo such as, "where did you get that table and sofa?"
Sometimes the professionals will reveal the source such as "got it from Crate & Barrel" but most of the time, they'll respond something like, "it was purchased from our design studio" -- which is a roundabout way of way of telling the prospects to contact them for professional services. This is the way Houzz is intended to work.
Another website analogy would be Soundcloud. Imagine if users were frustrated that after listening to the music clips, it was not easy to "source the brand of guitars or drums". Well, most soundcloud music is uploaded by musicians and not music gear manufacturers. It's intended to showcase their songwriting and not whether the guitar used in the song was a Gibson or Fender.
Yes, Houzz does have some overlap with Pinterest for "things" (e.g. Shop by Department tab) but the original motivation of it was a portfolio of professionals' work. Or, to restate it in terms of another website analogy, it's a photo album version of Angie's List professional remodelers.
>Most of the time, what you come across isn't even a product, it's some concept work by some designer [...] or an ad for some interior decorator.
Yes, that's exactly what the Houzz design photos are about: Professionals not products. (Again, similar to the glossy monograph books from architects and interior designers you can buy from Amazon. The books' photos showcase the "look" but don't itemize the individual products.)
(However, that doesn't stop Houzz from evolving with their AI deep learning efforts to become more of a "products" buying portal rather than a marketplace for professionals.)