Wish fulfillment...

The guiding design philosophy for the television series 'One Tree Hill' was always wish fulfillment. Mark Schwahn, the executive producer and creator of the series, would use this phrase more than any other in describing what he wanted to convey with the look of the show. He wasn't always concerned about the reality of what a particular set may be, instead wanting to portray what the audience may wish life were like for the characters on the show. And by extension, maybe what their own lives could be like.
While it may have been unlikely that a young woman just out of high school could own her own fashion boutique and be the head of a multi-media fashion empire, or that a young couple in their early 20's with a child and no visible means of support could live in a grand home, none of that mattered. It's what the audience wanted to believe was possible, so the sets should reflect some of their wildest dreams.
It was always a balancing act, striking the difference between reality and fantasy. There were always many discussions about which side of the line any one of the hundreds of sets that were designed for this show should fall on.