What decorative items do you hate the most?

10 years ago

It does not have to be overused or trend that should end. Simply what do you not like to see ?

This is what I don't like.

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User

10 years ago

Fake greenery above kitchen cabinets has to be one of my most disliked.

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LB Interiors
8 years ago
Hi to you nwduck. Missed seeing you.
Luke Buckle
8 years ago
Just came across this thread and immediately thought of the hiding child dolls that were popular in small town craft shops a few years back.

They seem to have all disappeared now. Would be frightening to see at the local tip.

Oh look, this is a photo of one on a cushion. WHY!
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nwduck
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
LB: Have you gone to Crossroads Cafe in "Other"? Might be your kind of hangout. I sort of quit all but a very few threads. It has a international group, which is pretty interesting.
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LB Interiors
8 years ago
Hi nwduck, I was watching for awhile, but I got so very many emails, it was difficult to do and opted out. I don't have that much extra time. Curiosity is killing me though.
nwduck
8 years ago
I really think you might enjoy that thread, even if you just read only that one. I had to thin Houzz down myself, lest I lose entire days. Jan in Mumbai, India is great. Chookchook from Australia (and some others from there) are posting there as their only US post. Also, there's the Irish fellow Badger, but he hasn't been on in a bit. It's one of my favorites to check in on.
jane_lxv
8 years ago
Creepy Americana
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LB Interiors
8 years ago
Nwduck, right now it's not good timing. Working on a condo bldg that will likely be an ongoing project for some time.
pdk920
8 years ago
Sorry, but reading that we should scorn anything because "it's not classy or "in" makes me want to run out and decorate the foyer with it, so there!
Tems
8 years ago
Wrought iron in most cases
PRO
Neely Design Associates
8 years ago
Curtains that are too short!
keenplanner
8 years ago
Overdone fads (like the bowl of balls, granite counters, vessel sinks, fancy table runners, cheap looking new "antique" furniture, etc.)

A great site for exploding trendy deco-memes here
pdk920
8 years ago
It's foolish to buy "decor" items just to be "on trend" (what a silly phrase!) Buy and use things you love instead, especially hand-created objects.
PRO
Area Rugs at Bold Rugs
8 years ago
Fake plants!
lynartist
8 years ago
Wow, scanned a lot of this thread! Pretty strong opinions even if it was amusing... Not sure if I can let anyone in my house now !!!
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Loribeth Clark
7 years ago
I hate decorative items that don't mean anything to anyone. You know the ones that were bought because a space looked empty and something "had" to go there.
Jennie Kovach
7 years ago
Faux fur pillows, throws, comforters...anything faux fur. Morrocan pillows or anything Moraccan. This is like everyone on the planet carrying a Michael Korrs purse, it is everywhere, thus boring. Small houses with no mirrors or track lighting. Carpet...of...any...kind. Silk arrangements. Ugly pillows, which encompasses about everything these days. Room color that does not flow through the house. Toilets with seat covers. Unframed mirrors in bathroom.
Kathi Steele
7 years ago
All the rooms being the same color....boring. Cold floors to walk on....horrible.

I agree with lyn, I don't think I would want to let people walk into my house. It is mine and I love it!! When I get ready to sell it, I will de-personalize it and remove the offending items. Until then....tough!!
Pamela Lee
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I hate fake drapes. Ok, the drapes are real enough I guess but only decorative. One small panel on each side of a window on a tiny rod the length of your arm. You can never block the window because you can't close the drapes. One day you might want to close the drapes, really. Spring for the whole shebang and it won't look weird while you wait for the day you decide to close the drapes. I got to the end of this thread and couldn't recall how I got here. Used the back button and remembered I'd googled "Why are there throw pillows stuffed on top of kitchen cabinets?" Is this some trend? Joke? Seriously, have been stalking houses in the Seattle area for a while now and a new listing had a lovely kitchen with throw pillows stuffed up above. WHAaaaaaaT? Is this a replacement for fake greenery?
tfitz1006
6 years ago
Niches, houses with no books or reading lamps, tvs over fireplaces, huge furniture, high ceilings, those icky Victorian builder doors, everything grey, clutter...
justmyopinion
6 years ago
I dislike indoor furniture with built in cup holders, decor with elephants or owls, and the mass produced "artwork" that gets hawked on this site.
justmyopinion
6 years ago
Oh I forgot to add that I don't like those stars people hang indoors or outdoors. Maybe I could give you a pass if you live in Texas though.
northpoint2
6 years ago
I can't stand when I see a room/house that screams Home Goods (which I LOVE, don't get me wrong), or Kirklands.
dkorzelius
6 years ago
Man. We should all be thankful we have the disposable income to buy these luxuries people dislike so much!
hummingalong2
6 years ago
Red mulch in flowerbeds, it looks so unnatural.
Pamela Lee
6 years ago
I found the listing for the pillows stuffed over the kitchen cabinets. Some look to be bed pillows. Um, ick. Has to be a code or joke or what am I missing? http://www.seattlehome.com/property/1127764/
hummingalong2
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Half dead/struggling indoor plants, just because it's almost alive doesn't make it attractive.
Judy Mishkin
6 years ago
pamela lee...how peculiar! sound deadening? i cannot begin to imagine.
lhutch13
6 years ago
The pillow thing above the cabinets is weird.
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M&M Interiors
6 years ago
so interesting to read these comments, although I have to be honest I did not have time to read them all. My favorite post was the pic of the toilet completely covered in fur- ha!! As a designer the one thing I do see often is for some reason folks hang their art too high on the wall.
Susan Davis
6 years ago
Anything small
BLee
6 years ago
area rugs bleached to make them look like antiques
hemina
6 years ago
Pamela Lee- those pillows are so weird! Maybe they had a cat that likes climbing up there and were trying to avoid that for the open house? I don't know...but at least remove them for the pictures! I bet they forgot they were even there.
anitaladyrose
6 years ago
I dislike gray everything. Wood look tile. Stark, minimalist rooms. Accent walls. Brightly painted walls with no continuity between rooms. Orange. Popcorn ceilings. Dead animals anywhere in a home... yikes! Dolls. Word art.
anitaladyrose
6 years ago
Oh, fun thread!
pdk920
6 years ago
Well, one thing is clear-- every single house has things in it that a percentage of people hate. Not sure what lessons we can glean from this.
shars55
6 years ago
I think we can learn that we should decorate our houses with things WE love and it's silly to worry about what's trendy or what other people like.
Judy Mishkin
6 years ago
except when selling, of course....
pdk920
6 years ago
But unless a house is totally empty and bare, some people will hate what's in it. And others will hate it for being empty.
CLC
6 years ago
The pillows on top of the cabinets are strange.

My guess is that they are stuffed up there to keep the cats from going up there (it appears they have cats -- there is a big cat scratching post in the living room photo). Although if that is the case, I can't imagine why they wouldn't take the pillows down for photos!
Shelley Logan
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Word art/decor, theme rooms (isn't the theme kitchen/bathroom/bedroom?) Stark white walls are horrible! Fake ivy over cabinets, anything on top of cabinets, really, (though this is not seen much anymore). Fruit patterns anywhere, bad floral, raspberry-colored anything. Bowls of balls. Rooms that are not cohesive. One does not need to buy a matching set to have a cohesive room. Matching sets. Heavy, dark, tired, scrolly, curvy furniture from the 70s-80s. There's something about that furniture that is heavily depressing. Family portraits have always bothered me. I find it...weird, and kind of tacky... Bizarre to have faces frozen in forced smiles staring down from the walls. Family portraits descending down the staircase... The stuff of nightmares...i can hear the maniacal laughter... The hell's choir... The... Oh wait, we're taking about decor. Clutter on countertops, overly feminine style, tacky frogs/gnomes/etc. Shell-shaped sinks, vessel sinks. Brown is for WOOD, not paint, upholstery, or decor. Oh and the WORST of all--when parents let their kids' clutter/toys take over the house. While we're on the topic of kids, NO Disney/Nickelodeon/Pixar/Whatever characters on everyday objects. They belong in the movie and a doll/figurine, but not on clothing/bedding/decor/cups/plates. Yes, my future self with a child laughs at my current childless self. However, my husband and I are firm on this, so I won't be alone in the battle.
jonio
6 years ago
Okay, then. Whew!!!!!!!!!!!!
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User
6 years ago
Bad faux
Shelley Logan
6 years ago
This thread is so fun. It's great release after years off holding one's tongue. I do hope it's read in fun, and not taken as a personal attack. A person in an earlier thread seemed really upset.

Some have posted about their dislike of gray walls. I'm just about finished with painting the entire house a lovely, soft gray. It's not for everyone and every house! I painted my old apartment in different colors, aqua kitchen, burnt orange dining, purple bedroom. I loved it because it worked in that place. Doesn't work in my new, modern house. What one sees as clean and soft, another sees as stark. My neighbor's home is lovely, a, little claustrophobic for me, but she keeps it clean and it's cohesive. To each his own.
Shelley Logan
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Hate cooktops on islands, loathe Persian rugs-they're gaudy, ugly, and always threadbare. Oak cabinets. Butcher-block countertops. Unless you're 14, don't make a collage of your friends/travels and hang it with Scotch tape to the bedroom wall. Canister sets on display. I didn't know I hated so much! Whew, open the floodgates... also, wreaths of any kind, but especially really brittle wreaths that look homemade. Hunter green, raspberry, county blue. Cabinet pulls that are spindly. Lighting that is too dim for the space, leaving dark corners. Yellowish light.
shars55
6 years ago
Might be easier just to list what you DO like.
Shelley Logan
6 years ago
Nah, this is much more fun.
Lenore Aguilar
6 years ago
I was in a bad mood but reading this was a lot of fun and made me lol because I agreed with a lot of it but also because I have some ugly tacky stuff too, but that's life.
Shelley Logan
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Oh, another thing: I hate those light fixtures that look like breasts. Complete with nipple. You know, those ones that screw flush to the ceiling. Can't think of what they are called, but they were the only type my dad seemed to know about. All I see is a pasty, full boob.

Photo gallery walls
michellederum
5 years ago
I'm beginning to hate these recent design-show trends in the kitchen: navy blue cabinets, wood stove hoods (can you imagine trying to clean one?), open shelving (again, cleanliness), butcher block counters (or any type of countertop I have to pamper). Outside the kitchen I really hate those giant stretched-canvas splashy-splotchy paintings with colors that "tie the room together".
Elaine Ricci
5 years ago
I personally avoid pillow shams -- more trouble than they're worth, I say.

What decorative items do you hate the most?

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