What are your biggest home decor dislikes?

[FS90]

Fake flowers/ potted plants

These threads are so predictable- everyone says they hate the same things and there's always a nice undercurrent of snobbery too

Artex anywhere but especially on walls (realise it's not cheap to get rid of though)
Anaglypta wallpaper - maybe nice in period properties but not painted magnolia in a 3 bed 1980s semi
Woodchip wallpaper
Fireplaces that are far too big for the room they're in - I'm currently living with one of these and it's so overpowering and takes up too much space, I hate it
Vinyl decals of words on a wall (including but not limited to Live Laugh Love)
Black worktops (have had them in two houses, they showed up every stray crumb and never looked clean, got rid of them as quickly as possible)
TVs hung so high on a wall that it gives you neck strain

Those plastic hanging balls of leaves placed next to the front door, always slightly faded by the sun…why?!?!

Taking a nice old house, slapping on white render, grey pvc windows and plastic doors on….while the rest of the street is still brick. So dated. So charmless.

The same grey pvc doors with massive chrome pole on a random 30s semi.

I love that coloured bathrooms are in again, but that’s because I’m stuck in the 70s and 80s!

I don't like rooms that look too neutral or featureless. I like to see a bit of character. - and colour.
I am not a fan of the greys, as a rule, although I have seen houses where it looks nice and not too cold or bare.
Clinical kitchens or bathrooms are not for me.

There's another style I don't like, which is old fashioned and bland, with lots of patterns and beige. I was re watching One Foot in the Grave the other day and their house epitomises that look.

I guess it's because the grey trend is over that people keep bringing it up ☺️ If everyone still loved grey and it was still trendy then there wouldn't be so many comments on it. Can't wait for all the grey walls to be painted magnolia again 😂 It's definitely swung back round to warm neutrals

The class anxiety on this thread is palpable.

In terms of actual design, I think going against the period of your house or the proportions of your rooms is always tricky and rarely successful.

Spotlights.

As has been said a million times on this thread already…

Grey
Mirrored furniture
Diamantés

🤣

But, tbh, my messy, mismatched, colourful house with books and hobby stuff ever here would turn some peoples hair grey so 🤷🏽‍♀️

Artex.

Only because my house is full of the stuff and it’s really expensive to skim over/remove. Also, the asbestos concerns.

I would always say magnolia paint. But we’ve moved into a house and spent ages trying to figure out the paint in the living room as we love it so much, but it needs a touch up. Yesterday, the match we got was magnolia 🤯

I hear you! We're house hunting too and have seen so many houses with cheap grey laminate floors and sharp-edged cheap grey kitchens. I can see past old dated decor and don't mind a renovation project, but when I see a house done up in grey plastic I just seem unable to see past it and discount the house immediately. I guess it's because it's newly done that it just seems so wasteful to rip it out. More cheap plastic into landfill. At least very old decor is usually natural materials!

Pebbledash or grey render

Artex ceilings, ours were done by previous owner just 10 years ago... whyyyyy!

Wooden decking / planters / structures, looks good for about 2 minutes and then goes to shit. No doubt all those garden makeovers on TV went rotten and in a skip years ago

Log burners shoe-horned into modern houses with the chimney tube (no idea what it’s actually called!) showing! I’ve often seen them built up onto some sort of step too…
Artex/textured plaster work - we have both
Vertical blinds - inherited them in the last house and they were in such good condition I couldn’t replace them but hated them every day!
Gloss kitchens - too many finger marks
Gas hobs
Hops real or fake hanging in a kitchen
Pans hanging from the ceiling
More structural than design, bit houses that you can only access the garden from the living room

The only things I really don't like are astroturf in the garden. Anything else I genuinely don't mind/ judge/ get offended by. A home is a reflection of someone's personality and very personal. It should be a place to live, be comfortable and practical and bring joy and security to those who dwell in it. Everyone's tastes are different.

I love magnolia!

I was going to agree, but then remembered my bedroom chests of drawers are pine! 😂

In fairness, I bought them 22 years ago, so they were more fashionable then!

Clearly good quality too as they've survived two house moves in that time.

I do want to change them as they aren't the biggest and the extra storage space would be useful.

I also have grey sofas, but have colourful cushions and blankets to take the edge off the dullness.

I do, however, agree on the dislike of wall mounted TV's, above a fireplace. It's just too bloody high up and gives me a crooked neck watching it!

I also don't like oversized monstrosities of TV's, though DH won that argument, so we have a monstrous 65" TV in a lounge that should really only have a 55" max. Lots of people on here would hate my house! 😂

Houses where the pvc windows are a different colour to the door.... Looks odd. Two houses near me like it.

I probably have several styles and items on all those above lists which would horrify folk 😱 but am not perturbed by that. There are a couple of items which have me somewhat perplexed though. The dining chairs with knockers (not the boob variety) on the back. The other is something I occasionally see on my daily walkabouts. Large stone horse head sculptures atop stone columns either side of a front door/porch! The houses are average size and I wonder are the owners having a laugh or do they have delusions of grandeur.

Apologies if anyone reading has them but may I ask why?

Yes, what are those door knockers on the back of dining chairs?

TV above fireplace
Grey grey grey anything including white metro tiles with grey grout
Grey or black window frames
Artex - especially swirly ceilings: and it’s a swine to remove
Fitted wardrobes
Toilets with high cisterns - shudder
‘En-suites’ with no walls …. 🥴🥴

Surely people won't be hurt though it's just other peoples opinions. Some things from my house are on here but that's fine I didn't assume they had 100% appeal lol

The "farrow and ball" colours made me laugh though, don't they sell over 100 variants of colour... so basically all the colours

Someone here thought open plan was impractical, it's great for us and totally suits our lifestyle 🤷🏻‍♀️

• When people "fight" their house, eg it's a 1940s building and they rip out the beautiful details ( fireplaces tiled hallways etc) and make it (at best) a soulless box, or new builds with faux panelling/beams
• Kitchen islands/ peninsulas especially when they swallow up any usable space (& They cost a fortune to remove)
• Plastic grass really bad for the environment
• Coloured window frames not just anthracite but chartwell green ( again it's usually "fighting" the property All mine are what I would consider expensive to change to my taste, wall stickers, navy paint, etc all easy to remove

Woodchip wallpaper, whoever invented it was obviously a torturer. I remember trying to remove it from my first flat and it took ages to do just a small wall so gave up and just added yet another layer of paint over it.

In fact wallpaper in general is a right bastard to remove when you want to decorate but woodchip is the spawn of the devil

Same! With a light wood laminate floor and a vase of twigs in the corner. I didn't have much confidence at the time and it took me a while to find my own style in decor and clothes. I've seen Kelly Hoppen has a new collab out with M&S and I haven't even heard her name since around that time either, maybe we truly are going back!

I love colour too much to follow most trends. I know that neutrals are meant to make your home feel bigger and look clean. But I want my house to look like it belongs in a Wes Anderson film.

Someone mentioned open plan. My friend is about to move into a home with open plan kitchen/ living and dining area. I am SO envious!! Not sure about the extra heating costs though. Not envious of those 🙄