To be utterly utterly bored with vintage shabby chic cath kidston letters on the wall boringness...

[Pantone363]

3 friends at lunch all had Cath Kidston handbags with matching purses. We passed at least 4 shabby chic shops all replete with spotty tablecloths, rose print cases and wooden letters spelling out "home" "love" "wow" (thanks Kirsty).

It's IMPOSSIBLE to find cheap secondhand furniture (because I am poor) because its all been bought by people sanding, throwing on a coat of Farrow and Ball, artfully sanding it down again and flogging a chair for £200.

I've been on TWO vintage glam hen dos this year.

I'm sick of fucking cupcakes on flowery cardboard cake tiers.

Please tell me I'm not BU. it's the new twigs in cases isn't it?

[bigfuckoffpie]

I have always hated the "Keep Calm" stuff, it is very irritating. But this thread has made me realise that actually, I really want something with a "Keep Calm and Have A Wank" logo on it. I may knit it myself.

[saythatagain]

As an aside: cupcakes? I know buns, butterfly buns and, at a push I'll accept fairycakes; cupcakes = bleurgh and should be banished to the skip, along with the above mentioned gubbins stuff on here.

[ScarletLady02]

I'm not a massive fan of cupcakes either...way too much sugary icing for me, I'd just scrape it off and eat the cake, which kinda defeats the object.

However, some of them do look awesome...like these ones. Not sure if I could actually eat them though!

www.fearnet.com/news/news-article/these-dexter-cupcakes-are-cut-above

[worriedmum100]

Is it ok to have Cath Kidston vintage racing car wallpaper in my ds room? [looks sheepish]

[BerryLellow]

I have FFS in letters, given to me as a housewarming present :o

[PoppyAmex]

"My house is quite (genuine) scandi retro, but as a Scandinavian I'm allowed. "

Toys I'm very jealous, as I said I live in fear it will go so mainstream it will ruin it!

[GenghisCanDoHisOwnWashing]

I love spotty/floral/striped fabric mixes (can't afford Cath Kidston though)

No letters on the wall, no keep calm, no union jacks, no anything that Next considers shabby chic.

I do have hearts on strings dotted about the house though.

I feckin hate glossy white kitchens, retro 70's wallpaper, brown wood 70's units, anything black.

S'there.

Oh yeah... and I do 'crafting'

[FoundAChopinLizt]

Has anyone made a knitted Kirsty yet?

[meddie]

never liked the Cath Kidston stuff and the resurgence of fairycakes ( I will not call them cupcakes, they are fairycakes).
The stuff was like crack for my colleagues, previously stong minded independent women were turned into wannabe 50's housewifes, posting endless pics off their latest creations and discussing crochet patterns at break time instead of the merits of Johnny Depp vs Shemar Moore.
I am starting a new style, 70's working class. Artex ceilings, outside toilets, no double glazing or central heating.large multi coloured glass clowns as decoration and pictures of Spanish looking crying ladies.

[EffieTheDuck]

Getting there, Found, just the externals to work on

[noddyholder]

Shabby chic is a natural thing for some people that is when it looks good. If you are buying it on the high street it's not shabby or chic its naff and mass produced. I think it looks like a little girl has gone mad in the whole house no style and cheap. It is a look that evolves if you live in a big house in the country with 6 kids and don,t work! I am an interior designer and have yet to be asked for it in nearly 20 years!

[Pantone363]

Can we add wall quotes to the list. Fecking Marilyn Monroe "if you can't handle me at my worst".....stuck on the wall.

[FoundAChopinLizt]

Effie

Now, that's worth displaying in the loo!

[Bonsoir]

noddyholder - I agree, shabby chic/vintage has to be genuine and original to work.

Perfection

[Pantone363]

Noddy, YES. I often wonder what men think about their whole house looking like someone puked up floral prints everywhere.

[Bonsoir]

Best to keep the floral prints in the utility room and in little girls' bedrooms!

[DeepRedBetty]

A new widgetty bits shop has just opened up on our Beautiful Eighteenth Century Tourist Magnet High Street (the sort where you can buy designer shoes and million pound houses but no-one sells children's underwear). It's so refreshing - loads of sixties and seventies inspired brightly coloured plastic. Makes the sea of Farrow and Ball coloured stuff in the other eight widgetty bits shops look rather tired!

[noddyholder]

Beautiful wallpaper in the girls room. that house looks like a beautiful basic structure and then a look can evolve. I can never understand the wool e scheme from one shop decor so loved in the uk

[Raptorrethy]

My name is Raptorrethy and I love Cath Kidston.

Whatever, it's all better than minimalist laminate flooring, cream/white walls, blinds instead of curtains, keep it bland or no one will buy it decor!!!!!!

^ This.

I find an inner calm when I'm in one of the shops. It's been around for a loooong time...agree it's a tad annoying the supermarkets etc producing their own versions. Like what you like, I say, and if you don't like it choose something else!

[noddyholder]

Laminate flooring shudder.

[EasyToEatTiger]

It's much easier to copy someone else than to stand up and be counted, surely? I think that most people in their right mind would not paint and polish a fabulous, precious and valuable piece of furniture. So generally, it is going to be the crap that gets the paint job just to make it tolerable and jolly it up a bit. It seems to me quite strange to distress something further than it is already distressed. I shared a house in the 90s with someone who distressed pine.

[noddyholder]

Keep it bland or no one will buy it is something invented by the tv folk. I have never done bland and have sold every house I,ve done to fiest viewer, I hate it when I hear them harping on about that on channel 4

[YoniRanger]

I love it all. Always have.

So there