To start a new thread about which house/garden trends you love/hate?

[MarieIVanArkleStinks]

I’ve read a good few threads on this point and they’ve provided me with many an hour’s quiet entertainment! But they’re all now quite old, and I’m interested to know if trends/tastes have changed. So, is anyone willing to share your most loved/hated home décor trends or items? And are there any items – useful or useless, beautiful or ugly – you've always wanted and never had; no matter how kooky they may be?

I’ll stick my head over the parapet and start …

Likes

Inglenook fireplaces, wood burners, old parquet flooring, New England colours, natural, textured surfaces (wood, granite, exposed brick), old monk’s benches/chapel chairs, oversized lanterns, hammocks, cocoon chairs, bookshelves, masses of books, blend of traditional and modern styles, chandeliers, silvers and greys (gulp), hot tubs (OK so shoot me!)

Dislikes

Glass doors (including those bifolding things), murals, decals, notices and signs, brass pineapples, glitter (on anything), magnolia, Venetian or vertical blinds, glossy kitchens or furniture, ‘pops of colour’ (and the phrase, too), Swiss cheese plant print on anything, the ongoing fad for blush pink, especially when paired with green. (Yes, I’m looking at you Ideal Home).

Most wanted items: Longcase clock (but I want a Mora one; battery powered as the old mechanisms are too unreliable) and a laundry chute!

Oooh and I love a personalised fridge display so lots of different magnets from various holidays, photos of family/friends, random notes stuck to fridge, displays of child's acheivements on there, or child's artwork from school.
I love a fridge with character

I dislike velux windows and glass boxes, previous house hunting and they are everywhere but needing blinds because they are too bright/ hot or scorched the furniture and the noise of the rain just drives me mad and something else to clean.

Likes:

Original art
Random objects displayed that actually have meaning
A mixture of antique and modern
Bold colours/interesting wallpaper in small doses
Period features
Homemade textiles

Dislikes:

Glitter wallpaper
Fads you see on DIY On A Budget
Fashionable ornaments you can buy everywhere
Generic canvas art of roses etc.
High gloss brightly-coloured kitchen cabinets
Scrabble tiles in frames

My biggest peeve was always the vulva wallpaper! Then we moved and the smaller bedroom had it. Ugh... it was job 1 to get rid.

Likes: cosy/comfy styles, big squashy sofas and colour, personal feel, big farmhouse kitchen (I don't have this). Period or older properties.

Dislikes: glossy kitchens, harsh white spotlights, everything in shades of grey... and or course, vulva wallpaper.

Like:

Grey
Blue
Jewel tones
Neutrals
Sleek minimalism
Airy spaces
Original art and photography
Wooden skirting
Matte metals
Metal staircases
Rich colour rugs
Glass backsplash
Quartz
Somethings unexpected in each room, eg a sparkly worktop in a bathroom, or a bold accessory in a striking colour.
Stacked stone
Linear gas fireplaces
Traditional coal and peat fireplaces
Live edge furniture- but one is enough

Dislike:

Subway tile
White 6” glossy tile
Those weird moulded plastic shower walls, look like something from a hospital
Shag carpet
Words on a wall
Prints of famous art
Clutter (of which there is way too much in this house)
White woodwork
White kitchens (with the exception of one acquaintance’s kitchen, which is utterly exquisite)
Chip and Joanna Gaines (google them)
‘Farmhouse’ style - real, working farmhouses don’t have any of that crap.
Travertine
Granite
Any blinds except roller
Peach
Pink
Sage green
Pale blue
Crappy acoustics
90s orangey oak kitchens
Double sinks you can’t sit a pan in

I sure there are many more!

Hates - "All that retro Orla Keily stuff
Copper wired accessories.
Vertical office blinds. Those plants that look like they have big yellow penises
Stuff with bees, or lobsters on it

LOVE-- Bleached type New England style.
Patchwork quilts. Country style. French doors. Lanterns.

Like: Kitchen islands. After years in cramped little kitchens, having a big space with a freestanding island feels like luxury every day.

Dislike: Ensuites. I fail to see the attraction of doing a shit in a closet 6 feet from your bed, and messing up the symmetry of all the bedrooms when you could have a great family bathroom instead.

Dislikes
Giant TVs on the wall
Photos hung on the living room wall
Wall stickers
Rose gold taps / cupboard door handles
Velour style thick pile grey carpet
Ceiling lights with lampshades

Likes
Artwork on wall
Photos on shelves / windowsills
Lamps
Fireplaces

Neighbour in Georgian house (good) with lovely oriel window (also good) through which you can see the BRICK WALLPAPER disfiguring the beautifully proportioned room. Not at all good. Sets my teeth on edge every time I notice it.

Vulva wallpaper

HATE---Hotel rooms with a bath in the same room as the bed.
Glittery wallpaper or bathroom accessories.
Navy blue walls
Flock wallpaper resembling a tacky Indian restaurant
Gardens that just grass and silver balls
LOVE--Cottage gardens
Ponds
Shell pink bedding
Mercury glass

Orange kitchen units
Baths with straight sides

OK good Mumsnetters. Feast your eyes on this horror. As found in a home decor shop that was full of little wooden lighthouses and seagulls on stilts ...

NB. what IS it with Prosecco? I love the real Italian stuff, but most of what's sold in the UK is so sweet and sugary it's barely drinkable! Now gin, I do like. Just not on the walls!

jacelancs have you come across Yves Delorme? Expensive but have a beautiful green print linen -sounds like you would love it.

Oh god - someone posted a picture. I had no clue what it was, but now I know ... oh yes, I really like vulva wallpaper. I could seriously live with that, and really love it. I think I'd better get some.

Dislike
Patterned carpets
Carpets in bathrooms or kitchens
Metro tiles - public toilet
Big words on walls
TVs anywhere except the living room
Visible brick inside - love stone though
Bright red or green kitchens
'Wood look' upvc
Glass tables

Like
Bifold doors - love getting sunshine 'inside'
Screening trees to block neighbours
Oak skirting, architrave and doors - have not had to gloss for years!
Grey - some shades, not everywhere
White and grey 600+ thread count bedding
Sofa in the kitchen
My one glitter wall
Houses built of stone rather than brick
Balconies - if there is something lovely to look at and you are not overlooked
Duck egg blue
Fabulous feeling throws

Sweetpea55:

LOVE-- Bleached type New England style.

Yes yes YES!

(Needless to say, without the seabirds on stilts).

I've had an image of vulva wallpaper in my head ever since starting this thread. Guess that'll learn me ...

Like:
Colours chosen to suit each room.
Items chosen because they mean something, not because it completes a show home look.
Working with the style and era of the property. Contemporary looks great in modern homes. Traditional looks great in period properties.
Period features... well up to the 1970s anyway!
Carpet. It's warm and soft.
Comfortable furniture. My back doesn't care about style, it wants support in the right place.
Gardens, with plants. Even a couple of feet of edging with plants or pots can add so much soul to a front garden while keeping it practical and low maintainence.
Evidence that it is a home; books, CDs, kid's pictures etc. Admittedly I go too far into clutter, but I get twitchy if it looks too sterile.

Dislike:
Too much of the same thing so no room has personality... or you can't tell one house from its neighbours
Floor tiles. It would cost me a fortune in plates. OK for upstairs bathrooms, but too cold for down stairs.
Too open plan. Kitchen/ diner good as it's a shared function. I don't want to look at my washing up heap or have cooking smells in my lounge. I also want to escape the dulcet tones of kids' TV.
Breakfast bars. Normally a clutter zone and tend to break up the line of the kitchen.
Not a fan of those white canvas LOOK AT US HAVING SOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!! family prints... particularly when you know it's quite a straightlaced family. I hate the slobbing around class photos too. It irritates me that DS and a classmate were photoshoped to the same size when they were the the tallest and smallest in the group! Ones in an honest formal style or natural settings are much nicer.
Writing used as decoration
Overgrown bushes. Especially ones that have been hacked back, remain oversized but never regain a neat shape. Leylandii a speciality.
Intense spotlights. Job #1 in this house was to get rid of the powerful spotlights in the lounge as they were headache inducing. We had to endure another few months before we were able to rip out the awful shiny, slippery cheapo laminate.
Laminate. Scratches easily, goes gappy, things stick onto it horrendously. 8 long, long years I've endured it in my bedroom.
Badly proportioned furnishings, oversized corner sofas that don't fit a room layout, TVs that barely fit the wall.

My home is off trend!

I'm really loving the millennial plant craze, I've bought a few plants recently and I love the way they've brought some greenery to my home.

Other likes: white walls, fairy lights, gallery walls, colourful kitchens, interesting artefacts, lots and lots of bookshelves with plants, art

Dislikes: grey, beige sofas, showroom houses, no personality, too tidy, plain and basic, no art, shiny stainless steel kitchens, those signs saying "remember, to outsiders we are a nice normal family!" and similar

Like
Big walk in shower, bluetooth bathroom mirror, Hague blue, William Morris, Arts and Craft movement, gallery walls, cottage gardens.

Hate
Terracotta coloured paint, tacky wall art work from Dunelm, fake tree decoration, cheesy family portraits in hallways.

Dislike
Decking
Regimented gardens
En suites
Open plan kitchen, lounge, etc
Industrial looking appliances, I don't like fridges that look like they had a previous life in an operating theatre, either
Live, laugh, love/ keep calm and carry on..... Other trite aphorisms on wall
Televisions too large for the room they're in
Nurseries with no colour, those bland Grey's and soft browns...

Like
Gardens full of flowers, particularly scented ones.... Honeysuckle, lavender, rosemary, lemongrass.... Allowed to grow a bit free and
Cast iron fireplaces
Painted brick walls
Rough, stucco (?) Plastered walls painted in neutral wash colours
Rooms with quirky angles and little alcoves
Wisteria growing around doors and windows
Lawn daisies
Good quality laminate flooring

I went to a clients house recently and was very forward see st how close we cal and impersonal it was. It felt like a waiting room. She enthusiastically told me( without me prompting) that it was faithfully modelled on some hotel they had stayed in and how much it had cost.
I really hate clutter, but that was cold.

Yes like light and space. White walls and very comfortable sofas.

I hate anything with a slogan, particularly any slogan which thinks it is funny.

I tend not to like brightly coloured rooms, or terracotta (very eighties) or all white. I like more neutral natural colours.

I like wallpaper, but not the cheap crap stuff from b&q etc, there are some beautiful high end ones out there.

I'm not a fan of rhe mass produced art from the likes of next etc and prefer something more unique. Doesn't have to cost much, you can get some great stuff for example from artists on Etsy.

I also dislike coloured bed linen it always looks washed out very quickly and a bit tacky. I prefer white.

I love wood burners, or a really good open fire. Modern fire places with fake flowers, arty piles of logs, or a cheap fake fire in don't really appeal.

I also dislike brightly coloured rugs, and tend to prefer something more neutral there too.

I like a garden that has a great seating area and lots and lots of container plants round to add interest. I also dislike plastic grass.

So I guess I like warm, bright, neutral, tonal, and nothing gaudy.

Hate:

Words on walls, cushions, fabrics*

Seasidey shite: pebbles, stupid wooden seagulls, rope knicknackery, ships' lanterns

Patterned feature walls

Faux fur

Glitter, lurex, sparkly led lights

Shiny kitchen units, that show a fingerprint for every time you touch them

Grey with a "pop of colour"

Metro tiles (unless you're ironically channelling a 1950s public bog vibe lol)

Glass or mirror topped tables

Likes:

Wood

Mid-century classic Ercol

Arts and Crafts movement

Natural stone

Things that look like they've been in the family for generations

Design that is functional

Knole sofas

Open fires and woodburners

*Although when this first became a thing, we contemplated having the words "live, love, laugh ... at us, because we have no fucking taste" on the wall at the top of the stairs

MarieIVanArkleStinks

I share your taste in almost every detail - not a huge fan of New England style though, and it would look weird where I live, in Craftsman territory thousands of miles from any ocean.

Dislike:
Astroturf
Paved front gardens.
Primary colours.
Full-on open plan spaces.
Lettering/words/instructions as decoration.
Family declarations - 'In this family we...'
Laminate.
TVs that are attached to a wall. I don't care what size they are
Art that is hung too high.
Breakfast bars and associated barstools that are a danger to life and limb and never comfortable.
Natural wood cupboards in kitchens unless bleached white.
Feature walls - with some exceptions.
Gaudy floral wallpaper. Orla Kiely, you have a lot to answer for.
Navy used in home decor.
Matchy matchy decor.
Vertical blinds.
The Crate and Barrel look.
Painted furniture, with a few exceptions.
Fussy window treatments, over-tailored, over-formal.
Carpets.

Likes:
Muted colours.
Colours that are chosen with regard to light and with some reference to each other. A flow of colour/tone.
High ceilings.
Mouldings.
Interior window shutters (Georgian/Victorian style).
Natural wood floors.
Cork flooring.
Quarry tiles in kitchens.
Painted cupboards and cabinets plus stand alone storage in kitchens.
Nooks and crannies.
Basements.
Bay windows.
Sun room or sun porch.
Mud rooms.
Utility rooms.
Indoor plants.
Bookcases, and lots of books.
Older furniture - rustic is nice imo.
Bird motifs.
Runners on stairs.
Rugs.
Scandinavian style in general.
Lamps instead of ceiling lights or sconces.

I know there are more..

Gardens:
Need trees and shade, a veggie patch, a fruit tree or bushes, real grass, somewhere to sit, eat, winding paths, a pond, steps