To ask your interior design hates

[Pleasehelpimexhausted]

For me it’s got to be those massive bloody clocks made up of parts which get stuck to the wall. We’re house hunting at the moment and they’re in almost every kitchen. Those and navy walls nearly always coupled with wicker furniture and cheese plants - it feels like such a ‘done’ look now.

Interested to hear yours!

Interior walls painted with a high gloss / exterior paint. Looks freezing cold and so unwelcoming. Often found in teenage bedrooms :D

I can't stand the cooker hob on the island, and hate the sink even more on it.

I hate display shelves that have kitchen ornaments sticky from kitchen fumes and grease...

Agree. They are such social spaces. In My kitchen we have a sofa, an armchair and a dining room table with 8 chairs , yet still, when we have company or even when it’s just us all hanging out, everyone always stands round the island!

Yes, exactly my point about carpets if you live in flats. One of my friends has a third floor flat in a private block but has to have carpet as it is stipulated in the lease.

I like metro tiles. Don't have them because we've never redone a bathroom or kitchen or anywhere you'd put them, always just lived with what previous owners put in, but I'd like to use them someday.

I also love a massive clock. Ours is not made of different bits but it is the big ikea one you usually see in offices and waiting rooms. I accept it's a weird choice but I really like it for some reason.

Watch out for the shade of blue. It can make a room feel cold.

Someone has already mentioned them - the dining chairs with the handle/door-knocker-style ring on the back. I hate the look of them, too but I get that handle is to stop the fabric getting marked by mucky fingers which isn't such a bad idea.

My top interior design hates in no particular order:

• grey/silver/crystal/crushed diamante, usually coupled with those static-creating rugs that look as though they were created from one of Liberace's old stage coats
• glass dining tables - having had two of the bastards, never again, such a pain to keep clean all the time
• bi-fold doors - so impractical because, unlike a window, you can't just leave them open a crack for air throughout the day during the colder months
• vertical blinds - office 'chic'?
• accent chairs - no fucker ever uses them, what's the point?
• massive, oversized pieces of furniture too big for the space they've been placed in / rooms with all the furniture pushed back against the walls
• coffee tables in the middle of the room where you can't each them to put your tea or glass of wine down, ditto lack of side tables, I don't want to clutch onto my glass of sauv blanc until it's warm, thanks.
• massive tellies, cinema surround sound speakers - ugly bloody tech, generally
• framed football shirts, prints/photos of racing cars, those pictures of massive cocktail glasses with crushed crystals being poured into them, canvas studio portraits/'boudoir' portraits
• fibre-stuffed cushions - how are they comfortable? They rebound like stress balls
• fleece and polyester blankets/throws - electric shocks a-go-go (for me, anyway)
• reed diffusers, air fresheners and overpowering scented candles everywhere - strong smells like this make me feel like I'm suffocating in a haze of chemicals
• exposed divan bases with no valance / lack of headboard leading to lovely oily marks on the wall above the bed... mmmmm!
• poppy/sunflower-patterned anything
• sofas and armchairs with 'mean' seat space. Tiny little dolls house-sized furniture that isn't made for ample bottoms.
• 'Georgian' or other period style interior doors in new builds, indeed in anything that isn't Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian etc. The 'Georgian' panelled doors in my 1920s bungalow are getting kicked to the kerb any day now.
• floor tiles (especially of the glossy variety) in British living rooms - this isn't Marbella.
• lilac painted walls
• carpet/carpet tiles in bathrooms and kitchens
• those poxy storage things that go around pedestal wash basins - fugly, and usually thick with dust towards the back where you never use any of the stuff stored there

I could go on all day.....

I dislike these threads because it's always sneery about stuff other people have got. Trends change all the time and nice ones end up being ubiquitous, these date. So what?

It's really environmentally unsound to throw out stuff just because you want new.

I hate everything because I am boring 😂 I have wooden floors throughout (my biggest splurge) and everywhere is painted moonlight white. Boring. I like nick nacks and books. Lots and lots of books, sorry! I thought walls and floors should be neutral because of this.
I do dream of an island though and my kitchen will be the next big splurge, i will fit an island in there no matter what! Islands are the gathering spot and I love that about them.
Edited to add my house is very very old.

I had grey long before it became fashionable. I wanted the lounge walls white, everywhere else is. I would love everything white very scandi.DH didn't,so it's pale grey. It's a tiny open plan bungalow. I've also got metro tiles, they aren't 1970, been in the underground for donkeys years. Kitchen is tiny at the end of the living room,so everything has to be pared down. The tea/coffee/sugar canisters are stackable (no space) you want to know what is in what. Me I can't stand walking into a cottage or older property, and they have an ultra modern highly fitted kitchen,souless!

Fascinating thread.

Haven't made it though every every post in detail, but so far it looks like every single possible thing you could have in your house is hated by someone!

Too open plan v not open enough
Plants v no plants
Modern kitchens v traditional kitchens
Wooden worktops v quartz/granite

🤔

I love metro tiles too

@IamwhoIsayIam tell me more (photos?) about this bannister bookshelf thing... might be able to do that as its not a place I use a wheelchair (I do still need a handrail though)...

I love metro tiles too and me shiny new kitchen has them (I mean I had the choice of metro tiles with white grout and metro tiles with grey grout, the tile colour choice was white or white so it's a good job I do like them!).

They make me think much more of the Underground than they do public toilets. Possibly because I have neither lavvy nor urinal in my kitchen 🙄

Pampas grass and Fortnum & Mason picnic baskets anywhere other than being used for a picnic.

Ivory metro tiles,grey grout,shock horror!!

Oh god.

I hate grey. I painted my walls in F&B 'Peignoir', because I wanted that 'hint of pink'.

I got grey.

I think the only thing I really don't like / don't understand is when someone's house looks like a they bought the whole shop, ie went out and bought everything in the showroom at Next or John Lewis, including 'art' for the wall, rugs, cushions, nick nacks. Nothing of their own, all brand new and nothing personal.

I was thinking that. Would much rather be talking about what people like or love, rather than hate!

Brown pleather sofas and Live Laugh Love wall art. I have an irrational hatred of both, to the point that I refuse to stay in AirBnBs that have them.

The colour yellow.

High gloss & brushed steel, minimalist kitchens that look like a Soviet abattoir.

Flimsy, ply-wood panelling in new builds. Ick.

Do you get into your house via osmosis?😂

You don’t have to have them fully pulled back or not at all

Wallpapered feature walls, brightly coloured feature walls

Mirrored furniture, eg cupboards, bedside lockers

Glass top tables

Crushed velvet anything

Grey laminate flooring

very loud wallpaper in small rooms, very loud wallpaper full stop…..in fact just wallpaper, most are just too fussy

Anything too blingy

Rooms that are too cluttered eg, vases and trinkets that serve no purpose or have any sentimental value

Everyone has different taste though

Red walls or red microwave, kettle etc 🤮🤮

I think a lot of the sneery-ness on here is a symptom of the British obsession with old money. In other countries no one looks down on new or matching things, but in Britain there is a type of person who looks down on those who haven't inherited their furniture and have to buy things that are new. I think a lot of this about middle class people trying to look as though they come from money vs those who are just doing their best to furnish their home with new belongings on a budget.

Also, if your house is small or not exactly a luxury home, then you may feel the need to update it more often to add a bit of cheer or to keep things fresh. These homes are also probably a bit more likely to reflect trends. This wouldn't seem as necessary in a bigger property already filled with expensive/ important / interesting possessions.

If I had a smaller place, I probably would be more inclined to make regular changes and try out trends. I completely understand that.

I seem to he the only person who likes mirrored wardrobes. I've had then in the last three places I've lived.
They make the room look twice the size and a lot brighter. My bedroom is always very tidy though otherwise it just looks twice as messy, and I have a patterned wall, white furniture and bedding, plus a fancy throw and matching cushions on the bed.
I 😍 my bedroom.

Ok I give in.
Off to Google metro tiles🤣🤣🤣🤣