Naff things in other people's houses (Tongue in Cheek)

[pinkpapaya]

I know that it is a question of each to his own etc but what do you find naff in other people's homes? I was invited round to neighbour's today to gawp at their new gas barbecue that is the size of a Challenger tank. They were terribly proud of it and the husband was lovingly caressing it whilst the wife was squealing in anticipation of all the hot sausage her man was going to serve her! All I could think was 'Why? Why? Why?' What do you find naff in other people's homes and why?

What a lovely garden!

It takes a lot of work to create such a beautiful thing.

Really chuckling at the idea that people who have lots of house plants are trying to prove something. 😆

Books?? Books are naff? I don’t think so...books are the cornerstones of civilisation!

Let’s see...what might be considered naff in my house...

Books, apparently ✔️
Ornaments (Danish design classics, tbf) ✔️
Grey tiles in bathroom ✔️
A table full of house plants in the bay window ✔️
Faux branches in vase in dining room ✔️
The kitchen blind (it’s really quite naff - it was a misguided purchase and when it arrived it wasn’t at all what we thought it was. We don’t want to pay out for another one just now, so it’s staying for the foreseeable future). ✔️
Sofa from IKEA - is that naff or not, I don’t know, but it’s certainly not John Lewis. However when we get another it’ll likely be a vintage leather chesterfield. ✔️

Hmmmm, anything else? I have candles everywhere (another very danish thing), but I don’t think that could be considered naff...I’ve got a rather kitsch 1970s wall clock in the kitchen, and I’ve got faux plants in the bathroom (because I haven’t yet been able to get some actual plants that would be happy in there due to the specific constraints).

I have a platic flamingo but anymore than 1 is a flocking disgrace.

I don’t really understand the hate for toilet brushes... how do you clean your toilet without one? Just shove your hand down there with a sponge or something?! Disgusting!! And you know you can buy toilet brushes that come in a holder so you can’t actually see the brush, right?

Oh wait... or are you so high above the rest of us that you have a cleaner come round with their own toilet brush to scrub yours?

People so obsessed with DIY so there house is never finished looks tacky to me (finish one job before starting another and dont do it if your going to change your mind in 3 weeks) and yet seems to be so commom. My house might be straight out of 1993 (which some find tacky but I like the comfort of feeling like childhood) but at least I dont have patchy plastered walls and mismatched off cuts of laminate flooring mixed with concrete floor etc...

I agree with PP too many family photos so they take up the whole space looks awful - less is more.

Too much of a 'collection' of anything... for example someone has 2 large display cabinets in a tiny living room packed with 140 dusty novelty teapots.

Brown... just 'Brown', like brown based patern carpets, brown sofa, brown curtains theres something so depressing about everything being brown (its like photos of every house in the 80s lol).

I also agree with huge flat screen tvs and of course live laugh love or sparkle or prosseco based signs.

Mirrored furniture too, so impractical and in theory I should like it but in reality its just overkill.

Pine... I really hate pine, it just reminds me of cheap argos furniture as a kid.

Glasses that have been nicked from the pub

I have a LOT of family photos everywhere - they genuinely make me smile every time I look at them. They’re far more joyful and precious than any piece of art I could ever buy and they’re my favourite possessions.

Didn’t know that was something SS looked for though.

@Lottielovescake I don’t think it is. Don’t believe everything on MN!

Kitchen islands (vom)
Hot Tubs (see above)
Inspirational Wall Art
Beds at jaunty angles
Horizontal blinds (vertical are fine)
"animal statues" or pillars around the porch

@Poorlykitten

People who plant only white plants in their garden. 😉

I just love white plants and flowers. It looks so fresh and cool.

Kitchen islands are hardly vomit inducing!

Love the idea of houseplants trying to prove something

Kitten my dislike of houseplants isn'r a "proving" thing . My DMum was a hoarder (and still has hoarder tendancies but she's in Res Care now)

She collcted things to excess and as long as thy fotted the colection she had them . No matter how fugly .

Cruet sets/teapots/cookbooks/bibles/plants/clocks
All her collections along the years .Every surface covered . Shelves built everywhere to house them

So loads of hpuseplants makes me claustrophobic not calm.
In a garden, I love plants .

@FurrySlipperBoots

It’s seen as a huge positive if photos are displayed as shows that there’s a positive family image and they will count to see all children have roughly an equal photo presence in the home.

Oh god, that's given me flashbacks to a family I worked with briefly who had, maybe 10 or so framed pictures of their little boy around the house, but absolutely none of his daughter from a previous relationship. When she came to stay it was just in 'the spare room' with no effort whatsoever to make it feel like her space. Hideous.

There way more photos of me than my sibling at my parents dispite the fact Im a black sheep and definately not the golden child lol.

Reason for the photo variation is simple:

1. I was a first child so lot of photos taken for sheer novelty purpose.

2. we where born over a decade apart, annual studio photos with pictures to hang on the wall was the done thing when I was young but it was all digital pocket cameras and holiday style snaps by a decade later.

All the photos are me aged 0-9 and proffesional after that photos just seemed to stop (in line with my theory and dates of photo tech changing).

I dont think number of photos really prove anything, there more photos of my oldest than my youngest purely because he has existed longer.

I dont need 10 photos of a 2 year old who has been in lockdown doing next to nothing nearly all his life on display but 10 photos of my 13 year old shows different life stages (baby photo, first school photo, photo when he was a page boy, photo when he first met sibling etc...) and makes sense.

I pass a garden with only white flowers on my drive to work and it looks beautiful . I only like white, purple and pink flowers so that’s all I plant in mine.

Wind chimes. My DP has one with fish on. I was hoping it would be ‘lost’ in our recent move but before I could see it through he pulled it triumphantly from a box and said “Better put this up!” and marched into the garden 😱

Oh man you lot would hate my house!
Cushions
Hot tub
Feature walls
Artificial grass
Tbh the grass was essential as our garden was like a bog and the kids couldn’t use it. I do personally prefer really grass.
I love my house. It’s cosy & comfy and feels like my safe haven. I draw the line at articulate flowers though. Dust gatherers.

Lilac/purple bedrooms. Love the colour in clothes but not in paint!

Feature walls - particularly with a metallic pattern thing going on - and those plaster angels wings. Too Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

Plug in electric flame effect fires. They don’t fool anyone they are real, so why bother?

I have to admit that my style is very Scandi/minimulist which is just as marmite to others!

I see toilet brush has made it on the list. I do wonder how these people clean their poo off their toilet!?

Oh my god I forgot the ultimate item of naffness!! Of course I have a toilet brush.

I love these type of threads
I once stayed in a house in France that had a deer head on one wall.

I think people need to understand what naff means.

@languagelover96

I love these type of threads I once stayed in a house in France that had a deer head on one wall.

I once stayed in a house in France that had carpet on the bathroom ceiling!

Some “naff” things in my place are because they have nice memories for me ...l’m not on the verge of selling my house any time soon so does it matter ? There was one thing given to me as a wedding present in the past though that was just super naff...a life size ceramic Doberman dog ! Not very life like and shiny....put away in case the brother in law ( who had a matching Alsatian one in his home ) ever popped round .

i love our fake grass, doesn't die when the dog pisses on it, and can wash it when he craps.

We make up for it with a large/wide border thats full of wildflowers and blossom trees (and a lot of pottery ducks wearing wellyboots and rain hats)

My whole house would be considered naff. It was last modernised and decorated mid eighties, I've been here two years and haven't got round to doing anything to it yet. Woodchip wallpaper - painted magnolia, naturally ✔️, beige coloured bathroom suite ✔️, carpet in said bathroom ✔️, brick fireplace with horse brasses and brass coloured gas fire with fake coals ✔️, conservatory ✔️, dark wood dining room furniture ✔️, inherited hostess trolley ✔️. The only redeeming features are the naturally wild garden and no hot tub or barbecue. If the house was listed on Rightmove, I'm pretty sure someone would find it and post it on here for a good laugh. As this was my late parents' house I am perfectly comfortable in it's comforting familiarity. I am intending to modernise and redecorate when I can find some trades that are free post lockdown, In the meantime am I quite content in my naff-central house 😁.

i have to say though, i think my one 'naff' pet hate in peoples houses, is the ornate glass bowl full of stones or pot pourri on the dining table.