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?

@LifeinPieces21 @Benjispruce3 thank you! We’ve lived in flats for several years previous to this and having outdoor space again is so nice. Mind you now we have a whole house to clean and tidy and so much more to keep on top of with maintenance...so it’s swings and roundabouts, I guess!

Garden bars - so cringe

I am in the market for sofas, and was thinking velvet. What kind of velvet is OK??? Please post pics of unacceptably crushed velvet?? I have seen pics from posh interiors folks (House & Garden/Architectural Digest sort of thing) of drawin' rooms bedecked with velvet sofas, even corduroy. Help me avoid an MN faux pas, I beg you!

@Shodan

Interiors that are achingly 'cool' - eg all white/grey interiors with uncomfortable chairs etc.

Feature walls, especially those that have violently patterned wallpaper.

But...
I'm in no position to judge. I'm fondly decorating a tree stump in my front garden with 'tasteful' ornaments- a colourful gnome, a stone toadstool that's twice the size of the gnome, a metal ladybird, a cutesie stone dragon and a raft of solar fairy lights. I call it my Ode To Naffness and I will defend it to the death.

I see your gnome (Gnorman?) and raise you a light up toad. (Ptolemy)

Grey decor coupled with blush pink accessories seems to be an obsession at the moment. I know of quite a few people with houses done out like this. One of them has even had her house painted grey outside and grey window frames to match, grey flooring throughout too. Bit much if you ask me!

Where can I buy a hot choc station? Oh, and I'd have a sauna (banya, please) and hot tub in a second!

(No idea why people have gotten so offended on here BTW. WHO CARES?)

DH has threatened to install astro (the technology is improving doncha know??) We have plenty of dusty books and inherited furniture tho.

I dont actually get people who 'replace the sofa.' Ours have to last.

Public toilet tiles - the oblong ones , - in a kitchen , along with dark grey or ANY grey shade kitchens, barstools, breakfast bars,. Hate all of that

You can’t go far wrong with a velvet sofa if you avoid crushed velvet! @Tightwad2020 Although they’re not the most practical if you have kids.

Dark green, navy and dusky pink velvets are in favour now

Yes. !! We only just binned sofa bought in the 1930 s. !!
It's probably a record at 90 years old .
Was beyond repair with springs hard at one side and away down and low and too soft the other. But my son loved playing with his toy cars on it,going up and down. 'the hills',. Bless

ThePluck - a couple of the things on your list sound pretty trendy. If you wait long enough, it all comes back around...

So, it was @Benjispruce3 creeping around my yard last night 😂. On a separate note, what's wrong with family photos? A home with only bought pictures has a really odd hotel type feel to me.

We have vertical blinds in the lounge. They are naff but the window is 4metres x 2 metres in a south facing and they are the only thing that works for us to keep the sun out. In the evenings when it is too dark to close the curtains, they work as we would be on display. We have a nice view overlooking a stream and park so want to be able to see it.
I would love Venetians but I can’t afford them for the size of window we have and they would have to be separate blinds, on a wonky walled window so it would never be level.

As a social scientist (not) I have examined the thread in detail up to now.

Most hated is fake turf.

I tend to agree. But then I think of friends in cities with tiny gardens (think 100 sq ft max) who work away a lot and see why they did it. Or elderly/disabled people who can't use a lawnmower easily.

I wish wildlife charities would fight back with an affordable eg soak through matting covered with gravel. At least the rain gets through. It would be great if they proposed this also for people who concrete over their front gardens for parking.

Rant over.

Astro Turf. Awful. Environmental disaster. Terrible for wildlife. Looks nasty.
Horse shoes turned in to bowls and other hideous household objects.

It’s a bit of a funny word that one since it’s just slang and most of the time it’s not really used correctly on threads like this anyway.

I don't think the term 'naff' is being used incorrectly by most people on this thread..

Definition of naff
British, informal
: lacking in style or good taste : vulgar and unfashionable
I was going to get a pair of leather jeans as well, but it was too expensive and anyway, leather pants look naff, as I discovered later.
— Melvin Burgess, Smack, 1996

1. ADJECTIVE
If you say that something is naff, you mean it is very unfashionable or unsophisticated. [British, informal] The music's really naff....naff 'his and hers' matching outfits

I agree with whoever said those bizarre little unnaturally-green balls people hang outside their houses instead of hanging baskets, and which are presumably meant to resemble trimmed privet. Especially as they fade to being a kind of luminous turquoise.

My (lovely) SIL has a number of large wooden figurines depicting smiley black cooks, the men in chefs' hats, the women in headwraps and long dresses and aprons. God knows where she got them, they're like something from a museum of offensive Jim Crow-era African-American memorabilia. She got a new kitchen last year, and I hoped they would be ditched, but they were lovingly replaced in the shiny grey expanses of the new kitchen...

You’d all love my house the ! It’s an old lady’s bungalow that hasn’t been touched since it was built. I’ve had fun with mould but the crowning glory is the wallpaper. I got it off in two rooms but the main bedroom… pale pink with swirly patterns etched into the walls!
Electricity original box.
Those old style faux glass pendant light shades with huge bulbs..
A blue bathroom suite (turquoise I suppose).
Loads of conifers and sculpted bush things.
I’ve dealt with the garden because the whole thing needs to be renovated and extended.
Sometimes I think I’m going mad

I think Mediterranean gardens with bright blue pots etc, only look good in Mediterranean countries where the light is totally different.

And I rarely think that home painted garden murals and home made mosaic table tops look good I'm afraid. Ditto painted terracotta pots.

@didireallysaythat

Wicker hearts hanging from cupboard handles. Just why?

Could be to put some moth repellant in?

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow

I will defend anyone having reproductions anyway@PyongyangKipperbang. If you love a painting, have it on your wall. A love of a piece of art is joyous, even if you can't afford the original Botticelli 😉

Thank you. I have a copy of Van Gogh's "Starry Night over the Rhone" framed and hanging in my living room. I love that painting, and could never afford the 200-300 MILLION dollars to purchase the original. I smile every time I look over at it.

@Spandrel

It’s a bit of a funny word that one since it’s just slang and most of the time it’s not really used correctly on threads like this anyway.

I don't think the term 'naff' is being used incorrectly by most people on this thread..

Definition of naff
British, informal
: lacking in style or good taste : vulgar and unfashionable
I was going to get a pair of leather jeans as well, but it was too expensive and anyway, leather pants look naff, as I discovered later.
— Melvin Burgess, Smack, 1996

1. ADJECTIVE
If you say that something is naff, you mean it is very unfashionable or unsophisticated. [British, informal] The music's really naff....naff 'his and hers' matching outfits

I agree with whoever said those bizarre little unnaturally-green balls people hang outside their houses instead of hanging baskets, and which are presumably meant to resemble trimmed privet. Especially as they fade to being a kind of luminous turquoise.

My (lovely) SIL has a number of large wooden figurines depicting smiley black cooks, the men in chefs' hats, the women in headwraps and long dresses and aprons. God knows where she got them, they're like something from a museum of offensive Jim Crow-era African-American memorabilia. She got a new kitchen last year, and I hoped they would be ditched, but they were lovingly replaced in the shiny grey expanses of the new kitchen...

I know what the definitions are. I’ll explain what I was referring to later (if I can be bothered).

Plenty of the things mentioned on this thread can rightly be called naff. Quite a few aren’t actually naff at all. But I also wasn’t talking about this thread in isolation, which is why I said ‘threads like this’.

(But I should have said ‘much of the time’ instead - I’ll give you that! )

@70isaLimitNotaTarget

How about this ?

You'd spend longer cleaning the tank than you would the entire bathroom

Arethose real fish?

That's bliddy cruel - they'll be f*cking terrified every time someone washes their hands to cleans their teeth!

And how do they get enough oxygen?

FISH ARE LIVING, FEELING CREATURES!

@TheBullfinch

I think the problem is that the contents of your house doesnt always reflect your own taste.

Well meaning but misguided friends and family are responsible for some of the questionable items in my house but I cant bear to get rid of them for fear of offending the giver.

One drawback of having a minimalist style is that well meaning people mistake it for poverty and give 'stuff' as gifts because "your house is so bare." I've learned to live with the Ladro figurine but had an unfortunate mishap with the Clarice Cliffe vase.

I would have had my accident the other way round.

I’m a bit mortified you broke a Claris Cliff vase.

It’s outside, not in - a house not far from us with very obviously fake blue-ish flowers in hanging baskets, that have been there for a couple of years, inc. all through 2 winters. I walked past earlier and saw that they’ve stuck another lot of fake dahlias etc. in tubs outside.

This is a house that would go on the market for £1m+.