Why are so many houses so similar?

[PoorOldCat]

I get updates from rightmove every day and I think about 90% of the houses have really similar interiors.

Everyone seems to have laminate floor, brown leather sofas, the ubiquitous 'feature wall' in some awful oversized floral pattern, steel and black framed things and huge tellys. And the kitchens and bathrooms all seem to be the P shaped shower bath and the varying shades of beige tiles.

I don't understand why, it's like looking at a display in B&Q over and over again. It's so ugly. But most of all it's so dull.

Do people like this stuff or is it just fashion, which no one really likes aside from the fact it makes your house look identical to other people's?

Finding a house to be proper nosey at, that has some sort of identity of its own is hard work.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to do or why it pisses me off so much, and I certainly don't want to offend anyone who does like their house this way...all the agents seem to say these are beautifully presented and will be very popular, so maybe it is just me who hates it, in which case, I'll take the flack

But why is it so popular to have your house like this? Because I just don't understand.

Some friends have just built their own house and I went there friday night It is gorgeous very minimal but he is an antique dealer and painter and they have old pieces in the big white space and it looks great. I generally renovate and re design old period houses but always very modern kitchens and about 80% contemporary furniture and art. The contrast looks great. It is about colour and proportion.

I don't buy house magazines anyone and criticised a couple upthread. But one, The World of Interiors, was good. Really good. I don't know whether it still exists though.

Not that you could afford anything in it, if you could even find it. It showed homes from heaps of countries in heaps of styles with lots of colour and creativity. I had it on order for two years in the later noughties and wish I'd kept the back copies.

I don't think money is much of a pre requisite to style. Time and energy are, plus willingness to " keep at it", plus some creativity.

I think you also need to develop a bit of an " eye" to spot cheap stuff, and look at ebay etc.

yes yes to time and energy. we have been looking for the right sideboard at right price for months and months

It is funny how people with laminate & brown leather sofas are sheep in identikit houses following the crowd. But people with period features and old furniture are so original & creative.

Get real, you are all following the crowd, it is just you have chosen different crowds to follow. World of Interiors v Real Homes magazine, if you will.

I don't agree Ithaka.

Some of us aren't actually following any 'crowd' - whereas the popular style you find in many homes is just that, it's a crowd thing, a fashion and a lot of people want to be like everyone else I think.

Some people are very determined to be 'edgy' and 'different' and 'unique' - I kind of fall between those I think. I like the stuff I like, whether or not it's 'in' at the moment.

I don't think that is really following any particular crowd. Not that it matters...as I said, some people value similarity to other folk and some don't.

But it does make looking at house after house after house that's been decorated in that way, a bit dull after a while.

It's all wank that will be replaced by other wank in 6 months time. Decorate your house how you want and stop using your supposed taste to sneer at others. That only shows you up as the pretentious twat you so clearly are.
There endeth the sermon

I don't follow interior design "fashion". I am not interested. I just want something that is practical and looks nice. Interior design magazines and sections in other magazines devoted to interior design bore me rigid.

I don't like brown, I don't like laminate floors for living areas and I loathe beige. And having grown up in a house that looked like a museum I hate antiques.

What does that make me?

If you decorate your house in an edgy, different or unique style because that's your personality and your own sense of style then that's fine. But anyone decorating their house like that in an attempt to be seen to be unique and edgy is just a dick.
There can't be that many people living in houses decorated by the next catalogue who absolutely hate the way they've decorated it, so they must like it. And if they like it how can it be wrong?

I have two Next settees.

Am I banned from mumsnet?

Disclaimer: I bought them because I didn't like any of the other settees around and they were a better fit in my living room - and they offer a really wide range of colours. Oh, and I don't have anything else from Next other than a T-shirt and a pair of trousers.

Don't apologise Bun, why should you?
If I had the kind of friends that judged me for my sofa, I'd get new friends.

Actually, my friends love my settees. They go with the colour scheme (not grey, brown or beige )

Uh, thanks Katie.

Fashion is just that I have been redesigning since 1999 and the basic shell and style has remained unchanged. Then fill it with things you love.

I think it depends where you live. In this bit of Gloucestershire "the look" is all shabby chic, farrow and ball, stupid clocks without surrounds and bloody bunting everywhere.It all looks so twee and now very dated but the locals seem to love it.

I have never used Farrow and Ball paint. What is so special about it? I only ever hear about it on here. In RL people just use Dulux or Crown (like I do).

According to ds's father who is a tosser tosher, it has layers to it, like a sort of ephemeral effect, like the light goes through it. Sort of thing.

Because of how it is made? I guess. He said it's like the difference between real wood and laminate, or something like that anyway.

I don't use it - I have a couple of old second hand bashed tins I might try out at our new house that cost a fiver.

Dead mouse and Old rope

I hate the fakey clocks. Can I say that without being a pretentious twat?

Bunbaker: I think the most important thing with sofas is night what they look like but whether they are comfy!

Our living room boasts two mid-1980s behemoths in navy leather (my parents bought them when I was a kid). They're seriously ugly and a bit tatty one but super comfy. In the past, friends have asked if I would donate them to them should I ever buy new ones because they are so comfy. They obviously don't care that they aren't 'stylish'. We'll probably keep them so long they'll come back into fashion.

I don't like F and B much- it's very grey. I used Dulux and home brands for years and year.

But I do like Fired Earth now I have found it, and really weirdly, it actually feels different, but to use, and when dry.

Think some people are missing the point of this thread... It's not sneering or judging peoples taste, it's just commenting that there are a couple very popular looks that are so ubiquitous that it makes some houses seem identikit.

Some of the looks that I see and find quite unoriginal are: shabby chic ("farmhouse" kitchen, distressed painted furniture, fucking bunting everywhere), scandi chic (it's all white and so very calming and relaxing) and next at home (beige carpets, brown leather sofas, mass produced prints of views that you've never been too). Personally I find any of these looks really boring and unoriginal, but I would never judge anyone for them, unless they proudly proclaimed "look at my interior design cleverness". If you like it, that's fabulous, but don't pretend you came up with the idea yourself!

Ithaca, when I was reading W of I, it wasn't all period houses. At all.

I think you have a point though about chasing the period look being crowd following. Even though you were a bit rude.

Fired earth paint is just a sheer joy to paint with, it's like putting silk on the wall.

I live in a 60's house and it is difficult to avoid the boring trap, I have achieved it in some rooms but in others I just didn't have the budget and frankly next/b&q is the only option. Those rooms are bloody boring though.

Thank you, What - I appreciate that. I think sometimes people read what they want to read to enable them to have a pop at the perceived enemy.

It doesn't matter. I'm not great at understanding the bigger picture. Wish people didn't resort to name calling though.