Interior Design Cliches and Faux Pas

Shiplap! Everything white! Farmhouse sinks! Half wooden plank bench, half industrial cheap metal chairs at the reclaimed wood oversized dining table.

Calling that 'interior design' is like calling the burlap sacks at Kohl's 'couture'.

R1, I'm sick of the all-white stuff, too

OMG! I watch a lot of HGTV and I find the following nauseating..........

STENCILED/STICKERED WALLS - with dumbass sayings like "Home", "Happiness Is Family", etc. Barf! I hear you OP!

FARMHOUSE ANYTHING - It's been done ad nauseam & IMO is such a stupid design style. Those huge "farmhouse sinks" come in handy for home cooks & people who frequently entertain but the rest is tiresome.

ISLANDS WITH OVENS - Unless you have a semi-professional sized kitchen, this is a bad design idea. It's awkward if multiple people are working in the kitchen, not to mention uncomfortable for those seated/dining at said island. My sister has an oven under her island and hosted a brunch at her place a few years back. Unfortunately, I was seated at the island and positively baked for the hour I was there.

ALL WHITE EVERYTHING - I can see wanting to start your day or work (bathroom & kitchen) in a bright & cheerful space but Jesus Christ! There has to be a better way to do it than white on white on white on white on white! How bland!

GOLF COURSES IN THE BACKYARD - To be sure, this is an obscure one. I usually find Alison Victoria's design work exquisite, but she committed this faux pas on a recent episode of "Rock The Block". I couldn't believe my eyes. It was so gaudy.

The farmhouse stuff can look good if it's done right, but 90% it looks cutesy and fake

I agree R5. Now that I think about it, I do like some of it. But (as you noticed), it occasionally gets kitschy and reminds me of something like a Crackle Barrel general store.

I just watched an interior designer "chop" a sofa pillow to give it the dent in the top of the pillow. That went out of style years ago.

All-white rooms, so boring!

All white kitchens with stainless steel appliances. Who wants to eat or cook in an operating room.

Books placed backward on a shelf, so that the spines are hidden. You have to pull out every book to find the one you want to read.

Books arranged according to color.

Gigantic TVs in the living room.

1000 pillows on the bed or sofa.

Accent walls that don't blend with the room's color scheme.

Farmhouse decor, unless you live on a real farm. Same with a southwestern decor, unless you live in the southwest.

Man cave decor. Enough with the self-built bar, the beer signs and football everything.

Barbie pink rooms for adults. Also, keeping your childhood stuffed animals on your bed after a certain age.

Tiny rugs in a huge room.

OP—those are not art pieces.

The ones that really bother me are the “family is everything” themed signs for the house. Each one more treacly than the last. Most of them are children-based, although some are about how you would just die for your siblings, and you constantly live in each others’ pockets.

Meanwhile, out here in the real world, I keep reading about how Qanon people are blithely throwing their families away without a care in the world, over Qanon. Today, I read one Qanon woman told a formerly dear, but now vaccinated friend: “you are dead to me, you should be in the ground,” because she had the vaccine. That’s the real status quo of all the “family and friends are everything, you’re nothing without them” propaganda. Pushing the idea that your relationships are supposed to be perfect “like everyone else’s,” when we know that’s not true, seems like it’s bound to make more people than not feel let down.

I kind of like those feel-good quotes, a nice soothing contrast to all the negativity we all face "outside".

What I don't like are the too busy rooms where too many patterns fight to be the dominant focus. Even the most accomplished interior designers fail at that IMHO.

The line between an actual living space and a cold and clinical hotel lobby, showroom isn't that thin. It's your place, be bold and show some personality.

Open kitchens.

Rooms that look more like hotel lobbies than a home.

Self conscious minimalism. It is fine if you genuinely don't like stuff, but the pretentious, self-righteous minimalism is just boring.

"Eclectic" design- truly eclectic belong to individuals with strong personalities. It is not something provided by an interior designer. Interior designed "eclectic" always looks like a furniture store mishmash.

Curtains gathered on oversized grommets. Shower curtains belong in a bathroom, not a living room.

Homes that are one big child's space- Personally, I am all for bring back the living room that is for adults only. I so tired of homes that are completely designed around children.

Anything fake or overdone- no design style is bad. The problem with design styles such as Farmhouse or French Provincial is that they are caricatures of the real thing. They are the drag queens of interior design.

Accessories that are just for show- The obvious example for DL are the carefully stacked books that are never read, but it could be any of the man-tiques such as a glass jar of vintage billiard balls if you don't play billiards or the vintage fishing creel if you don't fish.

I will add one more:

Childish art- One of the talking heads for Axios has a painting or print of stylized forest animals above the fireplace. Fine for a child's room, but that is not art for adults. Unless you actually write children's books or seriously collect children's books, you should not own any art that looks like an illustration for a children's book.

[quote] Barbie pink rooms for adults.

My otherwise-drab and still half-decorated room has one deep Ranjali/candy-pink wall, the one beside my bed. I painted it that colour in a fit of depressive pique, when I really needed cheering up and to do something out of character. It was only meant to be temporary, but now I find I’m quite fond of it. It warms up my tiny cold room, and cheers me up to look at.

That said, taste does concern me, and I’d like to find a stylish way to decorate around it. I’m thinking muted bedlinen in a moody colour, or some abstract art in a heavy frame? I already have dark wood furniture and books around. Obviously going industrial would look silly in a country bungalow, but I need to make the space more masculine somehow...

R7 - I agree about 1000 pillows. Unnecessary fluff and a pain in the ass. Don't use pillows to give your room some texture and design - fucking do it with your bedding, walls, etc.

It's the laziest and most anger-inducing design trick for me. And inevitably all the pillows go....where exactly? ON THE FLOOR. There's no other place to put them all.

Oh and having multiple rugs on top of each other. WHY? It's a trip hazard and if you can't get one rug to bring the room together, two or three isn't going to do it either.

Open cabinets or shelves in the kitchen. It's fine to have one, but I don't want to see your bowls.

I also hate the Tuscany style of the 90's and 2000's - from the backsplash to floor tiles to the paint effect on walls and the tapestry-based furniture. STOP! It looks like an Olive Garden threw up in a house. It's like something out of a Disney film.

Pasta fillers - a seriously unnecessary design element. People were filling pots with water with no problem and carrying it to the stove for thousands of years.

Open floor concept. Give me fucking walls, you cheap builder bastards!

Huge panoramic windows instead of walls. Fuck that! If I want a view I step out of the balcony and enjoy the scenery from there.

Give me decent sized furniture that fits with the room's proportions. Don't give me the crap about the need to make the room look bigger. I want the room to be functional instead of uncomfortable to use, but looking like I live in a mansion.

Beach or aquatic themed bathrooms in houses not on the water. Ugh.

And I'm tired of the ubiquitous Edison bulbs, fiddle-leaf fig trees, and metal / wood mixtures.

There has to be some other way of creating warmth in modern living without bringing in a barn or industrial aesthetic.

I too loathe and despise industrial anything . Almost as much as I hate distressed anything.

Those so-called "sectionals" (pairing a one-armed love seat and a chaise) that everyone and his cousin is currently dumping on Craigslist.

[quote] The ones that really bother me are the “family is everything” themed signs for the house. Each one more treacly than the last.

Add me to the list of people who hate these as well.

And I especially hate the cutesy ones that frauen love, such as 'Wine is just fruit salad in a glass' or the nauseatingly religious ones like 'All I need today is a little coffee and a whole lotta Jesus', especially since a friend of mine has that last one in her kitchen, in full view while she has her morning coffee and sits on the phone and gossips about how awful some women at church are (good Christian values, right?)

I also don't understand (mostly straight) couples who put their wedding photo on prominent display. I'm not talking about a collection of photos on the piano or a mantle, but all by itself in their entryway or alone on a table. We get it dear, you snagged a man, you're not living in sin.

My partner and I had a disagreement about a photo collage. He put one together of us in various places around the world and hung it in our wall-space-limited apartment. I thought it was too showy (look at how much we travel! here we are in Istanbul!) but rather than demand he take it down, I waited until the next time we saw something we liked in a gallery and then said 'We could always take down that photo collage and put this up instead'.

Mission accomplished.

R21 - I actually like those. So you travel - good for you. Nothing to be ashamed of and a great conversation starter when you have people over. Travel doesn't have to be super expensive. I hope it finds another place in your limited space.

It's not like you drive a Mercedes and then have obnoxious Mercedes merchandise all over your house.

[quote] I hate those stupid art pieces with cutesy sayings on them like "Live, laugh, love" or "Keep calm and......"

[quote] STENCILED/STICKERED WALLS - with dumbass sayings like "Home", "Happiness Is Family", etc. Barf! I hear you OP!

[quote] The ones that really bother me are the “family is everything” themed signs for the house. Each one more treacly than the last.

[quote] I kind of like those feel-good quotes, a nice soothing contrast to all the negativity we all face "outside".

LOL. Some years back I went through a whole traumatic ordeal & had to rent a room from an older sister of mine. Said sister is the MEANEST, PETTIEST CUNT to ever cunt. And she raised her young adult children to be the same way. It was a horrible experience.

I always dryly laughed to myself in complete disgust whenever I saw the "feel good" sayings she had stickered on her staircase wall. "Home", Family Is Everything" & "Life Isn't About Waiting For The Storm To Pass....It's About Learning To Dance In The Rain". LMAO. That fucking bitch.

Any style can look good if well executed and done in moderation. I hate overdone anything.

[QUote]Barbie pink rooms for adults.

I'm not really sure what "Barbie pink" is, but I had a pale pink bedroom back in the mid-'80s that was kind of nice. I had sheets and blankets, etc., in turquoise, and it looked nice. Pink always been a color I liked, but pale only.

[R18] "Distressed everything."

I've been looking for a new living room rug for ages, and it seems that every rug shown now is the faded Oriental rug, aged to look like an antique rug. Those look so fake and cheap to me, at any price.

Also houses too full of plants. Yes, we get that you love plants, but when you have to chop your way through the jungle in the living room, you've gone too far.

Macrame anything, including hanging plant holders. They weren't attractive in the 70s, and they aren't attractive now.

Owls! Owls everywhere. Too many owls! They look slightly juvenile, too. Yes, Harry Potter was a good series, but isn't it time to move on from Hedwig and into more adult decorating schemes?

Not grouping decor items together in odd numbers, 1,3, 5, etc. This is decorating 101.

Living room walls covered in family photos. Why not move them from the living room to more private rooms in your home? Nobody really wants to see your family photos.

Not balancing size, color and proportion on gallery/montage walls.

Wallpaper borders. They were popular 30 years ago and that shit is still going on. STOP IT.

Area rugs that are too small. When in doubt, get the larger size (8 x 10 feet, instead of 5 x 7).

Reproduction art. If you can't afford original art by a listed artist, either wait until you can, or find things you like from local artists.

[quote] Reproduction art. If you can't afford original art by a listed artist, either wait until you can, or find things you like from local artists.

I disagree with this. Very few of us can afford a Van Gogh or Edward Hopper painting. If it makes you happy to look at a reproduction (not that Hopper makes you "happy"), then why not look at a poster or whatever.

GRAND MILLENIAL GENERALLY, sliding barn doors, shiplap (especially burnt or painted white), grey color schemes , Edison lights, pillows or posters with "Live. Laugh, Love" type messages, macramé wall decorations, TVs above fireplaces, that awful multicolor rectangular glass tile that's used for kitchen backsplashes, grey tile in bathrooms, subway tile(nice in certain schemes, but overused), bar carts (millennials please stop), millennial pink, those ikea drawers that makeup hoarders usually have, Target & West Elm generally, upholstered bed frames, Toile, having waaaaaay too many tropic plants.

Biedermeier mixed with 2nd Empire.

He nails it.

He's got a lot of nerve being snarky about decor faux pas, with that hideous Home Goods lamp over his shoulder.

Also I LOVE moderne LED chandeliers in working class and young poor people's aspirational decor. These people do NOT want anything old and those cheap furniture and lighting shops have great looking affordable modern lighting. Often with some whimsy and play to them.

He's just a low rent design snob. No fun at all.

I kind of late ke barn doors in he right entry.

I have a female friend who has what she thinks is "Tuscan". Godawful earth tones with lots of gold leaf, dark red accents and oversized silk flower arrangements everywhere. She buys a lot of her shit at Kirkland's. Lots of metal scroll art on the walls as well as Jesus pics (Born again catholic) and religious scriptures. Looks like a Jersey mob wife lives there.

R18 I loathe the industrial look too, its bad enough in a modern house but even worse when its imposed on an old home, just looks so wrong. Not a fan of the distressed look either but can tolerate it.

All white kitchens and other functional areas do make some sense for cleanliness (its easy to spot dirt) but keep that all white look in the kitchen and laundry, and bathrooms if you must. It doesnt belong in the lounge

R33's video is right on. That gaudy glam look - that is 100% Z Gallerie stores. And hey - I like some of it in small doses, but he's right - it looks over the top and try hard and not expensive. It ends up looking cheap in the long run.

Some of these are a matter of authenticity. The big problem with most of these trends are that they are mindless copying, but also many of the complaints about design trends are just mindless repeating something that has been heard.

We have open shelves in our kitchen, but that is because it is *our* workspace, not because we copied something in a shelter magazine. We did a lot of research, including Julia Child's kitchen. ( Julia Child intentionally designer he kitchen after a man's garage workshop with all of the "tools" hung on pegboard in plain sight.) Our Kitchen is not a public space. Our house in designed so all of the working rooms are separated from the public rooms by a passage the runs the entire length of the house. Only our closest friends are invited to the "working" side. There is nothing wrong with open shelves if they support how you cook; however, if they are just something that you have copied from a magazine, better to have cabinets.

The biggest lie in interior design is rugs. The only rule is, "all legs on or all legs off." (The exception is sofa that is against the wall in an "all legs on scenario. The back legs do not have to be on the rug since the rug should be at least 1' from the wall, but the front legs must be on the field of the rug not the border. ) Interior designers always make the rug the first purchase because it is often one of the most expensive single purchases for a room. If they are fired or the job falls through, they still get commission on a very expensive purchase. Obviously, they want it as large and as expensive as possible. This is also why one hears, "The rug will determine the colors for the room." It forces the initial purchase of the rug. In reality, nothing one walks on should have that much control of the decor. As in the case of nearly every design choice, better to have the best 5x7 you can afford than an 8x10 from Home Depot.

The other big lie in interior design is "too many legs". I don't know if one hears that as much now that mid-century modern is popular, but it used to be common. The reason is that a fully upholstered sofa or chair is generally more expensive than semi-upholstered. This is one of the problems with French Provincial decor. The reality is that decor in Provence tends to use textiles sparingly because of the heat and insects from open windows and doors. This, of course, does not benefit Pierre Deux; so they promote fully upholstered furniture and masses of pillows with double ruffles.

The other lie, that used to make me laugh was the designers that would spout, "Nobody wants to live in a museum", when it came to historic design, but would then counter with a line of line copy of a Case Study House. Just because it is from 1945+ doesn't make it any less of a museum piece.

I do think critics take "you live in a suburb" too far. If Farmhouse style is inappropriate, then so is Chinoiserie, William Morris, Danish Modern, etc. The fact is that people have always created design bubbles within their homes. I tend to make an exception to that if the design is wildly at odds with the geography or the climate. Beach house decor does not belong in the woods.

Very interesting r40.

R40 my racist homophobic grandmother has colonialist African paraphernalia all over her country cottage, in reference to the decade she spent in Kenya fifty years ago. I think it’s horrifically tacky and tone-deaf to decorate this way, as well as culturally insensitive, but visitors to her house have called it classy and pulled-together (closet racists too, I’m guessing).

Wow R40 - are you a designer? You must have some background because you know way too much for an average person. Very interesting perspective. And you were spot on - my designer had us pick out a rug first and designed around that. But it worked out very well.

What I don't understand is there is this extreme divide in American households (I don't think I've seen this as much with other countries, but I'm basing it off the US TV shows I've seen) between women's and men's taste. Men almost always tend to go for more modern and clean looks whereas women invariably want something more 'homey' and are drawn to craftsman and older homes with a lot of wood and features. Now it's farmhouse chic, before it was shabby chic.

I like built-ins and features as well but it's strange to me how American women are drawn to the traditional for homes. I've wondered if it is because women have so many style options with how they dress or that there is this maternal instinct to have a home life like their mothers and grandmothers? Men, who don't have a lot of options in how they dress, tend to want more modern elements.

I wonder if there are some conversations among women when it comes to home decor and designs that shames them into wanting these more kitschy old-school stuff. And those Live, Laugh, Love signs and cutesy family pics.

It seems particularly American.

R40

[quote]The other lie, that used to make me laugh was the designers that would spout, "Nobody wants to live in a museum", when it came to historic design, but would then counter with a line of line copy of a Case Study House. Just because it is from 1945+ doesn't make it any less of a museum piece.

Hear hear!

I want to live in a museum! My dream home would look like it has time warped from 1870, with anything modern as concealed as possible. Any such concessions to modernity will be for purely functional reasons. Fortunately the overstuffed Victorian style is pretty good at concealing things such as Wifi routers, LED bulbs etc. Even heatpumps can be hidden behind fussy ornate furnishings with a bit of ingenuity

R43, yes I was an interior designer, or as I see it, "The unnecessary for the unappreciative. " Unfortunately, I was the sort of high end designer who had to sign very thick, very restrictive non-disclosure agreements.

I am not sure how to respond to your post as it seems much of what you know comes from American HGTV type programs. Other than a few bits I saw/heard in the doctor's waiting room, I don't watch HGTV.

I will say that 90% of what you see on those programs is staged. I assume that includes the differences in the husband and wife's taste. If they were both in agreement, there would be no conflict and it would not be interesting TV.

[quote]I wonder if there are some conversations among women when it comes to home decor and designs that shames them into wanting these more kitschy old-school stuff.

Personally, I think it is the exact opposite. I believe if women were left to make their own choices, 90% would choose chintz and cabbage roses. Modern women are indoctrinated at an early age that anything "girly" or of their mother's/grandmother's time is "bad". There is a constant struggle between being a "Grrrrr-l" and just being a girl. The glitz/glam look is a good example of this. It is all hard, shiny surfaces and sharp edges. The only softness comes from comes from pastel dyed animal skins or feathers, which is more hunter/warrior than homey, cozy, nurturing, or warm.

The same is actually true of Farmhouse design. It is the design of a restaurant that wants to brand itself as "cozy" but still wants to turn tables every 30 minutes. It doesn't want to be so inviting that customer linger. In fact, a great deal of "Farmhouse" isn't farm, it is turn of the 19th/20th century industrial. The "barn doors" are usually more 1900s factory building than barn, particularly when the wood has been treated to look more like metal than wood. (In general, much of farmhouse seems to be an exercise in making warm,natural material look cold and industrial.) The cutesy sayings are more workplace motivational poster than cross stitch sampler. ( Actually, a lot of them seem to have been copied from a particularly trite T-shirt.

The reality is that most men don't care. They see food only as a source of fuel. The have no clothing sense and wear plaids with stripes. All they care about is comfort. When it comes to design, they copy what they know: an office, a gym, or a hotel. Just as in speech, men have a very limited design vocabulary. When they do have an "opinion", it isn't that they actually have an opinion, it is that they feel they are losing power and control and need to reassert themselves. (Interestingly, when I first started design, studies showed that men actually preferred feminine bedrooms. I don't know if it made them feel manly or if it reminded them of their mother.)

Women tend to have genuine opinions. Just as in speech, they have a *much* larger design vocabulary. Also, women can be very competitive when it comes to design. A great deal of their choices are based on what their friends do or do not have. Also, they tend to be very group-think. If everyone else has Farmhouse, you don't dare go in another direction unless you really want to say fuck you to everyone else.

R45 You should have stopped at your first post.

Sit down r46.

R45, go on. This is fun to read.

R40 that is incredibly pragmatic and clear-headed insight.

Can I get a bit of advice on tic? My east-facing bedroom is quite pokey, and I rent it so I can’t change the foundations—an ugly glass-panelled door, white PVC window, disgusting taupe carpet like the type they have in kids’ classrooms. It’s so tiny that my 3/4 futon bed barely fits with a small bites and sidetable. All I can really do is paint/paper the walls, add wall decor, change the light shade and lamps, and pick different linens. How can I decorate and furnish it to make it bearable to exist in?

I have some bubbles of Danish modern in my double wide.

R48, so many questions.

1. Do you rent just the bedroom or is it part of an apartment that you rent?

2. What do you do in the room? Is it just for sleeping and dressing or do you spend additional time in there? If so, what activities?

2a.. Is your futon always made as a bed or do you convert it to a sofa during the day?

3. How important is being able to bring someone home? If so, what kind of image to you want to project?

4. If you bring someone home, would he spend the night? Would he sleep on the left or right side?

5. Which side of the bed is the window? Which side of the bed is the side table? (What is a "small bites"?)

6. Is there a closet? Describe the door. Where is the closet in relation to the bed and the window?

7. Is there a door to a bathroom?

8. Is there an overhead light?

9. How is the ceiling finished? Plaster? Popcorn/cottage cheese?

10. Do you have pets?

11. How neat are you? How clean are you?

12. What is your lifestyle? Active? Sedentary? What are your interests? Do you have a design style that appeals to you?

The carpet seems OK. It is a neutral color. Is it clean? If not, get it cleaned. Similarly, clean the windows if they are not cleaned. You indicate that the landlord would allow you to paint, but can you paint? Nothing is more depressing that poorly applied paint.

Thanks so much for your questions, and advice so far R50. I really appreciate the thoughtfulness, and can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

Right, here we go then.

1. I pay rent to share a small bungalow with a distant family member, who is quite inflexible about décor. The style of the rest of the place is very 1970s emigré, beige/flocked wallpaper/brass fittings/colonial art. 2. Thanks to lockdowns and having nothing to do where I live (rural), I do hang out in my box room quite a bit. I write, work/slack on my laptop, play a bit of music (flute), or watch movies on my projector from my actual bed because there’s no room for a desk. Nowadays I even work out (Pilates/yoga) in there sometimes (recent health scare, you know£”). It’s a bit of a ludicrous untenable situation, really, but it’s all I can do for now. 2a. my futon is a mattress hybrid that does not convert. 3. Bringing someone home is not an issue, really. The family member I live with (elderly, conservative, vindictive) doesn’t know I’m gay and doesn’t know anything about my private life, and I’d like to keep it that way to make things easy on us both. Also I have a variety of minor issues (career, health, psych) I’m working through that have put my sex life on the back burner. So unless I manage a desperate clandestine midnight hookup sometime, it’s just gonna be me. 4. See above. But for reference, I’m one of those annoying people who rolls around the bed and changes position all the time. I don’t actually like sharing my bed to sleep, tbh. 5. The head of my bed is under the window, because it’s the only way it would fit in the room. The side table is on the right side as you look at it, left side as you sit on the bed. (‘Small bites’ was a typo, I meant to say ‘small bureau’ as in chest-of-drawers, which is only knee height and at the foot of the bed/across from the door). 6. There’s no closet or wardrobe because there’s no space. For clothes and storage I have a large pull-out drawer I made to go under my bed, and I use the aforementioned little bureau.

Part II to follow...

7. The bathroom of the house is right opposite my bedroom, but they aren’t connected rooms. 8. There is an overhead light, one ugly insipid LED fixture with a glass shade that is so hideous. I rarely use it, because it hurts my eyes and offends my taste. 9. Sadly the ceiling is popcorn, in a matte white. 10. We have a family dog who lives with us for the time being, a young black lab. I love him to bits, but he isn’t allowed in the bedrooms and he’s learned that as a rule. I have to hoover up his shed hair from the beige carpets in the house constantly. 11. I vacuum the house regularly and keep on top of laundry best I can while working, but honestly I am an individual who lives in clutter much of the time. Which is weird, because I don’t own much material stuff at all. There are a lot of half-finished journals and books and old laptops/tech around. I’m a bit bipolar about cleaning—one week fastidious, the next not arsed. 12. I’m trying hard to get more active (my sister is personal-training me, and I’m doing light bodyweight work often as I can), but frankly I’m a sedentary sort thanks to my interests, my personality and my work. I love to write, to listen to music and watch films, to sit around having debates over a coffee—that sort of person. If I haven’t got headphones on at some time every day, I might be dead. My favourite active thing to do is walk our dog or go on hillwalking/hikes. Recently I have pondered going back to playing recreational football (soccer) like I did as a kid, but idk if I actually will yet. Taste? I’m a late-twenty-something British lesbian, a shy goth hipster/performing arts type who....doesn’t really have a style hahah :D Interestingly, though I’ve been described as ‘futch’ and tuff, I actually don’t mind touches of feminine décor and style. I’m most attracted to and connected to a hellbilly sort of look, unapologetic and unfussy and downhome, but a bit of more polished self-aware glam or guignol or camp is fine with me too (though I’m aware those are difficult to pull off). I also think the slickness of gangster style is very cool, and I have a secret shameful liking for bougie. For context, I’ve had depression on and off for a long time, so it’s always been a struggle for me to express myself, be social and do active things (again, it’s a WIP..). I’m hoping less schlubby depressing décor could help with my sense of well-being...

Just before I moved in last October, the carpets were professionally/industrially-cleaned, and I’ve tried my best to keep them that way. Maybe it’s time for another go round, though. It’s more the texture I object to than the colour—they’re scratchy woven fabric.

My relative hires a local window cleaner she’s known forever to take care of those, and no complaints.

As for paint...I have no experience, so I assume I can’t. I don’t mind the bohemian look of slapdash paint, myself, but you’re right that it probably looks sloppy and downbeat. Perhaps wallpaper is the answer?

Cheers again, you’re a geez,

DANCE LIKE NO ONE IS WATCHING!

I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK

ROSÉ ALL DAY

Anything ruffled

I grew up on boats and I can’t stand houses with overdone cutesy nautical themes. I was at party once and the house was on a LAKE, not by the ocean, but there were cutes crabs, fish and gull knickknacks everywhere as well as old oars and lobster traps as decor. The worst were the little wooden mass produced signs that said “Kiss the Captain!” etc.

R48, First, I lived in England for three years; so, I have some point of reference. Second, you don't need interior design advice so much thereputic design advice. This isn't my expertise, but I will do my best.

1. Paint the ceiling sky blue. Very helpful for depression. Paint the walls white. White-white, not some tinted version.

2. Get rid of everything that you cannot stand. Replace it with something you love. You may have to make an effort to do this, but really make the effort. If the dresser and nightstand are make-do, replace them with something you love.

2a. If you can get rid of the overhead fixture, that would be best. In the USA there are metal plates that fit over the electrical box; so, the entire thing could just go away. Ideally, you would not have any overhead light at all.

3. Have all-white bedding. Plain white including the duvet or blanket. Not even a self stripe. Make your bed every day. If you want to air it during breakfast and then make it, that is OK, but make the bed. Do not have any throw pillows on the bed. Part of this is to make the room seem larger and part of this is so the"things you love" don't have to compete with patterned bedding. Ideally the room should showcase three or four things you really love.

3. Reduce clutter. If you do not use the journals regularly, find another place for them. Make an effort to either finish the books or move them on. Everything that you do have should have a place. Put miscellaneous small items in container or boxes. You don't sound like the type that would have every necklace that you own hanging in plain sight, but that is the sort of visual clutter that needs to be contained. Again, you don't want the things you love competing with clutter. (If you must have numerous books and journals, consider making dust jackets for them so they have a more uniform look. When buying journals, always buy the same style and color.)

5. Plants. They may help you sleep and they help fight depression. If the door is centered on the wall, have narrow white shelves with plants in white pots on either side. If not have he shelf on the longest side. The shelf should be 2.5-3 feet from the ceiling (above eye level) and 4-6 inches deep. There should be a few trailing plants. Variegated leaves are fine,but green should dominate. No flowering plants.

6. Get a length of sari fabric, something with a metal thread and preferably white or beige. Drape this over the curtain rod. It will soften the edges of the window. Change the drape periodically to change the look. It is a small thing but will reduce the monotony of the room.

7. Do not have anything on the walls other than the selves for plants. Anything, even a mirror will only make the room seem smaller.

My partner's aunt was the same way r23, tons of "life is a bowl of cherries" and "love with all your heart" stuff on the walls, yet the meanest, nastiest, most terrible human being I've ever known in my life. She was a nurse at a university clinic and forced into retirement after too many complaints from students she'd insulted and refused to treat, just out of plain meanness.

She's dead now though so that's something!

You know where farmhouse decor works?

In a real farmhouse where the inhabitants would laugh to hear their belongings called "decor."

For me, anything Tudor sends me into a frothing fit.

And beamed ceilings anywhere. So wrong.

I know this ain't interior design, but people with Tudor crap do tend to like their Mediterranean furnishings, abominably.

R54 said a mouthful! I cannot agree enough about getting rid of stuff you are don’t really like or are ambivalent towards. Less really is more. My mom started to hoard and was later diagnosed with dementia. She had that “I’d better keep this (empty tissue box, extra coffee maker, large piece of ugly furniture) because some day I might need it” mentality. It was awful seeing her little home go from sparse and tasteful to chaos.

Disagree about not hanging anything but plants and mirrors on the walls, though. I have some carefully chosen pieces, professionals framed, that make me happy to look at.

Adult women with Princessy Glitter Glam rooms, where everything is shiny, sparkly, bejeweled, or covered in furs. I guess these women have taken their inner Barbie and gone "haute" right down to their homages to Chanel.

R57. What you are missing is that r48 is essentially living in a walk in closet. That advice was for an extremely small space.

The thing a realtor will tell you to sell your house is neutral colors remove clutter and remove personal pictures from the place. Pretty much sane advice for decorating.

How you decorate your home to live in and sell are two different things R60. The BS behind getting rid of personal things when you want to sell is so the buyers can see themselves in the home. I've never bought a home based on whether there were personal items in the home or not. Some people are just so fucking lazy if seeing photos from the owners is going to influence whether you buy the home or not.

[quote]The thing a realtor will tell you to sell your house is neutral colors remove clutter and remove personal pictures from the place. Pretty much sane advice for decorating.

THIS IS HORRIBLE ADVICE! ( Yes, I am yelling.) Your home should be decorated as if you intend to live in it the rest of your life, not as if a realtor might walk in at any minute with a group of strangers. This is why so much of modern design references transient spaces such as hotels, restaurants, workplaces, or retail. It isn't just bad design, it is unhealthful. That lack of stability and living ones life for something that is irrelevant in the moment is damaging to the person.

I wish I could sit next to R40 and R45 at a dinner party. Wonderful and interesting insight!

Thanks for the replies!

R62, I think the quote only referred to staging a house when selling, not to actually decorate the house like this when living in it.

Another cliché of the Princessy Glitter Glam theme is whenever they reference Old Hollywood glamour, their go-to is almost always Marilyn or Audrey (as Holly Golightly), which speaks volumes about who this person is.

R65 - good lord that is fucking ugly! What's with all the candle lamps on the floor? Where did you get that photo?

I'm with Nick Lewis.

Nick, aka R67, we saw your video at R33. There is no need to post it again every 30 posts or so.

Missed that, R68. Culpa.

White/gray kitchens with the same glass mosaic gray tiling on the walls, by the stovetop and countertop. Same with bathrooms. Your gray is not modern nor is it imaginative, it's just derivative and common now. When did we go from keeping up with the Joneses, to copying them?

Sequined statement pillows, especially those with words or images on them, like hearts or a bulldog.

Italian cafe aesthetic, Spanish villa or anything too Greek. Culturally themed home designs are very difficult to execute with taste.

Anything too hipster

(I'm weird and I love kinderwhore houses, sweet little granny homes, and fairy nests.)

[quote]Wallpaper borders. They were popular 30 years ago and that shit is still going on. STOP IT.

Not in my world. Haven't seen that in decades---unless it's some old couple living in a time capsule. Where do you live?

Hey, ungrateful brat @ R23. I let you freeload at my house. I guess I'm not so mean after all.

R72 must be the sister bitch R23 was talking about because he RENTED the room. Of course she changes the story and says that R23 was a freeloader. Good riddance to Sister Bitch!

[quote] ALL WHITE EVERYTHING - I can see wanting to start your day or work (bathroom & kitchen) in a bright & cheerful space but Jesus Christ! There has to be a better way to do it than white on white on white on white on white! How bland!

We had a condo that was a new build circa 2010 and they'd done all white in a very "Miami" look. Not what we wanted, but the price was good and we just lived with it.

The kitchen wasn't so bad, though not all the Carrera marble matched each other. But the bathroom had three different shades of white and it actually clashed, hideously.

I notice this is a common thing now, to make it clashy clashy instead of matchy matchy. I don't want things to be boring or look like a sterile hotel, either, but all that white just washes everything out and makes it look dull and dingy after a few years.

Has anyone seen my white box?

R61 R62 No. Sorry, but no.

The emptier and less personalized a space is, the more likely it will sell.

Repainting is a bit over the top unless the walls are filthy or painted some bizarro color, but this is just the most basic of common sense. It's really hard to judge the size of a room if it's filled with someone else's furniture.

This is a perfect example of what I mean when I say that Farmhouse is actually cold and industrial.

R13 at the link are some ideas for complementing pink

Thanks R78, you’re a diamond.

Pink and red appeals to me as sort of a juicy bedroom combo, so I’ll give that a go.

I’m a bit leery of black (too pop-punk/Avril), grey (see above posts), and blue (combined with pink that is too much like a nursery for me).

I love fuschia (pink) and red together in small doses. This is different from light pink and red.

You don't know what you are talking about R76. No one is not going to buy a house just because it has family photos.

Okay, you have fun, Trollina.

Realtors like emptier homes because they look bigger that way . Ask me how I know ,having just bought a house where 3 of the bedrooms were far smaller than I thought.

That is not true R83. Where the hell do you get your information? It is more what does the buyer like, empty or furnished. I prefer a furnished home. Sometimes if a room has weird angles it is helpful to have it furnished so the buyer doesn't think how the hell they are going to furnish that room.

I hate the “Live Laugh Love” sign stuff too. I always think about how Chris and Shanann Watts had that kind of crap in their house and how ironic that is.

We’re talking about design, not decorating, so...

Floating stairs - yes, they look cool, but I don’t want to frighten the dog or make a jungle gym for the cats. Also, they promote hand marks on the walls just because you didn’t want to interrupt the clean lines. I also don’t want the plate glass version of baluster/handrail.

Double/triple height windows - Am I renting a scissor lift every month to wash the fucking windows? And, did you really think about what direction those windows face? South or west, the rooms boil or lurk in darkness every afternoon.

Sunken rooms - I don’t want to step up or down unless I’m getting another floor for my effort. It doesn’t separate and it’s not interesting; it’s a dare.

Entry doors into the living area - an entryway allows people a place to take off their coats - for some, shoes as well. The entryway or vestibule also frequently provides a mirror so people entering and leaving can do a spot check. When you throw that fucking naked entry door into living/dining area, people are expected to fling their belongings on any available surface. It’s stupid and cheap.

Smoke eaters - The stove is to be fully vented. Your ventless hood is bullshit. A ventless hood on an island belongs to people who don’t cook and don’t need a stovetop or a ventless hood.

Sliding doors - OK, you’ve given me a balcony! Yay! I’m not moving a wall of glass back and forth to use it. And, if it’s on the first floor, I’m not sticking a piece of wood down for security. It’s not secure. I want french doors; it’s ok if they swing inward. And, I don’t want plastic mullions. Contractors don’t even paint/stain them correctly and they look like shit.

Textured laminate flooring - those polished wood-like grooves in the floor are dirt catchers - as are the bevels. It’s laminate; it’s supposed to be cheap and easy to clean.

Sunken rooms - didn't know that this was the name for the concept. I do like them a lot actually. But I admit, they should have a real purpose. When the property is on sloped land for example it makes sense to have stairs inside to accommodate the slight change. If the room has just a sunken area, a 5 x 5 square, yeah, that's silly.

Sunken rooms screams 70s shagpad to me.

Wagon-wheel sofas and semi-matching coffee table.

Butter churn lamps.

Oxen bow and lantern chandeliers.

Madrid bull rink punch bowl.

Plastic grapes oozing out of plaster cornucopia.

"Gold" models of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria over the Mediterranean Conquistador sofa.

Where do you live that you see any of that regularly, R89?

R89 that's very specific but it reminds me of my aunt's house from the 70s. Her cornucopia baskets filled with plastic fruit were made of a bread weave lacquered with polyurethane.

- A flower wreath on front door. Have yet to see one that isn't some garish fake flower abomination. - Those yard/garden stands with changeable flags to coincide with the season or a holiday . . . my tacky neighbor has a large one planted by her front entry and she must have three dozen different choices that she displays, each more saccharine then the next, ugh. - super bright halogen track lights . . . I feel like I'm in a cheap jewelry store whenever I'm in a house that has them