On this site, we like to give you some home decor tips. However, if you have done any home decorating, you know that there will inevitably be mistakes, or trends that you will wish you hadn’t followed. As a playful reminder, here is a list of some of the worst decorating trends.
Image: Shaire Productions / Sherrie Thai (via Flickr)
1. Popcorn ceilings. Remember these? You might remember them because you still have them. They were originally used with the ostensible purpose of elimininating echoes, but they probably became so popular because they helped cover up uneven ceilings. Since they had such an uneven surface, they were impossible to clean, and eventually collected dirt and smoke stains.
2. Foil wallpaper. Popular in the 1970s, particularly in washrooms, the wallpaper was often paired with extremely intense colours like orange and black. Like many design trends that do not last, the wallpaper only looked good when brand new (it didn’t age well) and it was needlessly dramatic.
3. Wood panelling. This is a conditional bad design trend. Wood panelling can look good – think of the rich redwood of a West Coast living room, or the fresh cedar in a Scandinavian home – but its use has some caveats. It can’t be used too much: an entire room panelled in wood will seem claustrophobic. And it has to be real wood. Otherwise, it just looks like someone’s 70’s basement.
4. Animal prints. This was huge in the 80s and 90s, and it is making something of a comeback. However, it is not always a good idea, particularly, like wood panelling, if it is used indiscriminately. If you really want to use some animal prints, try to use more abstract ones, or as an accent piece.
5. Bathroom carpeting. Only three words are necessary: never use it. It was a terrible idea, and should never be done.
Perhaps the key lesson we can take away from all of these bad trends is that they were really bold ideas that were splashed around home decors without any thought of how well they’d age. To ensure that you aren’t unknowingly following the bad trends of this decade (the over exuberant chandeliers stand out as a potential contender), think: am I using something bold where a neutral or blank palette would work better? Remember, these exciting textures and patterns – foil, animal, wood panelling – can work if they are limited and balanced with a mostly blank background.
Can you think of any other bad design trends that I’m missing?
Heleen Jacobsen
Broker of Record with InfoMarket Group GMAC Real Estate
www.infomarketgroup.com
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Michael
Good article, interesting to read, simple and most interest this article is usefull. Thanks for the info! wait for updated article