Yes. Color is what tends to affect me the most. I sort of think it is a curse to be so affected by my visual surroundings.

You will feel better with it empty vs having the things you hate around. List your items on CL and be done.

I haven't had that feeling exactly, but often at this time of year I feel a strong urge to get something new. It's Spring Fever!

One year it was a new couch; 2 years ago it was a new (to me) car; this year it's a new kitchen.

I don't always succumb; some years I just tough it out until spring actually arrives, or I paint a room or do something less drastic (and expensive). Sometimes just purging my closet takes care of it.

Have you tried hiding the throw pillows?

Haha... one evening many years ago, DH and I were watching tv, and I was just growing more and more livid over the insult of the drapes at the windows. Could.Not.Stand.Them.One.More.Second kind of livid.... So I jumped up, pulled them down and felt immediate relief. It took another two months before I had something up there I liked, and I know DH was walking around thinking, "Weren't those better than NO drapes?!?!?!" Never regretted it though.

Bestyears, haha! I did the same thing with the drapes that the PO had. I kept staring at them and pulled them down. Sweet relief. Lived with the sheers a little longer, but those are gone now too. Still have the blinds up that do not work with the room, but too $ to replace now as they are "nice quality."

DH had the same reaction . . .isn't anything better than nothing? I am the complete opposite.

Yep.

Spring fever -- moved around items yesterday until I felt better about the living room and dining room. Nothing major -- but even a slight refresh can help mitigate those strong feelings ....

Of course, a chilled glass of wine certainly helps too! :) LOL!

Just teasing! :)

I had to put throw pillows in the camper to get them out of my sight. I have been known to tear a wall out in the middle of the night when a insperation struck or I just couldn,t stand it anymore.

I do sometimes suddenly think I hate a room. First I try deep cleaning and organizing the area and many times that helps me like the room again. When that does not help I do start to eliminate the most offending objects and in the case of my living room last year I ended up changing the entire room and only three orginal things remain and I refinished those pieces so they are unrecognizable now. I love my new room so it was worth it.

I don't really change my mind like this.

I think in this case you should start to question what it was that you thought you liked about it in the first place. This is what I get clients to do when they tell me they hate something.

A lot of the time they never really liked it in the first place, they bought it because they saw a lot of it, it was trendy, they wanted a change etc, but deep down it was something that was done with a lot of external influences. Whenever I have had something that caused a "what was I thinking" response...I usually determine that I wasn't thinking all that clearly to begin with.

I start to think that when something starts to look dated or worn out and it is subconsciously registering in my brain that's it's time to replace.

I would rarely change things out otherwise so it's all fine.

Other than ugly carpeting in rentals, I don't think I've ever actively hated an item of decor. I do like to rotate my accessories, bedding and dishes every few months because I don't want to look at the same thing all the time.

Pal hit on what happen IRT my last living room. I had large down slip covered sofas from PB that fit well in my former large square living room. I loved them in my lounging twenties and in the orginal space. Then everyone seem to buy large white slipcovered sofas and I did tire of the look. Also by my mid thirties and with children I found them messy looking and not comfortable for sitting. Then we moved to a home with no wall space with a long narrow living room and the scale of that set never worked in the room.

My new furniture is still pretty recent so I can not say if I will tire of it but I did select it for its present space and it works very well so I do think I will never actually hate it if we stay here. Not sure if it would make me happy in a MCM house though.

One thing I have never ever think about replacing are my antique pieces. I smile everytime I look at any of them. They will follow me everywhere:).

i hung paper under the DR chairrail years ago that i chose primarily for a stripe it had that i wanted to cut out and hang in the crown... i didn't love it as soon as it was hung, but couldn't stomach repainting, papering, etc, etc. as time went on i would occasionally HATE the paper, but decided if i changed it i would have to change curtains, chair covers,etc etc and i wasn't ready for an overhaul-alot of work for a room we infrequently use... finally this fall i changed the rug in the room (never loved the rug and paper together either) and i can tolerate the paper again... for a while longer.....

Pal, for me it has always come down to something I never liked in the first place but tried to get used to it.

I have never stopped liking what I originally really liked/loved. I still adore the bedroom pieces (not a set) I picked out when I was 14. Sadly, my DD who inherited them for her room does not share my affection for old items. I've tried to explain that they were once modern . ..

I do not like my LR any more. Each piece individually I like just fine, but it's the overall color scheme. It is so not me. What was I thinking????

It started innocently - or stupidly, if I have to be honest about it. We bought an oriental carpet. OK I wanted the thing. It's interesting (it's an Azerbaijani, I think - or it's a Georgian, and the runner in the same room is the Azerbaijani, anyway....), the price was good, I actually do like it. But it forced a color scheme based on golds, reds, orange-reds, and a sort of tobacco brown. I get that red and yellow is a common color scheme - Provence and all that. But I like blues, greens, purples. I just do not care for the whole yellow-red thing.

Ironically - or sadly, perhaps - replacing the carpet with something with blue or green in it would go a long way to fixing the whole problem.

Thanks, all, for letting me know I'm not the only one. I think I will take the advice offered by anele and others and start removing the 'offenders', and also just pare the room down some. I am hoping to repaint in the next couple of months and I am not sure I want to hang all the pictures back up that I have in here now. Or at least, maybe not in the same places.

I think, like Anele and Lynxe described, the colors are really what's bugging me. There is nothing remotely trendy about the styles (unless there is a recent trend toward jacobean prints that I am unaware of?).

If anything, I think I purchased them with the high-light, large window setting of our former living room in mind, and here in Dracula's Castle they are just falling flat.

I agree about it being a curse to be bothered by the decor, and to have strong opinions about your surroundings. It's too hard to make one's preferences manifest, especially if one is poor. I have champagne taste and a water budget (note: not even beer).
I got to that point with my couch and loveseat a few years ago. They were a matched set that had a tapestry of recognizable varieties of flowers, with birds here and there. They were so noticeable to me that it irked me. I'd be sitting there, nursing the baby (that's when the decor irks are the worst, because you have to keep sitting there, staring at it, until the baby let's go), thinking "Oh look, there's the hydrangea. That's a rose. That's a daisy. That's a finch sitting on that branch." It just bothered me so much to have to go through the taxonomy of all the flora and fauna on the daggum couch, every time I laid eyes on it.
It reminds me of those stickers of sayings and "inspirational" words people put on their walls. If I want to read, I will read a book or a magazine, not the stupid wall! Same goes for plaques. I don't want to have a mental dialogue with some cross-stitchy piece of nonsense.
I got on E-bay and bought some white slipcovers to put on those awful things. The slipcovers looked like drop-cloths, but it was better than having to interpret the couch all the time. When I finally sold the couch and loveseat, I was so relieved!
My mom always used to say, "Tastes change." I never feel bad about changing my mind about what I like. I just say, "I am DONE with ______."

Leafy...no, you aren't the only one. Things about my house will bug me off and on, but I've noticed it depends more on my mood. So when the feelings of discontent start, I have to shut it down right away otherwise it spirals into a deep hatefest with the entire house. Lol.

One thing I've hated as soon as my DH put up is the microwave over the stove. I never wanted one there, but it is to be temporary until we get the kitchen remodeled, and needed a new microwave and a new hood at the same time. It is hung too low. Love the microwave, just hate the location...every single time I look at it.

Naturalmom, I think we are twins. I have the same budget. For this reason, I instead decorate in my head vs. actually changing things for the most part.

Ditto for the signs. STOP ASKING ME TO DO SOMETHING. My 5 kids give me enough orders, haha!

I am at home w/my children and that IS definitely one of the biggest reasons I am so disturbed when things are "wrong." I see it over and over again, esp. during the winter. (This is why I concentrate on gardening in the summer . . .)

I did the same thing with slipcovers on my old sofas . . .I eventually bought cheap IKEA ones because DH was suddenly agreeable to a change, but they are really wrong for our new house.

We ripped out the awful carpet in our first house because we just couldn't stand it anymore. We had planned to wait until we had the money to refinish them, but well. . . . It started with a small hole under our bed to "just see.". Looked pretty good and next thing we knew we were ripping up all the carpet. Fortunately it was a small house and only the upstairs and stairs were carpeted. Took us a few hours but we ripped it all out, threw it out the window onto our driveway, and decided the floors looked a heck of a lot better. We did eventually get them refinished. Good thing there wasn't a huge plywood section or something!

Oh yes..it's happened to me many many times. Color on the walls is what starts to bother me the most..I've repainted rooms while hubby is at work and he doesn't even notice..ha ha!
And now it's even worse because I'm pregnant. So I've been on a rampage! Today I painted my garage door that leads into the house b/c I was sick of it being dingy white, built a 4 ft picture ledge shelf for my kids books, and repainted the frame on a mirror.
Like someone said, I would just post your "hated" items on Craigslist and move on.

I despise the carpet that was installed in my house when we purchased it 11 yrs. ago. The main level has wood floors, but the upstairs bedrooms and hallways are carpeted in a beige/off white. It was practically new when we moved in and good quality. DH liked it - liked the cozy feel when he stepped out of bed and padded to the bathroom on cold winter mornings. Loved what a "quiet" surface it is.

I'll agree with those points, but every other aspect of the carpet has bugged me for 10 yrs. It's not stained or soiled looking, but it never feels clean to me. And now it's started to ripple in spots. Sometimes when I'm sitting in bed reading I look down and fantasize about ripping it out.

We had 2 kids in college when we moved in and there were a lot of other priorities. I'm happy to report that we are planning to finally replace the carpet with wood floors this summer.

I hated the new $500 American Standard Town Square black toilet that always looked dirty that I just HAD to have, because white would not work with the oil-rubbed bronze and slate tile in the bathroom. I hated the new oil-rubbed bronze fixtures because our hard water made them look dirty. I hated the new hammered copper sink with water spots that inspired the whole bath remodel. I hated the color of the wood doors and the wall paint. I hated it all so much that I left that new bathroom unfinished for seven years.

I love my new white toilet and sink and my new vanity and concrete top and my new chrome fixtures. Did you know that it is possible to paint tile and have it come out looking good? I don't have the problem of growing tired of last year's fashion, I just have no talent for decorating, so I have to do it all over again to get it right.
Renee

Less than six months ago, I hung new sage-colored drapes in our den. Over four months ago, I started to realize that they looked like something that would hang in a hospital or nursing home. Everytime I walked through that room and saw those drapes, I cringed. So, a couple of weeks ago, down they came and were replaced with lovely, patterned drapes that came to me all the way from the UK. The sage drapes were sold for much less than I paid for them - but somebody who needed them got a bargain, and I got rid of the awful things. Win-win.

I don't hate them, but after having vintage glassware my whole life, I finally boxed it all up. Except for few pieces.

Jen, pictures!

Renee, re: " I don't have the problem of growing tired of last year's fashion, I just have no talent for decorating, so I have to do it all over again to get it right. "

This is me! I am like the musician that knows when something is out of tune but can't get the pitch right anyway. Or, maybe I get one thing right, but then forgot to factor in another aspect that messes things up. Argh!

Well, I haven't removed the old drapes, but:

1. The new drapes have been ordered.

2. Fabric for the throw pillow covers is washed, dried, and waiting for me to get my sewing machine fired up.

3. There is a new "Living Room" board on my Pinterest, and it includes plans for gold leafing something.

So now all I need on my "tap water" (not even mineral water!) budget is a rug, a coffee table, and a chair that is both pretty and able to be sat in (to replace one that we inherited which is attractive but not sit-able).

And lots of gold leaf.

And two gallons of wall paint.

And someone who wants to paint.

Hey, Oak - I will try to get a picture of the drapes in the room, but can show you the fabric here. They're just ready-made lined drapes from an eBay seller in the UK, but I love them. It's difficult to find a length ready-made to fit my windows (72" and very wide), and these are perfect. Right now I've just got them shirred on the rod, but think I will probably add drapery rings at some point so they'll open and close easier.

Here again, I've gone with more of a traditional "English" pattern with southwest decor in my den. I actually love the fresh feel that the floral drapes bring to the room. It's a bit of pattern-on-pattern, particularly with the rugs, but it feels cozy and warm. :-)

Years ago we bought a house with a blood red front hall with bright white trim. It felt like being inside a dead cow. Every room in the house was worse than the last, so I knew from the first day that we'd repaint everything.

I overreacted and painted the hall a sort of pale butterbean green. It was awful. Lasted about two months.

And I'm supposed to know what I'm doing ...

Ooh, I like it! Thanks for sharing!

Do ex husbands count???