Hi to you nwduck. Missed seeing you.

Just came across this thread and immediately thought of the hiding child dolls that were popular in small town craft shops a few years back.

They seem to have all disappeared now. Would be frightening to see at the local tip.

Oh look, this is a photo of one on a cushion. WHY!

LB: Have you gone to Crossroads Cafe in "Other"? Might be your kind of hangout. I sort of quit all but a very few threads. It has a international group, which is pretty interesting.

Hi nwduck, I was watching for awhile, but I got so very many emails, it was difficult to do and opted out. I don't have that much extra time. Curiosity is killing me though.

I really think you might enjoy that thread, even if you just read only that one. I had to thin Houzz down myself, lest I lose entire days. Jan in Mumbai, India is great. Chookchook from Australia (and some others from there) are posting there as their only US post. Also, there's the Irish fellow Badger, but he hasn't been on in a bit. It's one of my favorites to check in on.

Nwduck, right now it's not good timing. Working on a condo bldg that will likely be an ongoing project for some time.

Sorry, but reading that we should scorn anything because "it's not classy or "in" makes me want to run out and decorate the foyer with it, so there!

Wrought iron in most cases

Curtains that are too short!

Overdone fads (like the bowl of balls, granite counters, vessel sinks, fancy table runners, cheap looking new "antique" furniture, etc.)

A great site for exploding trendy deco-memes here

It's foolish to buy "decor" items just to be "on trend" (what a silly phrase!) Buy and use things you love instead, especially hand-created objects.

Fake plants!

I hate decorative items that don't mean anything to anyone. You know the ones that were bought because a space looked empty and something "had" to go there.

Faux fur pillows, throws, comforters...anything faux fur. Morrocan pillows or anything Moraccan. This is like everyone on the planet carrying a Michael Korrs purse, it is everywhere, thus boring. Small houses with no mirrors or track lighting. Carpet...of...any...kind. Silk arrangements. Ugly pillows, which encompasses about everything these days. Room color that does not flow through the house. Toilets with seat covers. Unframed mirrors in bathroom.

All the rooms being the same color....boring. Cold floors to walk on....horrible.

I agree with lyn, I don't think I would want to let people walk into my house. It is mine and I love it!! When I get ready to sell it, I will de-personalize it and remove the offending items. Until then....tough!!

I hate fake drapes. Ok, the drapes are real enough I guess but only decorative. One small panel on each side of a window on a tiny rod the length of your arm. You can never block the window because you can't close the drapes. One day you might want to close the drapes, really. Spring for the whole shebang and it won't look weird while you wait for the day you decide to close the drapes. I got to the end of this thread and couldn't recall how I got here. Used the back button and remembered I'd googled "Why are there throw pillows stuffed on top of kitchen cabinets?" Is this some trend? Joke? Seriously, have been stalking houses in the Seattle area for a while now and a new listing had a lovely kitchen with throw pillows stuffed up above. WHAaaaaaaT? Is this a replacement for fake greenery?

Niches, houses with no books or reading lamps, tvs over fireplaces, huge furniture, high ceilings, those icky Victorian builder doors, everything grey, clutter...

I can't stand when I see a room/house that screams Home Goods (which I LOVE, don't get me wrong), or Kirklands.

I found the listing for the pillows stuffed over the kitchen cabinets. Some look to be bed pillows. Um, ick. Has to be a code or joke or what am I missing? http://www.seattlehome.com/property/1127764/

Half dead/struggling indoor plants, just because it's almost alive doesn't make it attractive.

pamela lee...how peculiar! sound deadening? i cannot begin to imagine.

so interesting to read these comments, although I have to be honest I did not have time to read them all. My favorite post was the pic of the toilet completely covered in fur- ha!! As a designer the one thing I do see often is for some reason folks hang their art too high on the wall.

Anything small

area rugs bleached to make them look like antiques

I dislike gray everything. Wood look tile. Stark, minimalist rooms. Accent walls. Brightly painted walls with no continuity between rooms. Orange. Popcorn ceilings. Dead animals anywhere in a home... yikes! Dolls. Word art.

Oh, fun thread!

Well, one thing is clear-- every single house has things in it that a percentage of people hate. Not sure what lessons we can glean from this.

except when selling, of course....

But unless a house is totally empty and bare, some people will hate what's in it. And others will hate it for being empty.

The pillows on top of the cabinets are strange.

My guess is that they are stuffed up there to keep the cats from going up there (it appears they have cats -- there is a big cat scratching post in the living room photo). Although if that is the case, I can't imagine why they wouldn't take the pillows down for photos!

Word art/decor, theme rooms (isn't the theme kitchen/bathroom/bedroom?) Stark white walls are horrible! Fake ivy over cabinets, anything on top of cabinets, really, (though this is not seen much anymore). Fruit patterns anywhere, bad floral, raspberry-colored anything. Bowls of balls. Rooms that are not cohesive. One does not need to buy a matching set to have a cohesive room. Matching sets. Heavy, dark, tired, scrolly, curvy furniture from the 70s-80s. There's something about that furniture that is heavily depressing. Family portraits have always bothered me. I find it...weird, and kind of tacky... Bizarre to have faces frozen in forced smiles staring down from the walls. Family portraits descending down the staircase... The stuff of nightmares...i can hear the maniacal laughter... The hell's choir... The... Oh wait, we're taking about decor. Clutter on countertops, overly feminine style, tacky frogs/gnomes/etc. Shell-shaped sinks, vessel sinks. Brown is for WOOD, not paint, upholstery, or decor. Oh and the WORST of all--when parents let their kids' clutter/toys take over the house. While we're on the topic of kids, NO Disney/Nickelodeon/Pixar/Whatever characters on everyday objects. They belong in the movie and a doll/figurine, but not on clothing/bedding/decor/cups/plates. Yes, my future self with a child laughs at my current childless self. However, my husband and I are firm on this, so I won't be alone in the battle.

Bad faux

This thread is so fun. It's great release after years off holding one's tongue. I do hope it's read in fun, and not taken as a personal attack. A person in an earlier thread seemed really upset.

Some have posted about their dislike of gray walls. I'm just about finished with painting the entire house a lovely, soft gray. It's not for everyone and every house! I painted my old apartment in different colors, aqua kitchen, burnt orange dining, purple bedroom. I loved it because it worked in that place. Doesn't work in my new, modern house. What one sees as clean and soft, another sees as stark. My neighbor's home is lovely, a, little claustrophobic for me, but she keeps it clean and it's cohesive. To each his own.

Hate cooktops on islands, loathe Persian rugs-they're gaudy, ugly, and always threadbare. Oak cabinets. Butcher-block countertops. Unless you're 14, don't make a collage of your friends/travels and hang it with Scotch tape to the bedroom wall. Canister sets on display. I didn't know I hated so much! Whew, open the floodgates... also, wreaths of any kind, but especially really brittle wreaths that look homemade. Hunter green, raspberry, county blue. Cabinet pulls that are spindly. Lighting that is too dim for the space, leaving dark corners. Yellowish light.

Nah, this is much more fun.

Oh, another thing: I hate those light fixtures that look like breasts. Complete with nipple. You know, those ones that screw flush to the ceiling. Can't think of what they are called, but they were the only type my dad seemed to know about. All I see is a pasty, full boob.

Photo gallery walls

I'm beginning to hate these recent design-show trends in the kitchen: navy blue cabinets, wood stove hoods (can you imagine trying to clean one?), open shelving (again, cleanliness), butcher block counters (or any type of countertop I have to pamper). Outside the kitchen I really hate those giant stretched-canvas splashy-splotchy paintings with colors that "tie the room together".