Bizarre Design trends
just before lunchtime on Tuesday, the 14th of October 2008 by Gypsy
I have been catching some of the HGTV home shows.. and find so many of them funny.. occasionally some good ideas.. but sadly the "what were they thinking" comes to mind more frequently.
Cork floors… every time I see cork floors… they look like the picture below.. they look like stained particle board. When I went to corkfloor.com they had more designs… some kind of interesting, done in "tile" styles with mixed colors etc.. which is rather interesting.. but I still see that "particle board" effect.. which looks so cheesy to me. I see this being the concept that within 5 years becoming bad taste, dated, etc.. a horror to a home buyer who has to figure on how they are going to replace or cover it.
Another new trend.. stained concrete.. which for outside applications is a nice idea.. but i have seen shows where they are doing this in kitchens and living areas. Again another item that will surely be dated quickly. Aside from what they look like.. how about comfort? Concrete is not the most comfortable to walk on, sit on, or play on (unless you are a border collie). Below is a picture of the stained concrete inside.. ick!
Now for the stained concrete outside.. I LOVE this one.. for our courtyard!!!
The other things that I see are the "modern/contemporary" designs.. especially in kitchens, with what looks more industrial to me.. again a concept that will have a short trend life. (the shows always call them "designer kitchens".. so what designer?
The cabinets all look like laminate.. even if they are wood.. they have very sharp, tile fit cabinet doors. The handles look like they were borrowed from an auto-shop (from the tool cabinets).. linear, tubular, and boring.
this next one looks more like it was inspired by an industrial 50′s diner? Love that therapeutic green eh?
Flash back to some of the bad taste we have seen in the past..
What was the 90′s style.. does anyone remember..do/did we have something that was specific to the 90s? Other than the birth of McMansions?? I seem to blank out on the uninspired 90s.. share what you recall.. please.
Now the ’80s is rather easy to place, with the Miami-vice inspired homes, tons of white, tons of mirrors, pale pinks, pale peaches, pale blues or pale greens.. everything was pastel.. brass or chrome & glass.. track lighting, vertical blinds.. I recall thinking then it was tacky.. and still do!
The ’70s harvest gold, avocado green, rust-red.. dark-dark woods,patterns on patterns on patterns.. very busy… I guess that inspired the washed out ’80s? OOh and stucco ceilings with the sharp points and glitter! I did not like anything from that period of design horrors!
Here is my flashback….
I grew up with the "early American" style.. which was ghastly atrocious … there is nothing like pine wood stained walnut, country scenes stamped on fabric… plus other gems like covering hardwood floors with baby blue shag (they had 3 kids, two were boys.. sounds like a great idea huh?)…. the walls were a done in the sponged stucco and painted yellow, with 1/2 the wall in that horrible pseudo wood paneling.. some walls had it from floor to ceiling. We had the classic ’70s wall to wall brick fireplace (the upside, it made for additional seating).
I went back to visit (over a decade & half after I had been gone) the house I grew up in (our family had sold it in the mid-eighties). The owner let me in to see it, and I showed her what various switches went to and other secrets. What amazed me was how little they changed it.. it looked more like it was abandoned, sad. The aerial antennae was still there, broken in half and hanging on for dear life. The light above the front door also was broken and hanging on by part of the wiring… ready to fall with the next breeze. The glass in the storm doors was missing, so rather than open the storm doors they just stepped through them. They repainted the shutters a pale turquoise, imagine that against beige brick.. gag!
When I entered the the house, in the foyer I could see the desperate struggle they were having with the dizzying peacock wall paper, and the duck hunting scene mirror wall tiles.. I wish them success. The kitchen was kept in a time capsule for some reason.. they did a kitchen remodel, but walled off part of the original kitchen, you can view it by opening a door.. very bizarre. The original fridge, stove and cabinets remain.. like some creepy museum.. you can not reach them but you can see them.
I think it is amazing, the person who takes over a 70′s house.. the design disasters within.. yikes! Not many periods were more repulsive. I know my hubbie would agree.. when we looked at existing homes, whenever it was a70s home he would not even ponder it. Too much work.. how much will the wrecking ball cost, things like that.
PLEASE Share some design/decorating horrors of the past that make/made you cringe.
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October 14th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I don’t get cork flooring. That cement floor looks cool though! I wouldn’t want it in my living room though. For a rec room or audition room it would be fine.
October 15th, 2008 at 7:02 am
On the stained concrete floors, I knew of several people who were in the ‘build as you pay’ mode who finished homes with concrete floors and covered those floors with other materials afterward when more funds became available. It made sense like that.
It also makes sense when you’ve been flooded a couple of times in the last three years.
MC
October 15th, 2008 at 10:39 am
the concept of funding or functional issues is one thing.. but when i watch design shows where it is an implemented design element.. so it was planned and replaced something (better) else..
i just can not see someone intentionally replacing current flooring with cement that is stained.. inside a home.. YUCK!
it looks horrible, it is not comfortable to walk on.. and when this nasty trend is over..imagine the resell? when a buyer (who also sees how tacky this is) looks at a home with these stained cement inside.. has to think of how they are going to change it.. and that expense attached.. sure you can lay something over it..but if in a kitchen that can affect the appliances fitting etc.. which means cabinets/counters mayneed to be raised.. in a living room it may not be as much of an issue unless there isa fireplace and may affect the appearance of the fireplace, and doors opening etc..
basically BAD IDEA!
October 15th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I have seen pictures of concrete floors that really worked in some of the industrial loft type condos. The ones with the exposed rough brick and the exposed ducts.
Personally, I would just picture how much it would hurt to stand on them. Maybe I’ve worked too many years in high heels, forced to stand all day on very hard floors (teaching and sales). Just can’t picture it for indoors.
Unless it is flood prone. And I do like the stained look.
Actually, most of these home remodel shows are making me sick. I saw one that kindly informed the viewers that you should “redo” your kitchen at least every ten years. And then I think of the economic problems that we have gotten into. The overextended credit that people seemed to forget that they should repay. The “need” that they seemed to have to possess everything immediately. Sort of like some of these shows. Our grandparents would never have thrown away a working ‘fridge just because it was the wrong color. They certainly wouldn’t have felt the need to replace the cabinets every ten years.
Of course, I am biased there. One set of my grandparents moved into their house in ’32, I think the kitchen was mostly 50′s. The other set, moved onto their farm in ’35. We still have the wood burning stove in the kitchen. Both sets became adults during the Great Depression. They never lost those habits.
I think that we need to examine ourselves to figure out what we really “need” and what we just “desire”.
Of course, it doesn’t help that the neighbors who are a hair from foreclosure (before all these bailouts) just got a whole bunch of new furniture, and I am looking at my old, holey furniture, worrying whether I have the funds to replace…
October 15th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I can’t imagine getting flooded out and having to rebuild. I feel for anyone who has gone through that. I can relate to pay as you go or remodel as you go though.
I have an old house that was built in 1898 that I bought for cheap when I needed a place to live when I separated from my ex-wife. It was totally trashed and I remodeled (in some areas, studs out), while I lived there. No fun. I could only afford to do part at a time, plus I mostly did it myself in my spare time after work and on weekends.
The thing I don’t like about most of the remodel shows is how easy they make it look. When in reality, remodeling is hard and things go wrong. I have had maybe one or two projects go as well as portrayed on most of those shows. Even in newer houses how often is everything level and square? Try putting up crown moulding and you will find out. I framed a closet in a bedroom only to find out that the floor sloped an inch over 5 feet :) Of course I realized that when I was trying to fit the closet door in my “perfect” 81 inch high opening, after the drywall was finished, textured and painted and the carpet was down. Show me that on a remodeling show and I will be impressed.
Remodeling the kitchen every 10 years or some arbitrary date is ridiculous. I guess your neighbors don’t mind bailing on their house and credit card debt. Sounds like they are running up their credit cards right before they declare bankruptcy.
October 16th, 2008 at 5:35 am
An eye-opening trend that I have seen in some of the “flipping” shows is the sometimes dangerous remodels that people do on the cheap. I had no idea the lengths that some people would go to, in order to “flip” the house.
I also laugh at the price tags of some of the remodel shows. “Couple A only has $150 K to spend on their master bath – how can they possibly manage to meet their budget?”
My neighbors – somehow, they got the mortgage for a $350K house – one was unemployed, the other works as a cashier in a “box” type store. They have large parties in their backyard, in which a DJ is present, loudly blasting the music. Karaoke has also played it’s loud and untuneful part in the parties. They are one of the reasons that I scream every time I hear “bailout”.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:11 am
lol, I think I have seen that one where they spend an outrageous amount of money on the master bath. It did look cool, but even if I was wealthy I would have a hard time spending that kind of money on a bathroom.
I am very unhappy about the bailout also. There is really no help for individuals about to foreclose in the bill that I am aware of.
October 5th, 2009 at 3:27 am
@Bandit… whats not to get? It’s Cork! :D
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