Home improvements you find tacky

JackTaylorFan

JackTaylorFan wrote: »

TVs on walls

(sorry, if already mentioned, but too lazy to read all comments)

Nothing wrong with a TV on the wall as long as it is mounted at the correct height, which would be the same as if it was on a stand, not over a fireplace or some other "optimised for standing" viewing position.

Cokezero

Kitchen islands in small kitchens just for the sake of having an island, making the place cramped. Perfect for large spaces but not in a small space!

B00!

Cokezero wrote: »

Kitchen islands in small kitchens just for the sake of having an island, making the place cramped. Perfect for large spaces but not in a small space!

I get where you're coming from, it looks and feels cramped (with more than one person working away)... But as a bread baker and pasta maker (living in a cramped quarters) an open island is ideal for mixing, kneading, cutting and proofing; or even to be used as a buffet for entertaining...

Perhaps a roll-away butcher-block that could be moved to a corner when not in use might accommodate a more open feel... An island is useful for so many things - the pic you sent looks like it would be great to cook with kiddos. But I do understand your point, it is rather cramped.

iguana

Deleted User wrote: »

Nothing wrong with a TV on the wall as long as it is mounted at the correct height, which would be the same as if it was on a stand, not over a fireplace or some other "optimised for standing" viewing position.

I always wonder if people with their TV over the fireplace have permanently cricked necks. It's such an unergonomic position. It can't do the TVs much good either. My chimney breast gets so warm when the fire is lit that even 8-9 hours after the fire has gone out the surround is still warm to the touch. It's lovely for keeping the house warm as it's like a giant storage heater but it would destroy a TV mounted on it.

Mountainsandh

JackTaylorFan wrote: »

But the person's argument is space is overrated - so why are they so bothered by junk stealing their space?

Because deep down they still really love space
Maybe they like the idea of space, but then reality takes over and it gets filled with junk. That's always what happens in my house no matter what home improvement. So the reality is that the more space you have, the more it gets filled, and so, it's overrated, or useless in the end.

I don't like the minimalist look either mind you.
Now there's something that has the potential to become tacky, in a more complex way. What I mean is, some minimalist places "that mean it" look good, like that's what the owners are really into. Other places simply look like the corridors in co council offices, but in your house.

JackTaylorFan

iguana wrote: »

I always wonder if people with their TV over the fireplace have permanently cricked necks. It's such an unergonomic position. It can't do the TVs much good either. My chimney breast gets so warm when the fire is lit that even 8-9 hours after the fire has gone out the surround is still warm to the touch. It's lovely for keeping the house warm as it's like a giant storage heater but it would destroy a TV mounted on it.

Oh my god! TV over fireplace - that is the epitome of tackiness

JackTaylorFan

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Because deep down they still really love space
Maybe they like the idea of space, but then reality takes over and it gets filled with junk. That's always what happens in my house no matter what home improvement. So the reality is that the more space you have, the more it gets filled, and so, it's overrated, or useless in the end.

I don't like the minimalist look either mind you.
Now there's something that has the potential to become tacky, in a more complex way. What I mean is, some minimalist places "that mean it" look good, like that's what the owners are really into. Other places simply look like the corridors in co council offices, but in your house.

I have lived with a hoarder... I value space.

Conor Bourke

Interior design (I use that term very loosely) as opposed to structural changes but this stuff makes my eyes bleed.

milehip

JackTaylorFan wrote: »

I think you'll find your argument eats itself

More like the junk eats the space.

Widdershins

Cornelius Crow wrote: »

Interior design (I use that term very loosely) as opposed to structural changes but this stuff makes my eyes bleed.

Whoa Interiors.

whisky_galore

Half arsed extensions and dormer windows retrofitted into older houses that look like they were fired together by amateurs.

Fake Roman columns and pediments on ho-hum houses.

Painted red brick houses.

Grottos with virgin mary statues.

'Busy' gardens with fcuk loads of tacky ornaments.

Sofas with a gazillion cushions so you have nowhere to sit without firing some of them off.

Net curtains.

Most kinds of patterned wallpaper that give off the 'little old lady lives here' vibe.

Holy pictures with spooky 'moving' eyes and sacred heart lamps.

B00!

Themes gone :eek: wild. You like the sea? A bit of the nautical makes sense, but when people start encrusting everything in sight with seashells, it's time to see a therapist. Put the shell down before the house look like it's throwing up the Little Mermaid's castle.

Also, do not paint rocks (they don't like it).

Things (lamps, boxes, frames) and natures wonders (rocks, shells, sand) have their own structural integrity.
No need to over-embellish or form them into kitchy crafts, it diminishes their natural beauty.

Mountainsandh

I get the over-doing a theme Boo, but I actually like some of the crafts/transformation things.
Can be very very kitschy alright, but sometimes, in small doses, I like it. There's something very folk-sy about it. It's like in the area where I live, people exhibit the best quartz rocks they find on top of piers, in the garden, by the front door... it's naive, and lovely imo.

There's a shell cottage in Dungarvan, these places are fascinating I think. People pushing their quirkiness to a point where it's not ridiculous anymore, it's interesting.
http://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/1011/823113-shell-cottage-in-dungarvan/

I knew a man (RIP) whose cottage was unbelievable. It was like he set out to make it as kitsch as possible, except he just thought it was beautiful and interesting.
His garden was full of gnomes and statues, with mad hedges that wrapped around his cottage door. Every time I visited, he proudly turned on the water fountain, you should have seen the glint in his eye. The doors inside the cottage were all "fake wood" decorated, you know the thing you do with a comb sort of implement. His Mum had done every single door like that. She had also painted the old iron fireplaces decorations (the grand garlands of flowers) in gold, over white. He had hundreds (really) of ornaments. He tried to have pairs. The 2 dogs (http://bbandghome.com/images/F61579.jpg), and anything that he thought beautiful, lots of china, crystal, metal, plastic. He had plastic pound shop frames from the 80s with the original display pictures inside, of models with perms. He had little Christmas baubles, the shiny metal ones, all hanging up in rows along the ceiling beams (very low ceiling !). He had a pair of intercoms that someone gave him, he put one on one side of the big open fireplace, and the other one on the other side.
This man was like a magpie.
His cottage was more a museum, than a house you live in, but he loved it and lived in it. He loved people visiting and admiring his work too.
Anyway, of course these are not places you or me could live in, but it's just to illustrate how I like the folk-sy appropriation of anything and everything, magpie style. Within reason

Occasionally you still come across the folly that is stone cladding. Modern stuff in stand alone builds is a world apart, my favourites are the mid terrace houses that look like they've been slotted in by aliens:

miezekatze

I hate shaker style kitchens, I think they look so tacky!

It's been mentioned before, but pine doors/furniture/anything looks horrible and cheap.

Gravel driveways.. looks OK if it's a long driveway up to a grand house, but not really outside your 3-bed semi. The stones usually end up all over the footpath etc too.

Massive leather sofas and armchairs or other really bulky furniture just doesn't look well in a small house with small rooms.

'Upcycled' 'shabby chic' furniture painted in pastel shades and made to look old.

lawred2

miezekatze wrote: »

I hate shaker style kitchens, I think they look so tacky!

It's been mentioned before, but pine doors/furniture/anything looks horrible and cheap.

Gravel driveways.. looks OK if it's a long driveway up to a grand house, but not really outside your 3-bed semi. The stones usually end up all over the footpath etc too.

Massive leather sofas and armchairs or other really bulky furniture just doesn't look well in a small house with small rooms.

'Upcycled' 'shabby chic' furniture painted in pastel shades and made to look old.

On board with most of that.

However Shaker style kitchens in the right house are a long way from tacky.

Candie

Candie wrote: »

Occasionally you still come across the folly that is stone cladding. Modern stuff in stand alone builds is a world apart, my favourites are the mid terrace houses that look like they've been slotted in by aliens:

That one looks like it killed the neighbourhood.
It even includes the awful window replacement that destroys the look of the property.

lawred2

[Deleted User] wrote: »

That one looks like it killed the neighbourhood.
It even includes the awful window replacement that destroys the look of the property.

Was grand until the did the window

freshpopcorn

lawred2 wrote: »

On board with most of that.

However Shaker style kitchens in the right house are a long way from tacky.

I'd agree with that I've seen very modern kitchen in old style houses and they look terrible!

B00!

Thank you for the thoughtful reply and lovely perspective Mountainsandh.

Yourself isit

JackTaylorFan wrote: »

Oh my god! TV over fireplace - that is the epitome of tackiness

Is it? Makes sense to me for flat screens and removes the corner mess where the TV is.

JackTaylorFan

Yourself isit wrote: »

Is it? Makes sense to me for flat screens and removes the corner mess where the TV is.

I bet you're the kind of person who'd wear a brown belt with black shoes

Yourself isit

JackTaylorFan wrote: »

I bet you're the kind of person who'd wear a brown belt with black shoes

Eh, no. Also reported.

lawred2

Yourself isit wrote: »

Eh, no. Also reported.

Sensitive much

JackTaylorFan

milehip wrote: »

More like the junk eats the space.

That was kinda my point, actually.

JackTaylorFan

Yourself isit wrote: »

Eh, no. Also reported.

:pac:
Lol... okay... trainers and tracksuits?

Yourself isit

The last post is an indication of the problem with discussing taste in Ireland. There clearly a lot of group think about "fashion".

I'm inclined to resist fashion, including the fashionable idea that using the space on Wall the centre of your room is somehow more tacky than a 50" in the corner. I don't get that at all.

As it happens I have a great big CRT on the corner of the room wasting space.

When I get to redecorate it's going.

JackTaylorFan

Yourself isit wrote: »

The last post is an indication of the problem with discussing taste in Ireland. There clearly a lot of group think about "fashion".

I'm inclined to resist fashion, including the fashionable idea that using the space on Wall the centre of your room is somehow more tacky than a 50" in the corner. I don't get that at all.

As it happens I have a great big CRT on the corner of the room wasting space.

When I get to redecorate it's going.

O lord :pac:

B00!

Am not fond of the exposed lightbulb chandelier motif ...nor harsh downlighting at the dinner table.

Lights that diffuse upward are much better at creating ambience rather than lighting the moon (and everyone's flaws).

bodice ripper

B00! wrote:

that 'drape softly encircling the bed'. Would drive me nuts trying to keep it out of the way to get in and out of bed. Makes no sense - beds are for rest, not some fashion novelty ya have to fiddle with. But I am not a girly girl, so it doesn't appeal (then again I can't imagine any man would find that appealing to mess with either).

I had to sleep in one of those nets from March til November when I lived in Amsterdam, as I am quite allergic. It was hell on earth. Constantly rolling over on it, stepping on it. Awful