Home improvements you find tacky

Poor Uncle Tom

meeeeh wrote: »

Just to make it clear I didn't like the sheep comment, I thought it was very condescending. I couldn't care less about the grey (unless I count bathroom tiles we even don't have any). But I agree the discussion went a bit too far.

Well done you, eventual sight is much better than hindsight.......

meeeeh

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Leather couches. The fur coats of interior decorating. Beloved of people who go on tanning machines. Status symbol for people who have no socio-economic status.

Nah, you can just scrape ice cream off or dig out crisps remains and the sofa is still half presentable. I'm snob enough not to go for plastic imitation of leather but the rest is pure functionality.

Speaking of plastic, I kind of understand why people pick plastic windows but when I saw my cousin lay beautiful marble flooring (mat not shiny) and matched that with plastic windows with fake glass dividers I almost cried. And the big ones even rattled a bit when they opened.

KKkitty

Another bug bear of mine is radiator cabinets. They do hide a bit of an eyesore but they must block off a lot of heat at the same time.

Mountainsandh

I never realized so many people hated PVC. I don't mind PVC windows myself. We have them, we had to find ones that looked like sash windows, so they're just plain enough, they're great. They're great windows. Fantastic. My windows are the best. They're the best imitation sash windows you can find.



Candie, could I be on the show as an in studio commentator ?
I'm very good at spitting and getting red in the face, I can be very stubborn and judgmental, and if recording can allow for a certain timing on a monthly basis, I think I could very much channel my inner Katie Hopkins for dramatic confrontations (studio safer in that regard). Plus I'm French, so viewers could happily suggest I just go back to where I came from.

JupiterKid

Conservatories - very dated, late 1980s/early 90s era.

Little china knick-knack ornaments.
Frilly white fascias and window adornments - vile.
Fake concrete/PVC mock Roman pillars on door porches.
Bedroom storage units over bed - very, very 70s/80s
Carpet in bathroom - vile and unhygienic
Lino masquerading as tiles - cheap and tacky

iguana

meeeeh wrote: »

Nah, you can just scrape ice cream off or dig out crisps remains and the sofa is still half presentable. I'm snob enough not to go for plastic imitation of leather but the rest is pure functionality.

Yup, maybe back in the 80s leather furniture was some sort of status symbol. Now it's mostly a symbol of someone with small children who values the ability to quickly wipe away smushed banana over all else. Leather is just extremely, extremely practical. I have three dark brown leather couches. Two in my livingroom that are soft brown leather in a sort of slouchy style. They are very soft and comfortable. And one in the playroom with firmer leather and shape. It's still quite comfortable but not as homely feeling as the other two. I believe it was probably the more expensive couch originally. I bought them on adverts and donedeal and paid €350 for the two in the livingroom and €180 for the one in the playroom (and as a bonus found €22 in the cushions of that one:D).

It's actually a sum up of my whole house style though, which is what do I like and can get for a bargain price and what have I already got that I can turn into something I like more. Matched with what is practical in a house with springer spaniels and a crazy 4 year old. I love how it looks though as it's as unique as you can get on a budget of 'what's spare in my current account.' My house had been rented out before I bought it and the owners left everything in it when they sold, from the quite nice dining table and chairs to the really, really awful picture frames. I reupholstered the kitchen chairs with a piece of material my dad found for €3 in a charity shop. I thought he was mad when he came in with it but the chairs look absolutely amazing now. And I repainted the frames in either bright colours (or grey - ha), put brash superhero posters in them and hung them over some insanely bright multi-coloured Hot Wheels wall tracks in my son's room. It literally cost €30 and has turned his bedroom into a child's fantasy room. Once Aldi get their wood paint in again and I paint his wardrobes as a Tardis and a castle it will be perfect.

_Brian

the_pen_turner wrote: »

decks

What !!
what's the problem with decks

lawred2

iguana wrote: »

Yup, maybe back in the 80s leather furniture was some sort of status symbol. Now it's mostly a symbol of someone with small children who values the ability to quickly wipe away smushed banana over all else. Leather is just extremely, extremely practical. I have three dark brown leather couches. Two in my livingroom that are soft brown leather in a sort of slouchy style. They are very soft and comfortable. And one in the playroom with firmer leather and shape. It's still quite comfortable but not as homely feeling as the other two. I believe it was probably the more expensive couch originally. I bought them on adverts and donedeal and paid €350 for the two in the livingroom and €180 for the one in the playroom (and as a bonus found €22 in the cushions of that one:D).

It's actually a sum up of my whole house style though, which is what do I like and can get for a bargain price and what have I already got that I can turn into something I like more. Matched with what is practical in a house with springer spaniels and a crazy 4 year old. I love how it looks though as it's as unique as you can get on a budget of 'what's spare in my current account.' My house had been rented out before I bought it and the owners left everything in it when they sold, from the quite nice dining table and chairs to the really, really awful picture frames. I reupholstered the kitchen chairs with a piece of material my dad found for €3 in a charity shop. I thought he was mad when he came in with it but the chairs look absolutely amazing now. And I repainted the frames in either bright colours (or grey - ha), put brash superhero posters in them and hung them over some insanely bright multi-coloured Hot Wheels wall tracks in my son's room. It literally cost €30 and has turned his bedroom into a child's fantasy room. Once Aldi get their wood paint in again and I paint his wardrobes as a Tardis and a castle it will be perfect.

wife and I are a bit like this..

Found some huge ornately framed mirrors in some garden centre in the worst pink and purple you're ever likely to see..

Sitting there for ages with sale stickers on them.. A bit of good bantered haggling and we walked out with two of them for €50 when the original marked price was somewhere over twice that each..

Repainted the frames and they look fantastic.. Everyone comments on them as soon as they see them

ratmouse

Stephen15 wrote: »

Similar enough as it's notso really an improvement but those black and white images of Big Ben with a routemaster or a black taxi crossing the bridge or one of the Eiffel Tower. Absolute tat.

I know those pictures. Pure tack! Worse than a picture of the Eiffel Tower is a miniture size ornamnet of one. One of the leading Irish Fashion/Beauty bloggers has an ugly silver one (that appears to have lights on it!!) in the background of photos she puts up of her living room. So tacky looking.

Yamanoto

foxy farmer wrote: »

House painted in the local or County GAA colours.

...by an Elvis fanatic.

bottlebrush

lawred2 wrote: »

wife and I are a bit like this..

Found some huge ornately framed mirrors in some garden centre in the worst pink and purple you'll ever likely to see..

Sitting there for ages with sale stickers on them.. A bit of good bantered haggling and we walked out with two of them for €50 when the original marked price was somewhere over twice that each..

Repainted the frames and they look fantastic.. Everyone comments on them as soon as they see them

just curious what colour you painted the frames. I have a couple of frames with their original gilt colour together with a matching gilt lamp stand and would love to paint them all but could never decide what colour would match my cream walls?

lawred2

bottlebrush wrote: »

just curious what colour you painted the frames. I have a couple of frames with their original gilt colour together with a matching gilt lamp stand and would love to paint them all but could never decide what colour would match my cream walls?

Struggling to remember off the top of my head but I think it was some variety of chalk paint - possibly a cocoa colour.

Like you we have light cream walls.

lawred2

Yamanoto wrote: »

...by an Elvis fanatic.

how do you unlike something?

Your Face

Framed movie posters.




You c--ts.

Not that one

Decks - How can we provide a nice sheltered cosy area close to food sources for the local rodent population to nest?
Live, love, scream - Mostly in homes with a screaming ma and boisterous kids
Gardens decorations - 12ft by 12ft garden with model windmill, 3 bird houses, rockery corner and plastic decorations
Ceiling mouldings/centrepieces in standard 3 bed semis as highlighted by others

Wibbs

Your Face wrote: »

Framed movie posters.




You c--ts.

Again IMHO depends on the film, the age and if they're originals. Pre say 1970's the images could be interesting in their own right. Plus because back then they weren't "collectors items"/memorabilia and meant to be discarded after the cinema run, they have a patina of their own. Some like the ones produced in Cuba after Castro were designed and printed by some very talented artists. Can go similar for old Eastern Bloc stuff. Hell, Toulouse Lautrec readied up advertising posters and I'd love one of those originals.

Mountainsandh

Came across this article just now on my Facebook and thought of this thread. It reminds me of the grey debate.

(A nice interesting and entertaining website, incidentally, some articles may need a bit of double checking but better than most.)


"How beige took over American homes"
It's a bit long, but the essence of it is that American homes lost their garish character from the 80s in or around the end of nineties into 2000, because of the property boom. Re-styling TV programs came on air because of same boom. The programs were directed at potential sellers, but it made its way into the people's psyche that to be worth anything, your house had to adhere by these selling standards. I think it applies here in Ireland. Not for everyone, as some posts on this thread testify.

Our houses lost their personal worth and touches; they were worth to us only as much as they were worth to others. Our houses were painted beige because beige enabled the prospective buyers we (even unintentionally) were designing for to picture their own lives in our houses. Beige is a blank slate – a canvas upon which anyone’s personality can be painted over. The irony is that beige became the painting itself, because of the media-driven trend towards overwhelming interior neutrality, spurred by the idea that it added concrete value to our asset-houses.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-beige-took-over-american-homes?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=atlas-page

Deer

I'm off upstairs to do something in my daughters room that will make my eyes bleed. Install a glittery silver light shade and put marble effect contact on her desk. Tacky to me and not my taste at all but she will absolutely love it and any thing to make her study space more appealing to her is fine by me. Hope she gets a nice surprise and I don't mess up the contact.

astrofool

Wibbs wrote: »

*Quality Art Nouveau was about the last gasp of the excessive ornament, hand made, natural and very bourgeois style, in the face of the rise of the machine and futurism. The New Art looking to a past that never existed. It's part of the appeal for me. High Art Deco was more about the machine and futurism, but was just as excessive, hand made and very bourgeois too. I'm a sucker for futurism/modernism TBH. That it has become nostalgic is ironic in of itself. BUt I digress. As effin usual.

I like how you're at peace with liking the futurism/modernism stuff as long it as made by hand "I like the future, as long as I can twiddle some analogue dials to control it" type thing.

I have a friend living at le viaduc et les arcades du lac that would make you insanely jealous

cml387

I have an irrational dislike of those glass lanterns that you see in Meadows and Byrne. They come in all sizes from tiny to telphone booth size.

Also from Meadows and Byrne this monstrosity

198 Euro?????

storker

meeeeh wrote: »

Grecian style pillars.

I've seen these on a semi-d.

Deer

Deer wrote: »

I'm off upstairs to do something in my daughters room that will make my eyes bleed. Install a glittery silver light shade and put marble effect contact on her desk. Tacky to me and not my taste at all but she will absolutely love it and any thing to make her study space more appealing to her is fine by me. Hope she gets a nice surprise and I don't mess up the contact.

I wouldn't have been keen on the contact, but when I was a kid everything either had pink feathers on it, was lit with fairy lights, had glitter or sparkle, was fluffy, and had a Barbie motif until I was 12. Then I moved onto the more sophisticated Hello Kitty.

She'll love it.

Mountainsandh

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Candie, could I be on the show as an in studio commentator ?
I'm very good at spitting and getting red in the face, I can be very stubborn and judgmental, and if recording can allow for a certain timing on a monthly basis, I think I could very much channel my inner Katie Hopkins for dramatic confrontations (studio safer in that regard). Plus I'm French, so viewers could happily suggest I just go back to where I came from.

You're DEFINITELY hired!

Start practicing your sneering before we set you on Ronan and Mary, who think their purple Smeg is the last word in contemporary kitchen style. And who painted their hall grey :P

Sleepy

I've spent the last 6 months removing much of what was mentioned in this thread from our fixer upper

Stuff I've sorted so far:
Pea Green Matt Emulsion plastered onto the kitchen cabinets, splashback tiles and appliances.
Lino on the stairs and landing.
A mix-and-match bathroom suite of pink bath and basin with a white toilet.
Cheap, early 00's laminate flooring.
An uneven, arabesque tile and lino combo, floor in the kitchen / diner.
An oven powered by a plug coming up through the counter-top and inserted in the socket built into the splashback :eek:
Brass door handles that had been "fixed" in place with 1/2 inch bolts.
Home-made shelving in a utility room that would put a junior cert woodwork student to shame.
"Structural" wallpaper - it was literally holding the skimcoat up in the older part of the ground floor!

Still to go:
The cheap white PVC door
The misted aluminium double-glazed windows with faux-georgian bars
- both of the above in an architectural conservation area requiring the original front door and sash windows to be kept - not going to be cheap to get right
Both front and back gardens full of clutter, astro-turf and palm trees (in North County Dublin.
An attic that has zero insulation.
A downstairs bathroom with a shower cubicle that clearly has tiling over regular plasterboard (instead of the water resistant bathroom grade).
Stippled ceilings in most rooms.
Putting some cabiinets into the utility room (ripped out the old stuff and just have some old shelving units we brought from our rental in there for now)

Toots

Ugh this thread reminds me that my living room/kitchen needs repainted and I'm dreading it.

Stuff I hate in houses:

Floor tiles so shiny they're practically reflective (nothing like running the daily risk of being killed by your kitchen or toilet floor)
Net curtains
Textured paint on walls
Those swirly patterns on ceilings - stippling wouldn't be my taste, but definitely not as bad as the swirls and fans
Feckin doileys on the back of armchairs
Those weird fluffy covers on the toilet lid - gross, like a sponge for sh*t particles to gather
Cornicing and ceiling roses
Period features in general (unless original to the house)

Winterlong

Toots wrote: »

Those weird fluffy covers on the toilet lid - gross, like a sponge for sh*t particles to gather

Reading this brought back a whole bunch of bad memories that I thought had been blacked out.

Wibbs

astrofool wrote: »

I like how you're at peace with liking the futurism/modernism stuff as long it as made by hand "I like the future, as long as I can twiddle some analogue dials to control it" type thing.

Yeah, I love that contradiction.

KKkitty

That sticker stuff to give the frosted glass effect is horrendous. Get proper frosted windows ffs.

meeeeh

I think lino, stick on foil, even plastic windows and similar are usually more budgeting issue. I always find choices that are not consequence of budgeting restraints more unforgiving.

Maybe against the popular taste, I absolutely hate country style kitchens. Especially cream ones, I don't care how much money is thrown at them, how good the finish is, they are all awful.

Zaph

Toots wrote: »

Those swirly patterns on ceilings - stippling wouldn't be my taste, but definitely not as bad as the swirls and fans

I knew I forgot something when I was giving out about our house's previous owners - for some insane reason they did that with two of the rooms. The house was built in the mid-80s, and I understand that they bought it sometime in the 90s. But their taste in decor was pure 70s tack. And I can't even say they were old, they were younger than me.

Toots wrote: »

Feckin doileys on the back of armchairs

I think you'll find they're called antimacassars. I don't really know why I know that. :pac: