The 25 Biggest, Most Horrible, Most Shameful, Most Heinous Decorating Mistakes

[3894]

Did you see the show on HGTV last night? I'll list what they said but if you want further explanation, please go here.*

How many are you guilty of? I'm guilty of a few, oh yes indeed. Before I post, I need to fortify myself at Dairy Queen. Back in a bit.

Your turn!

The 25 Biggest Decorating Mistakes

25. Toilet Rugs
24. Too Many Photos
23. Ignoring the Foyer
22. Undressed Cables
21. Out-of-Place Themes
20. Outdated Accessories
19. Lopsided Furniture Arrangements
18. Keeping Something You Hate
17. Too Formal
16. Uncomfortable Dining Chairs
15. Lack of Traffic Pattern
14. Everything Matches
13. Following Fads
12. Furniture That Doesn't Fit
11. Too Many Colors of Patterns
10. Floating Rugs
9. Improper Lighting
8. Frames Hung Too High
7. Tacky Couch Covers
6. Pushed-Back Furniture
5. Ignoring Windows
4. Fear of Color
3. Knickknack Overload
2. Too Many Pillows
1. Fake Flowers

























*Argh! Flashback to when I used to teach.

[Kevy Baby]

22. Undressed Cables - Sometimes it can't be avoided: I will not give up proper sound for the sake of aesthetics.
19. Lopsided Furniture Arrangements - Probably, but I wouldn't know
11. Too Many Colors of Patterns - Maybe, but because I get individual pieces that I like, I don't care.
10. Floating Rugs - People use magic carpets for decoration?
9. Improper Lighting - I'm never happy with lighting
6. Pushed-Back Furniture - as in: against the wall? Currently, I don't have a choice.
3. Knickknack Overload - How about "crap overload?"
1. Fake Flowers - this is the #1 wrong thing? I mean, one can overdo it, but as light accents, how is this bad?

[lindyhop]

I've never had a toilet rug but I'm guilty of just about everything else. But I don't decorate, I store.

[scaeagles]

How about one I didn't see listed - too many freakin' pictures of the kids hanging everywhere. My wife has turned much of the house into a virtual shrine. I finally put my foot down and declared three room of the house to be child picture free.

[lindyhop]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

How about one I didn't see listed - too many freakin' pictures of the kids hanging everywhere. My wife has turned much of the house into a virtual shrine. I finally put my foot down and declared three room of the house to be child picture free.

See #24.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by lindyhop

See #24.

Duh....I scanned the list for the word "pictures" and didn't see the word "photos".

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

How about one I didn't see listed - too many freakin' pictures of the kids hanging everywhere. My wife has turned much of the house into a virtual shrine. I finally put my foot down and declared three room of the house to be child picture free.

I believe it is technically not only a decorating faux pas but an etiquette faux pas to have numerous personal photos in public areas of the home.

This is a sin we do not commit, primarily because we are generally too disorganized to get things into frames.

[BarTopDancer]

Child hater!


I'm guilty of some, mostly furniture because I still have what I did when I first moved out.

[3894]

Fun fact: Dairy Queen has an Original Cheeseburger (1/6 lb.) and a Classic Cheeseburger (1/4 lb.). Who knew!


23. Ignoring the Foyer - The front door opens and hall ahead, living room to your right. Our house has pretty much no foyer - except for a 4'x2' area. I was thinking of putting the dog's dishes there when the porch gets too cold. Welcome to our house and please don't step in the dog's kibble! The reason was that the little 4'x2' area and the hallway are tiled, everything else is hardwood. I guess I won't do it.

22. Undressed Cables - Guilty, guilty, guilty!

21. Out-of-Place Themes and 18. Keeping Something You Hate -We had quite a collection of Chinese stuff, including a rather large porcelain statue of the god of longevity on a rather high carved rosewood stand. We had scrolls, we had carvings, we had this and we had that, and all of it Chinese. All of it had belonged to my father, with my mother's Chinese desk thrown in for good measure.

Which didn't really work with our kachinas and Plains Indian beadwork. For several years, we were very multi-ethnic/Helen's House of Dreck around here. After enough time went by after my dad's passing, I finally deacessioned the Chinese stuff.

11. Too Many Colors of Patterns - Stringently not guilty of this one! Our neighbor the set designer once told my husband that three is the limit of colors you can fit in one room. Since the guy knows his stuff, we have tried to keep to that.

10. Floating Rugs - But those handwoven rag rugs are so cheap here!

9. Improper Lighting - Very guilty

5. Ignoring Windows - My husband hates curtains. He understands they have to be up on bedroom and bathroom windows. Everything else gets no curtains.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Fun! This reminds me of a LoT thread I've been considering. So many of us don't live near each other, or haven't seen each other's homes. I'd like to see pictures of how people choose to decorate (or store, heh, Lindy) - I think it really gives an interesting perspective on people. Of course, I would only want to take my pictures when we've spiffed our house before a party; we're clean but we're not always tidy, and I do think everything here looks better tidy and put-together (I just don't always have time.)


25. Toilet Rugs - this was huge in Michigan and I was shocked to discover it's kind of less than classy when I arrived in CA six years ago. Never bought one since, because - on consideration - eww!

24. Too Many Photos - right now we don't have enough! We've been meaning to do an elegant stairway display with vintage pictures of family, we just haven't gotten to it.

23. Ignoring the Foyer - what foyer? When you walk into the condo, there's about 3 square feet of tile before it's "hello, living room."

22. Undressed Cables - ours are mostly tucked away but there is a little bit of cable running along the lip between our wood floor and our little square of tile foyer. It's pinned in and mostly covered by a bamboo rug, though.

21. Out-of-Place Themes - I don't know if I agree with this one; my parents love lighthouses and it's OK that they're decorating with them in Michigan - they can't get out to see any anymore. DP has a fun tiki section of her house and I think it's a riot and expresses who they are (I don't think it matters where you are.)

20. Outdated Accessories - OK, so our cabinets could be nicer. I might consider painting and putting on cool hardware, actually, because we can't afford a whole new set of cabinets. We're thinking about painting a lot; it's on the to-do list. But... our actually "outdated" accessories - that's part of who we are! We love retro, so we have lots of great furniture from the 50s and 60s (and some new furniture built to look like it is.) And I won't apologize for it!

19. Lopsided Furniture Arrangements - nope, we're pretty balanced.

18. Keeping Something You Hate - I'm looking over at a knicknack I was given this Christmas. It was #1 on my list for selling at the yard sale today (before we realized we couldn't go.) It's going to go soon.

17. Too Formal - not us. We're not fond of a cinched-up style. We like comfy, liveable swank.

16. Uncomfortable Dining Chairs - This is probably our biggest heinous mistake. But... would HGTV like to buy new ones for us? (Actually, HGTV probably funded the ones we have, since Tom edited for them for 3 years.)

15. Lack of Traffic Pattern - used to be, but due to this year's reorg, pretty open.

14. Everything Matches - well, everything moves towards coherence, but we've blended modern with vintage to give a distinct feel. Nothing really matches, it just goes together, I think.

13. Following Fads - we're not following a fad, we're following our taste. Comfy retro swank. It isn't classic, really, but it's something that makes us happy. And it feels like us. Isn't that the point of decor? (Otherwise we'd be living in identical, plain pods.)

12. Furniture That Doesn't Fit - we may kind of be guilty of this. It'd be better if our living room was just a tiny bit bigger. But you can walk through comfortably without bumping so maybe it's not that bad.

11. Too Many Colors of Patterns - we have a bit of pattern, and lean on about 5 main colors. (Red, gold/yellow, black, forest, a little plum.) Our plan is to eventually ditch the forest (having our antique settee reupholstered) but right now it all goes together pretty well.

10. Floating Rugs - the only rug we have is the aforementioned bamboo one which leads guests into the living room (and covers the wires.) It butts up against our bench, so I don't think it's really "floating."

9. Improper Lighting - indeed. I hate our lighting setup, and that's on my list for eventual retooling.

8. Frames Hung Too High - Nope.

7. Tacky Couch Covers - well, our IKEA couches are covered, but when they're in place (always when we have guests) I don't think people can even tell they're covered.

6. Pushed-Back Furniture - we have an entertainment viewing area and a working area, and only one couch and one desk is against the wall.

5. Ignoring Windows - alas, I hate our windows. Sliding-glass doors flanking the fireplace, and if you open the vertical blinds (blech) you get the majesty of our iron bars and the back of the neighboring condo building. I do love living in Hollywood, but the windows definitely frustrate me. I don't know what to do with them to make them whatsoever better.

4. Fear of Color - not us! But we're not tack with it, either.

3. Knickknack Overload - I'm not that fond of knickknacks; I probably have about 5 total in the home. Tom has maybe 2.

2. Too Many Pillows - not really. Two on either side of our long vintage settee, two on our IKEA couch. Four and a bolster on the bed. Oh! Wait, maybe. We have a bunch of beautiful chinese-patterened slipcovers on small pillows on the couch in our office. They are really pretty though, and I'm not doing away with them.

1. Fake Flowers - Call it wasteful, but I definitely only display fresh flowers and fruit. Oh. Wait - there is one place I have a single silk flower, but that's because it's a vase sconce on the wall that I replace with fresh if we're having guests (but don't choose to afford to replace every week.)