As anyone who owns their home can confirm, domestic life can start feeling a bit stale after a while. Seeing the same furnishings and interior layout day after day after day can just get a bit… old, you know? To some, this dilemma calls for the purchase of a new home, but to most, it means that it’s time to renovate!
Generally speaking, home improvement is a great way to, well, improve your home. From the addition of more stylish light fixtures to the removal of unnecessary walls, a little bit of renovation might be just the thing to spruce up your dwelling place and bring back that new-home feel.
Of course, no silver cloud is without its dark lining (that’s how the saying goes, right?). For every great movement in the home renovation scene, there’s another that’s just as terrible. As you can imagine, a list numbering all of these questionable interior design trends would have an almost impossibly large number of entries!
Now, we don’t have the time or space to list each major and minor home renovation choice that homeowners have made over the years. That’s not going to stop us from listing the highlights though! That’s right: in this article, we’ll be breaking down five of the most regrettable trends that interior design has ever seen. Let’s get started!
Prefabricated Shower Inserts
If you live in the United States, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve seen at least one of these before. You might even have one in your home! These prefabricated fiberglass or plastic showers seemed like a great idea, back in the day; with no more than a trip to the home improvement store, you could have a fully outfitted shower!
The key word here is seemed. As time would quickly demonstrate, you get what you pay for, both in terms of money and time. These showers are prone to cracking, leaking and mildew, and are not known to age well. Even higher-end models often fall prey to the slow but unstoppable march of time as they become worn out and aesthetically displeasing.
If you’re a die-hard fan of these types of shower insert, we’ve got even more bad news for you; the simple truth is that these shower inserts… aren’t particularly great as showers. Sure, they get the job done, but many homeowners can attest to feeling claustrophobic and ill at ease in them. For your money, almost any other type of shower is a better investment!
Shag carpet
Do you remember shag carpet? Back in the 70s, this stuff was all the rage. With its long luxurious fibers and vibrant, luscious colors, its longevity seemed like a sure thing. I mean, who in their right minds wouldn’t want this covering every floor in their house, right? Decades later, we can solemnly confirm that the answer to this question is “virtually everyone on the planet”.
Don’t get us wrong. When it’s new shag carpet is pretty great. It feels great to walk or sit on, and it’s not even the worst place to take a nap! The problem with shag carpet, however, is introduced with age. The long fibers hide dirt, dead skin cells, hair and all the other assorted particles that are likely to be floating around most living spaces. And, don’t forget how infuriatingly difficult this stuff is to vacuum!
The trouble doesn’t end there though; it’s barely just begun! Shag carpet is notorious for falling prey to discoloration and uneven wear over time. Due to the exceptional length of the fibers, areas you walk or sit on more frequently will wear thin, leaving big, ugly patches all over the place. Oh, and you’d better just forget about ever moving your furniture!
Popcorn ceilings
If you’re a contractor or have ever worked in interior finishing, we’re willing to bet that your blood just boiled a little at the mere thought of this confounded stuff! Another child of the late 20th century, popcorn ceilings can still be found in many homes from the 70s, 80s and 90s, although the trend has thankfully lost mainstream appeal in recent years.
This stuff is a bit of a mystery, by all accounts. It’s not particularly aesthetically pleasing, by any standard; a simple smooth finish is far cleaner and more coherent. Nor is it an easy finish to pull off, as any contractor will readily tell you, albeit through clenched teeth. And, to top it all off, the brittle and uneven nature of this finish makes it prone to cracking and raining stucco down on the residents of the house!
While it’s much rarer for homeowners to ask for a popcorn finish ceiling these days, the legacy of this consternation-inducing interior design choice lives on in homes from the periods during which it was most popular. Next time you drive by a renovation job in progress, listen closely; you might just hear the frustrated mutterings of a poor soul tasked with patching a popcorn ceiling!
Laminate woods
Oh laminate, you had so much potential; where did it all go wrong? Around the turn of the century, laminate was all the rage. This affordable alternative to hardwood promised the look and feel of its more expensive counterparts, with all of the durability and none of the expensive costs of maintenance.
In reality, however, laminate largely failed to deliver on its promises. While it generally looked good for a period of time after it was installed, it wasn’t long before it started to show its age. And, unlike hardwoods, laminate does not age well. Before you knew it, your laminate would be peeling, chipping and cracking all over the place.
While it’s still not the worst material for furniture and flooring, laminate has thankfully fallen out of fashion in most homes, replaced instead by more eco-conscious alternatives such as repurposed woods or greener synthetic materials. It was nice while it lasted, but boy did it not last very long!
Patterned wallpaper
This one is a bit more subjective than the other entries on the list; there are some who love it, and some who hate it. While we can’t definitively say we fall into either camp, we’re pretty sure that this just ain’t it, chief. Sure, it can be charming, but our final conclusion is that you’re much better off opting for a tastefully matched paint scheme than this stuff.
Patterned wallpaper was really big during the golden age of the American suburban home. It was cheap, decorative and promised instant decorative appeal in an age of baroque interior design. However, as patterned wallpaper became a more common sight in the American home, the cracks began to show (sometimes literally).
You see, patterned wallpaper can be… a lot. While some find it charming, the over-the-top aesthetics this product brought with it were simply too much for some folks. Add to that its propensity to chip, peel and come unstuck from the wall and you have yourself a tragically unpleasant home improvement trend indeed.
Conclusion
If this article seems like an indexed list of the interior design aesthetics of your home, it might be time to make a move. Sure, you could replace and renovate some of these things, but at a certain point it makes more sense to just pack your things and find a new home that suits your needs a bit better.
Sound like a good idea? Well we’ve got good news for you! With the simple click of a button, you can find a real estate agent in your area who will be more than willing to help you find a home that suits your needs and your budget like a glove, in no time flat! With a little help from them, you might just be moved into your new, tastefully designed home in no time!
