I was thinking of something that’s just appeared on a pic up there :
Belfast sinks.
Ah yes that flash-in-the-pan fad that started in the 1700s.
Belfast sinks! We had one in the kitchen but I’m clumsy and I kept smashing glasses and crockery in it!
I’ve done a number of projects both on listed horses
I hope white window frames disappear for good. Anything other than white would look better 99% of the time. White really is a shit colour for bathroom furniture too. Just makes everything look scruffy and a bit clinical. Agree that fake grass has to be up there.
White windows frames? never painted any other colour and never will. coloured window frames are hideous
One from a few years ago that has aged really badly is wooden worktops. Black looks so much better
Other one is those massive island units in kitchens, people put them in cos it’s the done thing rather than whether it actually works in the space…
They work really well in open plan kitchen diner's!
"Classic and modern" or "will date really quickly" ?
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48220754737_ea1c11d2d4_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48220754737_ea1c11d2d4_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2gt6Yp4 ]DSC_1167[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/25846484@N04/ ]TandemJeremy[/url], on Flickr
In my opinion, those chrome barstools are already dated, but at least they can be replaced.
Its interesting to see how quickly stuff 'dates' - I think it depends a large amount on how cheap/easy it is to do it - feature walls seemed to be 'in' for about 5 years in the late naughtys, and that was it - but bifold doors that started to be popular at about the same time are still popular now, as they're expensive (so you don't see many houses with them).
I fitted my old house with waterfall taps, grey kitchen and feature walls in 2008, haven't lived there for the last 5 years so I don't feel too bad about it.
flooding a house with cat5 seems to have died a death (and not just because of cat6), but at least it was hidden.
anything considered 'shabby chic' can get in the sea.
“Classic and modern” or “will date really quickly” ?
I think that the bare, suspended, oversized filament light bulb was part of an 'industrial chic' look that was popular about 2013-2018, brought on by a new wave of conversions from city centre ex-industrial structures to glamorous luxury residential units.
Is that the look you were aiming for with the dangle of disappointment from the ceiling?
Rest of it looks fine.
One from a few years ago that has aged really badly is wooden worktops. Black looks so much better
Your evidence suggests otherwise.
When you finishing the flooring. - never understood the bare floorboard thing
flooding a house with cat5 seems to have died a death (and not just because of cat6), but at least it was hidden.
Except none of it is actually cat6 but whatever.
Your evidence suggests otherwise.
Quite. Looks like a student flat from 20 years ago.
When you finishing the flooring. – never understood the bare floorboard thing
It's a Leith thing I think, all of the rooms in my missus' flat had bare boards. The downstairs neighbours absolutely love it too, nothing better than knowing where your neighbour is by the creak of wonky boards or the clack clack clack of high heels.
anything considered ‘shabby chic’ can get in the sea.
On the upside think of all the landfill it saved. Probably a lot of nice period stuff got trashed too but for the most part it was the shite not even the DEBRa shop would sell.
I like the look of floorboards in an older house because it's showing some of the age/character of the place. Noisy though
Haveel to say it's a weird mix with the 1980s 'modern' kitchen.
Black looks so much better
Nuh uh. Easier to look after maybe.
Conservatory...
Decking...
Sanitary ware thats not white...
Taps that are not chrome...
UPVC external doors...
Underfloor heating the devils work
🙂 to the picture. Its sort of ( as described in an SF book) aggressive retro 90s! Done very cheaply. The boards ore only 35 yrs old - it was completely refloored in the 80s. the bar stools are horrid. In the flesh tho overall it looks good and the tenants love it.
I do prefer that kitchen tho to the other one I put in in the 90s with wooden worktops and cream cupboards - that has dated badly IMO
Is that the look you were aiming for with the dangle of disappointment from the ceiling?
Great phrase. Actually the chap who did the fire certificate insisted the lampshades that were removed - so we did 🙂
My list of things that dated badly and look shite
Laminate flooring. If you cannot afford wood then get carpet
Non chrome taps / waterfall taps - I loathe that disappointing dribble
plastic windows especially the ones with fake leading / stained glass - just look cheap and nasty
Non white bathroom suites
Black wall tiles in bathrooms
Sparkly stuff in bathrooms
Stripy wallpaper
Wood burning stoves are all the rage in new builds around here - the embarrassment in 10 years time when they are banned for killing people
Just new build planning. Characterless houses, characterless estates, not enough parking, not enough footpaths.
I quite like the unmolested time warp houses from say 60s, swirly carpet, g plan furniture, brick fireplaces, Corby trouser press...
If I bought one I would keep most of it intact and have a retrotastic party.
Those 60s span houses are listed now.
Belfast Sinks, as above.
We had one as a kid while all the flash people were getting aluminium ones. I was deeply ashamed of that sink and will never have one.
We also had to make do with butter while all the flash kids had margarine.
Funny world.
Aye, I have to agree with astro turf, it's awful, was bad enough playing footy on it for years, **** having it in your garden.
Minimalist kitchens give me the willies, especially if they're lit like a mortuary.
Whisky shelves seem to be a bit popular atm.
A 'bar' in the house or summer house with fonts, stools etc is the height of poor taste.
One from a few years ago that has aged really badly is wooden worktops. Black looks so much better
Oldest worktop material there is. Sustainable, can refinish, easy to look after. Black? I’m not living in the 1980s. I don’t really want your “new bed sit on a budget” look.
Laminate flooring. If you cannot afford wood then get carpet
Ha . And yet a quality laminate that is more durable than wood and less succeptible to wear and water damage in high traffic areas near out side doors can easily cost more than wood.
Certainly the laminate I put in my dining room was more than the 22mm oak I put in my living room and clad the stairs in.
Tbh I'd take cheapass lino over bare floorboards. looks unfinished* . A bit like nardo grey Audi's. (Primer grey)
You'll like this.... I fitted oak worktops onto an off-white (grey) shaker kitchen with a Belfast sink in 2020......probably was never in fashion....and im ok with that because I fitted it for me.
-just shows how tastes are different as I said earlier
The biggest problem with “doing up” houses is that very few people understand design or colours. That’s a bad start, it just means you get everything magnolia or white walls - or grey at the moment - and bland boring cookie cutter cheap stuff slotted in (like tjagains picture).
Add on the issue that people try and force a certain design into a house that doesn’t suit it. Ram a modern clean white kitchen into a Victorian house and it generally looks a bit odd. The same goes with old stuff in a newer house - trying to get a 60’s semi interior to look like a country cottage.
And compounding all the above is the fact that modern houses are 99% terrible. It fills me with incandescent rage how crap modern houses look and how they try to look like old houses but fail completely. Why on Earth are windows smaller now than in the 1960s? Seriously? Why does my £180k 1910 Edwardian house have a 2x3m wide lounge window in a 4.5m square room but friends have 3.5m square front rooms with a couple of (approx) tiny 60x80cm windows in? With mullions for no reason whatsoever. Crappy small rooms which are all just square dark boxes, mish mash of styles everywhere on the outside.
Contrary to what others have said I think grey windows can work really well but not in all houses.
expensive / quality laminate is surely an oxymoron! It always looks cheap and nasty
Anyone else dare to stick their heads above the parapet with pictures? I bet many folk on here would hate the floorboards in one room in my flat. Original 1870s, never ripped up or sanded. Carefully scrubbed clean by hand ( took days of work) and thus all lumpy and uneven and somewhat distressed.
You can buy laminate that pretends to be old distressed boards!
Why on Earth are windows smaller now than in the 1960s?
Thermal /insulation reasons. Modern houses need to meet certain standards and its easier to do this with small windows
expensive / quality laminate is surely an oxymoron! It always looks cheap and nasty
Arguably No worse than not fitting flooring at all. Surely the definition of cheapass
I quite like the unmolested time warp houses from say 60s, swirly carpet, g plan furniture, brick fireplaces, Corby trouser press…
If I bought one I would keep most of it intact and have a retrotastic party.
We looked at a 1970’s chalet style bungalow when we were house hunting. It was AMAZING. All the doors were original, the stairs were the original open style with the flat horizontal planks for the bannisters. Lot of built in furniture which was probably there since it was built.
The thing was it looked really really good. Yes it needed redecorating (careful choices would need to be made) and a tidy up but I would have kept it mostly intact as is really suited the proportions and style of the house. Unfortunately it didn’t work for us in a couple of crucial ways - I reckon whoever bought it probably ripped out all the good stuff and put in IKEA furniture and Richard Burbidge turned spindles (boak) on the stairs. I don’t think I’d want to know what it looks like now just in case.
Arguably No worse than not fitting flooring at all. Surely the definition of cheapass
Lol! ffs tj at least put some sawdust down!
Trailrat - actually the main reason for the bare boards is neither me of the missus could find any flooring we liked! My hallway has been hardboard for more than a decade for the same reason.
That picture is of a flat intended for renting which drove a lot of decisions including the fact I am a cheapass!
Thermal /insulation reasons. Modern houses need to meet certain standards and its easier to do this with small windows
Exactly - cost saving. All modern houses are built to extract as much profit as possible from house buyers. In the past people were proud to build houses for people, yes following the design trends of the decade but you now have houses where you can place when they were built at a glance.
I doubt many people could tell whether a newer house was built in the 1990/00/10/ or 20 decade.
I reckon (hope really!) in 40-50 years time a lot of the houses built in the last 30 years will be seen as crap and “avocado bathroom”.
Pigeon hut timber , large grey windows (the white ones now grey to match....it's a left over from the old building)
I'm sure you'll hate it but I'm ok with it.
Inside is terrecota orange with laminate flooring and an oak/steel combo dining table.
I'm ok with that
*Edit I see insta links no longer work
That picture is of a flat intended for renting which drove a lot of decisions
Was the decision to make it as soulless as possible? Like a set from a 1980’s game show where the polished model shows off the dinner set or mini hifi you can win in the next round?
Terracotta! and you slag me off 🙂
Never mind taste, surely wood/laminate floor in a flat is a no no?
*Edit I see insta links no longer work
Aye, we had too many nice things.
The Guardian has published an article today featuring a few of the posters from this thread.
Exhibit 1 - TJAgain
Guardian Modern Life is Rubbish
I quite like the unmolested time warp houses from say 60s, swirly carpet, g plan furniture, brick fireplaces, Corby trouser press…
You've just described my grandparents house. Must have been a fashion because a lot of their friends had similar.
The raised swirly Artex plastering on the walls.
Carpets in a swirly pattern, multi-hued but based on one colour (theirs were green in one room and an awful red/orange in the hallway).
I think they had a peach bathroom rather than avocado though.
They had a dreadful conservatory too, built back in the time when they were just coming into fashion except done on a budget and it was little more than a greenhouse but in white. Single glazed so absolutely freezing in winter and so hot in summer that the laminate floor warped and peeled.
When they died my Mum did as much as possible with the house to clean it up and then sold it. The new owners absolutely gutted the place - I never saw it redecorated but my Mum said it had been really nicely done and all the awfulness had disappeared!
Was the decision to make it as soulless as possible
To be fair for a rental I can understand that. Keep it simple and when your tennent ****s it up and runs off its minimal cost to sort.
I'm ok with terracotta because it's not magnolia.
My paint is not magnolia either. Its "soft cream summer mist" or something equally pretentious
its really magnolia
frank - nope not me. My stuff is all minimalist and clutter free
I bet all the 50 something year olds here know what lineoleum is . They would have had it in their kitchen , bathroom, kitchen table if you were poor
Change its name to Marmoleum and it's apparently the healthiest most hygienic floor covering now although Kirkcaldy doesn't smell just as bad as it did 40 years ago
Should see my feature wall in the dining room. 3 walls are terrecota and one is pure brilliant white........
Bet you can't guess why.
Bet you can’t guess why.
To try and hide the damp?
Bet you can’t guess why.
To use it as a projector wall for your midget porn parties?
I bet all the 50 something year olds here know what lineoleum is . They would have had it in their kitchen , bathroom, kitchen table if you were poor
Isn't proper linoleum (ie. the stuff made from linseed oil) quite expensive now?
As with most things its all about not over doing it. Take TVs:
TVs on walls are fine.
TV's on walls so high up its like sitting at the front row of the cinema are not fine.
TV's on the wall so high up because they are above the fake mantlepiece in your new build that doesn't have a chimney are ghastly.
TV's on the feature wall so high up because they are above the fake mantlepiece which is also liberally decorated with "LOVE" and "HOME" ornaments strategically positioned to catch the light from the LED downlighters, well you get the point.
How do we stand on the Farrow and Ball type wall paints? Personally i really like them as they are not flat colours but subtle mixes. However I bet they will date as badly as the 80s/90s strong colours on walls or the 70s flock wallpaper
