I feel itchy.

Ugh, that's ugly.

My guess? To look like chicken pox.

I saw the image and the title, and I was terrified that AT was about to tell me that this was the new, hip trend.

Thank you for not.

What's the Cat in the Hat like in person?

only those with flawless skin and strong stomachs may enter this room.

chicken pox! ew.

It's taken me years to get over the scene from "Psycho." Noooooooooooooo.............

That honestly makes me feel nauseated. Maybe they just REALLY like polka dots.

It makes it seem dirty. Maybe the bathroom rarely gets cleaned, and this is their way of embracing that?

I actually feel physically nauseated by this. I would also like for the people responsible for this bad decor to be publically shamed.

Totally looks like blood splatters all over the place...not that having this "decor" in ANY room makes any sense, but the BATHROOM has got to be the worst room possible.

Uh... :/

yes, ugh!

To hide where the blood splattered? Somebody call the police.

This looks like it was inspired by the polka dots/mirrors/mannequins art piece in the Mattress Factory Art Museum in Pittsburgh (http://www.livearts-fringe.org/blog/enclosures/mattress1.jpg). Not to my taste but I can see where they were going with the idea.

It's a JOKE! I don't get it but someone might. For those who constantly check the mirror for small red spots on their skin this would be the ultimate horror. Nightmare, more likely. *Cue the Pyscho music*

Some calamine lotion oughtta clear that problem up...

It's the King Of The Mountains bathroom!

practical joke?

To hide the blood splatters of previous ungreatful guests.

Amazing. This clearly took hours, and yet no-one took a second to step back and think "Actually, this might look ridiculous...".

I can literally hear people cringing.

Thanks for posting!

Aaaahhh!!

@carter76 - LOL!

this bathroom has an std

oh no! this gives me the yuks

Hilariously awful!

i have seen much much worse. i am assuming the bathroom belongs to a hipster, so they will have the last laugh. "my bathroom's on apt therapy and the mcms hate it, its pbr time!"

Perhaps they were channeling their inner Yayoi Kusama?

I think blue dots would have been a bit more appropriate for a bathroom. The red is terrible!

everybody lovves to hate on "hipsters".

@ the author of the post: You're not obligated to like it or to live there, so why the harshness? Also, seems a little sketchy to be posting interior photos without the owner's consent.

People really commit to bad design ideas.

This isn't even clever. Its just bad.

The only thing I'm not loving is how this was prefaced as a "design disaster." I've seen worse, with less conviction, that was billed as absolutely fabulous...

It seems like a good way to repel nosy parker stealth paparazzi who stumble into your bathroom. They provided you with a place to pee, and this is how you repay them?

hipsters = 0, mcm= 1

either the owner of this bathroom was high and bored..or they were just...high..

seriously...red dots..dots..dots!

@BlandOstrich - because it's truly, truly awful. There's no defense for this - it's just in horrible taste. I'm all about being kind, but I'm not into coddling when people truly destroy a perfect good bathroom.

Blood spatters. Gruesome!

Ditto @LolaDanger. Taking/posting the photo was kind of a jerk thing for the author to do.

I don't have a rash, but my bathroom does.

@Pi, I'd totally support you in that if the bathroom they destroyed belonged to you, but it's my guess that the Red Dots of Contention haven't made it that far. People doing different stuff, even when you *really* don't like it, makes life interesting. And for me the bigger issue is that as far as we know, the owner of the bathroom didn't offer it up to the AT community to be flamed or coddled or anything.

Oh, lord! someone forgot to take his meds.....

The only place this would look right is if this was in the Showtime themed house and this was the "Dexter Bathroom":

http://www.elledecor.com/decorating/articles/dexter_dining_room_and_kitchen

Inspired by an installment of Spiderman on The Electric Company circa 1974..."measles man", i think.

my first thought was ...an OCD Psycho blood splatter! the effort is there but the result is horrible!

Your bathroom shouldn't have acne.

wow, and I thought I had the worse bathroom in NYC.

Not clever, not cute, not positively unique.

Just bad taste. Literally and figuratively speaking, looks like a bloody mess.

I agree with BlandOstrich about the privacy invasion factor, but that said ... this gave me a much-needed morning laugh!

Seems like a good way to make the pimples blend in with your surroundings.

(If it were my bathroom, though, and someone happened to point out that it was posted online, the visitor who took those photos would be out of my life forever.)

I think it's funny. You guys take this design shit too seriously...lol. I would have chosen a color other than red, so it would look so much like blood...actually, I would never do this to my bathroom, but it doesn't mean I hate it. But then again, I'm not an uptight, condescending interior decorating GOD like everyone else on Apt.Therapy...maybe I'm just grumpy, but the past few smug and superior posts on here have really annoyed me.

Maybe they're hiding unsightly stains or paint splotches? Bad way of doing it, though...

I can barely stomach looking at the pictures...

I have no problem with the "invasion of privacy". The owners weren't identified, and if they didn't have some kind of sense of humor, they wouldn't have done what they did. I hope.

@pureevil, this IS a design blog -- of course people take design seriously, why would we waste our time here if we didn't have opinions and ideas?

The dots have gone too far. Remove them from the porcelain (unsanitary) and the floor, leave them on the walls and shower curtain, decide later about the cabinets. Add some solid red accessories and maybe a bit of black. THEN it might work.

This feels like a mean-spirited ambush. The best thing to do would be to delete this entire post quickly and not to post nonconsentual photos again. I'd bet that Maxwell would agree.

OMG! RABBITITIS!!!!

Maybe if the dots weren't on EVERYTHING and were a different color, but it just makes it look diseased. Not something I want in my bathroom.

Well said, Elaine. How many people reading this post would be ok with having their bathroom, regardless of design, show up on AT without their knowledge or consent? I'm guessing not that many.

While not my personal style, I actually do not mind this as much as some other bathrooms AT has featured. This bathroom is shocking, but it is somewhat interesting at the same time.

WTF???

I'm with the folks who think it's not cool to post photos of the interior of someone's house without permission and then ridicule them. Even if you might have that legal right, I think it's pretty mean. Usually AT isn't mean, so I'm surprised by this. Take it down.

@Miami's Elaine, I fully agree. My guess is that the bathroom's owner probably doesn't give a hoot about the mean-spirited remarks here, but that's not the point. Maxwell and team have always seemed honorable to me, and posting a private home without the consent of the person whose home it is, knowing full well that it would be lambasted, strikes me as disrespectful and dishonorable, and far uglier than a few red dots.

This might work with some serious editing. Take the dots off the sink & toilet (Maybe keep them on the lid), add a red shower curtain and decide about the cabinets later. Add some red accessories. Then it might be a way to jazz up a rental bathroom when you can't paint.

OK, since some of you have a problem with the alleged flaming, here is my take. IMO this is absolutely hideous. It's questionable choice. It was probably not this persons best idea. Those little stickers will eventually trap dirt around them and even under them, no matter how much the bathroom is cleaned. Friends don't let friends drive drunk and we shouldn't let friends design when they are just bad at it. When people start using acronyms to describe your bathroom, like OMG, WTF etc.. maybe one should rethink the idea. I guess we know who won't be the next design star on HGTV.

I think its funny.

Thanks for posting this!
I had a good laugh and I'm pleased to know that there are still people with a sense of humour!

and no, I don't find it a "design disaster"

I think its bad, but that doesn't matter.

I think its more unusual than bad(and possibly a joke). And I wonder... Upon leaving that bathroom for the first time, do you say anything to the owner, or do you just keep what you saw to yourself?

AT's mission is to share positively, not to abuse hosts' trust by publicly humiliating them. This post invades privacy regardless of the fact that the names of those who live there weren't revealed. This post sinks to the creepy Peeping Tom level--delete it!

@ Cashew

I think that I would have laughed so loud, that I couldn't have kept it for myself....

Wow!

Agree wholeheartedly with Miami's Elaine and other commenters who think this is a mean-spirited, unwarranted, and puerile post.

Also, you (original poster) are a rude ungracious houseguest. No qualifiers, no doubt, no retractions.

This is a unique bathroom, and the odds are the owner will hear about this. AT is about to be on-par with BCO.

Ew. I would have to resist the urge to start obsessively scratching the sink.

Shotgun blast.

It's like a guerrilla ad campaign for Valtrex.

I for one think it's funny, and I appreciate the time it probably took them to execute it. I'm sure the owner wasn't trying to be hip or avant garde...they probably just thought "why the hell not." Not everyone's trying to get their homes featured on AT or other design blogs...

I also wonder how long it'll take for the bathroom's owner to get wind of this and get PISSED that their home was photographed and published on the internet without their consent...ballsy, AT. Ballsy.

I'm with Miami's Elaine and the rest. This post is mean and inappropriate, regardless of whether it's legal.

I do agree with several of the comments that posting photos of a 'friend's' bathroom without their approval is rude - that AT has moved from simply rude to beyond the pale by added mean and inappropriate comments is very disappointing. My experience on this site is that the comments by AT have typically been far more supportive than this.
Regarding the design - it's a consistent thought carried out and I also think it's better than some designs shown on this site that get raves. Personally, I think 'getting it' requires a pretty significant sense of humor which many seem to be missing this morning - it's a joke people - laugh.

It's one thing if people consent to participate at AT. It's another if people's home bathrooms are photographed and displayed without their knowledge or consent. I completed and returned the AT comment concern form. It may be accessed by clicking below on "Let us know" (blue). Share your concern with AT administration, too.

Norman Bates would just LOVE this bathroom!!

it would be fun with a black light

I thought of connect the dots. Would have needed numbers though. And an image.

True, there were side effects.

wait... he took that phot without permission? that's just wrong

There are lots of web sites in the business of mocking others. I didn't think this was one of them.

Someone who would take the time to do this to their own bathroom is probably not the type to take themselves too seriously, much less the comments of strangers online. It reminds me of an art installation I once saw where normal furniture was given a skin-like coating complete with little hairs and pores. It was positively nauseating and the artist found the disgusted reactions hysterical.

Wow that bathroom makes my skin crawl. Not out of 'bad design skeevies' or whatever, just...looks like chicken pox.

This is the product of a, let us say, unique vision.

However, if the poster really didn't have any permission from the owner/decorator to put it up, I agree with the others who say that is Not Cool. And kind of as gross as the bathroom is.

All we need is some crime scene tape at the entrance.

I'm immediately reminded of TV commercials for birth control pills and/or tampons. It's like a posse of evil periods have cornered you in the bathroom.

I think it's kind of funny.

I like it. It's lighthearted, fun, and whimsical in a Suessian way. (If it were spatters, then yes, it would remind me of Psycho, but the perfectly regular circles are obviously not blood spatters. I have plenty of morbid imagination, but the association never even crossed my mind.) I wouldn't decorate my bathroom in this style, but if I discovered that a host had done so, I'd think they had a cheerful, imaginative, and unpretentious approach to decor...

... and if a mutual acquaintance took trouble to photograph it on the sly and publicly snark about it, I'd think they were mean-spirited and small-minded. In fact, that's what I do think.

Annie and Geoff: Confirming with the homeowner that you were taking photos and confirming that you were taking photos and posting them on AT are entirely different just to clarify the distinction.

This is quite whimsical and fun. Kudos to the homeowner for taking design risks. It is nice to see something unusual in a bathroom every now and then. I don't think nearly enough people take creative risks with their designs.

It does have the appearance (to me) of being a crime scene and I wouldn't want to live with this design for myself. But I still think it is so great that the homeowner has done something this unusual with such boldness.

it looks like organized blood splatter; which is unnerving, at best.

Wow. All the hatred, for such an obvious art reference: Look into Yayoi Kusama, people. Do a Google image search.

polka polka dots!! wah yeah!!

I feel itchy.

a murder has occurred, and somebody's sense of style is the victim.

A clown was murdered in there.

@eggpomegranate- do you really think that's what this is? It had crossed my mind. But then I just dismissed it as pointless silliness. After all, it's a bathroom covered in dots.

The owners did know these photos would be up on AT (see Editor's note). Knowing that they would be criticized so harshly, not so sure. Nevertheless, it's kind of frightening.

Measles, anyone? LOL It would make me laugh every time I saw it...but I couldn't live with it!

Wow, this would've taken hours! Admittedly I *did* laugh out loud at the first comment, but it really reminds me of some of Yayoi Kusama's work, in particular this piece

Not very nice.. The AT readers' comments, that is...

I love it! We always see art displayed in living spaces, however this living space is art. Kusama-inspired was my initial thought too.
I also love how is evokes such strong responses - revolt, aggression, amusement...and my favourite - itchiness!

i wanted to be the only commenter not to comment but i didn't have the willpower.

I might be the only one (or in a distinct minority), but I don't mind it. I don't think I'd want to live with it, but as an oh-that's-interesting-and-kind-of-cool thing, it works for me. It reminds me a little of the red spotted dinner service at the Bay Tree, which I think is very cute (http://www.thebaytree.com.au/New%20site/products/dinnerware/spotted/red%20spot%20range.html)

I did a design history post on my blog today. It coincidentally was on polka dots! I show a room from the mid 1700's with polka dots painted on the wall, among other shots. I just added a link to your post in my comment section. (with credit of course). Unbelievable.
Lynn

LOVE IT. What's wrong with everyone? It looks great! I want to know what the rest of the house looks like!

@forfeit you're just a tad bit late. That editor's note was updated sometime between 2:18 and 5:15 ;).

looks like someone left their kid and stickers alone in the bathroom too long!

ooooh! makes me itchy!!!

That is so deeply horrible it makes me cry. And I have a VERY high tolerance for ugly in home design. Good god...

This brings to mind a scene from the book "IT".