2, 4 and 8 are too much for me, but i like the others.
There is an obvious trend on AT to go for minimalism, but oddly enough, the homes with the most colour and character get the most praise in the comments.

does anyone else feel like the first and last photos are incredibly similar? i enjoy the paint colors on the walls the most, contrasted with the moulding, as well as the white shelving surrounding dark fireplaces... albeit the last photo was unfortunately taken from behind a lamp--an angle which is distracting rather than impressive, in my opinion.

Struggling with exactly this. I think the keys are color schemes and keeping things clean. Not everything's got to match or always be put away neatly, but it's got to be free form dirt and dust. I suppose that's the bare minimum.

Woah... I think it's cool that they like "stuff"... but there's a difference between liking awesome stuff and deco-hoarding...

I'm a big fan of layered design. Some of these are more successful than others. When layering, neatness and order are crucial or it just looks messy. Eclectic can quickly become junky. Color and mood are great tools to bring order. The best rooms all use those tools very effectively. But, messy bookcases and cluttered corners and littered coffee tables can quickly make a layered space feel unkempt. The key: keep it neat.

Ironically, the same can be said of a minimalist space.

I think all these rooms are well within the bounds of neatness, and that they all look great. I like them because you can take one look and tell that someone LIVES there.

Several of these spaces are way too cluttered for me.

The only ones that feel seem within bounds of neatness are 1, 5, 6, and 8.

I can only deal w/ 1 & 7, the others are too much for me. They do look lived in though which is nice. I just can't be the one living in them. I like open spaces in my home. I'm pretty sure that comes from growing up in a cramped Brooklyn apt for my entire life.

It's interesting that "more stuff" is often associated with looking lived-in or having more character. I totally get why that's the case, but many people do choose to live in/with a more streamlined aesthetic and demonstrate their character by the tremendous editing and placement of items a minimalist look requires. It's not easier to have less on display since where the eye goes is much more predictable.

I guess I don't like the eclectic style as much as I thought I did... I like #1 and #8, but the others look a little messy to me. I really don't like random things sitting on the floor!

All of these except #1 are too much for me - but I think I tend more toward minimalism than most. I often find myself feeling a little suffocated in other people's homes. Just a matter of taste, I guess - and a hatred of dusting!

1 and 7 are nice. The rest are way too overdone. That bookshelf in 4 is in need of a serious diet.

I like overstuffed rooms but when everything balances and works together. Some of these items are just random -- they look good for a photo shoot -- but would really annoy me to live with them.

I think 2, 7, and 8 have too much going on still - although I am stuff-challenged also and need to de-clutter often.

whoa. i definitely still got the 'overdone' feel. but these are overdone in a comfy, liveable way - not overdone in the designed, HGTV-perfect way. That last one looks really cool though, because I love the color scheme (though I can't stand animal skin rugs).

I have to take issue with the notion I've seen in a lot of comments (this post and otherwise) that being a collector or having "stuff" always seems to equal clutter.

I'm an extreme neat-freak and love clean, open space in my home, but I'm also a record collector. Granted, I don't just throw any dust record from a thrift store bin on a cluttered shelf...but I cherish my collection, and my home wouldn't be home without the music the records provide me.

It is very possible to find a balance between good, clean design with open space, etc and have "stuff"

The proportions of color and furniture to room size also seems way off in a few. There also is too much clutter for me in some and by that I mean collectables that are too much on display or falling out of their storage space.

Hmmm...I am confused.

Are rooms #2, 4 and 8 examples of WHAT NOT to do? It's a trick question, right? These rooms are the epitome of overdone and/or messy. Ugh.

I like many of the color schemes; but I want to clear off the tables!

These all look great to me... not overdone or cluttered in the least.

Everyone has different sensibilities as to what is too cluttered or too minimalistic, which is a personal thing - to each his/her own, neither way is right or wrong. What I'm finding issue with as I view some of these house tours is oftentimes a room will be described as "curated" when, to my eye, the decorator simply filled it with all the stuff they were drawn to as individual pieces, whether they have any relation to each other or not. "Curated" to me means, choosing items you love and displaying them with other items with which they have a relationship, where balance, scale, proportion and colour have been taken into account. If things aren't displayed with that kind of intention and care, it can end up feeling like a cluttered mish-mash. The irony is, you can often get away with having just as much "stuff" if it's selected/grouped wisely but it won't feel as cluttered as the mish-mash approach).

I think everyone is reacting to 8 being 'cluttered' because of the lamp in the foreground of the picture. it's not cluttered at all! It's very neat and tidy . . and I LOVE the black fireplace just as much as when I saw the house tour. #1 and #5 are also lovely. #2 is too visually jarring for me.

favabean is right . . . everyone has different ideas of what is cluttered, neat, minimal or homey. I love that we get to share them all and see everyone's opinion!

I love all of these rooms! They do not appear to be cluttered at all. These rooms do "get it right" in my opinion.

2 is a nightmare! Are you kidding me?

2 & 4 living in either place would make me anxious.
6 has too much stuff in the windowsill.

Something I read years ago in a shelter mag I think it was of a couple in a loft like space that was very open and chose to go the ecclectic route and the basic gist of doing a successful ecclectic design is choosing elements that go together, be it color, texture or something but do mix styles, eras and what you end up with is no one style, but a cohesion of the space and some of these just don't do that, they still look like random stuff in a room.

I don't find #4 well done, look at the foreground bookcase, albums randomly placed on shelves w/ other things, the back wall looks like the owner(s) lined random stuff up against that back wall and stuck 2 IKEA sconces that in the end, don't really do anything and then mixing pain colors and such to create a kalaidascope effect as 2-3 others that went with more than 1 primary color which I find bordering on kitsch sometimes.

Being ecclectic does not always mean more stuff but it does mean a variety of items that are not of the same era, but have something to tie them together in some way non the less for you can do an ecclectic look and yet still be minimal but in the end, it's how the space reads, if it looks lived in, rather than a display room, and is yet tidy and not cluttered, it has performed its job.