apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Anything close to this :

http://www.maisonetconfort.com/files/produits/60/charleroi-320.jpg

Nightmare 100% guaranteed...

There was that fad in the 80's where they would build in cup holders under the armrest.

the wassily chair fits my 6' frame like a glove... nightmare-ish furniture for me consists of: anything with a hunting or pastoral scene woven or printed on the upholstery / a piece of exercise equipment featured as furniture / any case-goods whose sole purpose is to showcase untouched (and often tacky) items / anything with a "skirt" / upholstered furniture that requires electricity / anything with barca- or lay-z in the name ...

The frightening thing is that this living room is from a present-day online catalogue!

Barcaloungers. Especially the couch version with a built-in cooler in the arm rest. Eek. It's all so wrong.

not really furniture but ... neon or other beer signs, even in the man cave.

i'm a man. i drink beer. i grew up playing pool and throwing darts at home. still don't get them and can't stand them.

stars wars and fantasy memorabilia, a very close second (and i have a comic book collection. boxed.).

Starck's gnome stools!

Papasan chairs.

Old wheelchairs- creepy as HELL!!

http://www.hillmanweb.com/bmhc/mh311.jpg

Those video-game rockers.

Couches that look like they're made out of leather Hefty bags.

Ooh, and my mom's best friend used to have this couch with a landscape scene across the back cushions. It was truly, truly awful.

"Puffy" sofas - the kind with the overlapping sewn-on pillowy backs. I googled Barcalounger sofa and that's the one!

Daniel, I've seen those in Europe, but only in shops, never a house. Does anyone buy them? :)

I also dislike most shiny and/or lacquered wood furniture. A bit of shine is okay but a glassy sheen looks odd on wood, to me.

Valerie : Yes, believe me, I've seen actual living rooms like this! Often elderly people sold their art-deco or late 19th century furniture in the 1960-70-80s to some dishonest antique dealer for a few francs and bought this kind of horrid furniture instead. But in the picture, the setting is made to look like an elegant chateau, normally this kind of furniture is found in suburban homes, with the wall-to-wall patterned carpeting, the hand embroidered hunting scene on the wallpapered living room wall, and the plastic flowers in pretend-they're-18th-century-Sèvres-but-are-quite-obviously-made-in-China porcelain vases.

My vote was what Valerie said: The puffy velour couch with the pillowy back and arms. ICK!

From a comfort standpoint, I hate a really low couch. I'm really tall and there is nothing worse than trying to get up from a couch where I'm sitting so low my knees are under my chin!

Oh, and I've also even seen this style in the "barcalounger" version too...

Home Theatre chairs: the kind that share an armrest and have cup holders. The mini-van of home furnishings.

Barcalounger site has examples, but I refuse to link.

And the Ikea Poang chair, for the same reason that the original poster dislikes the Wassily chair: they give me a persistent pain in the lower back, because I'm too short to fit.

Chunky oak furniture.
I'm not a huge fan of those puffy, Laz-E-Boy sofas either.

This:
http://lancasteranch.com/images/product_chaise_lounge.jpg

any version of this:
http://www.sofasshopping.com/a88903-duraplush-mocha-fabric-sectional.html#

or this:
http://www.sofasshopping.com/cyrus-leather-theater-seating.html

would all give me nightmares

Any table with a glass top, hate them :)

Everything Ikea. Yuck.

A wheelchaor on wheels.
How original.

Ha, yes! Those couches and chairs mentioned above, with that sad-defeated-scrotum-draped-on-a-frame design motif! Usually expressed in velvet or leather, but now available in ~microsuede~, mmmmmmodern..sit down, let's watch us some Two and a Half Men!

RECLINERS

Recliners are the cats of the furniture world. They come into the room and completely take over. When I've had one I've had to arrange all the other furniture in the room around it, as if it were the most important thing in the room! And they aren't really that much more comfortable than a good pairing of armchair and ottoman.

Definately the wassily chair

Oh, man, I almost blew oatmeal out my nose!

Lemme see what I can find...

The Bad Table:
http://www.ghostweather.com/blog/uploaded_images/badtable-785464.gif

From these folks (the site isn't responding right now):
http://www.straightlinedesigns.com/straightline2.html

Probably anything that is "nerd approved":
http://nerdapproved.com/household/3-pieces-of-furniture-for-major-medieval-nerds/

Or anything made out of beer cans:
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/01/03/home-made-metal-furniture-from-beer-cans/

Beds and sofas with under-carriage lighting:
http://www.thegreenhead.com/2007/12/lit-under-furniture-mood-lighting.php

This chair will lure you into a false sense of security, before grasping you and holding you tight...:
http://www.bestweekever.tv/2007/10/04/in-odder-news-somebody-please-save-chairy/

...for the deadly spider lamp to come and electrocute you:
http://www.notcot.org/post/3616/

Beware the creeping coffee table:
http://justgroovy.blogspot.com/2007/11/weird-cofee-table.html

Oh, yeah, that'll work fine:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/22641/spray_paint_your_ugly_furniture.html?cat=46

OMG, please tell me this was never actually made:
http://mostfuglycouch.blogspot.com/2007/03/most-fugly-couch-in-world.html

I had no idea...
http://www.prettyuglyfurniture.com/Default.aspx?ID=24

I'm not going through all 1200-plus photos, but here's some I saw on another site that should be in there somewhere:
http://ministryofart.blogspot.com/2008/05/damn-ugly-furniture.html

This is not so hot:
http://www.strangeclosets.com/2008/03/wtf.html

Made from gum?
http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/node/790

Glad I missed the trend of the andiron-director's chair-door knob look:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_furniture_other/article/0,1793,HGTV_3445_5324144_04,00.html