apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

antlers and decals. Please go away!

Greatest hits is spot on. No museums, please.

yes, yes, yes to "soulful" living. I couldn't care less about your Eames chairs, but I do want to see creative ways to live more comfortably!

I ditto Stefan Hurray's plea for the end of animal cruelty in interior design:
ie- taxidermy/antlers/fur/cowhides etc
It's just plain cruel.
Lets try "kind design" for 2009.

kill on the metallics and the classic icon pieces please! I would love to see graphics incorporated into furniture more. Also, I want to see more industrial inspired furniture. I don't mind the current mid-century modern trend.

A resounding YES PLEASE GO AWAY to rooms pack with "home fashion icons" with absolutely no soul.

Two things must die:

Wall graphics.

Chalkboard paint (hint hint, AT).

old beautiful wooden chairs raped by a fresh coat of magenta spray paint and a bold print upholstery

I second (third) the greatest hits. Sure, these pieces are great, but when I look at a room I don't want to go through a mental catalog. This chair, by that designer, x amount of dollars. I'd rather have a viceral reaction of "Oooo Pretty!" and not recognize a single thing in the room.

spiralcma, my thoughts exactly.

Nope, could really care less about dead animals being dead.

No more cowhide or antlers but go crazy on that leather chair.

Give me a break.

I am so in agreement with nashdp - chalkboard paint has got to go. I can't believe how many times I've seen this on AT as though for the first time. Please stop!

The chalkboard paint is great if you have kids, though. It is more utilitarian than design-friendly... but I like it. Definitely get rid of the greatest hits nonsense.

i think over-styled is never good, but certainly everywhere right now. not everyone is a collector so i'd like to see the end of tragically hip flea market finds like typewriters and over-sized advertising letters. it was cute 25 years ago in Mary Tyler Moore's pad, but it's wearing thin! show me more recycling! times are still rough and i'm always wondering how to re-birth the pieces i already have!

I would like to see the end of eco-friendly materials (fabrics, cushions, table linens etc etc) that cost an arm and 2 legs.

antlers must go. antlers in a ski lodge are fine - just the plastic-y replicas and trend of everyone having them.

i think there is a way to do the modern classics (aka greatest hits i assume) in a way that's fresh and fits your life. all this backlash over eames chairs and what not? it's like saying you shouldn't have a little black dress in your closet. you shouldn't have a closet full of them, sure, but there are some pieces that are timeless for a reason.
i feel like hating on these modern classics is becoming almost as trendy here at AT as the pieces themselves.

I agree that taxidermy is tacky, however, it is certainly not more cruel than that leather barcelona chair or the ever-popular cowhide rug.

Animals that are hunted have a much better life than the cows and pigs whose leather covers your sofas, the geese whose feathers fill your pillows, or the sheep whose wool makes your rugs and fabrics.

And, it is possible to have humane antlers...they are shed after every mating season.

Anyway, I think taxidermy and cowhide rugs are hideous, but the claims Hurray makes don't hold much ground.

I like chalkboard paint. I can't have it in my apartment because I can't paint, but I'm absentminded and have the tendency to write on whatever is at hand. I have dry erase and overhead projector markers stashed around the apartment and write notes, quotes, lists, and such all over every wipable surface. My mirrors, the front of my dryer, the hood over my stove, the glass on a framed print are all grafitti-ed or have been. I'm all for making it easier to write on the walls.

I just want to defend decals on behalf of all renters who can't paint. [sniffle]

Agree on the overstyled rooms and greatest hits. Those rooms can look great occasionally, but usually they just all look the same and boring. I'm also a fan of mixing styles if it's done well. I like several different styles of furniture and just doing one can look boring too.

I don't have anything against taxidermy except that I just don't understand why?? Why do you want big heads of poor animals you killed on your wall to look at? Is it a bragging thing? Wow, I killed a defenseless, unsuspecting animal with my huge fancy rifle made to do exactly that, what a good sportsman I am? Too Norman Bates for me. My boss is a hunter and he has several buck heads in his office and some stuffed birds in one of the waiting rooms. Don't get it at all.

I'm a vegan, so I can hate on taxidermy all I want.

I'm probably going to get run out of town, but I'm just going to say it: I'm getting tired of Mid-century Modern. I've had enough of Eames chairs, Tulip tables, the whole bit.

I too am tired of seeing so much MCM . . . although I do have a few pieces myself and love them.

And . . . I still like wall decals. Not graphics so much, but I enjoy a good tree decal on a contrasting wall.

I'm with AT I'm all for REASONABLE PRICING! And while we're at it can Elle Decor step outside their bubble and look at the larger picture. With all the news about the economy these days i was shocked that every single layout this month featured a home or mansion or apartment that could not have cost less than 8 million(a mansion in Chelsea, a double wide 4 story townhouse in the West Village, A high rise apt with sweeping views of Manhattan, waterfront property in the Caribbean etc...). It was beyond aspirational, it was downright insulting.

How about bloggers posting designs off other blog spots?

Do something original!

the trend that i can't stand is leaning picture frames against the wall rather than hanging them. it offends my eyes. it just looks cluttered and unfinished to me.

Sick, sick sick, of the over used mid-century furnishings.
The whole plastic/lucite thing from the 1970's boring!

I'd like to see "mid-century modern" take a rest, please.

Snowiye, I agree with you. Overpriced eco-friendly goods come across elitist, and thus counteract the movement of having all people be more environmentally friendly. Shouldn't such goods be more accessible to all?

OK, let's do this the easy way: everyone hates whatever they loved a year ago. Got it.

Charlie Harper and Etsy Bird Prints
Antlers and Decals
Mirrored Furniture
The Portica bed from Room and Board, hell pretty much everything from Room and Board (they need some new designs!)
The newish "Safari" inspired decor from West Elm
All iconic furniture all the time in all rooms (BOOORRING), alternately - MCM, but only MCM as the predominant decor. Mix it up People! Even the Eames' had ethnic tapestries, a few antiques, etc to make it their space warmer
Dark wenge wood furniture, floors, etc. (so dated already and too dark in most cases)
Klimt pendant lamps, also the Miss K lamp
Moroccan "Marrakesh" inspired modern decor

I am all for the death of MCM...sorry, I am not a fan, I infact, despise most of it.

Also, having a place that looks beautiful but no one could actually live in it. It makes the rest of us feel like there is something wrong with out apartment because it doesn't look like a doll house.

Oh, and anything that is considered "ironic" by the hipster set. (plastic owls, small deer statues, octopus...well, anything) It is not ironic, its just stupid.

duckumu in my book your suggestion wins!

I too am heartbroken when I see antique wood chairs ruined with that shiny green or magenta paint and scandinavian inspired bold print fabric.

And Enough already with all the faux Charley Harper bird graphics and leafless trees.

Numbers two and three (lack of mix & match and wrong metal sink fixtures) are baffling to me. I am not even sure I have noticed these enough to be "over" them.

I am over. . . . found object chandeliers. Anybody can hang cr@p on a lightbulb. that doesn't mean you should.

I agree with blogger Hurray's hate on taxidermy, as well as the other supporters here like christmasishere, nesagwa, and jooly.
I am vegan (so, I assume I am allowed to hate dead animals all I want too!! ha!)
I really really despise the cruel anti-compassion "dead animal" theme.
Show some heart! ♥

Dead animals as decoration in your home only allowed with one exception, you're like Sarah Palin and shoot your own moose.
Then you can have your moose head for decoration in your Alaska log cabin! ;-)>

It looks like I am going to have to redecorate in 2009 because my house is full of chalkboard paint, mirrored furniture and design icons! Oh no, what am I going to do now? I guess I will just enjoy them until next year when these won't be on a list like this anymore...Oh yeah I have antlers on my fireplace!Crud!

doesn't this all just boil down to - keep it if you have it because you truly love it and get over it if you have it because you think you're supposed to?

I will always love MCM, but we do see it in copious quantity here. Totally agree with 90% of what else is listed here as massively overdone, especially birds, trees and antlers. I'd also love to never again in my life see another "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster.

the mid century modern stuff (the old authentic stuff and the new "inspired-by" stuff) take a nice, long vacation.

YES...nicely said coloraddict.

OK, for years we couldn't get by without shabby chic. The requisite dining room chairs were a puzzlement until people hit on those stainless steel numbers designed for the Navy. Then (apart from a personal detour into Gustavian Swedish), it was on to MCM, which I admit, I found and still find refreshing and attractive. However, the masses were going with dark wood everything, glass tile mosaics, and stainless steel appliances. Into this mix crept the god-awful deer's heads, real deers but dead and stuffed, and their even more bizarre cousins, the cardboard "ironical" deer's heads. Closely related to the deer's head were the antler and horn motifs. Was Edgar Allen Poe getting into the design game?

Here's what I'd like to say good-by to: fabric shower curtains that require a plastic liner. Get over the need to be so fussy that you have to have some decadent fabric surrounding you in the shower. If you need a shower curtain, get an honest plastic or vinyl one. It can have a sense of humor, it can be playful, it can be pretty. It can be inexpensive, so that when the grime gets unendurable, it can be tossed. Your towels don't need to match your shower curtains. Who came up with that idea? A towel and a shower curtain have completely different functions. Towels don't look better if the terry-cloth has been printed with some over-elaborate pattern, they just look fussy. They look good when they're nice and thick and soft. Go with solids, stripes, or to be cheerful, polka dots. We seemed to have moved away from the routine use of a bonnet on the toilet lid, and having that bonnet match the bathroom rug, so there is hope for change!

Roll back that trend for large sinks sitting on the top of cabinets in the bathroom, particularly if you want two large sinks sitting there like it's a bunkhouse facility. Do go with more experimentation with varying bath size. The deeper the better. It's not an affectation; it's an opportunity to get way relaxed in the comfort of your own home. Quit hiding toilets in rooms-within-rooms in the bathroom. Those little spaces start smelling pretty bad and actually are more distasteful than their more frank counterparts. If you want privacy, shut the bathroom door and lock it, but keep it locked up no more than ten minutes.

Monogrammed towels are utterly pointless unless you have several people living in your space who just can't respect property rights.

A heated towel bar is a pleasant amenity; a heated floor makes it seem as if you're a fabulously rich, helpless invalid, about due to be murdered by your money-hungry family. Ever hear of slippers?

This one is going to offend a lot of people. When did it become an American way of life to have oversized beds put into miniscule bedrooms? If you do this, there's no room left and nothing to work with. If you have to have it -- well, it's your house. If you need individual space that badly, try (gasp!) two twin beds. Yeah, the neighbors will talk, but just hang a pair of hand-cuffs on one post and refuse to discuss anything that goes on in your bedroom.

I say out with MCM....then I can get the no longer fashionable pieces off Craig's List at prices I can afford ;o)

We get it, Guerilla. No need to repeat yourself in yet another post.

Enough already with Obama art.

I've had it with 'do and don't' lists and having said that I hope to turn a new leaf myself in the new year. I think if you like it you should keep it and if you don't like it, throw it out. It's one thing to discuss trends but insults shouldn't be tossed about or tolerated. Blanket proclamations about what is acceptable in other people's homes are never appropriate, nor polite.

antlers, chandeliers, and wall decals designed to look antlers and chandeliers.

also, pillows and prints with the same same same same vibe (updated 70s graphics or elongated botanical shadow prints). the prints are pretty, just over done over done over done.

agree with mileErica re: same furniture arranged in slightly different configurations in every.single.interior.

TELL ME MORE

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/at-readers-weighin-trends-wed-like-to-see-more-of-072691

xo

GOD I hate stupid, oversized text on walls, either in the more creative graffiti form, or in the form of banal faux-oak signs that proclaim "DREAM" or "LAUGH". I dream of a day when I don't have to laugh at the idiots that put this stuff up on their walls.

they lost me at "you're wearing Chanel and J. Crew together on your body..." No. No I am not.

can't we all just get along?

I could do without the "dream" and "laugh" signs too. A few weeks ago I went to an open house with painted wooden text signs in almost every room. Along with a few playful or inspirational (?) words and kids' names (I'm assuming), there were also signs in the kitchen and bathroom - "KITCHEN" and "POTTY" respectively.

Would like to see the end of...trends. Buy it because you love it, not to be replaced next year/season/week.

sorry, have to post again. LaughingSara, that is HILARIOUS. Nor am I.

Well said, Coloraddict. Go with your heart! Only you have to live in it.

And guerilla... who peed in your cheerios? Go to your corner.

i hate so much MCM and crappy little girl looking art on etsy -- birds and those creepy girls with super huge heads and eyes set really far apart. ew.

Add me to the list of people tired of seeing antlers.

I love MCM, but I am seeing too many interiors with too much MCM for it to be attractive or novel anymore - it is almost a design formula these days: clean-lined MCM-styled sofa with two pillows in a bold, contrasting graphic or texture, low danish modern coffee table, two matching (or mis-matching) named designer chairs in contrasting colors to sofa, MCM credenza, one large abstract expressionist painting over the fireplace or sofa, and small collection of MCM vases (or owls or antlers or other cliche MCM knick knack tastefully arranged on credenza). I agree with Lizzy C's comment about MCM - the photos of the Eames home showed a large colllection of ethnic and folk artifacts and it seemed to have a very personal style rather than austerity.

No more "look" at a bunch of crap that makes your place seem thematic for a month and a half, before it looks like crap.
And if a bunch of crap does have to get bought, how about no more Urban Outfitters? As "cool", "hip", "young" and "happening" as that place tries to appear, it's profits are funneled into anti-reproductive freedom, and anti-equal rights organizations by a reclusive right wing zealot.
Don't get me started.

sooo tired of the mid-century modern and domino look. Give me creativity that doesn't look like someone who just got out of college. Been there done that.

I like some mid-century modern, but rarely do I see it look cool

AT, I rarely see a house tour that doesn't look like my next-door neighbor's house (like nothing special). Can you please edit more?

I agree that text-as-decorating has probably seen its day. This is my home, not a retail store telling me what's for sale in this room. And the last thing I need to see when I'm in a crappy mood is a sign commanding me to "Laugh."

Mid-century is probably here for a little while longer though, especially thanks to Mad Men. It won't take long for the real classic pieces to be chosen as timeless and we'll be on to the next neo-movement. (Does anyone ever wonder if/when we'll revisit 80's pastel?).

Wow. What a sad, angry bunch of comments.

You know what I'd like to see less of? I'd like to see less of this NONSENSE about what pieces of furniture are acceptable and which styles are supposedly uncool.

How about less of telling people their homes are "soulless" because they own a certain chair, or because they put their clothes away and keep their house clean?

How about instead of painting with these huge, broad brushes, we stop focusing on "genres" of decor or on specific objects, and look at room and homes as a WHOLE?

Believe me, it's possible to evaluate a room based on fundamentals like light, balance, color, texture, and contrast, without making all about whether or not you like furniture built between 1940 and 1970 (or whether you hate painted wood, or if you don't like tartan, or birds, or silk pillows, or cats, or WHATEVER).

Good grief.

By the way, I find it totally disgusting that we are constantly expected to rule out certain pieces of furniture or items in our homes simply because they have recently increased in popularity.

If making a home beautiful is, at its core, about finding the things you love and learning how to incorporate them into your place of dwelling, shouldn't we be eschewing the concept of "trends" completely? Isn't that the entire mindset behind Maxwell's carb/protein manifesto?

Haha--to the poster who is tired of "Keep Calm and Carry On": http://www.typetees.com/product/1466/Now_Panic_and_Freak_Out

Personally, I like the posters, but this made me laugh!

I live in a wonderful midcentury house, and MCM furniture looks right in my house. I love many styles of furniture (including ornate Victorian), but only buy the pieces I love AND know will work in my home, and that includes MCM. Trends come and go, but if a piece of furniture makes you smile, why on earth would you get rid of it? If I owned a Bertoia Bird chair (which I don't, sadly), I would keep it forever, no matter what anybody says.

I'd like to see less trophies in people's homes. They make me shudder.

I have to agree with Elaine Miller here. Before I read this post, I jotted down my opinion, and my #1 pet peeve was design icons (for me, it's particularly MCM icons). While I do love many of them, there's generally no personality when overdone.

i have to say i'm quite tired of the granny-chic look, where everything is mismatched and cluttered, with figurines, i.e. birds, owls, and other useless tchotchkas put together as "artful" vignettes but just taking up tabletop space and gathering dust.

...and also: faux bois...reminds me of paneling from the 70s....and I agree, I've seen enough plaques telling me to "eat well, drink much ~ or is it laugh much, live long and prosper" or whatever...and here here to no more favorite quotes on a wall...and no more of those cliche monster stuffed toys with the funny faces and sharp teeth hanging out.

I hate granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Everyone's kitchen looks the same now - there is no character to the room.

white slipcovered sofas.

....and brown leather club chairs (with or without matching ottoman)

I have nothing in particular against white slipcovered sofas or brown leather club chairs, I just think they are overdone in interior design.

You said it, puggypug. Stainless steel and granite are the avocado green and harvest gold of the 21st century. Talk about soulless!

puggypug- I agree. Every one spent so much time keeping up with the Jones that they forgot to be themselves.

There is a epidemic in Florida called the "Florida Look" it's
Tommy Bahama meets tacky pink flamingos. Anyone who moves here suddenly have to get tropical printed EVERYTHING and crazy pictures of South American Birds or Herons.

I'm with Annna at D16. Let's just appreciate things that look nice. I don't like this post. It's so mean spirited.

I like any art that looks good in a space, any furniture in combinations that feel good together, and any style that seems attractive, no matter how many places I see it or how few, or how expensive it is or how cheap. I like the homes of not-rich people, and the homes of millionaires, and I don't base that judgement on price or notariety.

Can we not just appreciate? I think a lot of people who visit this site were mocked here in this post, and that's not cool.

I don't see this thead as mean-spirited at all; I find it refreshing. What is wrong with talking about things that you don't like as well as things that you do like? What some consider beautiful, others consider ugly. I can't think of anything in design that everyone likes without exception - every design, no matter how wonderful, has it detractors.

I don't see this thread as critical of AT readers so much as it interrogates the production of desire among readers by stylists and people who market products to consumers. Many of the posts have urged a self-reflexivity about our practices of looking, desire and consumption and I think these thoughts are important to consider every once and a while.

I find groupthink scary. I prefer honesty myself.

design snobbery is a form of hate and should definitely go - they say when you hate something, it's actually something in you that you hate

i hate my inner pinecone owl.

NO MORE MID-CENTURY MODERN.

*twitches a bit*

I'm sorry, I have MCM-related issues. That crap should have never made it past 1970.

Also, definitely no more bits of dead animal lying around the place. This isn't a log cabin, people.

I definitely hate empty frames. But also, I don't like graphic big "fortune cookie" posters that tell you what to do, or one-joke posters that are like a funny t-shirt. I don't like parodies of overused posters because they are both at once. Leave it on the internet where you can visit it and laugh at it again if you want. Letters. I haven't liked letters for a long time, they've been super-trendy for like ever (ugh). I don't care if they spell something or not, words are very tricky but almost always no. Signs are like the posters. It's hard to say we don't want words, but I don't like to see a home that looks like a store, like it needs to say hello on the door like Citizens Bank, or the bowls need to say cereal or ice cream on them.

I am sick of the self-conscious choice to paint everything you get at a flea market orange. It's a nice color and all, but you are not cool or original if you do it. That is not a really daring choice, it has just been popular for its run, but I think people are either doing a bright secondary or lime green now or looking at yellow for something slightly different. I don't know, I'm looking at a blog and they tell me what to do. They find uses for the garbage I have.

Making your house look like you think you were born at the wrong time, and dressing like it too. More than just iconic, it clings to the 40s or 50s, or the 60s or 70s, it loves all the kitschy crap, hey, I like kitschy old crap, but I don't know where this comes from. There's a certain Etsy aesthetic of the little girls with big eyes, or the large goofy jewelry. Particularly the cheap artifacts of my childhood becoming desirable in an ironic way by younger people, like, yes, anything with an owl on it, remind me of people who can't get enough hummels, Precious Moments figurines, or things with a cow on it, teddy bears, or Elvis plates. No matter the animal, it's a sheep. People who dress themselves and their home like they are in a play about when their grandma was young are a little off. I wish they would come join us in the 21st century. They can bring 5 things.

I agree whole heartedly with the "Keep Calm and Carry on" posters. I'd be happy to never see another one. Also, not a big fan of the spray-paint DIY furniture that keeps popping up. It usually looks like crafty gone crazy/bad. Definitely not stylish or worth celebrating on a legitmate design blog.

In terms of the hate that MCM has elicited, I do agree that we've been seeing too much of it on sites like AT. I'd like to see more style VARIETY being featured. That being said, I have to admit that I do LOVE mid-century furniture and own a fair amount...but even I get sick of seeing it featured in every single post on every design blog.

RE: AT editing more - Since blogs require new material constantly to keep their readership, I empathize with the large design blogs like AT because obviously it's hard to find truly GREAT interiors all the time. A magazine like Elle Decor only publishes once a month and therefore edits their content to [theoretically] the best of the best. That's why those magazines still remain relavent. That being said, I still think that Apartment Therapy (and others!!) could stand to be more choosy than they're currently being. I personally can't read 35 new posts per day.

One last thing. I hope to never see another post about letterpress stationary again. Seriously?! How much time can we devote to stationary people?! How many of you actually write letters or send cards anymore?!

K T G: While I definitely agree with the first two paragraphs you wrote, I'm not so sure about the last one:

"People who dress themselves and their home like they are in a play about when their grandma was young are a little off. I wish they would come join us in the 21st century. They can bring 5 things"

I live in a building built in the 1930s and have a lot of beautiful 1930s art deco furniture (mixed with some modern pieces, but my place definitely feels 'vintage'). I don't think it's a bad thing to be inspired by a simpler time, when people had fewer things but they were of better quality.

I don't dress like I live in the thirties (or think I should have been born in the thirties- I'm mixed race and am extensively tattooed- which wouldn't have flown back then!), but I like being surrounded by pieces that have history, and feel more eco-friendly than if I bought a whole bunch of brand-new modern furniture.

Hi fade on violet - I've definitely written on it before but the short version of it is, every so often, I see someone who is evidently obsessed with a certain slice of time that is not the present. It affects most or all of their material choices, although they are not necessarily authentic to the period, or not above faking it with new purchases like from Anthropologie or whatever, they seem to want to write themselves into a story that takes place a long time ago.

This, by the way, is not a newish phenomenon, or restricted to a certain kind of hipster. While there are people currently starting to revisit the 1980s for inspiration and revival, some people still consider it to be quite contemporary. I myself live in an old building (1928, I recently learned) and like and have a few quite old things, mostly from scavenging in my own parents' house or admiring something of my grandmother's. I just don't want to look around and feel that I have accidentally pressed the time travel button on my coffee maker.

mcm is a catchall phrase of little value, other than to tell you when something was made.

gio ponti, italian "midcentury modern" totally unlike dan johnson, american but italian manufactured "midcentury modern" or bertha schaeffer, the same yet again very different. all these designers worked with wood in addition to industrial materials; all used craftsmen as opposed to extruding presses. jens risom? george nakashima? paul mccobb? nanna ditzel? hans wegner? ico parisi? serge mouille? alexandre noll? all "midcentury modern" but not necessarily alike in any other way.

when someone says they are tired of mcm or hate mcm, it speaks more to their lack of curiosity or their untrained eye than anything else. don't like eames furniture, then say so more specifically. i can't image being tired of 50 years of design history.

i have to agree with mixing it up more though. while i'm all for having museum pieces in a home, i don't want my home to look like a museum.

Thanks for the clarification, K T G. I totally get what you mean.

The problem isn't MCM per se, its just the way trends spread so quickly and become totally pervasive, drowning out all individuality. When every magazine, blog, etc is showing basically the same look, one has to wonder if the editors are being paid off or if no one has any original ideas anymore.

I think the most interesting homes (and this goes for art collections, wardrobes, music, etc) are those in which the person picked exactly what he or she loved, regardless of what was in fashion at any given times. Most amazing homes these days seem to be long-term accumulations of beloved personal favorites. The big-shot decorator on a huge budget thing is so obvious and forced---its just ego most of the time.

My current list of "Please, please go away I can't look at you anymore" is:

---cutesy patterns i.e. Orla Kiley, etc
---Charley Harper-ish anything
---kitchens with 8,000 cabinets and an island the size of a small country
---wainscotting, ESP painted white!!! Ohmigod, enough already.
---ironic throw pillows
---zen-modernist bathrooms

If you truly adore all these things, then keep enjoying them! They just are not for me.

i hate those "modern" graphics ppl put on walls, like those vinyl 'trees', swirly circles, and wanna-be-"urban" graphic designs that are so played-out it's not even funny.
first they were on websites, then tee-shirts, and now walls and furniture...ughhhh.

Personally, I am not a fan of NFL decor and find their ads extremely depressing. I bet there are many more fleece Cowboys blankets slung across overstuffed sofas than Bertoia chairs.

amen gmculp!! Now THAT is America!!

I would like to see the "apartment" back in Apartment Therapy. Slideshows of gut-renos and 3,000 sf spreads are usually not applicable for apartments. I want to see more apartments furnished for less than $1000, more works in progress, and some serious MacGyver-style deco-action (which is why I loved Patrick Foisy's loft).

Here are a few things that I could certainly live without on some of the more prominent design blogs:

- AT Slideshows: multiple shots of the same vignette.
You're a clever arranger. I get it.
- Mustache-related decor.
- Cutesy-dinky art, greeting cards and ceramics. Show me big, angry paintings, badass raku ware, and cool cards with uniquely artful or funny copy. Anything but cutesy screenprints of an awkwardly-drawn Little Red Riding Hood sitting on top of a cupcake.

and if I see one more pigeon-toed self-portrait of one's own shoes, I'm going to cut someone.

I am really sick of Elle Decor actually.

I am sick and tired of the mansions they feature -- glorifying the homes of the financial sector types that created this economic collapse, glorifying their greed. I am soooo tired of American Elle Decor's focus on the homes of the wealthy.

The other Elle Decoration mags -- the French, U.K., Dutch, Belgian, etc., etc., don't concentrate on just the rich, focusing instead on the interesting.

And the other things I am tired of is homes as museums, whatever style they may be. Homes are for living in -- a home that is obviously well-loved and well-lived in, an extension of its owners, is the most interesting and beautiful. Everything matching -- ALL MCM, everything the same period, is not very interesting.

just wanted to add, I am a magazine-addict, but I stopped reading Elle Decor over 5 years ago -- bored to death. Same issues as with the now-defunct HG.

I definitely think that the brushed- and matte-finish metal fixtures are more elegant. With their subtle glow they make homes warmer. And I expect that they will continue to be prefered. But I am so much for going away of taxidermy!

"and if I see one more pigeon-toed self-portrait of one's own shoes, I'm going to cut someone." -londonverve

LOL! Exactly. I agree with the whole post but this does sum up a certain affectation that's played played played.

Wow, this group doesn't like a bit everything that is currently popular. It could be our nature as creative people to only embrace our own originality.

I might not want to live with plastic office chairs in my home,
but that does not negate the joy it brings to you and your love of collecting mid century modern furnishings.

Like many people on this board I have lived and decorated though a few trends in the 30 yrs I've been decorating and working professionally as a prop master and photo stylist, so I want to say something obvious, furnishing trends get old, you get tired of how your home looks, you incorporate new ideas, you keep some of your beloved signature pieces from past trends and you have an interesting home.

It took me many years beyond the trend to get rid of a collection of late 1700's milk paint blanket chests that were the very hottest of hot trends in home furnishings 25 yrs ago.

I kept my vintage & antique model sail boats and canoes (useless dust collectors some might say). They live in a more modern looking room with cleaner lines now.

How can we say loving and collecting Charley Harper graphics, scandinavian bold prints or Eames plastic chairs are less desirable to someone else's creative sensibility and happiness. Just because it's fading from trends, and popularity does not mean it is now less desirable to the people who love it.

We all go through various trends, I hope all the insulting language we collectively used to the serious MCM collectors is taken with a grain of salt.

Sounds like everyone knows what they're sick of, but I don't really hear many suggestions for what they'd like to see more of.
I would like to see more color and boldness in most homes.
I would like to see more houses/tours that are truly original. I want crazy and eccentric people and their homes, not just interiors people.
Oh, while I'm at it, less people who have a house like so many others on here, describing their style as 'eclectic'. It is not eclectic if it looks like it all the others.

Well said Dewi.

I live in a small apartment and am unable to do a lot of things, so I look here for creative ideas. While I understand the need to vent about things that you are not fond of in particular, I don't find it necessary to bash others' preferred decorating style. No one wants to walk into thier safe-haven and feel uneasy because someone at AT said they've decorated all wrong. On a healthier note, I would absolutely LOVE to see the homes of the people with the long lists of things that they "hate". Now that would be an interesting thread.

Stefan Hurray (aka ArchitectDesign) here, from the article.... I loved reading everyone's takes. I wasn't talking about leather couches so much (although, really, it's the same thing) but more about the antlers, stuffed dead birds and fur rugs that we've been seeing everywhere in magazines the last few years. It just creeps me out!

The original question was what could there be less of in decorating.

My answer is "any concern with other people's APPROVAL of your choices, hipness, or other decor-related issues."

Design snobbery is ridiculous -- there are no INTRINSICALLY superior pieces of furniture, art or anything else. There may be better or worse choices for scale or color or texture or whatever for a particular environment. There may be pieces that, for whatever reasons, are worth more money. There are things that maybe you simply LIKE more or less than others.

But there are a million ways to style any given space, and if the residents are happy with it, the look is just fine, whether it has universal appeal or not.

I am not fond of mismatched chairs, but for those who love them, it's your room, go for it. Saying that painting a chair orange is less sophisticated or current than painting the same chair yellow is nuts! Maybe orange pleases the owner more than yellow or balances the color story of the room better.

But DECIDING to paint a chair yellow rather than orange because somebody claims it's more current is even more nuts!

I enjoy AT for the various ideas shared both by the editors and the visitors. But a LOT of grains of salt are necessary!

* No more wistful deer.
* No more throw pillows with cute stylized little birds on them. (In fact, no more birds, period.)
* No faux-naive "woodland" art from Etsy or elsewhere.
* No more MCM

I say NO to the items above not because they're awful. (I don't think that; I just think they are over-exposed at this point.) I would just like to see something different now, please.

And yes, I agree with the poster who said, "Please put the 'apartment' back in Apartment Therapy!"

lets see more vegan design!
i despise all the inhumane animal cruelty in design.

I wholeheartedly agree that there are too many Eames loungers featured out there.

But mostly, I'm tired of the raised sink look. Maybe it's because I live in Oregon, maybe I'm a little clumsier about dripping water than the rest of America, but every time I see a raised sink, all I can think about is that it's begging for mold all around the outside.

And I also agree with the above poster who said that granite and stainless steel will be the dark green Formica of this decade. It's a shame we'll have mined so much granite, it's all going to end up in a landfill in another ten years.

ANTLERS.

I am not super into the idea of just copying an entire apartment you see glorified online. So many places look the same.

On the same note, I think it's sad when I see a room full of uncomfortable-looking but stylish furniture.

I am also annoyed a lot by people saying something is "so ugly" on this site. Obviously things are subjective, but does anyone ever want to hear that someone hates their home?

I LOVE seeing how different people deal with normal life clutter and needs.

I second many of the other comments here (esp. re: taxidermy and the tendency toward the twee) but also want to add that if I see another poster saying "Keep Calm and Carry On," I'm going to lose it.

I love seeing people's personalities shine through their decor, not their slavishness to fads. I agree that the Euro Elle Decor mags do this much better than the American one. I canceled my subscription but buy English and Dutch whenever I can.

In terms of what I'd like to see more of...more adventurous use of color! There have been some very inspiring examples on AT. Keep it up!

Anything by Jonathan Adler -- please give it a rest. I never understood all the cooing over his vases and have been tired of seeing his name everywhere almost from the moment everyone started raving about him. He and his stuff still pops up in blogs and mags all over. So-o-o over Adler.

I am tired of consumption and seeing stuff that is disposable or will tire in a 2-5 years a trend that is long time overdue to go away. I would like to see more inventive, recycling, reinventing and reusing of what one has or what was disregarded by someone else that is more inspiring.

So maybe take that Keep Calm Carry On poster you have and make a collage out of it or put a big Circle with Slash on it.

"The problem isn't MCM per se, its just the way trends spread so quickly and become totally pervasive, drowning out all individuality."

I agree...entirely.

BTW: I have a Carry On poster and I love it!

I think the essence of all this is...we're all cliches because we're ALL just people.