apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

This looks like a house that Willy Wonka would enjoy. I like the super-faux wood floors, but not a lot else.

This is very interesting, I think this person enjoys dimension. I think like, and very true willy wonka would enjoy this.

I can deal with the exterior - It's kitchy in a "Swiss Chalet" sorta way...

...But when exactly did it become stylish to make the interior of your house as ugly and uncomfortable as possible?

As art, it's interesting.

As a home, it's about as "hideous" after as it must have been before.

I think the faux wood floors are amazing - like living in a comic book, if you like that idea.

"was given full reign over a 'hideous 1980s ranch house'"

________

So are these the before or after pics?

If it wasn't for the wallpaper, I think the bedroom would be amazing. Love that bed!

the bedroom is giving me agita.

Daring. I notice that if you look past the patterns, the color work is actually really nice, normal: yellows & greens in one area, hues of blue, a floor that is an exageration of wood tones, a blended metal, grey, black, and white for the bedroom... multiple rooms on AT we have seen are just like that. Its the patterns that throws it into a whole different place. I like it, if only for the attempt.

I love the floors, yellow-green flower pattern, and the outside design.

"What do you think? Perhaps not only about these images, but about the idea of satire in aesthetics? Does parody belong in the home?"

I like the idea of it. A lot of people have fun stuff in their homes as a way to "break the rules" of good taste, you know, on purpose, kitsch or whatever it's called. I think many people still tend to stick to a theme that way, lock themselves into a definition of or for themselves of what they want. This example above is more of an illustration. It's abstract and theatrical as opposed to fun and comforting, at least as far as we're used to when we look at real people's homes. When something this elaborate gets planned, it seems for a fictional character, and they're sort of making fun of that character. So it's ugly, in it's obviously ugly ways, but also in the recognition that it's portraying certain homeowners as ridiculous in kind of a mean way. I think in that way, then, it can be appreciated because we all think we have good taste and think we know when someone is "doing it wrong." This deserves at least some attention to the artist making exaggerated "wrong" choices about everything just to point and laugh at people who have too much money and no taste in a serious world.

So, yeah, satire, parody. People do it all the time. People make choices to like things that are so ugly and dated that they become cool again. They transfer the tacky by owning it and defining it in the way they are laughing at having these objects taken seriously in their original life. People buy jokes all the time, think themselves clever for doing so, and invite others in on the joke.

living here would give me a head ache.
You say kitch, i say crap.

I really do want to like it but these rooms give me vertigo.

the faux wood carpet is pretty appealing though.

oh wait its not carpet, it's even cooler than carpet (yuk for carpet)- Im a serial edit poster to day. sorry

satire is a great way of putting a little air in a not perfect space on a less than adequate budget (though none of this stuff came cheap I warrant)

we are collectively suffering through an age of good taste at the moment

the first way to sharpen your sense of balance is by CHALLENGING IT

Must have been quite a challenge to execute this redesign while assuring the home retained it's hideousness. Good job!

I suppose the whole thing could work as an art installation - something you visit for 45 minutes and then talk about on the way home.

If you had to actually come home to this house after a difficult day at work, it would be pure misery. It is the decorating equivalent to a room full of shrieking preschoolers running around on a sugar high.

"It is the decorating equivalent to a room full of shrieking preschoolers running around on a sugar high."

Richard -
You nearly made me choke from laughter!

"It is the decorating equivalent to a room full of shrieking preschoolers running around on a sugar high."

...while singing along with Barney the purple dinosaur on acid.

for movie sets or tv shows, yes. this would work on pushing daisies, for instance, if the color palette was more harmonious. as a home, not for me.

that same paul evans bed is in jonathan adler's florida home recently profiled in met home. while i prefer this bedspread to adlers, the maximalist adler showed much more restraint and knew where to go over the top - which clearly shouldn't be everywhere.

Love the dining room table and chairs. (though not together... proportions all off) hate the floors. Love the bed frame.

Looking at these pictures make my head hurt...imagine having to live with it!