Interior Designers Share What Modern Home Trends They Find Annoying, And Here Are 45 Of The Worst Ones
For as long we’ve had great design, there have been bad ones, too. Loose boulders on staircases, see-through toilets, windowless curtains—the list goes on.
So in an attempt to figure out which of them have become the most popular, Reddit user u/uwfan893 made a post the platform, asking, “Interior designers, what will this generation’s version of shag carpeting be?” And they happily obliged, sharing all the trends they would love to see gone.
Of course, it doesn’t mean that if your place has anything they mentioned, it automatically becomes tasteless—a lot depends on the execution. Plus, your home is your castle. You can make it whatever you want it to be. It’s just a take on the general landscape.
Shiplap.
I don’t even know what it is, but HGTV won’t shut up about it so clearly there’s going to be far too much of it in a few years.
Beating minimalism to death with a sledgehammer. Everything being grey/white, even painting over gorgeous natural wood, practically zero color anywhere. Just breaks my heart when they take beautiful vintage homes and renovate them to shit by making everything look so sterile.
Open concept bathrooms.
I don’t need to see you taking a dump from my bed.
Total lack of solar panels/windmills. I think its criminal that new builds don’t have any form of energy generator built in.
Cabinetmaker here: grey stained EVERYTHING dominated the early 2000s. White oak was most common. It’s also a huge pain in the rear, greys and whites are the hardest stain colour to work with. Trend’s not done either, I just did a consult with another cabinetmaker a couple months ago because he couldn’t get the damn grey stain to work.
Oh, and sandblasting is only slightly less common and actually makes it even harder to apply. Not to mention to clean.
Removing stair banisters for a crisp look. Like your drunk friend Brooks is going to fall of the side and die one day. There are building codes for reasons
might be an unpopular opinion but i don’t need my home to be smart…I just need things to happen when they are supposed to happen and not completely shut off when some douche thought it was a good idea to play who can touch the powerline
Shitty bathtubs. I grew up in a 100 year old house. It had a nice bathtub with a sloping back so you could comfortably lounge in the bath. Modern tubs are pretty nearly straight up on the back so there’s no comfortable way to soak, smoke a joint, and read a book.
By-laws against clotheslines. I’m going to pay for electricity/gas when the sun and wind are free? In this day and age, who can be against solar and wind?
I don’t know if it’s new new, but it drives me crazy when people replace cabinetry with open shelves.
Don’t people understand dust? Bugs ring a bell? Pet hair? Speaking of pets, how do you keep your cats from messing around with that setup?
I really don’t like the fireplace design where you are intended to put your TV over it. A TV is way too high when over the fireplace.
Gray. Everything gray.
It’s the orange and brown of the 60s, 70s, and 80.
It’s the beige of the 90s and 00s
All of the flat white and concrete is just going to make the houses look dated in about 5 years.
Big concrete squares don’t look good people!
No broom closets. Where the hell do people put their mops and vacuum cleaners? Or do the people who buy those McMansions just not do any of their own cleaning?
Lack of storage space. Just bought a new home and didn’t realize how little space there was. We have one storage closet upstairs. That’s it.
I hate the design of homes that have a massive garage in the front; “welcome to my garage, the home is in the back.”
Why is everything so damn bland? Why is white and grey the popular colors? Whatever happened to color? Why can’t we have living rooms wallpapered with big bright flowers, long suede couches in deep fuchsia? And, mile-high blue carpets that you sink into when you walk? Whatever happened to walnut paneling and colored subway tile in the bathroom? Whatever happened to delicate stenciled flowers on the inside of the bowl of the bathroom sink?
When did we lose our personalities? I just want a house that looks like a manic-depressive toddler version of myself was set lose in a JoAnn’s with a limitless credit card.
Small laundry rooms, small pantries, no linen closets, but here’s a 20×20 media room to watch TV. My next house will either be laid out by me or made in the 70s/80s when they designed homes to be lived in.
Hollow interior doors that don’t keep sound out from within the house and hallways – especially hollow bedroom doors when you’re trying to sleep.
Weird fixation perhaps, but I cannot stand kitchen cupboards that don’t go all the way up to the ceiling. No cabinet storage + a big gap on top for my husband to pile all kinds of crap = no thanks.
No door between the master bedroom and master bathroom. It’s so annoying.
The last 3 houses I’ve lived in have had this issue. I like to be able to close the door when I take a bath or shower.
Bedrooms that are only juuuuust big enough for a double or queen bed and a nightstand.
The grotesque housing developments of the same like 4 models and 3 colors with no trees. Not to mention the houses are built like shit. The terribly inefficient road layout with a million cul de sacs.
Someday people are going to realize that having entirely white walls and exposed concrete isn’t very homey.
All white kitchens is going to seriously date houses in a decade or so. You know the ones I mean – white cabinets, quartz countertops, white backsplash
Homes built on the cheap with so many corners cut in their construction that they end up being horrible places to live in, plagued by mold, damp, noise and plumbing issues and more.
As an electrician; putting 600 spotlights in every room of the house. Sure it makes me money but it looks fucking ridiculous having so many lights every 4 feet of every room.
Not really a “new trend”, but I’ve never understood mounting TVs high on a wall or above a fireplace. Not only is it a bad look to have a TV displayed like it’s a piece of art, it’s also very uncomfortable to watch TVs that are above you. TVs should be at eye level when you’re sitting. I think the trend is finally dying, but it keeps cropping up in houses I visit.
Garages that fit two medium sized cars with about one inch to spare
The cookie cutter houses with no personality and no room, where the windows look directly into your neighbor’s bedroom. Ugh!
Open floor plans where the main floor is just like one big room.
Houses that are only 25′ wide and have a front double garage.
Master bathrooms with no door separating the bed from the toilet.
Backyard that is only 12′ deep
I’ve seen several homes with appliances integrated into the construction of the kitchen itself. Not just in an alcove but actually built into the wall. Sure, it’s convenient that there’s a fucking cappuccino machine built into the wall next to the cabinet over the center island countertop. But what happens when (not if, when) it needs maintenance? Do I have to call a goddamn carpenter as well as a cappuccino machine repairman? Do I have to consider if this is a fucking load bearing wall that contains my broken appliance? And something that’s just a convenience like that is one thing, but they do it with stuff like fridges too.
I’m still training in kitchen design for a retail store and in my short time in this department I can tell you everyone wants white shaker-style cabinets. EVERYONE. I’m so sick of doing basic, unimaginative kitchens. The white in-stock shaker-style cabinets are also our biggest sellers. In-stock cabinets are complete trash and fall apart if you look at them wrong.
Wasted space. This includes enormous bedrooms with sitting areas, homes with equal number of bed and bathrooms, extravagant foyers that eat half the front of a house, formal living and/dining rooms that never get used. Etc
I am not an interior designer but I cannot stand the whole “farmhouse chic” trend and can’t wait for it to go away, it’s everywhere. What’s everyone going to do when it becomes dated and they can’t sell their homes bc it looks like an effing farmhouse? Also like someone stated above I don’t think the open floor plan is something that’s going to last forever.
Open concept floor plans are great for smaller homes. Y’all are just classist lol
Humongous kitchen islands. I’m only 5 ft tall and I have to walk around the entire thing to get it clean. It’s just too big to be convenient.
Add to that open shelves instead of cabinets. I’m sorry my boxes of pasta and cans of soup are not going to be attractive no matter what I do with them.
I also want separation between the kitchen and the living space.
I guess I just hate modern kitchens…
Definitely barn doors.
Note: this post originally had 87 images. It’s been shortened to the top 45 images based on user votes.
