Daily Mail

The decor touches that make us cringe!

- by Esther Walker

WHo knew that a few wooden letters spelling ‘ Love’ would spark such a storm?

A Mumsnet user recently ignited a heated debate on our top interior design peeves. she started the conversati­on, titled ‘your interior pet hates’ on the website and the comments beneath ran into the hundreds.

the most popular trend to come under attack was bossy ‘instructio­ns’ in the form of stencilled letters on walls or cut- out wooden letters spelling out ‘Mr & Mrs’ or ‘reLAX’.

similarly, wallpaper in bathrooms telling you to ‘ bathe’ or ‘wash’ or signs above beds saying ‘sleep’ or ‘Dream’. Hearts made out of wicker and hung by tartan ribbon were roundly dismissed.

equally snubbed were inspiratio­nal quotes stencilled onto walls or framed. the phrase ‘excuse the mess, my children are busy making memories’ was cited as a particular horror.

Boring wall colours also came under attack. Karine Kong, the interiors guru behind Bodie & Fou,

(karinecand­icekong.com) has a particular bugbear.

‘I’m not sure who came up with the idea that painting walls pale yellow like your granny’s apartment would be lower maintenanc­e,’ she says, ‘ but magnolia walls remind me of that Ikea tv ad Chuck out Your Chintz, ntz, which aired in 1996’.

vases full of sticks intertwine­dd with fairy lights were another style cliche everyone hated, as were family photos printed onto canvasses, bunting used indoors and television­s hung above fireplaces. the humble cushion took a bashing, too.

the interior r designer rita Konigg weighs in: ‘I love softoft squishy pillows, butut I can’t stand cushions ns — bullet-like things coveredver­ed in fabric to go with h the room, which you then have to throw on the floor to be able to get into bed.

‘My other pet hate is so many cushions on a sofa that there is no room to squeeze in your bottom.’

SoWHY do we care so much about what other people do with their homes?

‘ We all think we’re experts,’ says rebecca sterling, author of the interiors style blog roses and rolltops, who has more than 60,000 followers on Instagram.

‘ Interiors are such a personal choice, even more so than fashion as you have to live with your decisions for a long time. It’s natural to think, “If I lived here, I’d do this” or that a lovely house has been ruined by bad decoration.’

sterling’s most- hated interiors quirks?

‘ sparkly granite! Also, orange oak makes me feel sick. Purple or silver velour curtains with silver rings in them or built-in bedrooms.’

Does our obsession with what is right and wrong in the home actually come down to our preoccupat­ion with class — and the fact that certain interior styles speak volumes about where you are in the system?

It can’t be, says sophia Money- Coutts, features director of the society magazine, tatler.

the aristocrac­y are just as guilty as everyone else of interior design faux pas, having signs in their homes saying ‘save water, drink wine,’ anda slogans knitted ontoon cushions. ‘ ‘t those cushions!’ sayssay Money-Coutts. ‘I went to someone’s house the ot other day and they had “ra “radleians [as in the school, radley]r are relaxed, rugged and randy” on it,’ she says.

Her theory is that home signage is popular with people who don’t have a philosophy. ‘ the lofty thoughts of voltaire are not for them,’ she says. ‘they just like jokes about dogs and gin on a cushion.’

tatler ran a list of the things that posh houses have, which include bars of soap (rather than liquid), sheets and blankets (rather than a duvet), a lot of dogs and a Big Mouth Billy Bass (remember him?)

the list of interior design complaints runs so long that eventually it includes something that everyone likes or at least has in their home.

the lesson? Do what you like — and don’t invite anyone round for tea.

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 ??  ?? Bossy: Wall art sticker, £14.99 at notonthehi­gh street.com and a slogan cushion
Bossy: Wall art sticker, £14.99 at notonthehi­gh street.com and a slogan cushion

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