Gallery of horrors: 24 deplorable decor mistakes!

Genista Jurgens Genista Jurgens
Яркая гостиная на Кавалерийской, MARIA MELNICOVA студия SIERRA MARIA MELNICOVA студия SIERRA Salas de estar ecléticas
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We have all seen those homes that make us cringe and doubt the owners taste levels. You know the ones – living rooms that have too many sofas or chairs, in too many clashing colors, or the kitchens that are dark and gloomy without enough light, or worse still: kitchen windows with curtains. Actually, any net curtains anywhere in the house is bad news. 

Or you may know someone who loves the idea of feature walls, but goes overboard and paints a horrible multicoloured mural that doesn't suit the style of the house. There is a fine line between trendy and too much, and unfortunately many people don't know the difference. Today we have collected 24 of the worst decor mistakes that you should never commit. 

But taste is subjective and if you are happy with one or another things we have mentioned today, ignore us!

Take a look through and let us know your thoughts.

1. Too Much Red

homify Cozinhas modernas Contraplacado

While monotone kitchens can be done well, this particular burgundy colour does not work in large amounts. Especially when combined with those sad, beige walls. The two colours do not complement each other – together they just look dated and strange. A definite no-no! 

2. When Imagination Goes Too Far

high end house interior, Vinyaasa Architecture & Design Vinyaasa Architecture & Design Quartos modernos

Don't get us wrong – we love a themed room. We also love children's beds that are shaped like cars or cartoon characters. They are playful and enjoyable, but this pumpkin carriage bed is not fun for anybody. To be honest we are not even sure it's a bed! No one should take a theme this far. 

3. Don't Overuse

Residence., Rita Mody Joshi & Associates Rita Mody Joshi & Associates Paredes e pisos modernos

The difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation? Knowing when enough is enough, and this living room goes way beyond that point. Covering every surface in mementos from a recent trip to India is borderline offensive. Sure you may fall in love with an aesthetic from a particular country or culture, but don't decorate your house like it's Halloween. 

4. Stuck In Another Era

AYNA , Asortie Mobilya Dekorasyon Aş. Asortie Mobilya Dekorasyon Aş. Corredores, halls e escadas clássicos

Yes vintage inspired furniture can be the ideal thing to add to a room – but not if the walls are also from the same era. Then it just looks tacky. The trick is to mix and match decades. If you want an elaborate dresser, then paint the walls white and keep everything else ultra modern.  

5. Straight From A Movie Set

ESTE KLASİK YATAK ODASI, Asortie Mobilya Dekorasyon Aş. Asortie Mobilya Dekorasyon Aş. Quartos clássicos

We are not quite sure if this is where somebody lives, or if it is the set of a film. With all of the busy patterns and frou-frou, fussy details, we don't know where to look, let alone understand how somebody could sleep in this bedroom! If you love patterns, then choose one statement piece to use them on, not everything. 

Or for examples of good eclectic bedrooms, see this collection

6. A Colour That Just Won't Work

Interior painting, Abdul Bros Abdul Bros Paredes e pisos modernos

No matter what this vibrant purple is teamed with, it won't look good. While it is good to use bright colours and to be a bit daring with feature walls, this is one colour that will only overpower any room. And especially with that dabbled pattern all over it. If you are set on using a bright colour for your walls, try using citrus colours (oranges, yellows). They are optimistic and warm up the room. But do try to limit using them only in smaller rooms. 

7. Making It Too Complicated

homify Quartos modernos Camas e cabeceiras

Cohesion is great when you can use the same symbols and patterns throughout the house. But the thing is to use them subtlety. This black and white triangle shape is trying too hard, and is overloading the room. Definitely don't repeat the pattern in the wallpaper directly behind it – it's a guaranteed disaster!

8. Decorating Like A Hospital

homify Quartos modernos

Wow. Where to begin with this one? Those cupboards need dismantling immediately. The white ones up top can stay perhaps, but those sickly olive ones need to go! And that patterned curtain should have been left in the 1960's. Also the bed cover – it should have been ditched when the 1970's finished. We wish we could un-see this one! Urgh.  

9. Sleeping At Circus School

homify Quartos modernos

We can tell the owner of this house loves colour, and loves patterns. But with all the different styles of rose covered textiles, the purple lighting, the magic eye painting, the black wall, AND the yellow ceiling we think we are staying the night at some futuristic circus school. No thanks!

10. Down The Rabbit Hole

METROKENT BURSA, Niyazi Özçakar İç Mimarlık Niyazi Özçakar İç Mimarlık Corredores, halls e escadas modernos

And this hallway with black and white tiled floor looks like something out of a fairytale. If we walk down this over-the-top hallway are we ever to return?! The matching lampshade, grey walls, and cartoon-ish furniture look too fake and too sterile. Another example of what not to do in your home. 

11. Mellow Yellow Kitchen

homify Cozinhas asiáticas

Another terrible colour combination – lemon yellow and olive green. It looks bad on paper and yes, also in the picture! The granite counter and multi-coloured wall don't help calm those colours down either. Golden rule when decorating any room: use accents of colour; only in a few things, and keep everything else minimal and muted. 

12. If In Doubt, Don't!

Despande's Residence, Nuvo Designs Nuvo Designs Casas de banho modernas Pedra

Again – it's not the pattern itself that is a horror, it's the amount of it that has been used. This bathroom could have been saved if the pattern was used only on one wall in the shower, and everything else was kept white, sand or beige. Also that wash basin has got to go! 

13. A Licorice Bedroom

Спальня на Кавалерийской, MARIA MELNICOVA студия SIERRA MARIA MELNICOVA студия SIERRA Quartos ecléticos

There are sweets that have a layer of black licorice, a layer of pink candy, a layer of yellow candy, and one more layer of the black licorice. That is what this bedroom looks like. And it's safe to say no one wants their bedroom to look like something you can eat. 

14. A Failed Garden Experiment

Prabhadevi , Elevate Lifestyles Elevate Lifestyles Corredores, halls e escadas minimalistas

We often say bringing green spaces inside the home is a great idea. More pot plants – yes! Vertical gardens: why not? Fill your kitchen with herbs, please do! But not a fake flower arrangement, anywhere in your house. This looks like someone has brought home the losing entry at the flower arranging competition. No thanks. 

15. Over-excited DIY Skills

4BHK Rangoli Garden, Shape Interiors Shape Interiors Cozinhas modernas Contraplacado

Sure, make your own stencil; try decorating your own furniture. But not like this, not in the kitchen. Coloured stencils may work in children's bedrooms, or as a little frieze detail running around your living room, but never on kitchen cupboards. And not in purple! That shade should only be attempted by professional Interior Designers and Decorators

16. Bad Taste Bachelor's Pad

Subtle Harmony, Sneha Samtani I Interior Design. Sneha Samtani I Interior Design. Salas de estar modernas

In this stark black and white themed living room, we have many signs of bad taste. The sofa. The abstract table with glass top. That nondescript silver shape in the corner. The glass shelves sitting it in. The silver statue of a woman. We have walked into a bachelor's pad straight from the 1980's. Ew! 

17. A Room For A Television

homify Salas de estar modernas

A television may be difficult to integrate into a stylish room, but this is not the way to go. Furniture needs to be placed according to the way the room is used. If this is a living room with a television, people will want to sit somewhere where they can actually see it (without using a telescope). And let's not even get started on the colour scheme of the room… or those curtains… .

18. Home Kill

homify Salas de estar modernas

There are hundreds of other choices of rugs and mats to decorate your floor with, and ones that don't celebrate the act of killing. 

19. Living Room… Or Death Room?

bungalow on boat club road pune, Mind Studio Mind Studio Salas de estar modernas

The same goes for this room. The amount of dead animal products is far too much. If you insist on sitting on leather, limit it to one chair. We also hope you would never have an animal skin rug underneath a coffee table like this (or at all). It looks like an animal has been squashed by a piece of furniture. A thousand times: No! 

20. When Practicality Isn't A Priority

homify Corredores, halls e escadas clássicos Madeira Acabamento em madeira

Sure, a little table and a matching pair of chairs is useful in smaller kitchens or houses with limited space. But the way this room is set up, we aren't entirely sure what it's purpose is. Don't go so overboard with styling and decorating your home that you can't use it for anything! Think practically. 

21. A Mix Of Mistakes

Phaselis Konutları Antalya, Mimoza Mimarlık Mimoza Mimarlık Salas de estar modernas

Well. This room. Velvet blue chairs with silver chains?! Glass table with an ebony trophy on top? A chainmail lampshade? And that's just on this side of the room. This space has too many dramatic pieces, and they are all too old fashioned and tasteless. We won't be sitting at that table any time soon. 

22. Must Try Harder

House Of Colours, Ansari Architects Ansari Architects Corredores, halls e escadas modernos

Most of the rooms we've seen so far have been too over the top. But this one doesn't have enough. Did the decorators forget to put up shelves? Leaving items on the floor in the middle of a staircase is not only unsightly, but definitely impractical, if not even dangerous. You want the proper space to display objects. 

23. Tacky Tribal Tattoo

Residence interiors, Akaar architects Akaar architects Quartos modernos

The bed base itself is not so bad. The unforgivable mistakes in this bedroom are the choice of bed linen (don't choose black and white linen to match a brown and white bed base), the horrible curtains, the tacky Eiffel Tower cushion, and most of all – that large scale tribal tattoo design on the wall. It's all too tacky!

24. The Elephant In The Room

Яркая гостиная на Кавалерийской, MARIA MELNICOVA студия SIERRA MARIA MELNICOVA студия SIERRA Salas de estar ecléticas

It would be hard for anyone in this living room to actually pay attention to the television, with all the other stuff going on. Hot pink walls (in two different shades) plus a purple sofa, towering white bookcases, and a hideous beige carpet. Let's not forget the 'elephant' in the room – that multi-coloured owl mural! Please: if you want a mural, limit it to the kid's room, and take a look at these 6 ideas on how to get it right. 

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