I don't know it is/was a trend or not but I dislike a house with unleveled floor. I saw many of them with the feature when I was hunting for a house over the last 2 years.

During my talks with the architect dong my current house design, one of his idea is to have a dropped floor in the the great room for a sunken garden effect. Of course, I said NO. He then proposed to have the nearby kitchen raised. Not big, just a small say 7" to add some drama. I was about to jump off my chair. Thank you, but no. lol

This post was edited by jeff2013 on Sat, Aug 3, 13 at 1:01

Not so much a trend but I would have to change:
Oval windowed entry doors
I'm with Jeff on the sunken living rooms or raised stage beds. I only see tripping hazards.
I don't like the new use of gable heavy exteriors.
Exteriors with a multitude of different contrasting siding.
Island stoves/cooktops, while many look fantastic I can't imagine not playing keep away with my kids to avoid splatters of my olive oil.
The new lack of yards instead a patch of grass and an open area for all to "enjoy".
These things just aren't me.
Funny though, the OP's dislike I love. The furniture style island combined with a contrasting run of wall cabinets is in our plans. No offense taken:)

Some hand scraped floors look nice, some look very manufactured, but either way it's not something I personally want because it seems like added cleaning difficulty and that's the last thing I need/want!

Tray ceilings - that's my least favorite trend. We looked at a home with a tray ceiling in the master bedroom and the first thing I asked my husband is how difficult would it be to get rid of it. Make it a standard 8' ceiling but get rid of that tray, please.

For me - and I know this is very personal - there's too much going on with ceilings now. I'm not sure what it's about, perhaps because ceilings are higher now, all the detail is a way to visually bring them down a bit? Coffered ceilings are lovely and in the right home look appropriate, but they are showing up too frequently and in odd places, IMO.

I also like variation in kitchen cabinets when it's done well but it is easy to swing and miss. Making the island the feature by being different usually looks very nice to me. Making uppers and lowers different or featuring a pantry wall takes an expert eye to pull it off.

Careless mixing of interior details: Colonial millwork and doors, Victorian looking faucets, Craftsman sconces, blingy contemporary chandeliers, all mixed together all over the house.

I would agree on the mismatched kitchen cabinetry. Looks to me like they ran out of one kind and had to buy something else to "kind of" go with what they already had.

I REALLY dislike the big great room concept where you can clearly see almost the entire kitchen from the living room and the dining room. Sometimes you can even see all 3 - kitchen, living room, and dining room - just by stepping just inside the front door. Ugh. I don't want my minister, my next door neighbor, or the Avon lady seeing half my house from the front door.

1200 cfm range hoods
Transom windows added, where a taller window would do.
"Architectural" asphalt shingles.
Eave returns with steeply sloped shingled or standing seam mini roofs on them.
GARAGEhouse!

I used to like the look of a sunken LR, but that was when I was young and tripping up and down stairs was a delight. Not any more for practical reasons.

I, like houseofsticks, don't like all those many gables and the misuse of the "waterline" on exteriors, and all those many finishes. Editing needs to be the watchword for builders these days.

I also find mcmansion type homes that devote a lot of their overly generous sq footage to wasted space like grand foyers, huge hallways and walkways that skirt ginormous staircases, kitchens so large as to need roller skates to get to appliances, and living spaces that have not a prayer of ever being cozy enough for living to be undesirable.

I also hate to see new construction that, with even a tiny bit of effort, could easily be more green, comfortable and energy efficient with lower operating costs for the owner if only a thought for siting relative to the sun or prevailing winds or insulation or hvac were in the mix.

I don't like the elaborate roofs that are so popular in the DFW area. Some so steep one would think we get 10ft of snow each year.

But then, I'm sure people dislike my house for its industrial/office look. To each their own!

Things I personally do not care for:

- garages that extend in front of the house. Fortunately those are extremely rare in my area.

- open concept. I LIKE my kitchen isolated!

- white trim.

- mixed kitchen cabinets (stained & painted), as they are often done badly.

- two story rooms.

- houses without adequate porch spaces.

- excessive rooms. Every kid does not need his/her own bathroom, IMHO! Learning to share is a good thing, and it is less to clean.

- cluttered exteriors. Pick a style already... don't have a bit of everything just because you can!

Unfortunately the garage in a dominant position is pretty much a necessity here because of lot sizes.

But I think as a compensation, the Back of the house should be treated like a primary facade as well. So often the back is completely neglected in terms of esthetics.

There are several developments in this area with $1M houses with elaborate facades including weathered copper and all sorts of nice materials with no front outdoor space at all, and then you have an outside space in back with painted concrete block, a stucco-finish that rivals the poorest neighborhoods, PVC pipe vents, and a pressure treated lumber as a deck, and this is what you sit looking at when all the finish work is on the front. I think we need to take a page from parts of Europe and South America where the Nice part of the house is what the family and friends see, not strangers.

This is not the best example because it's 50 year old construction, but the house was built when the neighborhood was being cleared of slums so the front is blank and forbidding:(And it's been remuddled with smaller vinyl windows filled in with siding). But the architect thought about the Back where the Occupants would spend time, not the sidewalk view.

But the back is an interesting detailed facade. (And this was a house designed for someone with a tight budget)
The pictures are not good because the yard is only about 8 feet deep.

Trends I don't like have actually been around a while:

HUGE master bedrooms, enormous master bathrooms, and gigantic closets while the kids are stuck in tiny bedrooms.

Master bathroom toilets at the "end" of the bathroom far away from the sleeping area. DUMB. Who wants to walk a half a block to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night? A pet peeve I have noted quite often on house plans here. :)

Doors placed right next to windows which then makes dressing the windows extremely difficult.

Kitchen islands the size of a king-sized bed or larger. I went into one house for sale where I truly couldn't even reach the center of the island to clean it. :)

Living areas with all the intimacy of a hotel lobby - walk into a grand foyer which is open to a sitting area/living room on one side with an open dining area on the other side. Said grand foyer is wide open to a great room/kitchen combination in the back. Great for cocktail parties of fifty people, I suppose, but not much else, imo.

About those transom windows - here in the deep south, those windows were opened to let the hot air escape since hot air rises. (Like leaving the windows in your car open "just a bit" to let the hot air escape.) My grandparents' homes had fully functioning transom windows that were opened much of the year. I would love to have a house full of them. :)

Chopped up kitchens with little wall space and 1 or more islands. Kitchens that are all for looks not function.

The lack of built-ins and cozy places to sit and read...and bookcases. Also, pocket doors (the pretty, heavy, wood ones) like you find in older homes. Gives you an open space when you need it, but closes off the two rooms when you don't.

And glass porches that turn into screened porches, in the summer. We don't see many up here, because we have short summers....but they would be NICE in July and August and a sunny spot in the winter, too :)

I'll second the votes for uneven floors and mismatched cabinetry in the kitchen.

I'll add:

- Open shelving in the kitchen -- really, who needs less storage that has to be kept super neat and gets dusty?

- Multiple pendants in the kitchen -- I've learned that I personally do not care for too much "ceiling clutter".

- Toilets hidden away in a secondary closet -- who wants to squeeze into a tiny closet, often lacking in natural light? Must we really be so ashamed of using the toilet?

- Double sinks in bathrooms -- serves no purpose, and it takes away much-needed storage drawers. This is especially bad when the vanity is not large; in almost every faucet of housing, one good, comfortable area trumps multiple skimpy areas.

- Inclusion of every last trendy item at the expense of walkways and aisles, which are very necessary for comfort. Extras are nice, but not at the expense of the basics.

- Light fixtures with exposed light bulbs

- Kitchens that're over-cabineted -- squeezing something into every last inch results in a crowded look, whereas most of enjoy a comfortable, open space. If your kitchen isn't fairly large, skip the island!

- Quantity over quality

- Marble

I think, in general, there is trend to over light houses with recessed lighting.

I think houses are a bit more comfortable with lamps, uneven lighting, and a bit of shadow here and there. (Except kitchens).

I was recently at an open house where the recessed lighting was on a 3 foot grid throughout the entire house it seemed. It actually made the house Hot enough that people noticed the lighting (a lot of random house hunters not interested in design as much as GWers don't , I think) and one of them said "What is this, a House or a Jewelry Store? What's with this ridiculous commercial lighting?" I had to agree,

I agree with Mrs. Pete about open shelving and toilet closets.

And with dlm about too many ceiling changes.

My main pet peeve is the elevations are mostly roof because the house is a giant 1 story rectangle. But then I don't like it when they try to break up the giant rectangle by adding a million bumpouts and gables. I really prefer homes with multiple stories or multiple wings.

I don't like having private baths for children's rooms. It's so much to clean, and if there is a problem that the child is slow to share (clogged toilet, dripping faucet, etc...), it's going to be harder for an adult to see/notice if they have to go through the kid's bedroom to check.

I had to LOL bc we have Ms. Pete's top 4 in out house and I love each and every one of them.

I do agree about the exterior features- thousands of gables, pork chop returns and at least 3 exterior materials have no appeal to me.

I think all my pet peeves have been covered: giant master suites with pigeon hole secondary bedrooms, too many recessed cans, a totally open concept great room-kitchen-dining room (especially with tile floors as it is very noisy). How do you change the decor in one room without having to redo them all?

I will add:
I love my handscraped floors. Not hard to clean with a swiffer and they hide dirt pretty well, but they are taste-specific.
I'm pretty tired of:
The short driveways with the garage on the front of the home. I mean the short droveway where only 1 car can park outside the garage. All you see is garage doors and the short driveways make the streets look cluttered during the holidays when everyone has company. Its common here in Louisiana in starter homes, but some larger homes have them too.

I'm pretty sick of the cheap-o espresso finish with bargain stainless-look appliances in the cookie cutter homes. I like espresso finish and nice stainlesss, but the cheap stuff looks cheap and would probably look better in a nice medium maple with black appliances. It's like the builders don't even try to be creative.

12x12 ceramic tile countertops. They're durable enough but i hate mine. The grout is a nightmare to clean daily.

Oversized bedrooms. The worst common offense is when the MBR is over the garage. We saw a 25x25 MBR directly over a 2-car garage. It was like a basketball court. There was a bed, a couple dressers, and acres of empty space.

Huge garage taking up majority of the facade. Even worse when the garage is set forwards and the main home is set back. All you really see from the street is huge garage doors.

My pets peeves:

1) Oil rubbed bronze fixtures & finishes
2) Take a big house & compartmentalize the heck out of it.
3) Formal living rooms - really? What do you do to entertain in there when they are small & you live in the exurbs! LOL!
4) Front door sidelights - & people complain about privacy?
5) Rooms not scaled practically - as mentioned above oversized MBR but small secondary bedrooms.

These aren't necessarily TRENDS, but things I personally don't care for.

1) Open concept is just not my thing. I don't like my kitchen in full view of the front door. But I'm an old/retired gal, and I can see where young mothers would love this layout.
2) An "all white" house...trim, cabinets, doors, counters, back splash, etc. I'm a lover of natural woods, and our house definitely reflects that.
3) Ditto on the "forward" garages.
4) Grout, no matter where it is. Wish I didn't have any.
5) Over accessorizing. I've been to houses where you don't even have room to set down a cup of coffee. There's a fine line between accessorizing and clutter.
6) Doors that swing into the middle of a room. I don't always love pocket doors, but in this situation, they work.
7) Kitchens that are walkways, where you have to walk through the middle of the kitchen to get to another room. Big pet peeve of mine.
8) Kitchen islands with 2 angles. DD has one, and it's pretty much useless. Very little storage, and it ends up being a drop off for everything.
9) Range top or sink in the island. Especially in open concept rooms.

10. Desks in the kitchen.

Tray ceilings
Pendants over islands
Large lanterns over islands
White kitchens
Toilet rooms
Walk-in closets the size of bedrooms
Ceiling fans in bedrooms in upscale houses (ok on porch or in sunroom)

Not trend but can't stand:
glow in the dark bedrooms for the kids - teach them good taste while they're young, they'll have it for life.

"HUGE master bedrooms, enormous master bathrooms, and gigantic closets while the kids are stuck in tiny bedrooms. "

I saw a great example last night while trolling the fancy house listings in my area. The master bedroom, where one could practice one's gymnastics floor routine on the way to the bathroom at night:

And, just down the hall, this claustrophobia-inducing cell:

Mine probably isn't a trend, but I've seen a lot of it - houses where the whole front side is brick top to bottom, and the other 3 sides are vinyl siding. Who are they trying to kid? Use brick as an accent, or on the whole house - just one side looks like you ran out of money at the end.

______The never ending trend_____
____Everything must be centered___

Pps7, That's why they're trends -- lots of people jump on the bandwagon!

Bbx2, I agree with you about formal rooms. My grandmother always insisted upon a large, formal living room and dining room -- and she used it! For example, when my sister and I married, she threw us each a lovely bridesmaid's luncheon with china and crystal and candles in the dining room. I have lots of memories of lovely times in her formal rooms. While I admire what she did, it's not the same lifestyle we live today. We have a formal living room in our house now, and my kids call it the "Christmas Tree Room" because we never go in there.

Tray ceilings

Rounded corners

Niches

Palladian windows on non-Palladian architecture

Sidelight windows

When the back of a home doesn't match the front

Basic-looking garage doors on front load garages

Standard floor plans with foyer in the middle, office & dining rooms on either side

Closed off public rooms (as opposed to open concept)

Homes designed so you can see public areas from the front door

Oh Yillimuh, seldom have I seen a better illustration!

Because everyone wants to be able to hold Pilates seminars in the master bedroom while the children sleep here:

What I don't like is any "trend" that becomes so pervasive that a homeowner who wants to buck that trend has to pay 2 or 3 times as much (or more) than he/she has to pay for the currently trendy alternative. We all like different things and it should not become nearly impossible or outrageously expensive to get the things we like just because they don't happen to be currently "trendy."

For example, in my case, I love antique brass hardware. Always have, always will and I don't care if it's trendy or not. Well, 25 years ago, antique brass plumbing and lighting fixtures and hardware were easy to find and not terribly expensive because they were trendy then. But when we started building our new home 5 years ago, and I started shopping for antique brass fixtures, you would have thought I was trying to buy diamond encrusted solid gold fixtures!!! I could get ORB, or polished nickle, or any of the currently trendy colors for fixtures at reasonable prices. But because antique brass was not a current trend, it was almost impossible to find and the few places who any were charging 2 and 3 times the price of a comparable fixture in ORB or nickle. I reached the point of saying that I hated ORB and nickle...which wasn't really true. They were perfectly fine for other people to use in their homes. I just didn't want those finishes in MY home.

Ditto with tile for my backsplash. The kind of tile I wanted was not available for any reasonable price. Everybody was pushing subway tile (mostly in white or black) and I found myself saying that I hated subway tile. Which wasn't really true. Subway tile is great if it's what YOU like. But it wasn't right for me. After searching for months for a back splash tile I liked at a reasonable price, I gave up. My backs plashes remain untiled. If/when the trends change, I'll get tile and do them. Until then, I'll do without.

So what I really really dislike is the mere fact that manufacturers create "trends" via marketing hype and those trends become so ubiquitous that, even if you don't particularly love them, you're almost forced to go along with the trend because nothing else is available. And then, ten years later, the same marketing hype convinces us to tear everything out and redecorate using the new "latest trend" because the old one is so dated.

I personally wish that everybody would revolt and tell the manufacturers "I'm going to buy what I like and to h3ll with whether or not it is currently trendy."

Just my opinion.

MrsPete (My Page) on Tue, Aug 6, 13 at 11:38

... I agree with you about formal rooms. My grandmother always insisted upon a large, formal living room and dining room -- and she used it! For example, when my sister and I married, she threw us each a lovely bridesmaid's luncheon with china and crystal and candles in the dining room. I have lots of memories of lovely times in her formal rooms. While I admire what she did, it's not the same lifestyle we live today. We have a formal living room in our house now, and my kids call it the "Christmas Tree Room" because we never go in there.

I grew up with such a Mother! That's why I debate with her all the time about why we don't have one. When I was younger, my friends used to come over to visit & she made us sit in the living room when all we wanted to do was go to the family room/kitchen or outside.
& yes, her current living is used only during Christmas!

Lots of good points here. I'll add gables galore. Many new builds here have gigantic roofs and lots of gables. It looks so busy and has funny proportions. .

I really don't like shutters that are hung upside down and are not the right width for the windows! It looks so bad to have thin shutters next to wide windows yet I see it all the time!

Estrella, after my grandparents' house was built (1947), a relative (from the old country) noted that the shutters were hung upside down. Grandfather agreed and flipped them, only to discover a couple of months later WHY we hang them upside down in the US: We don't close them LOL even when they have hinges! Left open all the time, rainwater and melting snow and ice flow through the vanes, behind the shutter, and can rot the wood.

So he flipped them back upside down and the shutters and house have been fine since.

Random bits of metal roof is one of my least favorite fairly new trends. I also do not want to go back to the sixties for colors and patterns.

Lots of the things already said.
This has actually been a pretty interesting thread to read.

Though I find that I have a pretty wide tolerance. Maybe because I design for a living and need to be able to design houses that are suited for the different individuals who will live in them.

I so agree with anniedeighnaugh. Pretentiously oversized houses, total lack of design and orientation to use the sun effectively, and lack of other green practices.

Don't mind the openness of kitchen to living/dining areas though. Spent 29 years in a house with kitchen closed off to den and living room. Hated it.

Personally, I like white trim & front doors with sidelights. Interior design choices are not my big concern, I'm most annoyed by exterior eyesores.

Infill homes that tower over the neighbors.

"Dinosaur Legs" LOL

Walls of pain (monolithic walls, minimal windows):

Here is a link that might be useful: Garage Mahals... Cave entrances... Ugly Hat syndrome

This post was edited by view_west on Mon, Sep 23, 13 at 14:10

Ugh...I can't stand the cheap vinyl siding +front brick constructions some of these developers saddle on tract house buyers.

Great post..
Most of my peeves were already mentioned...
I will add:

Overuse of pocket doors - they can't use regular hardware so they are difficult to open and close

Stacked stone used everywhere...inside and out - most of the time, it is manufactured, not real and it shows!

Jack n Jill bathrooms - these just bother me especially if you have a boy and a girl....tough to decorate and "share" that space, especially with teenagers.

Outdoor lighting around garages and front doors that is sooo small...off scale.

Pam

Lol. The dinosaur was hilarious!

bpathome - interesting! it's not so much upside down shutters that bug me unless they have a decorative detail. I love this house, but these shutters are upside down, right?

http://nicelydoneco.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/work-may-003.jpg

Here is an example of what I don't like and we see it all the time in Seattle:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wXvjAxt7wJU/T57NPlvnb4I/AAAAAAAACzc/CApysueX0Dc/s1600/front+angle.JPG

Small shutter big window! I even drove by a garage with shutters the other day.

The white house is lovely! I can't tell about the shutters; the 8-over-1 windows are supposed to look like the window is open, right? So if the shutters were closed, the vanes would provide ventilation on the bottom, but solid with a little light through the decorative hole on top? Or maybe I'm just making excuses for it LOL! It sure is pretty, though :) I like how they lined the hinges up with the sashes.

Ooh, the second one is just nuts. There isn't even room for shutters on both sides of the picture window :(

Beverly, I soooo agree with you on antique brass. I have been looking for a brass chandelier for awhile and can't find anything I can afford, where 15 years ago they were a dime a dozen.

Speaking of shutters.... Do they make you shudder? That and the algae siding... Sorry to anyone if this is your house. Couldn't resist posting it on this thread.

Jenny

Amazing homes, with garage space SO SMALL that you can't even open the car doors without hitting something!! Seriously. We recently visited a parade home (maybe 5 years ago) that was like 7k sq. ft., and had dual double-car garages (two, 2-car garages). Each garage was 18x18. The realtors showing the house had to park sideways to get her doors open - seriously!! It's the cheapest square footage you have - make the garages bigger!! LOL