Blame it on catalogs like SkyMall or the novelty shops of the ‘90s, but there was a time when many homeowners thought to add some character to their living rooms by adding a unique side table.
These side tables usually came in the form of a frog, dog, or some other animal dressed as a butler holding a tray. The trend was so common that even an episode of “Modern Family” featured a prized dog butler. Thankfully, in recent years we’ve let animals go back to being animals and side tables are now sleek and discreet.
Send Shiplap Off to Sea
Shiplap has been historically used on the exterior of buildings and other structures, especially in harsh climates. These interlocking wood planks were made popular on a variety of HGTV shows, particularly on Chip and Joanna Gaines’ show “Fixer Upper”.
While this material can look charming in some homes, adding it just to be trendy seems a bit short-sighted. The look can make it hard to transition to other design schemes and can be annoying to clean as the gaps seem to attract dust. Interior decorators now suggest leaving the shiplap to actual outdoor structures.
Candy-Colored Bathtubs
Bathing can be a relaxing way to unwind after a long day. But anyone with good taste may find it hard to find tranquility while soaking in the garishly colored bathtub of yesteryear. Like the avocado refrigerators of decades before, bathrooms were also the victim of some very tragic colors.
Many homeowners painted their bathtubs in blues or pinks or some sort of faux marble finish. The result? A tacky and dated bathroom that never quite looked clean no matter how much bleach or elbow grease you applied. Thankfully, most homeowners are sticking to white bathtubs.
The Off-Limits Room
If you thought that you should have access to every room in your own home, think again. If you're of a certain age, then there's a good chance that your parents probably didn't allow you to play in the “fancy” living room.
Used solely for entertaining guests, this room typically featured an ornately decorated sofa (most likely covered in plastic protective gear) and a glass display cabinet full of equally unnecessary decorations. Today, thankfully, most homeowners try to make use of every inch of their homes and these rooms are a thing of the past.
Awful Oil
Looking back, you probably can remember walking into a kitchen and seeing a collection of various uniquely-shaped glass bottles of herb-infused oil on a shelf. While infused oil can be a great way to add flavor to your food, these oils were solely for decorative purposes.
In fact, we’re convinced that they probably weren’t safe to consume from the get-go, let alone decades after sitting on your shelf. These bottles typically became dusty from years of sitting unused, or worse, discolored if they were placed on a windowsill in direct sunlight.