Homeowners Are Sharing The Design Trends They Followed But Ultimately Ended Up Regretting, And Some Of Them Are Hot Takes
Like all trends, home design trends come and go. Though jumping on a popular home design may work out in the long run for some homeowners, it might become a regret for others. Recently, I asked the homeowners of the BuzzFeed Community to share which home design trends they followed and ultimately decided it wasn't worth it, and some of these might be surprising:
1."Subway tile. It looks great in magazines and TV lighting, but in the home, it's always dirty. While it's easy enough to clean, get ready to wipe down your walls every day. What's worse is you can't easily undo it. I wish I'd kept the wallpaper in my kitchen — it was pretty, hid daily wear well, and was easy to wipe clean. Even better, if I got tired of the pattern or color, I could just paper right over it. Wallpaper is the solution everyone likes to write off as dated."
—Anonymous, 48
2."Back in the early 2000s, my mom tried sponge-painting a pink accent wall in my sisters' bedroom. It remained half-finished for years after she discovered how nightmarish it was to get hot pink paint off sponges — if only so she didn't have to use 87 of them to finish the wall. It looked awful. My mom and sisters' hated it, and they ended up leaving it that way until, like, 2012, when they painted the room beige in preparation for a move and called it good."
3."Getting an open floor plan. Now, the entire area always smells like last night's dinner, and I have to look at the dirty dishes in the sink I was too tired to deal with. The sound of the kids tromping through the open area like a herd of elephants is deafening, and there is absolutely no privacy. I am looking at the cost of putting the walls back in."
4."A pool table — my spouse's 'dream' for our unfinished basement. In our seven years living in the house, I can count on my fingers the number of times he used the pool table for its intended purpose. Me? I did filing and crafts and wrapped holiday gifts on it. So glad (not!) we spent $3K on a new one. When we got divorced, I barely got $1K for the pool table, and it was a pain in the butt to move out."
5."Microwave drawers. Don't do it! Yes, they free up counter space, but there is no rotating plate, so the heating is super uneven, and liquid bowls usually spill while the drawer opens. Plus, it's hard to clean the inside."
6."Stainless steel appliances. Fingerprints show everything, no matter how much you try to get rid of them."
7."Cube-style bookcases. I thought open shelving would be a fun and cute way to store my things, but it just made my house look cluttered. Then, I spent a ton on fabric bins, which just collapsed from daily use. I just went back to a cabinet!"
—Anonymous
8."Buying an older home as our first one. We bought a house built in 1973 a few years ago, figuring we would have some work to do but expecting minimal (it was 'move-in ready,' after all). In the first year, we replaced the old aluminum windows and spider-webbed cracked skylight (that was $8K alone). We also replaced the fence that fell down in our first year. Then, in our second year, we noticed the old siding was coming off in sheets and realized we didn't like the placement of our backdoor. We hired a design team to handle the project, which was over $100K and required an abatement team, as our old siding was made of asbestos. We were planning to remodel the bathrooms, but most of our appliances began dying and needed replacing almost all at the same time. Our AC unit is probably in its last year, and we've already sunk nearly $200K into our 'move-in ready' home."
9."Farm-style sinks."
10."I got greedy with under-island cabinet size and made my kitchen island too big! I have a beautiful quartz top, but I can't wipe it down from one side, which makes cleaning take twice as long since it's 12 inches too big!"
11."We renovated our kitchen a few years ago and chose navy cabinets with gold hardware. In addition to the cabinet manufacturer sending the wrong touch-up paint with the cabinets (which the company used to mess up the cabinets after their many mistakes), the wear and tear is significantly more noticeable with painted cabinets, especially with a dark color. Had I realized this, we would have paid more for better quality wooden cabinets and left them natural."
12."Overall, I regret how much energy I wasted thinking I had to update, redesign, and redecorate everything right away to fit in with some modern ideal of an 'Instagrammable' home. I live in a 100-year-old house! As a new homeowner, I had a huge list of things I would tackle to make my home perfect. But now, after three years, I am fine with my 1990s stove, which works just fine. I don't mind the scuffed-up wooden floors, painted-over paneling, or creaky radiator. Home renovations are expensive even when you DIY. Save your money for when you need to do the big stuff and learn to appreciate and be content with what you have."
—Anonymous, 44, Maine
13."I am a victim of the 'everything gray' trend. TikTok really made me think it looked modern and chic, but instead, it made everything so dull and boring. Color is not the enemy!"
—Kathy, California
14."I painted our living room black, thinking it would be cool and sleek, but it made the entire room look so much smaller. Maybe I should've consulted someone first, but I regretted it after two weeks."
—Anonymous
15."We tried to DIY our fireplace surround by watching trending videos because I thought it would be easier and cost-efficient. NOPE. It was expensive in supplies, time, and convenience. And it didn't even look good. We had to hire professionals in the end."
—Nate, New Hampshire
16.Lastly: "Please, no more barn doors. It was just a huge turn-off. Pocket doors have the same function and don't instantly date the house."
—Anonymous
Oop, I think barn doors are cute, but to each their own! If you're a homeowner, what's a home design trend you hopped on but ultimately regretted? Let us know in the comments, or you can anonymously submit your story using this form!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
