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Post by mellowyellow on May 30, 2010 11:24:16 GMT -5
I stumbled across this site and am sad to say that I found it addictive. It's not random houses, but actual real estate photos of houses that have been put up for sale. Along with ugly houses and squalorish living, it also shows a very interesting "style through the years" of homes from the 50's -2000. It also reminded me of so many homes that I have seen in my lifetime. Places that were very neat, but just stuck in the 80's or 90's. uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/?cat=17 |
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MiSC
Banned
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,611 
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Post by MiSC on May 30, 2010 11:47:52 GMT -5
Wow. I never dreamed that legitimate collections could be so freaking ugly when displayed. I don't know why that's a surprise to me, but man that stuff is just plain ugly.
Less is more, indeed!
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Post by _Linda_ on May 30, 2010 14:33:15 GMT -5
OMG!! Some of those houses looked like my parents house!  |
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Post by notsomessyshell on May 30, 2010 15:01:42 GMT -5
Wow.
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Post by disorganizeddragon on May 30, 2010 15:43:40 GMT -5
Very interesting site. MellowYellow, I can easily see why you find the site so addictive--I looked at different pics in various categories and the time flew by. (Great, just what I need--another website to distract me at work. :  However . . . I wish the site had more photos and fewer judgmental comments. I took some time to work my way thru the site and yes, there are definitely lots of houses with "tacky" or "ugly" decor, collections that are poorly displayed, cluttered and/or dirty homes, etc. But honestly, the thing I found the most tacky and ugly was the attitude reflected in so much of the site's writing. Seriously, is this person the editor of "Haughty Home Design?" One of the rooms they're ragging on (look under "Clutter-Stuffed Animals-Christmas Bear Collection") obviously belongs to someone who is very ill and/or very elderly. The site writer makes some crack asking if the room had been cleared out for a square dance. No, Captain Observant, the room has probably been cleared out because one of the people who lives there cannot easily walk or breathe, as evidenced by the wheelchair and oxygen tank clearly seen in the photograph. This person probably needs a lot of room to move with nothing in their way--hence the wide open space. Yeah, I may not understand why someone collects the things they do (I once knew someone that collected different kinds of staplers, for Pete's sake) or why they decorate (or "stage" or "zone," the favorite terms of several commenters) the way they do, but it's their home and if they're happy, then who am I to say it's tacky? Lord knows I don't want someone walking into my apartment, critiquing my decor. (And yes, I have some. It may be under some clutter right now, but it's there.  ) Sorry to vent, but people passing judgment on the homes of others is kind of a sore spot with me. Wonder why?  |
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Post by DJ on May 30, 2010 17:07:54 GMT -5
bad mellow, that site is like visual crack for me.
this is actually one of the few snarky sites that the attitude doesn't bother me... as far as i can tell the photos are all for real estate for sale. the perspective being consistently put forth is from a realtor... someone who has a legitimate reason to make those sorts of comments... there's also little negative said about the -person- "what kind of cave dwelling freak lives like this" the criticism is leveled at the aesthetic, not the human who did it... for the most part...
-little vulcan hand gesture of peace- to DD. not just trying to be contrary, i'd sat here for a few minutes wondering why the scathing comments that usually irk me didn't in this case. the square dancing one i did feel bad about. doubt someone with that many medical problems has the time or inclination to stage for a sale :/ and they could probably benefit from the increased profit more than most i'd guess :/
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Post by mellowyellow on May 30, 2010 17:09:03 GMT -5
Fortunately no one passes judgement on my furnace room *sigh* or garage... or... *gulp* bedroom.
And yet, it's amazing how many of those house look like they belong people I know. Neat, tidy people, but very methodically stuck in time warps.
I was wondering if I would rather live in a tidy home like some of these, but no.. I wouldn't. My own home used to be one of these tidy little homes with baby blue carpet and blue flowery wallpaper on every single wall surface, and browny mustardy basement carpet and basement panelling, and lots of very dated, and not cool vintage fixtures. I spent so much time fixing that stuff, that I let my own nonsense creep out of boxes. And now am slowly getting rid of that too. What a long process.
But it seemed like a relief to see that even if you are one of those neat people, it doesn't naturally give you a sense of style.
ETA: Forgot to mention... if you actually type on the date entries, instead of the titles and categories you get a lot more photos. And yep, it's a real estate agent giving very candid responses to houses that he/she is supposed to sell/buy.
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Post by canna on May 30, 2010 17:21:37 GMT -5
Wow. Some of these pictures sure are -current-blasts from the past!
My old house had the old late -70's,'80's burnt orange shag carpeting in 3 rooms; one bedroom, the whole frontroom and also the dining room. I lived with that for many years!! And I remember that for a while on that dark orange carpeting I had a green and white plaid couch. And to add to that...these rooms had light yellow walls. y i k e s. true.
The kitchen had wall paper which had drawings of lattices with bright yellow morning glories climbing up: very -80's. Ha-but that wallpaper ...I picked out myself oh boy..
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Post by disorganizeddragon on May 30, 2010 17:41:09 GMT -5
Since taste is so subjective, I've always thought being judgmental about how someone dressed or decorated their home or whatever was a waste of time at best and immature at worst. (It just smacks of 14-year-old girls picking on the people that don't look or dress exactly the same way they do.) I suppose I can understand it from a realtor's perspective, but if they can only sell perfectly decorated houses, they're probably in the wrong business. (Now, cleanliness is another matter completely. . .) I've been in homes that could've been featured in magazines, but I didn't feel comfortable, so I didn't care for them. But as long as the people who lived there were happy, that's all that mattered. (And I mean their homes could've been featured in stylish decorating magazines, not the OMG-why-is-every-wall-in-that-house-painted-black-or-red types of magazines. ) And MellowYellow, you are so right when you say that being neat does not automatically give you a sense of style. I live next door to one of the sweetest ladies alive and her house is immaculate and meticulously organized, but she is most assuredly stuck in a time warp. Everything in the apartment is straight out of the 1950's (and actually probably worth a lot of money), but she's thrilled with it and refuses to change it. Her kids bought her a new and wonderfully cushy sofa to replace her uncomfortable old couch--and she gave it away. Her reasoning was that her old couch was still in good condition (it was) and the new sofa didn't match the rest of her furniture (it didn't). She loves her Ozzie and Harriet decor, so I say more power to her. (The funniest thing is how many of the college kids that live here love her stuff and are constantly trying to buy it from her. She's going to be rich if she ever sells it.) |
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Post by disorganizeddragon on May 30, 2010 17:46:20 GMT -5
Canna, what was with that burnt orange shag carpeting? I think that was in at least three of the apartments I rented right out of high school. And the appliances in flourescent colors, like turquoise, orange or yellow--I used to pray for color-blindness.  |
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Post by mellowyellow on May 30, 2010 18:00:11 GMT -5
Okay, so now's the time I admit I have a tiny vintage kitchen with original white 1950's cabinets and a 1940's blue metal table with newly acquired (ahm, curbside Saturday afternoon ) yellow chairs. And yes, pyrex and yes firestone and drinking glasses with funky gold paint all that sorta stuff. And don't talk to me about 60's light fixtures.. I actually like them.. ahmmm.. And yep, I lived with the baby blue for a couple years before I ripped everything away. And what a mess it made.  I think realtors want to neutralize things a little so that people can imagine themselves in a certain space. But I don't know exactly how it works. If my house had been staged, it surely would have gotten scooped a lot faster by someone else. |
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Post by disorganizeddragon on May 30, 2010 18:13:56 GMT -5
MellowYellow, I love 1950's-60's retro stuff. I don't have the faintest idea how to use it or decorate around it (I always thought it would take someone that had a lot more talent or money than I have to pull it off and make it look good), but I like it. I think the retro things have more personality than a lot of the newer designs; they're just more fun. But I don't ever want to live with another turquoise stove and refrigerator. That's just waaay too retro for me. I can just see me being the featured story in a future issue of House Beautiful or Style: "How My Appliances Made Me Seek Therapy."  |
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hopehope
Banned
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 3,815
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Post by hopehope on May 30, 2010 21:06:57 GMT -5
myself, i was always taken with the avocado fixtures.
never green, mind you -- avocado. ahem.
speaking of taste, I was told recently to add a cartoon butterfly to the nose of my classic, four hundred year-old Japanese Noh mask icon. which is when I explained the concept of differing tastes...
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Post by disorganizeddragon on May 30, 2010 21:11:08 GMT -5
Avocado is distinctly different from green. I have great memories of avocado fixtures--my grandmother's kitchen was done in avocado. It was lovely--just like all the lovely food that came out of it. |
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Post by DJ on May 31, 2010 1:13:51 GMT -5
i would kill for turquoise appliances.
in this market though.. if someone loves vintage and retro they are going to see it in a neutral home, they're going to see their personal style in a blank canvas.. if someone hates vintage and just sees it as dated..
it's alot easier to deal with a blank canvas and imagine your own work than to drag out the gesso and reprime someone elses :}
long live pyrex, fire king, blinding appliances... in my area though where the median asking price of a home is a little over 300k it'd be nice if the place was move in ready without causing seizures with clashing sponge painting/accent walls/and the new owners furniture .. my preferences aren't other peoples and in this slumpy market it's way safer to spend the time to do the way bland very inexpensive updates :/
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