Decoration and Furniture from Hell - Part 6

These "design pieces" may be useful. Nevertheless, their appearance degrades any tasteful home - at least in my opinion.

Photo calendars

Free gifts with shopping usually have a catch. In drugstores, for example, I always get the perfume sample of the very fragrance I don't like. In the pharmacy, it's a photo calendar that looks as if someone has really gone wild with Photoshop. The worst thing is that the latter are also for sale. Nature, city or animals - the choice of motifs for the said calendars is frighteningly large.

Calendars

Switzerland

40 x 31 cm, Soft cover, German

Calendars

Cats

42 x 29 cm, Soft cover, German

Calendars

25.75

Garden Calendar

42 x 29 cm, Soft cover, German

In most cases, the composition and image editing skills of the creators leave much to be desired. In the case of the Switzerland calendar, everything is overexposed and in the case of the cat calendar, everything except the cat is unnaturally blurred. With the garden calendar, on the other hand, it is noticeable that the necessary skills must have been lacking when taking the photos: should I look at the lilies on the left, which are lost in the hydrangeas, or rather at the bare green patch on the right? If the focus on the cover is already unclear, then the serif font on the following pages doesn't help to make the whole thing prettier either. Or have you ever seen a ramshackle building turned into a castle by flourishes alone? Just ...

Lattice furniture

I also stay away from home accessories or furniture with lattices to keep the cosiness in my home. After all, ceramic birds locked in cages look anything but inviting to me. The same goes for lamps. Why should I use an enclosure to shade their light? That is neither beautiful nor particularly practical.

Shelving

24.30

Relaxdays Wall Shelf

25 x 16 x 18 cm

16

A

Wall lamps + Ceiling lamps

Markslöjd MARKSLOJD Cage Wall / Table Lamp Black

Storage baskets

27.30

House Doctor Taw

1 x, 23.50 cm

11

Even more uncomfortable are wicker shelves. They may be functional, but they exude supermarket charm. I imagine it would be difficult to store anything neatly in them. Instead, a filled basket would constantly trigger me to put the things in it away in a cupboard - and the basket along with it.

Plastic placemats

Let's stay with the image of a supermarket for a moment. When I come home from the grocery store, the first thing I do is unpack the food, free it from its packaging and transfer it into ceramic jars and glasses. Because all the colourful plastic packaging rarely makes a pretty picture on the open shelf. So as I ban plastic from the kitchen, I will be wary of letting plastic placemats into my dining room. Even more so when they come in toxic (!) green.

–11%

Place mats

2.40was 2.70

Saleen Placemat oval plastic 45,5x29cm apple green

Place mats

Easy Life Havana placemat

Quantity discount

Place mats

9.65per piece for 2 units

Easy Life Dark Stones/Zen

1 x, 30 x 45 cm

2

In addition, placemats made of silicone and co. magically attract crumbs and dust and increase the effort required to wipe the table. But they do not increase appetite: the sets are often printed with motifs such as stones or cars. Stylistically, a no-go. Especially when I own a wooden table, which is jewellery on its own thanks to its grain.

You see it differently? I'd be happy to discuss it with you in the comments column. Want to see more of what colleague Natalie Hemengül and I find distasteful? Here you can find other posts that have already appeared in this series:

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