Decorating your home can be a fun experience. You can enhance its strengths, hide its weaknesses, and make it a reflection of yourself. Or you can put the toilet in the kitchen, transform the pool into a flower pot and call it a day. It’s your choice. Just don’t be surprised if photos of your chateau end up on the internet and people laugh their heads off.
The subreddit “Housing Manure” (sorry for butchering the name but I have to paraphrase) is a place where Redditors have been gathering to do just that. Sharing the worst design, construction, and living conditions, they’ve successfully proven time and time again that, for better or worse, human creativity knows no limits.
#1 Does This Count?
Similar to fashion, interior trends come and go, but true style is forever. Ideas often move in cycles, often reactionarily to external influences like social change and technology. To know which trends are currently in, I contacted interior architect and lecturer of interior design at Vilnius College of Design, Judita Striukienė.
“I think nowadays eclectic solutions are on the rise; it’s really popular to combine different interior design styles,” Striukienė told We. “In fact, it’s quite rare to discover a place that is true to just one school. When you say a home was designed according to a certain style, you usually mean that some elements have an advantage in that place over the others or there is some sort of leitmotif throughout the entire space.”
“These elements are often dictated by the urban surroundings or the owner’s wants and desires, including their hobbies, favorite furniture, the art that they own, and so on.”
#2 “Congrats To The Neighbor Below For The New Chandelier”
#3 Instant Insulation, Just Add Manual Labor
Some aspects of interior design, however, are more universal than others. “First and foremost, spaces have to be functional. Everything else is more or less decor, creating a certain mood,” Judita Striukienė said. “Only after a designer makes the apartment or house serve the owner’s lifestyle and everyday life can they start working on other things like eliminating the flaws of that particular place.”
After these crucial steps, interior designers usually move to more subjective matters.
#4 This Is Abysmal
#5 This Monstrosity
As you can see from the pictures, there are plenty of ways to mess up the look of your home. But Judita Striukienė said it’s not just the visual aesthetic that’s at stake.
“Firstly, we have to mention technical mistakes—unnecessary interventions into the structure of the building. People make them due to a lack of knowledge and/or overestimating their abilities. Because of that, some real estate developers are now providing buyers with detailed lists of what they can and cannot touch.”
The interior architect recalled a time when a person damaged the construction of the entire facade just because they wanted a niche in their shower!
#6 Hmmm
#7 My Eyes Hurt
Then there are the financial mistakes. “How often people miscalculate can vary from culture to culture, but a huge investment into a property (one that will not pay off when selling it) can hurt quite a lot. For example, you can spend a small fortune on altering the floor plan but it might not add any value or, even worse, future buyers might find the changes irrational.”
Judita said other common mistakes occur in the kitchen and bathroom; places where you really need to know the materials. The good thing here is that the answers are usually clear-cut and known to most industry experts.
But something tells me even they couldn’t have saved some of these homes from their owners.
#8 2nd Floor Jacuzzi Anyone?
#9 This Is A Terrible Idea
#10 Pleather Cabinets
#11 This Apartment Design
#12 Interesting Staircase Solution For Narrow Houses
Welcome to Brazilian engineering. Rules: There are no rules.
#13 You’ll Want To Keep This Toilet Clean
#14 This Carpeted Bathroom
#15 Think This Belongs Here
#16 We Were Looking At Houses In Baltimore This Weekend And Came Across This Gem. There Is No Mirror In The Middle, It’s A Completely Symmetrical Bathroom That 2 People Can Use The Toilet In At The Same Time
#17 Who Needs A Separate Bathroom Anyways
#18 At Least The Sinks Are Okay
#19 Step Out Of A Bathtub Down A Flight Of Stairs, Anyone?
#21 Landlord Hung The Microwave, This Is As Far As It Opens Before Hitting The Wall
#22 Martini Bathtub In A Living Room
#23 Horrible Fridge Placement
#24 My Friend’s Under-The-Stairs “Bathroom” Where The Toilet Is Diagonal And Partially Installed Into The Carpeted Wall
#25 How Do You F Up Designing A Garage? Like This, Apparently
#26 As You Defecate, You Can Watch Over Your Domain
#27 Took Care Of The Bathroom Door!
#28 Wait, You Wanted The Water Taps *inside* The Shower?
#29 One Closet. 6 Feet Above The Ground And No Stairs To Get To It. Why
#30 Textured Ceilings
#31 Effective Multitasking Space
#32 At Least Water Will Run Away
#33 Don’t Mind The Curb
#34 Imagine Running Out Of Toilet Paper
#35 Pay £1001 To Watch Your Partner Take A S**t From The Luxury Of Your Bed
#36 So Many Questions
#37 I Hope This Isn’t Real
#38 Go Poop In A Cabinet
#39 It’s Either A Very Unusable Shower Or An Uncommon Urinal
#40 Catch Basin Might Be A Little Small
#41 Nice Tree
#42 Saving Space
#43 Wobble And You Do Fall Down
#44 Lamp
#45 Yes It Is It’s Bad And Involves Houses
#46 Boots On The Ground
#47 Comes With An Atrium
#48 “Everyone Watches You Poop” Housing
#49 Excellent Bathtub Placement
#50 What Ever The Hell This Is
