Why They Stink, the Worst Case Scenario, Exceptions to the Rule, and My Go-To Alternatives.
Having worked in the field of interior design for over a decade, I’ve got some opinions. There are some general things that are bad and there are some things that are just done poorly 90% of the time. Here’s a list of my least favorite design elements that I do not recommend to anyone, as well as the exceptions to the rule. For fun I’ve also included what I would consider the worst-case scenario. Finally, in order to support you in your design journey, you’ll also find a few alternatives to consider if you’re stuck on how to avoid the bad design element.
Open Floor Plans
I was hoping the 2020 pandemic would kill the open floor plan, but alas, it’s not yet completely gone! Open floor plans work if you enjoy being in the same space as everyone else you live with all the time. Realistically, that doesn’t work. Sound carries throughout an open plan and you’ll be listening to everything everyone else does all the time. Everything has to be painted the same color, because there’s no end points or casework. You better be a neat freak, because your mess will be on display to everyone, all the time.
Worst Case Scenario:
There’s no storage in the house, no way to close off one area from another, and floor plan has been designed such that you’d have to build a whole new house in order to add walls. I once saw a house that had such an open floor plan, the bedroom didn’t even have walls.
The Exceptions:
Kitchen to hearth room and living room to dining room openings are often great. I love a kitchen that is open to a cozy room that’s just for the family. In some cases, open living in dining rooms work well if you’re big on entertaining. In each of these circumstances, however, there are still going to be occasions where you want to close these spaces off, which is why I ultimately prefer a large cased opening with pocket doors. Finally, I can make the case for an open floor plan kitchen/living/dining area if there is a separate entry, mudroom, office, and family/TV room. In that floor plan, you can send everyone into the spaces that are closed off and utilize the large open space for family time and entertaining.
Alternatives:
I love spaces with wide cased openings between them. The bits of wall on either side and above the cased opening help contain noise and visual distractions. Even better? Large cased openings with pocket doors you can close on the occasions you want to hide a mess or contain sound.
Vinyl Plank Flooring or LVP / LVT
Vinyl plank flooring, designed to look like real wood floors is increasingly common in homes. After the commercial interior design market began pushing back against LVP/LVT (“Luxury” Vinyl Plank / Tile) about a decade ago due to health concerns, the industry pivoted to a less informed consumer: homeowners. By getting their product into the big box building stores and heavily marketing to residential customers, vinyl wood-look flooring retained a foothold in the flooring market.
But isn’t it waterproof, life-proof, and scratch proof? Nope. Unfortunately, everything they market this product as is a lie.
While the product itself is waterproof — it’s plastic afterall — that’s not a good thing. In the case of minor flooding and spills, plank flooring has seams and edges and water will find a way to get in between and underneath. The problem with that is the water is now stuck underneath… with no way to escape. The plastic LVP/LVT traps the water against the wood subfloor which then moulds and degrades, suddenly there’s a much bigger issue.
Scratch-proof? Nope. That’s a straight up lie. Do you have a plastic reuseable container? Try scratching it. LVP/LVT is not that different. Moving furniture, dog claws, and general use will scratch LVP/LVT. And unlike wood, you cannot refinish this product. So after 5-10 years it’s going straight into the landfill where it will sit forever since plastic doesn’t decay.
Worst Case Scenario:
Your family’s endocrine system is disrupted and problems with regulating hormones, fertility, and mortality arise.
The Exceptions:
There are none. This product is the worst. I will not use it.
Alternatives:
Wood flooring — choose something with a good wear layer and engineered or solid wood will last over 100 years.
Two Story Living Rooms
Two story living rooms are a classic McMansion characteristic. Often the upper level hallway is open to the living room as well. When that hallway is open on both sides to the lower level it is called a catwalk. The problem with this is noise. With no walls, noise from the lower level reverberates around the house, ensuring everyone upstairs hears everything downstairs. It’s not ideal.
From an aesthetic perspective, while high ceilings are wonderful, two-story living rooms have a tendency to feel uncomfortable and overwhelming. The heat rises so the living room is cold and uninviting in the winter. The scale isn’t human and often the height is disproportional to the size of the room. Often these are found in traditional homes, but because there’s no good place to start and stop it, crown moulding is not installed, creating a weird traditional/accidentally contemporary juxtaposition.
Worst Case Scenario:
You have a giant two+ story living room with a open balcony catwalk and your baby is easily woken up by the slightest noise, so you now tip-toe around after the kids are in bed.
The Exceptions:
This can work in some contemporary homes where the architecture is incredibly intentional and the space is designed to keep proportions on a human scale.
Alternatives:
Vaulted ceilings are a fantastic way to achieve a high ceiling with a little extra drama while still maintaining heat, comfort, and a human-scale.
Giant Islands
I see new-builds designed with truly gargantuan islands all the time and all I can think about is how their cleaning people are walking on top of those islands to clean them, because no one can actually reach the middle. I get wanting a large island in your space, but you need to be able to reach the center of it without getting on top of it. We need to stop designing things that require so much effort to keep clean — especially on something as high-use as a kitchen island. These are silly.
Worst Case Scenario:
There’s a 6′ x 15′ island in your gigantic kitchen and you have to climb onto it to clean the middle.
The Exceptions:
None. If it cannot be cleaned, it has no business being built.
Alternatives:
Peninsulas frequently work in spaces where islands get too big. Or if you really have the space, double islands are better than one gigantic one!
All Open Shelving in the Kitchen
This has been a fun trend for years now and I get it. The 2010s taught us nothing, but love for a good #shelfie. However, it’s 2025 and except for your everyday dishes, any thing on open shelving is going to get dusty. You don’t have time to maintain that.
I love to add some open accent shelving in a space, but ultimately try to utilize it sparingly and just for those dishes and glasses you really are cycling through every few days or potentially some cook books. Open shelving for decorative items can be fun too.
The ultimate line I draw is when there isn’t any closed shelving. Not everything in a kitchen is pretty or in need of display. Most people don’t want to maintain the aesthetics of open shelving. We need closed storage to hide the messy stuff!
Worst Case Scenario:
Your kitchen has all open shelving — both uppers and lowers! Everything is on display, all the time, and there’s no visual reprieve from the clutter.
The Exceptions:
No kitchen deserves only open shelving. Give a girl some doors!
Alternatives:
Cabinet doors! Or a clean upper with no shelving or cabinets. Finally, a single, shallow shelf running the length of one wall is a lovely clean accent.
White Sofas
So beautiful, yet so easily dirtied. As someone who can’t even wear light colored pants, I fundamentally do not understand people who are able to get away with white sofas. Now, I’ve heard of people who love a good white slip-cover and a giant jug of bleach, but do you really want to wash and re-stuff your sofa covers bi-weekly? I’d guess you’re not even going to do that. You’ll live with the stain until the next event you host and then panic wash the slip-covers the night before.
Worst Case Scenario:
You have a natural fiber (cotton or linen) white sectional-sofa that isn’t slip-covered and you have kids with markers and dirty dogs running all over it.
The Exceptions:
I sometimes do a very light colored sofa with a heavy textural weave that can hide some dirt and grime. I would typically only recommend this for people without children, no-pet or no-pets on the furniture households, or we-only-eat-in-the-dining-room people.
Alternatives:
Literally any other color sofa. Or even more fun: a patterned sofa!
Vessel Sinks
I actually really love the way these look, but from a practicality perspective, I hate them. The water always seems to splash out and around on the counter and then, since there’s no way to get it back into the sink, you’re stuck mopping it up with a towel. The caulk line that seals the opening between the counter and the sink itself gets grimey quickly too.
Worst Case Scenario:
Every sink in the house is a vessel sink and no one has kept up with routine cleaning so the grime and mould is embedded in the caulk and/or water has gotten in and damaged the counter or cabinet.
The Exceptions:
A powder room or bathroom that’s used infrequently or in a wet room space where everything is designed to get wet and is sloped to a floor drain.
Alternatives:
Undermount sinks are the go-to for a reason, they’re the easiest to clean and maintain. Water can be swept right into the sink. If you want a vessel sink look, go for a freestanding pedestal sink instead.
Bouclé
The favorite fabric of 2015-today, bouclé is a heavy textural fabric with a loose knotted weave. It’s gorgeous and sumptuous and just feels delightful. But, boy is it hard to clean. Dirt, food, and pet hair get ingrained into the fiber weave and are almost impossible to get out. Cats love the fabric for clawing, as they can catch on every looped string.
While beautiful, this is not the ideal fabric for 99% of situations and if I see CB2 offer one more bouclé sofa, I just might scream! That sofa is almost guaranteed to end up in the landfill within 3-5 years.
Worst Case Scenario:
You fell for the white bouclé sofa trend and your toddler’s crumbs and dog dirt have imbedded themselves into the fiber… and it smells.
The Exceptions:
A chair in a main bedroom that is pretty much purely decorative in a household without cats.
Alternatives:
Chenille is a great fabric that has almost a velvet feel, but with more visual texture than velvet. It is much easier to clean than bouclé and while not identical in appearance, it’s a great alternative.
Shiplap
We have Joanna Gains to thank for the shiplap craze and in 2025 even she is over it. Shiplap is a series of wood planks attached to the bare studs of the wall framing designed to go behind wallpaper before drywall was invented. While it was used as far back as the viking period for ships, it is not an ideal exposed wall paneling today.
Worst Case Scenario:
It’s everywhere, with huge gaps, and no drywall/insulation/air barrier between. Noise disperses directly from one room to the next.
The Exceptions:
None. This isn’t supposed to be an exposed decorative element. Use an alternative wood wall covering.
Alternatives:
V-groove paneling, beadboard, or board and batten are great clean lined alternatives to shiplap and they have been used for over 100 years. There is a ton of inspiration out there for different styles and applications of each of these.
Accent Walls
Just don’t do it. It’s not worth it. I’ve yet to seen a residential use of an accent wall that made sense. Please, try to prove me wrong. Almost 100% of the time it’s best to do what you want to do as an accent wall on all of the walls in that room. What holds people back? Fear. But you know what? Just get over it. If you think it would be awesome on one wall, it will be fantastic on all walls.**
**watch out for homes without cased openings, it is difficult to end wall treatments without a cased opening.
Worst Case Scenario:
There’s complicated wood and metal accent walls in every room and in order to remove them, you’re going to have to re-drywall the whole house.
The Exceptions:
Commercial / Hospitality spaces. These buildings often do not have any cased openings and utilize wing walls to create divisions of space. This lends itself to accent walls in order to draw attention to key areas and create visual interest.
This theory would also apply to a very open floor plan residence, but in that case I’d really want to see stone or wood accent walls that wrap 360° around the wall – making it more of a central design element seen from many spaces in the house rather than an accent that is applied to one wall in a single room.
Alternatives:
Don’t be afraid! Go all out on all walls of the room! I believe in you.
Satin Nickel
I regret to inform you, but in 85% of cases, satin nickel fixtures just look cheap. Satin and brushed nickel finishes (nearly the same thing) came into popularity in the early 2000s in builder-grade homes and we’ve yet to fully see the end of it.
Now, a lot of people tell me they prefer satin/brushed nickel because polished finishes look too fancy to them. Personally, I do not find that to be true, but if it’s something that bothers you, I suggest looking into “live” finishes that patina over time. They can be aged prior to install to avoid an overly shiny look. Both unlacquered brass and polished nickel are live finishes that will show prints and marks from oil and darken over time.
Worst Case Scenario:
Every plumbing fixture and bathroom accessory in the house is cheap, builder-grade satin nickel.
The Exceptions:
Utilitarian spaces. Some basic homes. If someone really hates all polished finishes and it’s not worth trying to change their mind. Occasionally this works in mid-century modern homes.
Alternatives:
Chrome is the most common alternative I utilize, but there are so many other awesome finishes. For plumbing fixtures I’m seeing more and more white and colorful options. For hardware: white, color, wood, or even stone finishes look amazing. I try to utilize unlacquered brass and polished nickel on many of my projects.
Barn Doors
Ah, barn doors. They were all the rage there for a while. Hopefully, we’ve now tucked them firmly in the past. Sliding barn doors are not great for most spaces. Not only do they take up a ton of wall space, but they require backing in the wall not typically provided in retrofits, which means they have a giant plank behind the hardware in some cases. Because these doors are mounted in front of the wall in order to slide along it, they often do not produce true visual privacy and certainly don’t provide auditory privacy.
Worst Case Scenario:
There’s a barn door installed on the bathroom — leaving you exposed and uncomfortable.
The Exceptions:
A space where you want a slight visual break, but no auditory privacy… but still I prefer pocket doors!
Alternatives:
Pocket doors: 1000% better and more hidden out of the way when you want that doorway open!
Can Lights
These are not super functional and I’m over the way they look. So often they’re edited out of magazines and images we see online. Generally we do not need the amount of light produced by typical can lighting installations (every 4 feet-ish) and cans create an uncomfortable amount of excessive light. Utilize fixtures that light the areas you need and leave the surrounding area slightly dimmer. Wire lighting on dimmer switches so you can control light levels even more.
Worst Case Scenario:
You have can lights installed every four feet in every single room of the house, none of them are on dimmers, and the contractor chose 4000K Cool Daylight so everything looks slightly blue.
The Exceptions:
Utilitarian spaces. Can lights are the cheapest lighting fixtures and the least expensive to install. In a utility space like a garage, store room, basement, or laundry room they make sense.
Alternatives:
There are better alternatives like architectural recessed lighting or — my preferred — decorative flushmount lights and architectural downlights.
Blinds
Horizontal and vertical blinds don’t look good nor do they hold up well over time. Their cords can be dangerous for children. Overall, I do not recommend them.
I’ll go so far to say I don’t recommend honeycomb cellular shades either, though I understand they do have insulating properties. I don’t think they look good, but they can serve a function.
Worst Case Scenario:
Your blinds choke a child.
The Exceptions:
If there was a situation where we needed insulating properties and cellular shades were the ONLY way to achieve it, I’d be willing to concede.
Alternatives:
There are better options out there like roman shades, roller shades, and drapery.
Super Plush Moroccan-Inspired Rugs
These rugs are gorgeous and I’ve even bought them for myself! Unfortunately most of them available through big box stores are handwoven and shed endlessly. It’s not only annoying, but it sticks to clothes and gets everywhere.
The main downfall of these rugs though? They’re so hard to clean. They are difficult to vacuum and boy do they need vacuuming. Crumbs, dirt, pocket lint; it all ends up tangled in the long fibers of these rugs and eventually can get matted into the fibers, never to be removed.
Worst Case Scenario:
You’ve put a Moroccan rug under your dining table and months of crumbs are now fully integrated in the fibers. It smells like fish and your dog won’t stop rolling on it.
The Exceptions:
In a high end home, where we could purchase a very expensive rug from a luxury, reputable manufacturer and they have a weekly hired cleaning team, I would use one of these rugs in a guest bedroom or main bedroom suite. I’d consider use of a thick moroccan rug in a lesser used room that will not be eaten in as well.
Personally, I eat in every room of my house, so this is not the rug type for me!
Alternatives:
Turkish rugs are great alternatives and can have simple clean patterns as well. You want something with a thin pile in a dining space and thicker in other rooms.
Circular Buildings / Curved Walls
They look so cool and yet are so incredibly impractical. You can’t put furniture against curved walls without awkward gaps. If you put in built-in cabinets, the custom curved casework boxes will cost you 4x a normal box.
Worst Case Scenario:
Every wall is curved and none of your furniture has a backsplash or headboard.
The Exceptions:
In a luxury home where rooms are generously sized and all furniture can be floated in the center of the space. Or a curved wall that’s all exterior windows, intentionally designed not to have furniture up against it. Or small curved walls that are in areas where you don’t need to put furniture against them.
Alternatives:
Make things straight. Duh.
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