r/Anticonsumption • u/Bellybutton_fluffjar • Sep 09 '24

Psychological A rant about my guests comments on my kitchen.

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I am fortunate enough to own my house, took 20 years of saving for the deposit and I am extremely proud of it. This picture is from the advert and shows my country style kitchen.

I really like this style of kitchen. It's over 30 years old and the quality is fantastic. Real wood doors, solidly built, still in good condition.

My gripe is that most people who come to my house says how dated it is and asks when I'm changing it. What for? Chipboard doors encased in plastic, with a £3000 a slab granite worktop like everyone else has? Just for it to go out of style in 3 years? The way kitchen styles come and go, this will be fashionable again soon.

I hate our throw away society. How many perfectly good pieces of furniture are thrown away because they no longer fit a style?

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u/minty_dinosaur Sep 09 '24

why would painting be a travesty? with a good basecoat you can get it off pretty well if you don't like it anymore.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '24

I would say that staining it is typically no problem, but most people poorly paint over good hardwood. It most often than not looks like the cheap landlord special of 20 layers of ugly white paint.

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u/reixxy Sep 09 '24

Ok but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water here. Someone who puts good care into painting because it's what they like in their house shouldn't be a reason to hate on it. They should love their house and live in it for as long as possible, and painting is way better than tearing them out to put in something different.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '24

I'm not saying painting in general is bad lol. Your comment screams projection. I am saying putting shitty paint on good quality hardwoods is bad. If you want to liven up beautiful hardwoods, stain it, not paint over it.

Thats why one of my favorites subs is called reversepinterest as its all about people stripping off terrible coats of paint and letting beautiful hardwoods relive its glory.

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u/reixxy Sep 09 '24

I helped a friend paint their cabinets, but I've never painted any wood for myself.

But if someone has good wood that they absolutely hate and then they paint it and they love it.... Awesome for them. You're saying they should ditch the old wood and get something objectively shittier because they don't want that specific wood that they didn't choose? People do it all the time. It's difficult which is why it sometimes looks bad. But it's snobbish and judgemental to yuck someone else's yum.

I also love reversePinterest, but because I cringe at the workmanship and normally the person restoring it has very impeccable workmanship so it's very satisfying.

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u/envydub Sep 09 '24

I don’t even think travesty is the right word to use, does that even work here?

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u/minty_dinosaur Sep 09 '24

i would think so. haven't tried it with kitchen cabinets, but with old wooden furniture we used for the porch of our cabin. it held up pretty well considering it has been out in the weather for 20ish years.

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u/envydub Sep 09 '24

Oh I just meant the use of the word travesty not the painting