When I think of trendy home decorators, three words come to mind: beautiful, expensive, but not necessarily practical.

Aside from some trendy materials and designs, the most sought-after items are furniture , such as slab dining tables, shell chairs, and side tables. It's safe to say that 8 out of 10 home decor bloggers are using them.

Most people buy trendy furniture because of its looks, but few talk about its actual usability. Today, I'm going to debunk these hype and uncover the truth behind these popular furniture items.

.01

Slab dining table

Sintered stone, as a new material that has emerged in recent years, was once "praised to the skies" because of its high appearance and advantages such as stain resistance, high temperature resistance and wear resistance, but it has also been criticized a lot.

A friend reported that their slab dining table cracked instantly when a beer bottle was accidentally knocked off the table. The dining table, which cost several thousand yuan, couldn't withstand the impact of a single bottle of beer.

Another friend said that he just wanted to move the dining table, and with a slight lift, it ended up looking like this.

Although sintered stone is very hard, it is also thin and brittle. If you are not careful, it is easy to chip or crack in large areas.

As a new material, there are still no unified production standards for sintered stone. The market is very chaotic, and prices are not transparent. For example, sintered stone dining tables can range in price from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan, while others can be taken home for only 399 yuan.

We highly recommend choosing a slab dining table with a full support panel . Slab dining tables with only a half support or no support panel are very prone to localized breakage.

.02

Shell Chair

Speaking of dining tables, we must mention dining chairs of various shapes and sizes. Among them, the shell chair has become popular due to its simple and classic design and affordable price.

Despite its perfect appearance, it actually has some design flaws. Once you sit down, you'll find that the concave shape of the chair makes you unconsciously slide backward.

Especially when eating, you have to lean forward and try your best to control yourself from sliding backward while eating.

In my opinion, buying chairs online is quite risky. Cheap wooden chairs have a strong smell, rough edges, and the seating comfort cannot be guaranteed. If you find them uncomfortable, the return shipping costs will also be a loss.

.03

Tech fabric sofa

"Tech fabric sofas offer the texture of genuine leather and the breathability of fabric"; I wonder how many people have been fooled by this marketing slogan.

Technical fabric is actually just ordinary polyester fabric with a waterproof, scratch-resistant, and oil-resistant coating . Once the coating wears off, the sofa will crack, fade, and crumble.

Especially when we wear jeans or pants with decorative metal buttons, sitting on a sofa can easily scratch or snag the surface of the technical fabric, and once this happens, it is difficult to repair effectively.

While the technical fabric itself is waterproof, it cannot prevent color bleeding. In other words, if it comes into contact with colored liquids, it will immediately stain; for things like tea or juice, once spilled, there's basically no way to salvage it.

If you have kids at home, please don't buy fabric respirators. They get dirty very easily and are not as easy to clean as advertised. If your child's hands aren't washed after eating, they'll have marks all over them.

For sofas, we recommend choosing fabric or cotton-linen materials . You can buy a decent quality one for 3,000 to 4,000 yuan. They are comfortable, easy to clean, and most importantly, you don't have to worry about peeling.

If you really like tech fabric sofas, considering durability, I suggest choosing dark or black ones.

.04

glass coffee table

Although glass coffee tables have gradually fallen out of the mainstream, there are still some stunning designs that allow them to remain popular online thanks to their good looks.

For example, the water ripple coffee table and the famous Isamu Noguchi coffee table have simple and unique designs that perfectly match the currently popular light luxury style, modern style, and Italian minimalist style.

Despite their beauty, they cannot escape the inherent drawbacks of glass coffee tables:

1. Placing water glasses on it makes a clanging sound; placing hard objects on it easily scratches the glass. Over time, the glass coffee table will show visible scratches.

2. Even a little dirt is very noticeable. Wiping with a regular cloth will leave noticeable water stains, requiring frequent cleaning.

3. If it's glass, there's a certain chance it will spontaneously shatter.

In short, even if you spend thousands or tens of thousands on a high-end glass coffee table, you will still face the same problems as a glass coffee table that costs only a hundred yuan.

Buying a glass coffee table means you'll need to apply a protective film and clean it frequently. Wiping it first with a damp cloth, then dry with a fine-grit cloth, can solve the problem of watermarks.

.05

Shangri-La curtains

Shangri-La blinds do indeed give people a beautiful and tranquil feeling, with light appearing and disappearing, which is quite convincing.

But it's not just about aesthetics. When the curtain is open, insects can easily crawl inside. Even the seller admitted that this thing attracts insects.

Insects can get in, dust accumulates easily, and it's difficult to clean. Even a vacuum cleaner can't get it clean, and you can't disassemble it for machine washing. Over time, you can only watch helplessly as it goes from "fairy" to "slovenly".

Similarly, similar to the Shangri-La blinds, there are also the trendy Dreamy Blinds. Dreamy Blinds combine the advantages of Venetian blinds and fabric blinds, offering both the simplicity of Venetian blinds and the sheerness of sheer curtains—one piece of fabric and one piece of sheer fabric, making them quite unique.

However, things change drape drape poorly and provide little shade when the wind blows.

The installed motorized tracks are also prone to failure, often resulting in one or two sections failing to retract. Repairs are also quite troublesome.

If the goal is simply to achieve a light-permeable but not see-through effect, we can use a phantom gauze curtain . It drapes beautifully and doesn't affect its texture after washing.

If you want to block out light and protect your privacy, you can install electric roller blinds . They are windproof, rainproof, breathable, and heat-insulating; they are also very easy to open and close; the PVC material is also easier to clean, and you don't have to worry about the wind blowing the blinds away when you open the window.

.06

Invisible bookshelf

Many bloggers have an "invisible bookshelf" in their homes. It looks great, doesn't take up much space when placed in a corner, and can subtly enhance the atmosphere of the home as a decorative detail.

As a decorative item, it is indeed excellent, but from a practical point of view, it is quite unqualified.

As a bookshelf, it's not stable. When there are too many books, it becomes too heavy and easily tilts. And this problem almost always occurs with any type of invisible bookshelf, regardless of quality or price.

When you stack books, you have to take down the top books first before you can get the middle ones. If you try to pull one out directly, the other books are likely to fall out with it, which is very inconvenient.

Families with young children should keep their children away from these bookshelves. If a child pulls on one, at best a book will fall and hit them, and at worst the entire shelf could tip over.

When buying furniture, we shouldn't blindly trust online influencers, especially those pieces that only emphasize appearance and design. I advise you to be cautious!

Of course, we can't completely deny something. Usage habits and preferences also largely determine the choice. What experience do you have in choosing furniture? Feel free to share it with everyone!