Why Does Millennial Grey Look So Bad? 

Using grey as a base and adding colours on top is a fairly standard practice. It's just when people have nothing but grey is when it's weird.

Minimalism as a choice seems to often be taken to a bit of a ridiculous extreme. Where it becomes more of a badge of how productive one is because of how devoid of distraction their workspace is, because they've stripped it of all joy. And they've spent a bunch of money on monitor mounts and cable tracks and other nonsense to make sure there's absolutely nothing there, let alone intentionally _adding_ anything that isn't entirely functional, but can make things more enjoyable or give themselves something to take a break with occasionally.

True

As someone with ADHD and OCD, minimalism tremendously reduces my anxiety.

@@RealLifeIronMan Yes

Beige at least gets cozy after a few years of yellowing

Also the wood boards EVERYWHERE. crowning the corridors, propping up the parlour, lining the loo! It was like living in a lumber yard!

Nah bro, the 70s LOVED orange carpet and avacodo green walls

@@glasscardproductions4736 and it still looks GREAT. Millenial sadscapes don't even look good while in fashion

I used to be with it, but then they changed what "it" was, and now what I'm with isn't "it", and what's "it" seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to *you!*

That one feels like a mildewy prison cell, not a lab clean room

It's easier to shit in a bathroom that feels lived in, rather than worrying about staining every surface like the one in the video,

@@MapleovBacon Then keep the bathroom clean, I guess? I don't want to sound adversary though, but it seems weird to me to not want a bathroom where stains are very easily located.

@@carlosnava1471 You're one of those people who can actually shit in public restrooms, huh?

Facts! It's a bathroom, who cares about personality? I just want to feel comfortable being able to shit in it.

I am currently studying architecture and I think this is really the core of why this trend started, and why it is hated now. The grey and neutral tones very much are a canvas, meant to dray the eye to any bit of color in the room. The problem is when people don't add that color... It winds up falling flat, and it gives the original idea a bad rap.

I accidentally discovered this when I moved into my dorm. My teal and red furniture popped and made the space more lively and comfortable. I still prefer to scheme my rooms in tricolor or bi color, non-gray pallets, though.

black white and grey go with every color! Can't ever go wrong unless you just forget to add another color

It's a good idea for selling a home because it can work for everyone. Some people just don't decorate their home though and leave it looking like it did on day one.

I would NEED extras to make the space pop. My grandparents have a modern condo setup with a Millenial Grey style - but my grandmother wanted colour, and I’m grateful she did. They’ll never change the colour of the walls or the hardwood or tiles or anything, they’ll keep it grey, but they make the grey invisible almost, like the grey is what is out of place, and not the colours - it’s so weird to explain

The cheese pizza and vanilla ice cream strategy

​@@bobby_greene me who lives in a maximalist home and likes vanilla ice cream

Theirs a phrase I grew up with that has remained true “when you try please everyone, you please no one”

@@Broomer52 exactly.

@@spinach001 French vanilla ice cream is top-tier. Regular vanilla is a bit bland on its own though, in my opinion.

As a big fan of New-Sincerely alternating jumpers between Millennial Grey and 70's Wallpaper Chic I can only agree. The whole meme resurgence part seems more like zoomer backlash, to once again say "everything the previous gen likes is ugly", while flaunting victimhood over how downtrodden "every new generation" always is by the previous one. As part of New Sincerity, I'll happily go back to early 20th century where canned food "craze" actually caused a funny thing happen where people DIDN'T STARVE AS MUCH. Sorry for not being able to "afford" hipster brewery handmade cans, and sorry for not deliberately making prosperity unprofitable for no other reason than "then at least you're not a soulless corporation". My point is, isn't that the idea? To get people to do things "only for the money" because we pay money when they do the CORRECT thing? The worst idea I actually blame zoomers and not millennials for, is the genuine adoption of "selling out" becoming its OWN mass-produced thing. Kinda just taking anything and calling it "that's corporate so it's automatically bad". Kinda like reverse "everyone poorer than me is a loser" when the value judgement shifts AWAY from wealth and into moralist bragging rights.

In my case, it's because my mother (a boomer) told me grey is nice.

My real question is what's wrong with it? I'm a "zoomer" (god I hate that phrase, I feel like I'm part of a team of heroes from a children's cartoon), and I personally think its ideal, especially if you feel like decorating your house with stuff other than grey when you have the money. I feel like most of these people aren't artists or know colours well if they're complaining that they're "corporate" and "boring" since you can do some cool stuff with a monochromatic colour scheme. I gues maybe for public spaces, but not for homes. Then again, it's fucking TikTok, I wouldn't be surprised if 3 years from now people are probably gonna start drooling for this style and forget they hated it as soon as it's popular again.

Modern UI design is lots of solid color and white/gray/black, so I dunno about that so much.

@@sboinkthelegday3892 I mean yeah we should be judging people for having excess when people don't have even basic needs. But also austerity shouldn't be a goal. If one wants to have some things that make their living or work space enjoyable and not entirely utilitarian, that should be fine too. We're not so strapped for labor that everyone needs to be at full productivity and zero distractions at all times.

Hodgepodge

@@dr.robertnick9599 much obliged

I just think it looks like hording and seems way to hard not to make cluttered vibes with it

Leading the eye, creating focal points, and using a hierarchy of forms is the key. Same techniques that are used in graphic design, fashion, etc.

If anything, maximalism looks like a young person trying to replicate the visual vomit better known as a baby boomer or even silent generation houses.

"What is your favorite design style?" "Post-Communist Cheap darling, so hot right now"

No kidding, any doilies or decor in a bathroom has the risk of trapping bacteria from fecal material and just smelling bad. Festering there. If there is any place for minimalism it makes sense in a bathroom.

I'd agree with this, but the example there was basically doing just that but with gray objects, kinda defeating that point. :p I would much prefer a bathroom with porcelain fixtures and tiles and all that which if a mess is bad enough, it could all just be hosed down. :p

Yes. To me an ideal bathroom would be a blocky concrete cavern with black iron fixtures and a few suspend house plants. Actually, that's what I want my entire house to be just with some natural wood shelving for coziness.

You can still have thematic and good looking bathrooms with plain cleanliness obvious where it matters (White floor, brightly lit, consistent coloration on surfaces) You can have dark colored walls and fancy designs, as well as plants. The immediate things to look for is the ability to discern stains/uncleaned messes quickly and easily, as well as an ease of cleaning (A flat surface like tile or porcelain is far easier to sanitize consistently and effectively than a textured surface or a complicated pattern that isn't light.)

I thought the bathroom was mostly fine, but I think the difference between the rest of the restaurant versus the bathroom was too stark. It doesn't have to be super maximalist and have tons of colors and decor that makes you feel like you're pooping inside a rainbow, but I think painting the walls yellow or red, adding white tile for the floor, and maybe replace the picture in the bathroom with a new picture that feels a bit more on theme for the restaurant would make the bathroom make more sense without it being over the top. I don't know.

One of these days it's going to happen

drop celing with wooden trim still looks interesting. the 70s really wasnt that minimalistic and gen z prefers it

100% This. For people who can't afford to repaint/retile their walls and floors every year to chase trends a muted color scheme makes sense as it goes with pretty much anything. You can always jazz things up with new colorful furniture, decorations, art.etc. Crazy bold colors for walls, floor and kitchen counter tops are nice and unique, until you want to redecorate in a budget.

@@bobwilliam2634 exactly

Ew

I don't understand why anybody would want white cabinets, unless they are metal.

That just makes me lose my goddamn mind. My soul feels like it's suffocating in that scheme. First thing I do looking at a rental property is immediately ask if I can paint.

as a renter I fucking hate this like my life is depressing enough already stop insisting on everything being grey

people in the replies really missing the 'it goes with everything' bit. it's like calling a blank canvas a soulless artwork. like no shit it's soulless there's nothing on it yet

The skeletons of middle ground will curl out of the minimalist and maximalist body like a dark souls boss as mediocrity is winning.

Still, would prefer characteristic over cheap and corporate ;)

designs that offend no-one also attract no-one

​@@circleinforthecube5170 judging by this comment section, they obviously attract people including myself. Idk why so many people are offended that others have different tastes than them

@@justaserbiandoomer497 because it almost always REPLACES something else and is erasing 70s-90s styles from existence entirely, you can prefer something else but dont force others to conform to it

​@@circleinforthecube5170fair enough

Maximalism looks like an over done, super cluttered mess. Seriously, who needs that many paintings in an example shot?

Ya I agree. I find myself swaying away from the minimalist trend, and have a pretty good balance between the two in my house, I think

even the cheapo 70s-90s stuff can be really really beautiful, i love wood panel walls and 70s contemporary railings they all have nice honey knotty pine or honey oak wood themes

@@circleinforthecube5170 YESS i love wood panel walls!!!! especially with some beautiful wallpaper that matches the wood stain. I have actually been working on furniture restoration as a personal hobby, theres a lot of really nice solid wood furniture that you can find on the curb on trash nights in rich neighborhoods. i empty the trunk of my kia sorento and drive around at 2 am on trash nights to nab whatever looks salvageable. i really need to get a better ROS to take off old finish though....

@@trippykay if it was good enough for mr krabs its good enough for me, even fake particle board furniture from the late century era looks really nice although flimsy

It's tour opinion and I respect it, but please keep in mind that there are also people who like and/or prefer minimalist styling (me included), and thus generalizing it as "soulless corporate" is a pretty disrespectful way of defining it.

@@Solotocius yeah but i hate how it utterly replaces EVERY OTHER style, i understand you like it but i cant like the styles i enjoy at all because they were all replaced, atleast what you like is literally everywhere

So you want to be a hipster?

I'm 27 and i want that. I think it's called cottagecore / (victorian/edwardian cluttered dated stuff)

@@cmnidit4444 i think they mean cottagecore / grandmacore. With dated cluttered look and stuff from the victorians/edwardians

@@cmnidit4444 ewww

@@cmnidit4444 Nah. Hipsters are all about liking avant-garde stuff "before it was cool." This is liking stuff after it was cool.

Depending on who you ask that is also this time line! It’s just a difference in design preference. Always has, always will be this divide in style choices. 😂

Yeah, I was born in '85 as pure a Millennial as they come. I remember in the '90s and early 2000s when everyone was painting our environments tan or beige to get rid of wood paneling and soft rose colored walls left over from the '70s and '80s. I think the rapidness which the Internet allows things to be overblown has prevented people from realizing that taste and trends change over time.

I think it's just it was cool when it was niche and now it's overdone. It's like any outdated meme trend such as Ugandan knuckles or big chungus.

what else are we gonna do with our days? solve societal problems? not in my corporate hellscape

@@dependent-ability8631 I hate how true this is

Where did you pull taht from? It doesn't say what LIMC's degree is anywhere, i mean a lot of this stuff is good research and observation but idk if he has a degree in sociology and cultural studies, though that may just be because in my country i don't think it's very common.

@@illford my source is comedic exaggeration

Just do whatever you want if it's your place, you don't "need" to add anything unless you actually want to

@@Helios2737 haha yeah I know, but as I wrote on my comment I always thought it needed some more color to contrast that's all

I plan to paint my walls in a light gray/beige mix, it's calming and the neutrality makes the things I want people to notice stick out. As long as it achieves what you want don't sweat what random people on the internet say.

I would say its ok to be wrong, but in this case its really not.

That's A-okay, nothings wrong with having your own opinion

​@Will Rivers yeah you

No one *can* pay for it because capitalism is taking its dying breathes and wages have been stagnant for decades. People could afford custom paintjobs with expensive paints back in the colourful era as one person earned enough to run a family. That's not the case anymore.

@zed7038 that applies to people, but not to the corporations who stole that money. In this world you are either dirt poor and can't afford to care or extremely profit oriented and don't care. I think this is more nuanced

LIMC acts like those funny mcdonalds chairs were the norm. Before this, most office buildings and restrooms looked like and thus inspired the backrooms. Meaning: unfurnished from the day that the company started renting them. My walls aren't gray because I like 'em that way, my walls are grey because painting them is a gigantic hassle.

@@zed7038 it not that expensive too get paint

@@juan-ij1le It's the painting work that's expensive, assuming you even own your home which most people don't. When you don't have the time to paint your house yourself you'll have to hire someone and that costs a lot of money.

Yeah I agree. The clean look can look pretty nice, but it gives your room or house no personality.

@@jondoesit1240 Depends highly on the decorations imo. I'd willingly have the walls and tables be grey but with a bunch of stuff i own everywhere. Brightly coloured walls can hurt my eyes a bit since if i look at colour for too long my eyes will hurt.

except the bathroom. i want my bathroom to feel squeaky clean and sterile

there problem is that there's too much grey lol that's why

@@luckyrowmax yeah which sucks, because I personally loved the colour scheme for such a long time, but now it just looks like I’m following a dumb trend XD

There is nothing wrong. Use whatever color you like for your place. Some people think they can tell others what to like or enjoy.

Amen man, amen

Yeah, I guess I like millenial grey

Replace "gray" with "beige" and "90s" with "40s" and you've described every home in the 70s.

@@PhattyBolger well my dad taught me everything I know and he was born is 68 so that adds up

i feel targeted

except blank surfaces are objectively worse, they confuse and scare the part of our brains that sees faces

​@@circleinforthecube5170there's nothing "objective" about this

@@Solotocius then dont replace everything else! your going around comments complaining about it but you fail to realize we dont have the option to enjoy anything other than gray these days

@@Solotocius maybe its not objective, im just tired of everything i like getting turned into grey

i do want to add that decorations and such are totally fine (for me) but the earlier mcdonalds with the weird chairs and over coloured decorations/spaces are just awful

McDonald's is just too guady, it looks like they used the Soviet union as a color Pallet. I like muted and natural colors in general so I agree. I also get headaches and get nausea from seeing to much sharp color contrasts.

im neurodivergent and i absolutely hate this soulless gray, id rather have an interior from the 70s-90s thats a good inbetween with less clutter but good wood staining and warm colors that arent overexaggerated but not too soulless, also 1970s buildings as a whole are built better than newer ones and have more architectural effort

I don’t mean to be rude but I’m also neurodivergent and I absolutely hate this aesthetic and much prefer maximalism, so this isn’t always directly applicable. In fact I’d argue that most minimalists are neurotypicals who love corporate core…

@@circleinforthecube5170 sameeeee omg it makes me want to cry it feels like a padded cell 😭

@Li F In my experience, most wealthy people are not materialistic, despite what people think. They chase money and presteige, they don't really care about things so it makes sense they are willing to tear out a house and replace it with whats in vogue.

it feels very realistic and honest tbh. I feel if your house is ultra vibrant it's a bit odd

What if your grandma lived in a Bauhaus type house

brutalist buildings still had exciting beautiful 70s style interiors though, wood panelling and 70s chevron style railings

90s stuff is actually pretty good too, its right before everything got worse and still had cool honey oak warm color wood

@@circleinforthecube5170 yup I agree

@@fyretnt also 50s-90s modern architecture feels much better than all modern architecture, right combination of minimalist and maximalist ideals

I'd rather have some warmish white than grey as blank canvas. much more 'airy'

Bonus points for using vantablack paint

Do they use grey because the thought process is that it's easier to paint over? Tbh I'm looking for my first home and I'm drawn to the grey looking ones versus ones that have multicolored rooms, because I'm thinking it will be easier to go from grey to whatever color I want than from say bright red or orange to a cool tone.

@Bunny Mené yeah grey is very easy to color over and also it makes people happy because white gives off that feeling my house is gonna get dirty quickly so grey makes a very good color that offends nobody because you can color over it or keep it

facts

Agreed. Even when I encounter a design vocabulary that I never appreciated, if the piece of furniture, office, automotive or home has been well kept, it's like meeting a time traveler. I can't wait to see/hear what stories they tell about the period they're from! -A Millennial

Dang that sucks. Hate it when people paint vintage or antique furniture boring colors

if having photos of dead relatives is kitsch than minimalism really is soulless

Tbh it's a McDonal's it's not like i go there for the building, i go there because it's cheap. If i want a place with character i'd go somewhere that serves food with character

​@@illfordwhen you were 6?

I'm speculating, but I think one of the reasons why all the child-oriented aesthetics that were a common sight in fast food restaurants around the western world stopped being seen as a good thing because of an increase in health consciousness towards the late 90s and in the early 00s. McDonald's for example didn't want to be seen as a place pushing propaganda for kids to become obese.

@@JohnDoesSports still, a 1970s mansard is architecturally more appealing and sturdier than newer designs, the inside could change but the outside was fine in earth tones