So long, 'sad beige.' Millennials are ready to add some personality to their homes.
NelleG/Getty Images, Courtesy of Josh Jessup and Matt Moss
- "Sad beige" is an interior design trend that was once a hit among millennials.
- But some are now turning to a completely different home aesthetic, known as "de-modernization."
- Business Insider spoke to people looking to add some personality to their homes.
When Rachel Parker was 24, her apartment was devoid of color.
Well, that's not completely true if we're counting beige, black, and white.
During that time, Parker's living space was a prime example of the "sad beige" aesthetic, she said.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the term "sad beige" was first coined by TikTok comedian Hayley DeRoche in a video poking fun at a neutral-colored children's clothing catalog in 2022. It's since been more loosely associated with the rise in popularity of muted home decor and clothing among millennial moms.
However, millennial moms weren't the only ones gravitating toward "sad beige."
"There was a point in time that I did like that stuff," Parker told Business Insider. "Because everybody liked it."
Now 28, Parker is busy decorating the first house she and her husband bought together in Texas. It's an old home, built in 1967, and nothing like her old apartment.
@rrachelp One of many light fixtures being replaced in our house with an estate sale find. #estatesalefinds #estatesalehaul #thrifted #lighfixture #homedecor #homeownership #vintagedecor #secondhandhomedecor
♬ original sound - livies hq ❤️
Parker has been documenting her decoration process on TikTok. In a clip posted on November 27, which has over 5 million views, she and her husband, Chris, can be seen swapping out a modern, camel-toned light fixture for a floral glass light she sourced at an estate sale.
She's calling the process "de-modernizing" their home.
According to Parker, "de-modernization" is an interior design aesthetic that values secondhand furnishings, items built to last, and interiors that speak to the personality of the homeowner or renter.
"I wanted my home to be a really inviting space that people could talk about," she said. For Parker, "sad beige" is the opposite.
Some millennials felt like they had to 'conform' to 'sad beige'
Like Parker, Australian designers and content creators Josh Jessup and Matt Moss are ditching the "sad beige" aesthetic.
The couple, who run their own rental-friendly design and art company, began experimenting with "de-modernization" during COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. They now have over 1.8 million followers on their TikTok account, where they document their interior design process.
"Before COVID, it was all like beige, brown, black, and gray, and then we realized very quickly that wasn't us," 26-year-old Jessup, who is on the cusp between millennial and Gen Z, said. "We were just trying to conform because we were new adults, and we're like, 'This is what adults do, right?'"
Courtesy of Matt Moss and Josh Jessup.
As they spent more time at home, Moss said they realized their living space didn't speak to who they were. "We were dressing colorful," the 28-year-old gave as an example. "But our house just didn't reflect that."
They joked that when they first bought their "crazy blue" dining chairs, they thought they were "so brave." But with every addition, Moss said, they found that their living space felt more like it was theirs.
"You just cannot beat being in an environment that feels like your brain kind of personified," Jessup added. "There's nothing wrong with 'sad beige,' but I think it was just kind of the forced conformity of it."
They've now fully leaned into "de-modernization," saying that at least 70% of the furniture and items in their home have been purchased secondhand. Their home also doesn't necessarily follow a particular theme.
"We love retro-futurism, where it's like a reinterpretation of what people in the past thought the future was going to look like, and that obviously didn't happen," Jessup said. "But we're definitely not one specific design period."
@joshandmattdesign What do you think of the bedroom additions / changes?! 😄 #interiordesign
♬ original sound - Josh & Matt
Unlike the design boundaries of the "sad beige" aesthetic, Jessup and Moss said the beauty of "de-modernization" is that it permits people to have fun with their living spaces again.
"We often just walk around our own house at night, and it just feels like a museum," Jessup said. "We'll just be looking at different things and think, 'I wonder where this was, or, you know, who made this?'"
It's a view that Parker also shares. By "de-modernizing" her home, she is filling it with pieces that have histories attached to them and that were once loved by someone else.
"With de-modernization, I feel like you can really pick out different pieces that you love that aren't even made anymore," she said.
Parker, Jessup, and Moss no longer care for outside opinions on their design style.
"I have things that I bring home from these sales, or wherever, and people are like, 'OK, I don't see the beauty that you see in it.' But I'm totally OK with that," Parker said. "I don't do it for other people to like it; I do it because we like it."
"If people don't like it, that's fine," Jessup said. "We know we love it, and that's what we want others to do."
Millennials are no longer designing their homes with a future buyer in mind
Alice Moszczynski, an interior designer at Planner 5D, told BI she's seen an uptick in clients moving away from neutral, minimalist aesthetics in recent years.
She thinks millennials initially swayed toward "sad beige" because it was the opposite of the homes they grew up in.
"A lot of the millennials that went in that sad beige, gray direction grew up with parents that had these super red and gold and greens and lots of stuff everywhere," she said. "That's kind of a natural response to swing the other way, take away all this stuff, take away all the color, keep it neutral."
CreativaStudio/Getty Images
But, according to Moszczynski, millennials also played it safe with the "sad beige" trend because they were concerned about the resale value of their homes.
"People just kind of got into their heads and really stripped away what gave a home its personality," she said.
Moszczynski added that the push for more personality in a home proves the tide is turning.
"You can't constantly be living in the sort of future or in the eyes of a future buyer. This is your home. You should customize it to yourself," she said.
Courtesy of Matt Moss and Josh Jessup
Jessup and Moss agree and said that they think renters and homeowners alike can try their hand at "de-modernization."
Millennials, and even Gen Z, might view buying homes as "unattainable," but that "shouldn't stop us from being able to create an environment that reflects who we are," Jessup said.
What's more, they have hopes that "de-modernization" won't be a trend the same way "sad beige" was.
"We hope it sticks around a bit more as a movement and becomes a movement across generations," Jessup said.
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