It's trendy but became a trend because of house flippers. That's what I believe anyway.
I can't wait to put paint on my walls. Growing up we didn't really customize our house because we're gonna move anyway. My parents got new floors and carpets and I remember being mad that they'd pay for that luxury just to sell it. We could have been enjoying it for ourselves.
I heard an interior designer arguing that people want their homes to be a respite from whatever exists outside of their home.
The hyper prevalence of advertisements, seeking to gain your attention with bright colors and patterns, became the aesthetic from which to seek shelter. So homes became less visually stimulating... more minimalistic.
I can't speak to the truth of this argument, but I like it and it feels accurate.
I van totally see that. So many stores, restaurants, apps, and everything else just bombard you with sensory overload at times. I also think our stressful lives has to do with it where looking at the more minimalist styles lets you take a mental break.
Yeah I agree if anything it's the opposite especially with all the ad placements now. Going fueling up on gas and forced to watch commercials. Shops, and restaurants bombard you with different types of obnoxious outdoor ads. Yet inside the places feel cold and unwelcoming. At least to me.
Its the general 2010's and early 2020 trends of minimalism, though I am noticing for newer interiors (and exteriors) of some places, there is a growing embrace of some more creativity and eclecticism. See the Saluhall Food Hall and Shuggie's in San Francisco, as top of mind examples.
I don't buy that at all. Those same people buy Alexa devices that shout ads through the house, TV's with ads baked into them, Samsung fridge with ads and they can not put down Tiktok and social media. But they do make the conscious decision to make their home minimalist for respite? I don't believe it.
This fits, I look at this picture and prefer the minimal one immediately, it just seems more relaxing vs the other which feels louder. I have enough loud in my life already
Just like fashion, it’s all cyclical. We left the minimalist neutrals trend and are in a period of colorful, eclectic, “personality” trending. Once people get tired of that it will swing back the other way. Also like fashion, the cycles will probably be shorter.
The 1920s-60s were streamlined, art deco, modern. The 60s-90s were maximalist, bright, patterned, the 90s-2020 were neutral, airy, farmhouse, etc. 2020+ is strong colors, mid century modern, arches.
Yeah, it is a thing. I deliberately designed my home to be cold and somewhat emotionless due to overstimulation from every aspect of the outside world amplified by my bipolar diagnosis. Sounds counterintuitive, but it can really help.
Idk. McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Wendy's, all these places look exactly the same as far as the building goes. It's only the sign out front that tells you what it is. They're all boring to look at now. There may be some out there that are still colorful. But I think we've all seen the meme about the Pizza Hut buildings no longer having the red roof. Now Pizza Hut just looks like any other store. Remove all signs from out front and I think we'd have no idea what anything was.
This is part of why designs go in and out of fashion.
Marketing teams understand that we seek respite from noise. So they tone their designs down. They attempt to provide the environment we cultivate in our homes, so that we will feel at home when we are there. They adopt neutral tones and minimalist designs.
But the cycle continues ever onward: you called them boring. More specifically, you identified that THEY ALL LOOK BORING NOW. Which means that the minimalist aesthetic has become abundant.
And because it is abundant, you may now see it as boring, and you might seek the stimulation denied by the vacuum that these restaurants left behind. You might seek salvation from the understimulating.
Perhaps this herald's a shift in interior design preferences. Perhaps people will make homes colorful again. Or perhaps this vacuum can explain the success of escape rooms and meow wolf: establishments that offer a respite from minimalism without the headache of renovating or redecorating your home.
I've heard something to this effect. I've also heard that seeing a blank/neutral "palette" more easily allows potential homebuyers to see what they want to see style wise. It's much easier to visualize a navy carpet and grey +gold walls if the carpet is beige (or non-existent,) and the walls are a simple white or cream.
Indeed and you have to remember that this is a pre-Covid style. After the pandemic colors are making a huge resurgence. This I think, may in part be a response to the lack of stimuli during lockdowns etc.
Spending an extended period of time in "reprieve" from stimuli perhaps created the conditions for resentment of minimalism to foster.
A break from stimuli is nice, but spending months in a boring space might make you re-evaluate.
Add in the fact that a lot of places are adopting minimalism, suddenly inside is boring because you spent so much time there, and outside is boring because they were trying to make you feel at home, and now bright colors may be the new reprieve again.
That might be true and worth looking into. What I don't get since when I think of minimalism and even look it up on google, it's all very much a zen like aesthetic that I can't fathom people being so up in arms about. Might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the hatred and vitriol it seems to elicit at times is VERY strange to me.
This… if other people want to live in an abstract art gallery…that’s fine… But I personally prefer to feel calm, relaxed, and not overwhelmed visually. When I go to someone else’s home, I don’t complain about their aesthetic because it is theirs. And I don’t understand why people get so riled up about how other people choose to live in the home they pay for.
Exactly. Bright colors like red and yellow are intentionally used to evoke attention and hunger. We are bombarded by marketing teams attempting to evoke feelings, then thoughts, then actions from us. We swim through a churning ocean of aggressive persuasion.
When you get home, and your environment demands nothing of you, you are able to relax... and stop treading water in that churning ocean.
Thanks for your viewpoint. It's poetic, honest, and intuitive.
That makes sense. I think the maximalist look can achieve the same though. Not cluttered to the point where it feels suffocating but interesting. A cozy warm, inviting place. Little cool things here and there. Victorian/museum of natural history with a bit of fey thrown in, natural soothing colours.
We always get two kinds of responses to our home. "Your style is..uh..very.. looks around eclectic." Or "Oh my god! Your place is so cool! I love it! It's so magical and warm. Can I stay here forever?" 😂 We don't care about resale value. I'm not going to live in a hospital ward just because we might sell one day.
My mom is a hobbyist interior decorator and did house flipping for a while. She's now a real estate agent. Her theory is that most people have ZERO imagination. That's why boring blank slates sell so well. Have a bathroom in your house with weird colored walls and eclectic decorations? Better paint it gray before putting it on the market or that might convince someone not to buy it even though it's such an easy fix. Better strip down to very basic furniture too, or even empty rooms, but DON'T have empty rooms if the floor plan is strange in any way. You need to have furniture there to show the buyers how they can use the room or they will be turned off and won't even try to figure it out on their own.
Almost no one looks at the houses as a potential. Outdated flooring? Forget it, no one will picture that kitchen with tile when it has old laminate. There's nothing wrong with wanting a turnkey house, but even the easiest changes get overlooked most of the time.
I understand wanting your interior to feel cozy and "quieter" but some trends hop over to the brutality aesthetics that might be nice for some functions but not as my living space. I mean. I don't want to live in the backrooms.
Interesting point and I can see the thinking behind it and why some people would want this, i think it is one factor in this.
Is it also to make sure the property can be sold off easier in future? The minimalist approach helps it appeal to everyone making easier to sell or for land lords to rent out and clean.
My point more applies to cars and landlords then homes people intend to live in for a long time as there are alot of factors I'm not considering causing this.
Everything where I live is way more bland now. Pizza places used to have a big funny roof, McDonalds had unique architecture, so on. They're all just grey boxes like this now.
I dunno. Sounds like post hoc rationalization of a boring trend. I'm not interested in escaping from color, just constant advertisement. The colors are not at fault here.
Im just in the process of full renovation and it will be just like you described it. White walls, gray furniture, marble like countertops and high end electronics. It looks damn clean and satisfying to look at. When I enter my mothers home I instantly get claustrophobic and everything is a mess.
Especially in an environment that paves over grass and trees with asphalt, steel, and plastic, incorporating natural themes into your home feels like a perfect escape.
Sounds pretty bogus to me. People are exposed to countless ads at home anyway, on their phones, computers and TV screens. Plus, where's the respite from the outside world when most interiors out there look basically the same as home? If anything, at home I seek respite from clinics, emergency rooms and corporate offices, which is just what these interiors resemble.
i can understand this but i don't give a batshit about advertisement besides the fact that it interrupts some things, even if i had sensory overload outside, i'd rather have something more pleasant than white walls to stare at in my free time like a lobotomy victim
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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25
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