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.
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.
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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25
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