Have you ever looked at the color theory of economics? It was originally about cars. When the economy is nice, people buy fun color cars, because they like fun colors. Then the economy is shit, people buy black/white/gray/red because those colors maintain resale value.
this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2026
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When landlords and flippers get regulated out of existence
When young people can finally afford their own houses and their own renovations.
People call this shit "millennial core", but the truth is its the most marketable aesthetic for flippers to sell houses or landlords to rent them out. This is yet another way capitalism has ruined literally every aspect of life.
Meanwhile, at my parents’ old house, I had painted a bedroom so each wall represented a different season, complete with a mural of a colorful tree losing leaves for the autumn side (since it’s my favorite season.)
When a couple bought it last year, they fell in love with it. My old “seasons” room is being turned into a nursery. My mom recently shared a post by the buyer with me, where she said something along the lines of, “Spending our first summer in our dream house!”
Thank goodness no “flippers” ever got their hands on it.
Never forget they did this shit to the titular character in Home Alone.
When it's no longer the cheapest option at the nearest store. We've been sold on the fact that slop building materials are a stylistic choice.
I am fully comfortable with this style.
you won't in a decade. Home reno big box stores collude on colors so they will be dated in 8-10 years.
Part of it will be the 'blank canvas' look. When people want to sell a house, they are told to remove any trace of personality or uniqueness. It presents the idea of a 'blank canvas' onto which prospective buyers (if human) can project their imagination, saying 'This grey is dull. I'd paint it blue.' For some reason, painting walls, say, red tends to lead to them thinking the room is 'finished' with the red colour, so they think 'I don't want this house. It has red walls.' You can paint both, but the unconscious brain is incredibly stupid.
The other element is imitation of wealth. Wealthy people have 'clean' (can be read lifeless) space as a show of wealth. Many people, especially Western European and American people, have a bit of a Calvinist bent that leads them to imitate the wealthy. Knockoff luxury items is a big industry.
I'm a big amateur of history and anthropology, and as far I can tell, people in all civilizations have been trying to imitate the wealthy to an extant.
There does seem to be a kind of 'big hat=important' idea that might be kind of innate to humans. It's a problem.
The other element is imitation of wealth. Wealthy people have 'clean' (can be read lifeless) space as a show of wealth.
This is a large part of it, TBH. Completely clear spaces mean you have space. Lots of large houses have kitchens that are almost barren with cooking tools, because they actually have space to properly store everything. And that means they have a large kitchen. It’s not that they have fewer things; they just have more places to put the things they have.
Also, modern “influencer style” minimalism is actually fairly expensive. Minimalism is usually focused on having high quality items that can last a long time, work well, and can do multiple tasks. And it also means you’re okay re-buying things that you may only occasionally need.
They’d never dream of using the rusty hand-crank can opener that is older than your grandparents. The thing takes a whole 30 seconds to open a can, and your wrist is tired afterwards. Instead, they’ll use an automatic can opener, jar opener, jar re-sealer, soda can crusher, vacuum sealer, and sous vide cooker, all in one. It is an essential part of every minimalist kitchen, and you can have it for the low low price of only $5000. Oh, all of those things can be independently purchased for a fraction of that cost? Well now your kitchen is full of single-use tools that all take up space. Not very clean and tidy, is it? Now all of your storage space is full, and your kitchen is messy because you couldn’t afford the all-in-one tool that takes up less space.
Really rich people give their servants tiny galley kitchens.
I suspect the influencer type wouldn't know there was more than one kind of can opener. The well-off influencer lifestyle is a consumer lifestyle, paying others to handle work. The person they pay to make the food probably knows all about it, but their focus is on how best to make shocked faces for thumbnails.
From what I've heard, wallpaper is making a comeback and I'm here for it. I'm not talking about your grandmother's vertical flower print stuff. I'm talking all the colors and all the designs. The possibilities are endless. I particularly like some of the art deco stuff. It's awesome. I tried uploading a photo and it's not working, so just image search "modern wallpaper" followed by a color. You'll see what I mean.
This is just my personal experience after many houses where we went all in on the paint...I no longer want my walls to have interesting colors.
Why? Painting is hard work and if you don't like the color then you have to repaint. Or if you outgrow the color then you have to repaint.
Nowadays we stick to white walls and we decorate with color. Paintings, throws, pillows, furniture, dinnerware. Pop your colors and show your style there.
Whenever the house color cabal will decide it's over. I think those trends tend to last about a decade so this one will be over in a couple of years.
I don't think we get away from that until we also get away from looking at the "resale value" of our homes and cars. We can't enjoy them while we have them because we constantly have to worry about either "turning a profit" or "mitigating a loss".
:(
As someone who is not a fan of this decorating style, I came across the term “Millenial Grey” it’s a fun thing to read up on to get a handle on why this seems to be the prevailing decorating style. I dislike that it is another thing being put at the feet of an already put upon generation when the reality is, it’s economically more viable to corporate interests and the algorithm.
Yea it's just the most neutral color, thus the most safe for investment for renting out or selling.
K-economy baby. FWIW I work in residential design/construction and have noticed that more clients than before are inquiring about stained trims, colored walls, and natural materials. Very few are able to afford the cost difference. We specifically try to seek out first time buyers and people looking for "affordable" (still too much) houses, so these aesthetic details are usually the first to go, especially when it's between that and a whole bedroom, for example.
Exactly. Making it look good, while not doing the standard whites or muted pastels using standard trims is expensive.
You can sometimes find an old home that has a bunch of that done well, but to keep it affordable, it probably looks bad and needed a sand and refinish 30 years ago, which puts a ton of buyers off as they are buying a very visible, labor-intensive project.
Honestly I've started thinking the House Reno videos I see online are pure rage bait. I see so many videos of people coming in and tearing out good quality materials, beautiful structures with personality, warmth, and color. They tear all of this out and make everything bland, boring, soulless grey and white. The comments sections are always absolutely flooded with people raging about how awful it looks compared to what it was before and the owners responding all smug like "whatcha gonna do about it? Our place our rules"
Buy (/wrap) your car the color you want and decorate your home however you want. If someone says it's "gross" you kick them out of your home and your life, they are assholes.
When homes are no longer investment vehicles.
If you decommoditize homes, then the people living in them and selling them won't care about resell value and will instead do whatever whimsy they want in their space.
A shitload of effort and material goes into building a home, a home will always be the single most expensive thing people own. The idea people won't care about it is a fantasy.
Now, what you do tend to get is people who settle down and pick a single home to live in the rest of their lives. Those bend more and more to the owner's preferences. It's easier to justify a $xxx,xxx renovation when you will live in the home for decades to come.
I was told by multiple real estate agents to paint my old house white and gray inside and out to have it sell well. I ignored it and kept the colors, wood, and brick. And it sold just fine.
The reno industry just needs to move the goalposts. Around 2012, acoustic ceilings got labelled "popcorn ceiling" and they all have to be removed, along with carpets, now we have echoing houses.
I just want to personally thank you for not painting the brick because it makes my eye twitch every time I see it
Yeah I also love color and warmth.
Every new home ive seen is harsh, brittle, and boring. In sound and visuals (new homes often sound awful to have conversations in)
For me, I'd never buy a house newer than the 80s, or if i did, I'd be redoing the whole thing. Nothing has character anymore becuase we are all supposed to be neutered and devoid of standing out or having feelings. Same with all cars being grey or white. Different is scary. And theres a a certain political class gaining traction in the world that also hates things that are different from them. Its really all part of a larger problem as a society , IMO.
Sorry, went too deep.
Early 90s isn't bad, but not after that. My house is from that time and still has a sliver of character
Agree
As a millennial I apologize on behalf of my people
I think it's already been out of fashion for a while, but it takes a while for that to be noticeable. Although landlords will probably keep painting over outlets with white paint until the end of time.
At least swapping out an outlet and outlet cover is an easy and cheap fix if you are the owner. $6, 10 minute job (per outlet). I find jobs like that the easiest to do, as whenever I'm feeling like I need to accomplish something, I can go hit one or two.
At my house I swapped all the light switches to these. Nice sturdy 'clack' feeling anytime you use one. Hate, hate, hate mushy switches (mushy switches are also a fire hazard).
I definitely feel the same. For years I had watched hone renovation shows with my mom and they looked nice but at the end they started to feel all soulless. Stumbled into this one home reno show several years back that was totally different. I was practically in awe...colors, wood tones, reasonably priced remodels! Idk if the show is still like that or not, but it really felt like a breath of fresh air.
I'm a Millennial, so I get that this stuff has been trending with people my age for the past decade or so, but I've just not been into it either.
Needed to buy a car several years ago and I went out of my way to try to find a car with a COLOR. It was a bit more of a hassle, but I'm glad I did.
Needed to buy a car several years ago and I went out of my way to try to find a car with a COLOR. It was a bit more of a hassle, but I'm glad I did.
I’m at a point where I’d take the mustard yellow Prius. At least it’s got a colour. And don’t get me started on the “we forgot to paint it” primer base colours.
My wife and I tend to keep floor and walls neutral because our things are super bright colors. We have a bright teal couch, a mustard yellow accent chair and an ungodly amount of colorful wall decorations.
We still managed a bright purple accent wall in the bedroom, and even bright red cabinets in a previous house, but we find it hard to coordinate when we throw color in "permanent" places
When housing stops being a commodity.
I think its partially over. I have seen a few non black and white homes pop up recently.
Hopefully never
ugh. My condo shared halls and such had this nice yellow and brown fall colors scheme and the board redid it with this white/blue/grey doctors office vibe. went from homey and warm feeling to sterile feel.
I think the trend has to do with the prospects of conformity compounded by the goal to be appealing to the largest group at time of resell.
Hear hear! I love temp-adjustable bulbs (e.g. Philips hue) for that very reason. We don’t go above 4500-5000k in this house for a reason. Nice neutral light and a pleasing accent wall in the living room and bedroom. It’s your house, you have to live in it, make it how you like!
i can only think of 2 benefits, i got vinyl laminate floor with wood tone, when it gets deep scratches the material underneath is gray, if the floor was same color would be less evident, and when your floors and walls are neutral color, your furniture can be any color and no worries about matching
The pressure for cars and houses to have neutral colors is because it makes it easier to sell and resell. People tend to have far more resistance to paying for something with bold colors they don't want than neutral tones like grey/white/beige.
Anyone will buy a neutral color. Not everyone wants a bright blue or yellow or red car, and if you make everything neutral then color won't turn anyone away. This also applies to used cars.
For houses it is like a blank canvas for the next owner. It is easy to paint over for those that want color, but those that don't will just keep it so their things can stand out.
I can’t imagine buying something with the mindset wrapped around what someone else in the future might think it’s worth. If I’m buying it, I might as well like it. This is such a sad way to view the world.
The mindset is that the person will like it well enough, maybe not as much as their first choice, but they will still like it. Making the decision entirely on resale over personal choice is pretty sad.
Like if someone plans on being in a house for only 2 or 3 years then it might not be worth finding a house with preferred colors or repainting and being able to sell it quickly when moving means they will probably want to keep it neutral.
I would prefer a colorful truck, but they didn't sell the one I bought in bright colors so I got a grey and it still looks pretty good. I plan on keeping it indefinitely and when I have money to burn or the paint wears and needs redone I will go with a color I want because I don't have any plans to sell it.
There are other things like light neutral colors for rooms makes them feel bigger or how light color paints on cars show less dirt, but treating high price items as commodities you will sell in the not distant future is what leads to salespeople promoting the mindset.