Gen Z vs Millennial vs Gen X vs Boomer PART 2 | Interior Design Trends

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⏱ Timestamps:
00:00 – Gen Z vs Millennial vs Gen X vs Boomer
00:39 – Thanks for Wayfair for sponsoring this video!
01:42 – Paper Planters
03:26 – Edison Bulbs
05:04 – Waterbeds
07:14 – Potpourri
08:42 – Acrylic and Glass Furniture
10:04 – Plant Overload
12:01 – Celestial Decor
13:37 – Formal Living Room
15:47 – Shag Rugs
17:12 – Shiplap
19:04 – Shabby Chic
21:06 – Etched Glass

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hi everyone it’s Nick welcome welcome back to my channel okay in today’s video we are doing another edition of generational interior design Trends this is where I talk about gen Z Millennials Gen X and Boomers and the different interior design trends that were popular in their sort of era you know you might be thinking but Nick I don’t take part in Trends and I say yeah you do because you know it’s like fashion right like think of all the different styles of denim we’ve had over the years right with jeans I mean you’ve had bell bottoms you’ve had flare you had boot cut you had skinny you had loose fit you had relaxed you had carpenter jeans okay if you had carpenter jeans yeah you took part in Trends okay so that’s what we’re doing we’re talking about that for home objects and interior design let’s get going okay but before we get into some of these iconic sometimes not great generational designs I have to talk about iconic objects a show presented by Wayfair who is the sponsor of today’s video as you may know I’ve talked about Wayfair on this channel a lot and which some of you might not know is they actually have a really great YouTube channel with lots of different creative amazing content and my current favorite is is their new show that’s just come out called iconic objects this season is hosted by Becky Lynn some of you might know her she is from the channel the story girls here on YouTube great channel in her most recent episode Becky investigates the iconic of the Adera chair so if you love looking back in time which if you’re watching my generational design videos I kind of assume that you do then you’ll love the iconic object series it’s like a mini history lesson on popular interior and exterior in this case design pieces presented by personable hosts that you know and love right here from YouTube so go check out the full episode of iconic objects And subscribe to the Wayfare YouTube channel to stay up to date on all the things that they’re doing over there which is great and thank you Wayfair for sponsoring this video now let’s get back to some iconic generational design pieces okay first up on my list we’re going to talk about a genen z Trend which is their obsession with paper lamps now I actually think of all the genen Z Trends and Lord knows I have had an issue on this channel with a fair few of them this is one of their better ones like I actually think that these are really beautiful I actually really like these paper lamps are they a bit overdone I listen Maybe you know you don’t have to like them that’s you don’t have to like any of this right that’s kind of the fun of a design you kind of get to make it your own but this one I think is a really interesting one for jenzie they seem obsessed with lamps and they’re really obsessed with that like mood lighting and I am here for it it’s one of the best things actually about Jen’s design sense is that adding little subtle glows adding lots of different sort of like different types of lighting in their space I think this makes a lot of sense they seem a obsessed with lamps and I love that because a table lamp a floor lamp like especially in a paper shade it diffuses the light beautifully creates like a nice warm glow a dynamic lighting plan is a really important part of interior design and I think that that’s kind of a really kind of amazing thing that they’re really doing I think also maybe for Jen Z what’s tying into the trend is because home ownership is Out Of Reach for so many people I think the idea of doing a full renovation just feels very Out Of Reach for this generation which makes total sense they’re renting for a lot longer you know what I mean and so I think having these sort of lighting sources in your space like some of these Trends can make a lot of sense for this generation because you know you’re not necessarily going to be doing kind of a full renovation or a full gut job and you’re not going to replace all of your lighting new can lighting in your whole Space you know what I mean I think that might be part of the reason sometimes why they’re playing with Lighting in really interesting ways just a theory I don’t know I’m no expert but that’s kind of my thinking and I’m here for it I think it’s a really wonderful Trend I kind of love these paper lamps for them but they seem very very popular and I’m a fan so let’s talk about Millennials and what what what is a really popular iconic Millennial interior design sort of trend and that is going to be the Edison bulb gosh we just loved an Edison bulb didn’t we Millennials I I am I am a millennial I’m an elder I’m an elder Millennial we loved Edison bulb I don’t know if it was because I think in the like late 2000s the industrial interior design Trend was everywhere right there was like the third wave coffee shops right it was all about the reclaimed wood it was the exposed brick and beam it was the you know rolled arm Chester Field gosh we just loved it and you know the brown sort of cognac leather couch like we just love that style it’s not as popular I think as it probably used to be but I do think that kind of in those early 2010s when the Millennials were you know coming into their own we really loved that and the Edison bulb was a really big part of that style we love an exposed bulb and it really kind of as you can see from the one I have in my background which is fine I am a millennial so I’m allowed and uh got the Edison bulb specifically I actually also didn’t hate this I understand it might look a little bit dated now I understand that you know the trend was fun for a while but it might not make sense as much anymore I also do understand c.1 about the genz that an exposed light bulb isn’t always the most flattering cuz it Doesn’t diffuse the light the way that something like a paper shade does but you know it was a fun Trend we enjoyed it it was a fun style it made sense for some spaces like if you had a converted Loft in SoHo made a little bit less sense in a Suburban sort of neighborhood or whatever but you know people make it their own and we have fun with the style where we have it so yeah this was a fun one while it lasted okay next up and I’m not like necessarily putting everything in a specific category because it’s too hard and I have so many fun things I want to talk about so this is not about lighting and we’re going to talk about Gen X which is a very vocal in the comment section I see you Gen X okay I get it we ignore you all the time and now you’re like we have lots to say and people were like you missed the following Gen X Trend this is an exhaustive list okay this is like we’re doing this in phases I I have a lot to go through okay Gen X Gen X what was a Gen X trend I had to go with water beds here’s the thing with the w water beds here’s what I was blown away here’s a little fun fact for you all citing my sources Apartment Therapy I found out that in 1987 ready for this fun fact in 1987 one out of five beds in the United States sold was a water bed 1 out of five 20% where are all those water beds and here’s a question for you how did you get them all out of your house like do you just put a knife through them and then just hope for the best do you like drain them somehow is it going into a sink is it going down the toilet are you carrying 5,000 lbs of water I when you moved I don’t understand like how did you move the water bed how did you get dispose of the water bed I don’t know where what happened to all these mattresses I don’t know where they are my sister had a water bed that’s it feels very Gen X to me it feels very because again it’s that ‘ 87 late ‘ 80s 90s kind of trend where they were very popular I know that they were around in kind of the the’ 70s and stuff but they were peak in the late ‘ 80s this feels very much like a Gen X Trend to me my sister had one they were fun when I was like 10 and I could like jump on the water bed that was fun for me I couldn’t imagine sleeping in one that doesn’t seem fun it seems like as you sink into the water bed it’s going to like be claustrophobic like it feels like it’s going to come around you you know in a way they’re noisy they’re actually noisy cuz you’re just basically listening to it Splash around all the time these are so woefully impractical these are just such a relic of the past I don’t you know some Trends come back I don’t think the water bed’s coming back I don’t think it is this was fun and silly and weird but just get a real mattress you know and I think gen gen Gen X you finally did but sometimes you know Gen X I think you think you’re above all these Trends cuz you kind of go unnoticed sometimes in society like look at the crazy Boomers and look at these entitled Millennials and it’s like oh no no you did water beds like you you you did some things you did some things too okay and then last next time my list is going to be the Boomers of course we got to get to the Boomers I love you we talk about popery like they they dry I mean we love ascented candle in the the the younger Generations but like gosh POI was just everywhere for them this seems seems to hold over also to like even the the the generation before them what is that silent generation the greatest Generation I don’t know who they were but that generation also seemed to love the popri but the Boomers really love the popri it was everywhere in the ’90s this stunk and not in a good way like I don’t think it it was felt very it was very artificial it was very artificial and it was just this dried sad flat popery that just like sat in a bowl often times in a toilet like on the top of the toilet or in the bathroom whatever not in the toilet hopefully but you know like it was a trend it was everywhere often times this little bunch of pine cones or whatever little dried what are those dried flowers wood chips I don’t even know what those were but anyway the popery it often times the color needed to match your bathroom that was really important to the Boomers the toilet seat cover the little curtains you know the soap pump like the Little Flower the the mat the the shower curtain like if it was blue your poy was blue if it was pink your popery was pink you know I guess it was cheap and it was easy to buy and you could buy it at at home sents or HomeGoods and Target and Walmart and all sorts of places I hope hopefully you’ve ditched it hopefully you’ve got rid of it by now but honestly some of that popri it still stinks years later so some of you might be still hanging on to it which I don’t think you should I think you need to move on from it if you haven’t already please okay back to jenzy and you got off easy on the first one cuz I liked your original uh I liked your paper pendants but we’re going to have to talk about acrylic and glass Furniture which is back again it is so popular with the genes and I don’t like it I don’t like acrylic Furniture I think I don’t care what you say I don’t care what you say with some very very few exceptions plastic Furniture is always going to feel cheap to me I know I know there’s some iconic you know things that are out there some great designers that have done some really cool things with plastic not my vibe I don’t love plastic as a material I think it just always feels cheap and artificial because it is super man-made doesn’t feel natural doesn’t feel cozy that’s just my own personal taste the jenes love it though here’s the thing with glass Furniture it is a fingerprint magnet it is so annoying to clean you will stub your shin on that c table like I just I don’t like it it lacks any sort of presence it attracts all the fingerprints it attracts all the smudges it’s not fun I think there are better materials for most of these things but God love you the jz’s you just seem to really love the glass furniture and the acrylic I think it just works with the rest of the sort of weird cooky sort of little fun little objects that you have in your space you know it’s not a great material choice in my opinion but gosh this one is super popular and the jens’s love it I hope this one Fades away but you know this material choice in furniture sure it always comes back so you know it’s it’s here for now and we’ll we’ll see it in another decade I guess okay next up Millennials we are going to be talking about plant overload plants what is with us and the plants I never fully bought in as you can see my heart is cold and black and I have no living things in this space so uh I don’t have plants I I like them I kill them all but I I like I I I have plants outdoors and I maybe have like a plant or two although now that I think about it I don’t have one here I don’t hate them but but Millennials these are not children okay like this is a substitute I don’t know is a substitute for a child cuz I get it affordability we can’t afford children I I get that you know the Boomers they had their five kids and their big house on a salary of like they could be like a normal job and have that and I get that and we’re like why am I a you know a firefighter and a doctor and can’t afford a house I get it like you can’t afford children I understand that and then we were like okay he had the French Bulldog and it was like okay that was your substitute child but for some people they don’t want cats and they don’t want dogs and they definitely don’t want children plants have replaced and I just think that there’s other things to love more than plants it is like these spaces are like a jungle they are just overwhelming a little bit of plants are fun plants can they can provide oxygen to the space life into the space they can be a fun hobby because apparently Watering your plant every day is a hobby for people it’s not my hobby but it might be yours but you know I understand a plant or two can be fun and can provide like a nice sort of Decor into your space but some of these spaces are just absolutely overwhelmed and I know I’m going to piss some people off I know the plant gays they are absolutely obsessed and I see them in the comment section and I completely understand that they are going to be very upset with me over this but you know honestly guys you just need to move on I just don’t think that this is a fun Trend and Millennials in particular seem to have just really gone crazy for the plants the Gen Z going in the artificial plastic Direction gosh we just had way too much fun with this one just you know just just take how many plants you have subtract at least Le 50% of them and then you’re probably in business next up Gen X we are going to be talking about Celestial Decor this one came out of the comment section because again people were like you miss the following Gen X Trends and they gave me a bullet you’re very exhaustive I get it you have a lot of things to say okay Celestial Decor came out of that I forgot this existed but it did and we need to talk about it the shared trauma that was this deor pattern that was everywhere it is off in a navy blue it is always this orangey gold Sun Moon Star pattern that is all over the place it was in glasswar it was in your bedding it was just everywhere like shower curtains just all over the place was this pattern what choke hoold did this pattern have on this entire generation I do not know was it this sort of new age hippie that started to take off at this period of time amongst young people did it feel fun and Whimsical like it was just I don’t know but it was just all over the place I don’t think this is for me a Timeless pattern it’s not polka dots and and and Stripes if that’s what you’re asking you know it’s not plaid it’s not going to be around Forever This felt very trendy it felt very in the- moment in that period of time and the den xers just really went crazy for it it was all over the place this is kind of like the an Getty’s posters that I talked about in my last video just people seem to just kind of go nuts for it and then it died a swift death which we all saw coming never again shall we see the no I don’t say that the the jenes surprised me every time and bring back all the old stuff being like they’re going to watch this video and be like wait a minute Celestial Decor can I go they’re going to Thrift this and reclaim it as their own in about 5 minutes that’s how long it’s going to take so I feel bad for even bringing this to their attention Okay next up this is a trend but it’s really about like the house sort of format that we have here and we’re going to talk about the Boomers is the formal living room the formal living room and the formal dining room the Boomers can we talk about that you had multiple rooms that you weren’t even allowed to go in like what a concept I think that nowadays people are like if you got 1,000 square ft in your house people and your apartment or something people were like what are you how bougie are you like how did you m what what are you what do you do for a living but like the Boomers were like I’m a bus driver and I’ve got a seven-bedroom house you know what I mean like it was just crazy the size that may be exaggeration but maybe not it was a time when things were just more affordable and people had like more space uh in their homes because the economy I don’t know but the formal living room the formal dining room was like crazy it’s such a foreign concept now now you might be like I still have a formal dining room so like Nick what are you saying like I live in a house and that’s great and I have that but like it just feels very I think foreign to a lot of younger Generations because we just don’t necessarily have the full space for it like to me the kitchen area and the dining area or the the the great room the family room like these are you get one like you get one room but the idea that you could duplicate those rooms and create an entirely separate space just for that is kind of wild really we had one when I was a kid it was a sunken living room of course cuz it was the ’90s and it was of course IND Dusty Rose carpet of course it was the sort of like velvety navy blue sort of furniture and of course it was pressed up against the wall not actually like creating World we’d have to like kind of shout to your to your friend across the across the room in order be able for them to hear you of course it was all those things because that’s what my parents are boomers and of course that’s what we had we had the formal living room you weren’t allowed in it because my mom vacuumed the lines in and of course if I said on it she would know I was in the living room and I was not allowed in the living room except for basically Christmas and like a few other kind of special occasions this is wild to me an entire room of your home that you’re just never allowed to go into and that was policed with such militant Force by the Boomers which is just crazy an entire room you don’t use like how crazy is that okay next up is going to be back to the genes we’re going to talk about shag rugs shag rugs for the genzies listen I also got suckered into the Costco shag rug which I have documented on this channel it was a mistake okay I also you know I’m there it’s at Costco the scale is off I was like oh this looks like it could everything seems like a good deal it is the price is too good to miss and you buy the shag rug and then you realize it looks really groy pretty quickly and so dirty and impossible to get pet hair and everything else out of that thing you shake one of those shag rugs loose it’s a it’s a it’s a process okay the jens’s haven’t got that memo yet okay they don’t know they don’t know because they haven’t they don’t have the wisdom that comes in time that the rest of us have and so that’s fine I we we’re all there we’re all 20 right we get it we it just takes time we have to relearn we have to learn these things for ourselves one thing that jensi will learn is the shag rug is a mistake they’re not there yet and so they’re really having fun with it and they’re enjoying it and I get it it’s a rug that I don’t particularly think is practical for most people for the cleanliness reason that I described you know it’s Comfy your dog’s going to love it I understand that but God the jensy just loves the shag rug they do not know what they do not know and in time they will and then shag rugs will die and then in another generation they shall be reborn because that’s what they do they come back every once in a while once people realize that it provides a lot of great texture in a room and then they realize how woefully and practical they are and we move on again and the cycle continues next up Millennials of course we’re going to talk about shiplap shiplap Joanna gains the 2010s The Farmhouse Joanna gain stormed the suburbs like like nobody else right she she created the shiplap trend for the ages and people loved it now I will say of the farmhous decor which is not my big I’m not a big fan of but I have said on it’s a very accessible style I understand it I will say that some of the cheesy elements the little themy elements are not my favorite but shiplap is actually one of the least defensive parts of The Farmhouse Decor Trend and the Millennials just loved it I don’t know why we loved it so much but I will say this was closely tied in to the Mason jar thing this was tied into to a lot of that sort of down home country sort of felt very Suburban everything white with touches of black right it really felt like that style just had a choke hold on us as a generation you either a Glam girl you were a scandy girl or you were a farmhouse girl and I can tell a lot about who you are based on what category you fell into so shiplap was everywhere again not the worst in my opinion of the farm housy pieces not the best but it was not the worst and it just it was interesting it provided texture into a space but again it’s kind of almost mimicking that sort of farm Barn like thing that I think lacks the context for where you actually live which is my issue with the barn door which is my issue with a lot of these things right with a lot of these sort of farm housy pieces it just sort of really lacks the context but we loved the shiplap it provided texture and it was great and it was DIY friendly I guess I mean I don’t I obviously I didn’t do it and I wouldn’t do it but I think a lot of people just grabbed some 2x4s from Home Depot nail gone those things to the wall and painted them white and it worked for them until it didn’t and uh this was a trend that was fun for some and now is gone for all okay but the design style that the Gen xers just went crazy for and you’re not off the hook Gen X you never are and that is going to be shabby chic shabby chic did it ever go away like did it ever go away like wait for sponsoring this video but like whatever they’re not sponsoring this part no but like the Kelly Clarkson collection right gosh that Kelly clarkon collection I’ve made I feel bad I feel bad at this point you guys like Nick you’ve gone off on the Kelly clarkon collection so many times I get it what if you ever meet Kelly Clarkson first of all thank you I will never meet Kelly Clarkson but thank you for thinking that I’m that famous it’s not great it’s not it’s not in my opinion the shabby Chiki parts are not really awesome the Gen xers though loved it and I think you really did you invent it like I don’t know I don’t know if you did but it was a very very popular style of the 9s you saw a lot of this sort of creep in to different sort of areas you know there’s even there’s even probably some shabby chic sort of in the friend set which a lot of people like those big bold crazy colors like the friend set felt very feels very Gen X to me like just feels very signature Gen X that that uh and I’m specifically thinking of um Monica and Rachel’s apartment Joey and Chandler’s was maybe the The Bachelor 9s version but like the Monica and and and um what’s her face uh Rachel they felt very like the purple walls and whatever like every wall being a different crazy color it really felt very sort of uh Genex to me I think there was some shabby chic elements in there too like it was just a very popular style at the time the little like the Rattan furniture and the distressed wood pieces and you know this was maybe the precursor to Farmhouse you know maybe Farmhouse grew up a little bit became a little bit more sophisticated perhaps and uh some of the shabby chic sort of grew into that that may have that may have been where it went but you know you just love that that that e gen xers and some of you I think are probably still keeping some of it in your house you probably repurposed it as a farmhouse Decor back in the 2008 2010s and now you’re probably calling an organic modern and hoping you can get away with it not with me my friends but you know with some I think that’s what you might be passing it off as but good for you he just loved that shabby cheek and had a lot of fun with it it’s still around it never goes away it never goes away why it never goes away why does it never go away okay and then Boomers etched glass and in in your mirrors etched glass and etched mirrors I was going to include this in the last video and I couldn’t decide that this was a Gen X Trend or a or a boomer but I decided it was the Boomers because I thought of all the florals it was the florals because we all know that Boomers love florals they love their poper they love their floral rolled arm sofas they love the like you know what I mean the Diane Katon sofa with the with the the floral pattern on the pillows there like they just they love it they love a floral Boomers love it and included in that was also edged glass with florals because of course you would they loved the edged glass and the edged mirrors this could be in the form of like the front glass in your window or any of your windows it was sort of a little bit like it was stained glass but like not this could be an etched mirror in your bathroom perhaps this could be it was always in this like sort of stencil pattern but etched you know this one went way and I think it was probably a good thing that it did it looks incredibly dated now of course but at the time gosh the Boomers just really enjoyed it and you know what that’s the thing with these Trends that’s the thing with all these videos they’re silly they’re stupid we love them but we all partake of them because we all want to kind of fit in we all want to fit in and stand out at the same time you know what I mean you want to be kind of part of the crowd and that’s what makes these Trends fun and you know what the Boomers had fun with this one I don’t think it’s particularly fun anymore cuz again I think it’s looking quite dated if you still have this you might want to take a Second Glance over there God the Boomers just went crazy for this one I think also it was popular maybe a little bit with the Gen xers as well but I’m going to put this firmly in the Boomers just strictly for the floral reason okay that’s it for me for today guys I hope you really enjoyed this video I’m going to link here to my last video where I also did a version of this where I had a bunch of other things you guys really L that video and I think if you like this one maybe you like that one too so if you want to see me poke fun the generation trends that we’ve had in the past go check out that video and I’ll see you on the next one thanks bye