Design Styles of Boomers, Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z

Interior design is ripe for nostalgia. Most people can recall how a familiar setting once looked—like the exact layout of your grandma’s living room or the arrangement of posters in your childhood bedroom—and doing so makes us all feel connected to what once was. In fact, this collective penchant for the past can also hold on to aesthetics we didn’t experience firsthand, like the pattern play of the Victorian era or the bright colors of Bauhaus. Everything old can indeed be new again, particularly within the confines of a home. 

As tastes evolve, it’s no wonder that certain design choices eventually label a time and place. “There are such large generational shifts in music, culture, and politics,” designer Melissa Oholendt of Oho Interiors says. “It makes sense that interior trends would follow the same trajectory of having identifiable generational identifiers, too!” 

Generation gaps may be unavoidable, but at least one thing is true: We all share a soft spot for specific design choices. There was no shame in loving those styles then, and there certainly shouldn’t be any about looking back on them fondly now. After all, trends come and go, but good memories sure can stick around for the long haul. We spoke to three designers on how they’d describe four generations’ most popular styles, and perhaps you can also identify with their memories. Read on to get a few blasts from the past. 

Baby Boomer

The Baby Boomers encapsulate those born between 1946 to 1964, an era that shifted the concepts of mass production away from World War II toward civilian life. So it’s no wonder that when Oholendt thinks of the style that best represents her parents’ generation, she thinks of matching furniture sets. 

“My parents still even have their original bedroom set that they purchased the year they got married, in 1980,” she says. These sets were usually made of a dark-stained wood that had heavy hardware and flourished millwork, which were sturdy enough to last through their kids’ childhoods. And as designer Amy Vroom, owner of the Residency Bureau, remembers, these sprawling sets were the perfect place to showcase lots of stuff. “It was a time of knickknacks and Thomas Kinkade paintings,” she says. 

Department stores with flashy showrooms made these furniture sets desirable, but that’s not the only thing this generation may be known for. Designer Kerry Vasquez recalls how Baby Boomers loved to decorate their homes in “shabby chic” styles that had a lot of distressed wood and farmhouse influences. “This ‘rustic elegance’ was part of the ‘90s ethos that styled homes in a way that seemed relaxed but was still expensive,” she adds. “This was also probably a backlash to their parents’ generation of high mid-century modern design.”

Generation X

As Baby Boomers were listening to the Beatles, Generation X—those born between 1965 and 1980—were playing Nirvana in their Walkmans. But just because they had distinctly different musical tastes doesn’t mean that these two generations don’t share an appreciation for 1970s design. “When I think about my friends who are solidly in the Gen X generation, I get ‘70s vibes,” Oholendt says. “Think lava lamps, shag rugs, and decorating with vinyl records.” 

Vasquez defines this generation’s style for its affinity to industrialism, which coordinates with its sartorial reputation for wearing punk rock plaids. “They were more interested in cities and less interested in suburbs, which was the opposite of Baby Boomers,” she says. “So rather than faded white ‘shabby chic,’ they went with raw steel and all black everything.” Vroom agrees, noting that this generation pulled from a range of styles in the name of rebellion. “They didn’t want everything to be the same as everyone else and leaned into an eclectic vibe,” she says. “Mixing and matching was key.”

Millennials 

The last generation to remember life without a smartphone was born between 1981 and 1996, and Vroom credits them for making sustainable living mainstream. “They have a ‘less is more’ approach,” she says. But if this cohort could be defined by a specific look, it could just come down to a color. Yes, you know the one: Millennial pink. 

“Teenage Melissa deeply wanted pink inflatable furniture that came straight out of the dELiA’s catalog,” Oholendt says. “I think the popularity of that furniture translated for us all to have a deep love for all tones of pink as an adult. It’s all rooted, deep down, in the idea that a pink inflatable sofa would be the key to our high school social lives.”

Vasquez echoes this sentiment but adds that because of the rise of the Internet, the Millennial style is harder to pin down. Besides the muted pink shade that underscored the #Girlboss era, Vasquez notes that this generation ushered in experimentation. “Millennials are harder to categorize,” she says. “But if I had to, I would say ‘casual elegance’ as represented by a ‘coastal California’ look, which was very popular for a long time.”

Generation Z

Known for their laidback attitude toward social norms and effortlessness on the internet, those born between 1997 and the early 2010s define the Gen Z population. And while their tastes are still coming into focus, Vasquez says that if they do have a style, it’s making sure that it doesn’t look quite like what came before. “They want to define themselves and their aesthetic as entirely new and different,” she says. “I see this as the trend of neon and candy-colored, bubble-shaped furniture.” Vroom notes that Gen Z has taken the sustainability of Millennials but layered it into maximalism. “Think vintage and thrifted pieces,” she says. 

Interestingly, Oholendt sees a more traditional approach in her observations. “Gen Z is all about the ‘moody academia’ of dark paint colors, being surrounded by books, and cozy lamp lighting,” she says. “They hate overhead lighting, and they’re not wrong about that!”

It’s only natural that millions of people who make up a generation would create more than one recurring theme in their sense of style, which can be remembered or forgotten over time. That’s the thing about design: It’s always changing and likely rooted in something else. “The popularity of cottage core definitely came from the tastes of the Silent Generation,” Oholendt says. “Design can absolutely build bridges to cross generation gaps, but I solemnly swear never to buy a matching furniture set. Love you, Baby Boomers.”