Disclaimer: Kink Shaming will not be tolerated.
( @mariejedig / Instagram )
Alright, hear me out, Feng Shui is hot. Like, interior design is sexy. If it isn’t to you, don’t worry; you’ll understand when you’re older. I promise, sweetie.
I don’t know when it happened, but I’ve found myself only following Instagram DIY and interior design pages, and I haven’t seen a human being on my feed in weeks. It’s couches and macramé plant hangers for as far as the eye (thumb) can see (scroll).
I am so behind on knowing who the “white boy of the month” is, and I’ve lost any desire to keep track of which album Taylor Swift is releasing for the second time. I’m lost in Home Goods catalogues and obsessed with day trips to Bed Bath and Beyond.
This is a cry for help.
The good news is, apparently, I’m not alone. Twitter users have started to fawn over Ikea dishware and rainfall showers.
I figured it was me becoming my mother, but I think it has less to do with her and is more related to becoming an adult. The tea is, puberty brings period pain, a pink tax, and a hard-on for home décor.
As a general trend, millennials lean into minimalism, boomers traditionally love antiques and grandeur and Gen Z constantly dream of tiny homes and anything they can buy at Ikea and “hack” to make their college apartment look like a Pottery Barn or Architectural Digest outlet store.
It’s difficult to track down any research explaining the relationship between age and the desire to decorate then re-decorate, but I’d posit three theories based on my credentials as a scientist. (That is, I took one GenEd developmental psychology class.)
1. According to me, the older you get, the more likely you are to consider building or buying a house. And as a result, you start to envision yourself living in a permanent home base and plan what it will look like. You know, sprawling out naked on your OWN leather ottoman and picking a couch in hot girl pink that your mom would have never gone for.
Naturally, as you mature, your taste evolves and refines itself. Your interior design style reflects those changes. There’s (probably) a link between the desire and the approaching inevitability of you creating your own home.
As proof, I point you to the fact that some men are consistently drawn decor consisting of a single fold up chair in their otherwise empty living rooms. That and the one pillow they never think to wash until their late ‘30s. It’s a maturity thing.
2. As a mediocre DIYer interior design expert, I also have the authority to tell you that home décor is a way to channel and control your mood, without therapy. Things like lighting and color palettes dictate the energy in rooms, and also how you feel. We can choose moody greens to live our shrek fantasies or satiate cottage core dreams. We can paint reds on our walls and tell the world we’re passionate or airy whites to show we value clear walls for a clear mind (or that we’re boring). We have the power to craft an ambiance that matches our temperament.
As children, we didn’t have the ability to control or create spaces we didn’t own. It was our parents’ house, and our parents’ rules. So, maybe it’s a control thing?
3. Thirdly, I would like to offer the theory that the Property Brothers are kinda hot? Like if you squint?
And perhaps it’s just a matter of us…adopting the interests of our crushes to seem like we have things in common and then accidentally really getting into interior design. How middle school of us!
Alazne Cameron was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica and is an Online Activism writer at Rowdy Magazine. She loves food-based metaphors, alliteration and social justice. Her favorite food is food for thought (but anything with a cheesy, creamy Alfredo base is a close second). You can reach her at alaznecameron@ufl.edu or on Instagram @alaznecameron for more information.