About

Millennial Gray, also known as Corporate Gray and Gray Aesthetic, refers to a gray color scheme used in house design, which is purportedly popular with members of the Millennial generation. Discussions about grey, generic redesigns of "vintage" rooms and furniture gained virality online in early 2023, with a viral TikTok later coining the slang term "millennial gray" to refer to these design choices.

Origin

Starting in December 2022, posts about recently renovated rooms, furniture and houses went viral on Twitter over the renovated look, often done in grey, beige or other neutral colors, that some felt looked "bland" and "soulless." For example, on December 14th, 2022, Twitter^[1] user @clhubes posted two photographs of a renovated house, writing, "How come the inside of every renovated house now looks exactly like this?" The post (shown below, left) gained over 810 retweets and 21,000 likes in three months.

On January 13th, 2023, Twitter^[2] user @ratxgurl posted a photograph of a room floored with a grey vinyl plank, writing, "Every time original hardwood floors are replaced by gray plank vinyl a year is taken from my life." The post (shown below, right) gained over 15,900 retweets and 217,000 likes in two months.

Spread

More memes about the redesigns were posted on TikTok in January 2023. For example, on January 16th, TikToker^[3] @gabarella posted a Finn Wolfhard Snapping meme that gained over 617,000 views and 124,000 likes in two months (shown below, left). On January 20th, TikToker^[4] @uglythey posted a meme that garnered over 180,000 views and 58,000 likes in six weeks (shown below, right).

On February 25th, 2023, TikToker^[5] @chloeisag posted a humorous song about a "millennial-grey-looking" restroom they found inside a Mexican restaurant. The TikTok (shown below) gained over 3 million views and 759,000 likes in five days.

There's a Millennial-grey-looking restroom inside the Mexican restaurant
There's a millennial-grey-looking restroom inside the Mexican restaurant
It's giving sponsored by Hobby Lobby
It's giving, it's giving house flipping
Renovated kitchen looking
It's giving airport, it's giving live laugh lough
It's giving corporate
It's giving women's conference
I'm not trying to hate, I'm just trying to say
I didn't expect a Mexican bathroom to look that way
Millennia grey, millennial grey, millennial

The TikTok then went viral over the following days and helped to popularize the phrase "millennial gray" online.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References