Silent, Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, And Gen Z: The Best Interior Design Choices From Every Generation

Like fashion, home design trends look to the future while clinging to the past. Each generation sees the addition of brand-new styles while simultaneously embracing the vintage looks of yore. Today's design culture welcomes the perfect mix of modern and vintage, pulling from the midcentury modern looks of the 1950s and 1660s, the natural, sustainable materials in the 1970s, the maximalism of the 1980s, and the flea market chic of the 1990s. 

Here are the major interior design styles from every living generation, with classics that are still known as favorites. These design choices may take a hiatus every few decades, but still hold up today. 

Please note, the look of a generation is defined in this article not by the years in which they were born, since babies and children don't design their own homes. Instead, these design decisions will be counted by the years they were first decorating homes. For instance, many boomers were born in the 1950s, but wouldn't come into their own design-wise until the 1970s. Each generation spans about 20 years, so it's not an exact science.

The Silent Generation includes anyone born 1928 to 1945, which means they started buying and decorating their own homes in the 1950s and 1960s. The post-war decades pulled away from opulence like ornately carved furniture and chandeliers, and moved toward the sleek, no-fuss furnishings of midcentury modern style. The goal during this time was to create mass-produced, affordable furniture. Heavy wood furniture made way for plywood, and materials like plastic, Lucite, steel, and plexiglass were introduced. Colors that had never been used in decorating started to emerge, like the pastels of the 1950s (teal, lime, pink, and yellow), and earth tones of the 1960s (olive, burnt orange, and mustard). 

With "modern" in the title, it's no wonder midcentury modern is still popular today. Original Saarinen Tulip tables, Eames chairs, and Arne Jacobsen's Egg Chairs are well-sought after and cost a pretty penny. The popular styles are copied by a number of affordable retailers, like these Furmax midcentury modern plastic dining chairs. The Silent Generation started other design trends we still use, including open floor plans, Scandinavian furniture, and terrazzo floors. 

Baby boomers are so named thanks to the "boom" of children born during this time (1946 through 1964). Young couples who were separated for years during the war were more than ready to start a family. Most boomers settled down to start their own families in the 1970s, and 1980s. While the previous generation was obsessed with all things futuristic thanks to the Space Race, boomers sought to be more down-to-earth. Cold floors and hard plastics gave way to wall-to-wall shag carpets and wicker. 

A love of nature brought in a more natural color palette, indoor plants, and natural materials, such as terracotta floors in lieu of terrazzo. Like today's generation, the boomers knew how to mix natural with metallics, adding chrome accents that "mirrored" the beloved disco ball. Rebelling against their parents' obsession with assembly lines, boomers sought to create handmade items like macrame and crochet.

The best design decisions made by this generation were the ones that reflect a love of nature, like indoor plants and a natural color palette. We are happy to bring some wicker with us into the 2020s, but prefer to leave behind shag carpets (especially in the bathroom) and macrame (also in the bathroom). 

By the mid-to-late 1980s, Gen Xers (1965 to 1980) were either heading off on their own or begging Mom to let them decorate their rooms. This point in time saw a rise in two-income homes and a healthy economy, making excess and frivolity the name of the game when it came to clothing, lifestyle, and interior design. Minimalism turned to maximalism. Early Gen Xers went back to the bright colors and space-age designs of their grandparents. Houseplants were replaced with silk plants, and for some reason, frosted glass cubes were used in lieu of windows and shower doors. 

But the bulk of Generation X cut their design teeth in the 1990s — a decade that isn't defined by one look, but many. Unlike previous generations, the children of Generation X grew up around homes that looked wildly different from one another, or even homes that changed styles room to room. One child could have a bedroom with neon swirls and geometric furniture, while the other embraced a Laura Ashley floral aesthetic. The parent's bedroom could look southwestern, while the living room was a Ralph Lauren preppy-chic. The kitchen would most certainly be rustic, with a Tuscan or French country style.  

The best design choice of Generation X was the freedom of choice (but if that's a cop-out, maximalism is also great). With access to many great design styles you could decorate the way you wanted, producing fewer cookie-cutter homes. It's a philosophy still loved today.

While Generation X learned to embrace many design styles throughout the home, millennials (1981 through 1996) learned to mix styles and vintages within a single room. We blame it on the show "Friends." Many millennials grew up idolizing Monica's apartment, and couldn't wait to decorate their bedrooms and college dorms with vintage French posters and the color purple. Monica had an eclectic mix of styles and flea market finds, including mismatched dining chairs, which is still a popular design choice. 

A love of flea markets also gave rise to a love of shabby chic, a design trend characterized by romantic florals and distressing antique furniture with chalk paint.  Flea market chic is still beloved for its sustainability and careful curating of different styles.

Millennials may have painted their dorms purple, but many stuck to white when it came time to decorate their own homes. In the later 2000s, people were becoming more transient, and moving more frequently. Real estate TV shows and house-flipping were on the rise, making millennials afraid of bold design choices and decorating for resale instead. 

Gen Z (1997 through 2010) is embracing modern maximalism and vintage looks, culminating in the popular Grandmillennial style. They are defined by fun, playful design such as mushroom lamps (like this smart version from ANGTUO), checkerboard prints, and mixing vintage pieces with neon signs.  The most earth-conscious of the generations, they prefer repurposing furniture rather than buying new, and embrace the sustainability of the cottagecore lifestyle and design trend, (which brings the "farm to table" ethos to interior design). 

Since design trends from the 1900s have been done and redone, Generation Z is reaching farther back. A current design trend is castlecore, which pulls design inspo from medieval times — apparently another design trend of this generation is adding the suffix "-core" to types of houses and decor choices.

Generation Z will be known for moving design away from the all-white walls and industrial farmhouse look of the previous generation, and embracing bold colors, patterns, and above all — playfulness. Many in Gen Z are still finding their feet when it comes to design, but we are excited to see what else they have in store.