by Nicholas Hamner
Investment Advisor Representative & Director of Marketing
[email protected]
We’ve talked before about how kids these days don’t want their parents’ (read: your) stuff. From heirloom(?) furniture pieces to priceless(?) collectibles(?), Gen Xers and Millennials really don’t want their Boomer parents’ stuff. We even have a good friend of the company who comes in several times a year and holds lunch & learns solely to help our clients find other things to do with their furnishings and knickknacks.
It feels a little insulting, and maybe it is… or maybe nobody really has a place for commemorative movie figurines that aren’t guaranteed to go up in value even though others like them have. Nonetheless, I saw an article the other day where older adults got a chance to say what they don’t like about their kids’ stuff and it was interesting. Unusual as it may be for Baby Boomers to complain about the generations who came after them, I thought it would make a nice counterpart to the barrage of articles on how 1970s buffet cabinets are unsellable and undesirable, so I’m talking about it here.
So, what were the things Boomers hated about their kid’s homes?
- Garages on the front of the house instead of on the side
- Bookshelves full of books with the covers turned around
- Clear/translucent shower glass
- Plastic patio furniture
- Plain, neutral-colored appliances
- Gray. Gray paint, gray floors, gray cabinets, etc.
- Wall-mounted TVs mounted above eye level
- Roof decks
- Horizontal baseboard outlets
- Open floor plans
- Soaking or jetted tubs in bathrooms
- Over-the-stove microwave ovens
- Tall, large houses on small lots
- En suite bathrooms with openings, not doors, connecting to the bedroom
- Small bedrooms
- Washer & dryer in the bedroom closet
- Black kitchens with black appliances and black cabinets
- Thick heavy mattresses
- Free-standing tubs
- Trendy glass-tile backsplashes
- Range hoods that don’t vent outside
- Tray ceilings
- Top-mounted kitchen sinks
- White kitchens with white appliances and white cabinets
What does this say about modern home designs and Boomer preferences? One, some of the concerns are generational, and don’t account for modern advances. For example, interviewed Boomers didn’t like tray ceilings because they can trap heat and dust. With modern lightweight vacuums and modern HVAC systems, these issues are no longer as problematic as they once were.
More importantly, a lot of the dislikes (glass backsplashes, neutral-colored kitchens, top-mounted sinks) involved kitchens. Why does that stand out? Because these are modern kitchen trends. And practically every person we meet these days has “remodel the kitchen” as one of their top retirement to-dos. So if you’re not a fan of modern kitchen design, make sure you do your due diligence to find exactly what you want before getting a contractor in the house.