Grandma Core style vs. Boomer Core Style

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The person above gets it. That is peak aspirational boomer.
My mom and dad still have their nautical decor. Ships wheel clock, heron wall art, lamp made out of a boat lantern, end table with rope wrapped around the base, ducks ducks ducks. They haven't lived near water since 1995.

Oh, the ducks! My parents still have their framed duck prints hanging in their basement, along with matching ceramic "flying" ducks. They still have the same early 90s plaid couch and hunter green wingback chair they bought to go with all that. If there's a "duck hunter core" aesthetic, they've nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The person above gets it. That is peak aspirational boomer.
My mom and dad still have their nautical decor. Ships wheel clock, heron wall art, lamp made out of a boat lantern, end table with rope wrapped around the base, ducks ducks ducks. They haven't lived near water since 1995.

Oh, the ducks! My parents still have their framed duck prints hanging in their basement, along with matching ceramic "flying" ducks. They still have the same early 90s plaid couch and hunter green wingback chair they bought to go with all that. If there's a "duck hunter core" aesthetic, they've nailed it.

Must be East Coast.

[Anonymous]

Floral wallpaper is peak boomer to me.

[Anonymous]

Grandma core doesn't really exist in the wild anymore since that generation is either in a nursing home or too old to keep ones house in company-ready condition. You might see it underneath the boxes at an estate sale. That's exactly why its primed for revival.
I remember brocade couches, depression glass, lace tablecloths.
Boomer core is every current grandma and thus still everywhere in its original state. Giant couch, curio cabinet full of collectibles/crystal, entertainment center repurposed into picture frame display, bird houses and the kitchen pig.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grandma is the style of the boomer's mothers (the grandmothers of Gen X). All lace doilies and such, sort of like cottage core.

I haven't heard of boomer core before. Boomers were decorating homes mostly in the 60's - 80's, so I'm not sure which decade that would draw from.

I think your timing is off. I’m a boomer and was BORN in the 60s. Maybe I was decorating Barbie’s dream house? My silent gen parents were maybe decorating a house but not really until the 70s because we were in an apartment before then. Even in the 80s I was just out of grad school and in an apartment with basic furniture.

Exactly. I’m a young boomer, too, but even my sister, an “old” boomer, was a teenager for most of the ‘60s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grandma is the style of the boomer's mothers (the grandmothers of Gen X). All lace doilies and such, sort of like cottage core.

I haven't heard of boomer core before. Boomers were decorating homes mostly in the 60's - 80's, so I'm not sure which decade that would draw from.

I think your timing is off. I’m a boomer and was BORN in the 60s. Maybe I was decorating Barbie’s dream house? My silent gen parents were maybe decorating a house but not really until the 70s because we were in an apartment before then. Even in the 80s I was just out of grad school and in an apartment with basic furniture.

Exactly. I’m a young boomer, too, but even my sister, an “old” boomer, was a teenager for most of the ‘60s.

I’m not a Boomer but many of these descriptions sound more like my grandparents homes than my parents, so Silent Generation.

[Anonymous]

I think certain boomer elements will see a revival soon, like glass block windows and round furniture. Look up the "Weekend at Bernie's" house. That's what every Boomer wanted at 30. In their 40s they moved on to ersatz Tuscan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think certain boomer elements will see a revival soon, like glass block windows and round furniture. Look up the "Weekend at Bernie's" house. That's what every Boomer wanted at 30. In their 40s they moved on to ersatz Tuscan.

The PoMo Miami Vice look might have had a fringe fan base in Todd and Margo, but that's not how most people were decorating their homes in '89. Movie houses with decor my parents aspired to included the Father of the Bride house (Nancy Meyers ftw), the Home Alone house, and the house from Uncle Buck. Just pick a home from any movie starring a Culkin child, and that is peak aspirational Boomer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Floral wallpaper is peak boomer to me.

It’s in style again.

[Anonymous]

I think the grandma core is popular because we see too much white, grey, cold, colorless, and oversized, wall-less spaces. People crave cozy, soft, nostalgia, homey, cottage, simplicity.

[Anonymous]

Yes floral wall paper with large blooms is back on trend but it’s not the same look. I don’t have it but it’s usually done in a room with minimal other stuff.

I posted above describing my mother’s decorating. It wasn’t just the wallpaper, it was the couch, throw pillows, curtains and all the furniture. There had to be specific objects of decor on every table and there was an end table or side table next to every seat. A wall couldn’t be blank. There had to be a painting or print or a picture matt that picked an accent color. It wasn’t just visually overwhelming but overly composed for no apparent purpose other than to display stuff that was acquired to be displayed.

[Anonymous]

It's called grand millennial style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes floral wall paper with large blooms is back on trend but it’s not the same look. I don’t have it but it’s usually done in a room with minimal other stuff.

I posted above describing my mother’s decorating. It wasn’t just the wallpaper, it was the couch, throw pillows, curtains and all the furniture. There had to be specific objects of decor on every table and there was an end table or side table next to every seat. A wall couldn’t be blank. There had to be a painting or print or a picture matt that picked an accent color. It wasn’t just visually overwhelming but overly composed for no apparent purpose other than to display stuff that was acquired to be displayed.

I can practically smell the Lemon Pledge in your post! This is such a good description that captures a lot of 80s/early 90s decor. Today we tend to equate more curated and minimalist spaces with prosperity, whereas in the 80s having lots of certain kinds of stuff on display signaled abundance. But since that's not how most people live today, being immersed in that kind of space can feel suffocating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes floral wall paper with large blooms is back on trend but it’s not the same look. I don’t have it but it’s usually done in a room with minimal other stuff.

I posted above describing my mother’s decorating. It wasn’t just the wallpaper, it was the couch, throw pillows, curtains and all the furniture. There had to be specific objects of decor on every table and there was an end table or side table next to every seat. A wall couldn’t be blank. There had to be a painting or print or a picture matt that picked an accent color. It wasn’t just visually overwhelming but overly composed for no apparent purpose other than to display stuff that was acquired to be displayed.

I can practically smell the Lemon Pledge in your post! This is such a good description that captures a lot of 80s/early 90s decor. Today we tend to equate more curated and minimalist spaces with prosperity, whereas in the 80s having lots of certain kinds of stuff on display signaled abundance. But since that's not how most people live today, being immersed in that kind of space can feel suffocating.

DP. You hit the nail on the head with the word abundance and it makes sense because boomers came of age before the time of Chinese Target mass market decor. Things for the house cost more back then and a house filled with objet dart was prestigious. The monkeypod knife and fork on your kitchen wall meant you'd been to Hawaii. The hand-blown glass gondolier meant you'd been to Venice.
Now you can buy anything for pennies and thus nothing has value. A spotlessly clean, totally updated, AI-looking house that seems untouched by humans is something only the wealthy can attain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every Boomer house I've been in is stuffed to the gills with just crap. DVDs, unused china and crystal, board games from 30 years ago, boxes of unsorted photos and jumbled negatives, cabinets full of expired RXs...certainly aspirational.

Yup. My parents have boxes and boxes of crap at their house, some still in boxes from when they moved in 10 years ago. They refuse to do anything with any of it. I already have 1800JUNK programmed into my phone for when it's time for ME to deal with it. What a legacy to leave behind.

Are they neighbors with my parents? Part of it is they bought stuff thinking they were proud to afford it and they would pass it on. My mom is crushed that I don't want any of her 5 sets of china. I don't use it. Don't want it. Frankly, it's ugly. If you had nothing back then you were happy to have any old thing. Plus if times were tough you can sell it. Not now. It will all be estate saled for no doubt pennies for what they paid.