Boomers Are Sharing Their Truths About The 2024 Home Design Trends They Absolutely Loathe

If you have a certifiably hot take on a current home design trend, I hate to break it to you, but you're not alone. Everybody (and I do mean everybody) has an opinion, it seems — and oddly enough, things become even more divisive when you look at specific tastes by generation.

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Recently, I had hundreds of baby boomers write in with their hot takes on the most seemingly popular trends of 2024, and when it comes to many of their opinions, they have a point! These are the very specific design trends that people over 60 have very specific reasons for disliking, and I'm genuinely curious if you'll agree with them or not.

No matter which generation you're a part of, feel free to sound off with your own home design hot take in the comments section after you read this post.

1. "I don’t understand houses that have an attached garage in front of the living space. From the street, all you can see is a garage door. No curb appeal there."

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—Anonymous, 69, Massachusetts

"Why are so many houses built with garages in the front? It’s like your house is a shrine to the car."

—Rebecca, 72, California

2. "I hate it when all the books on a shelf are turned backwards. Who does that?"

3. "Clear glass shower enclosures mean constant cleaning of water spots; with frosted or textured glass, the spots never show."

4. "Plastic patio furniture. I HATE IT! Cheap, ugly, uninviting."

5. "Plain, UGLY appliances that cost a fortune and do not operate well for very long. What happened to the lovely colors from the '60s and '70s?"

6. "Gray. Don't get me started. Gray is the most boring, drab color. Gray walls, gray floors, gray furniture, even gray-painted brick. I don't understand how people get excited about this. It takes more than a few colorful throw pillows and a draped blanket to fix it. I'll be glad when this trend goes away."

7. "TVs mounted above fireplaces. I know this has been popular for almost three decades now, so I’m not going to make many friends here. TVs are electronics. Electronics hate heat. In addition, those sitting or lying on the floor near the TV, like kids, can hardly see it at all. And those sitting on sofas and chairs around the room have to unnaturally look up instead of straight ahead. Sports bars are the worst for this reason! For comfortable watching, TVs should be located at sitting eye level or slightly above...and away from fires!"

8. "It's probably regional, but in the Metro DC area, brand new large homes are popping up with the 'deck' on the third (or top) floor. Yes, they sell them with elevators — ever been in a home elevator? Well, don't be in a hurry — plus, once you're up there and need to grab something from the kitchen, it's either a slow ride on the elevator or 15 or more stairs to get there. And here's the kicker: these are for over-55 senior living. WHAT?!"

9. "The thing I absolutely despise in a new home is an electrical outlet turned horizontal on the baseboard. I think this is supposed to be an upscale feature of high-end homes, but personally, I think some architects just decided this would be trendy without looking at all the downsides. The baseboards in my house serve the very practical purpose of protecting the bottom of the walls from damage from a vacuum cleaner or even a broom, so I can only imagine how many times a plug will get knocked out when cleaning the floors."

10. "The open floor plan is terrible. When you are cooking, washing the dishes, and putting them away and someone is in the family room trying to watch the TV, one cannot hear anything at a normal volume because of the noise in the kitchen. And, in order to keep us sane, we need to keep the rooms neat; otherwise, the whole area looks cluttered. Take me back to individual rooms."

11. "The luxury jacuzzis located right next to smaller, traditional three-walled showers. They're almost worthless. I've owned three homes for a total of approximately 18 years that have had this feature, and my family has used it for its intended purpose maybe six times in total. Most often, it is a dirty clothes hamper or the go-to location for filling a bucket of water. Would much rather have an extra large shower and a small linen closet in lieu of the massive soaking tub. Those would be much more useful."

12. "I hate microwaves over ceramic top stoves — or actually over any stove. I am short and find it somewhat dangerous. Not only could I easily spill on myself, but I could also drop a dish onto the stovetop and crack it."

13. "'Coastal Contemporary' new constructions here in Florida. Drive down a street with multiple new construction single-family homes, and they all look the same: white exterior finish, tall front elevations, vertical windows, paver circular driveways, wood-look garage doors, small pools, huge houses on average-size lots."

14. "My main bathroom doesn’t have a door, just a big opening, and I hate it. I put up curtains but really would prefer a door. It's not only the fact that there's no privacy, but I live in Colorado, and it’s cold in the winter."

15. "One of my pet peeves is making bedrooms so small that you can barely get around even a small twin bed. You pay over $400,000 for a new home, and the kids' bedrooms are the size of a mobile home bedroom. My mother-in-law lives in a house built in '96. Her bedroom is so small that all she can do is scoot around the bed. She is now on a walker, and can't even get it in the room with her."

16. "Main bedroom closets combined with laundry rooms. I don't know who thought this was a good idea. Why do I want the moisture from the washer and dryer on my clothes? Mold and mildew come to mind. I don't get it."

17. "All-black kitchens and black appliances scream, 'I don’t cook, and I don’t clean.' Yes, I like the magazine photos of them, but no, not for those of us who really use the kitchen."

18. "Thick, heavy mattresses that are too heavy to lift for older or disabled people, so you can’t make the bed properly."

19. "Free-standing tubs are dumb — everyone drips getting out of the tub all over the floor, and who cleans the tub? Same with clear glass shower doors. Besides privacy, have you seen clear glass after water ran on it?"

20. "That backsplash that has multiple colors — little brick-shaped pieces of glass."

21. "I loathe the unvented range hood. It only serves to spread a mist of cooking grease all over the kitchen if it doesn’t vent outside. I’d rather not have one at all."

22. "Tray ceilings are super wasteful when heating your home. Heat rises, and so it fills the inverted tray, trapping the warmth. My house has tray ceilings in four big rooms. Never again."

23. "Having a self-mounting sink in either the kitchen or bathroom means you cannot merely wipe minor debris from the adjacent counter into the sink; actually, you cannot even push water from the counter into the sink."

24. "The all-white kitchen is a nightmare, both to work in and to clean. It's especially boring for those of us who spend the majority of our time in this one room."

What's a current design trend that you just can't get behind? Use the comments to share your unfiltered home design opinions with us.

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.