Photograph courtesy of Libby Rasmussen
If you’ve grabbed a cup of coffee or a salad in, oh, the past decade, you’ve likely noticed that public spaces geared toward the professional millennial crowd tend to look exactly the same: sparse white walls, minimalist wooden furniture, perhaps some neutral-hued subway tile. The Scandinavian-chic vibe has dominated in the homes of twenty- and thirtysomethings, too just open Instagram and count the knockoff Eames shell chairs in your feed.
But after years of this pared-back aesthetic, a shift is afoot. Some in the design world are calling it “grandmillennial” or “cottagecore” references to the shelves stuffed with houseplants, rich velvet textiles, macramé wall hangings, mismatched vintage furnishings, and other decor showing up in millennial abodes that looks straight out of your nana’s groovy 1975 living room. Here, we talk to some Washingtonians who have fully embraced this new wave of maximalism.