People Are Sharing Their Before-And-After Home Renovation Photos, And They’ll Either Make You Angry Or Envious
I don't know about you, but I am certainly on #RenovationTok (if that's a thing?). I loooove looking at home renovations — it's so cool to see people get creative and turn lemons into lemonade! Like, this mom "DIY-ed" her whole kitchen, and it's super impressive:
@itshoneydone / Via tiktok.com
That being said, over here on the renovation algorithm, there's a fair share of disappointment. Sometimes, people completely gut out the charm, history, or quality in favor of soulless fixtures and walls — or worse, "millennial gray" — making for some heartbroken onlookers.
Note: The images have been replaced with similar images for copyright purposes.
It made me wonder if millennial grey and white is really all this era will be known for. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but I kinda loved the design chaos of the early 2000s. Growing up, I remember the Tuscan-style kitchens, the shabby-chic farmhouse style, and the zebra and hot pink bedrooms (which I unfortunately possessed until age 25).
There was soooo much going on in these maximalist designs, I wonder if millennial grey is just the necessary reaction to it.
I thought I'd snoop through the Internet to see how everyone's renovating their homes these days. I've seen so much hate on many white and millennial grey renos; I needed to see if that's really all that's going on.
This TikTok physically hurt me pic.twitter.com/xKusiqg7E6
— Edgewater Expat 🇮🇹 (@Eric_Erins) February 22, 2023
Soooo, let's jump right into everything I found. Here's how 11 people recently renovated bathrooms, kitchens, and more in their homes:
1.Here's this person's updates to their dated kitchen and living room:
Def more modern, but not beating the millennial greige allegations.
2.This couple made many modern updates to the kitchen in their 1920s New England bungalow:
RIP the arch 🥲 Prob would've kept her and the original parquet flooring.
3.I went "wowowow" at this this person's modern bathroom reno:
u/CMyles11 / Via reddit.com
It's giving hotel, and I am envious! It just needs a dab of color or plants, IMO.
4.Possibly controversial — these people updated their funky retro bathroom to a "clean contemporary" look:
In their defense, they said, "I loved the retro look of the previous bathroom... but there was at least 30 years worth of water damage on and behind the shower walls, which cause mold and rot. There was no ventilation, and the arch meant that steam couldn't escape. In the end, I prefer the porcelain tiles to the plastic tiles." Soo fair!
5.Here's how these people DIY'ed a complete kitchen renovation in their 1870 farmhouse:
The after is stunning (I'm a sucker for a green kitchen — thanks Dakota Johnson), but I kinda dig the retro bar vibe of the before, too!
6.This person made some very minimalist Kim Kardashian-esque updates to their bathroom renovation, and people had thoughts:
One person wrote, "Not going to say I love the old one, because it looks like a pretty daggy '90s job... Really don't like the after, though. Not a fan of this aesthetic. Feels drab, institutional, and soulless to me. Like every Airbnb unit I've stayed in has pretty much this exact bathroom."
7.Here's how this person updated their very pink (counter, toilet, bathtub, and all) 1970s bathroom:
I am dying over the death of the pink bathroom — but that just might be me.
8.If you love historic charm, you might be pleasantly surprised to see that this person added BACK the old charm to their 1900s Victorian bathroom:
I never see this! So cool and proves that not everyone is reverting to white and millennial grey.
9.Possibly controversial — this person updated their living space by painting their brick fireplace white:
10.These homeowners updated their cabin-like bathroom to be a bit more modern and minimalist:
11.This new homeowner painted their knotty pine bedroom grey, which received some mixed reviews from Reddit's peanut gallery:
"Why is it always gray. 😭" —u/canyouimagine
12.And lastly, the people of r/centuryhomes weren't too thrilled to see this modern update to a 1909 home's bathroom...
...we all have different tastes! You can be the judge yourself.
That's a wrap for my findings! Personally, I am a maximalist when it comes to design (if you couldn't already tell), so I was pleasantly surprised that not everything was bland, boring, or skewing minimalist. However, if I were to pinpoint a big 2020s home trend, I'd say it would be lots of white (sooo much white) and contrasting black or grey accents.
It'll be interesting to see how all this ages in 10+ years, but c'est la vie! What goes around comes back around again.
Let me know what you think of all the renovations, though! And what home designs do you think we'll look back on and say, "That's so 2020s"? (I apologize for already painting that picture in your mind.)
