The latest home decor trend we're apparently doing wrong.

Every generation feels hard done by but I can help but feel like every time I open the TikTok app I receive an onslaught of shade and snark poking fun at millennials. 

I shouldn't take it so personally and usually I have the patience to laugh it off but a recent video I saw may have taken it too far.

I brushed it off when the Gen Z creators told me I'm unoriginal for wearing a uniform of blue jeans and a black t-shirt. I low-key agreed when they said that ankle socks were passé. And I proudly declared to not stop dancing with my hands in the air just because it looks a little bit cringe and absolutely proves that I'm in my 30s.

But now they're coming for me and my house plants. That is slander I just shan't abide by.

I was recently scrolling TikTok when a video from Aussie home and lifestyle content creator Loui Burke popped up on my FYP. I follow Burke because I genuinely appreciate his home styling tips and have implemented many of his chic ideas into my own home.

It's important to note that, of course, home styling content creators give their opinions on interior design and styling from a purely subjective perspective — it will either resonate with you or you don't vibe and you can keep on scrolling.

But one of Burke's videos felt very personal to me in that it sullied a part of my identity I didn't even know was something that was quite so obvious. Even though I can discern opinion from fact it kinda gut punched me.

@louiburke

Home decor ick has to be the continuation of hoarding indoor plants by mellenials 🪴✨

♬ original sound - Loui Burke

In the video, Burke opened up about what his biggest 'ick' was when it comes to home decor and he was unwavering when he said it was 'millennial indoor plant hoarding' that really gave him the squirms. 

He explained that around 2018/2019 an interior trend emerged where people would fill their homes to the brim with indoor plants.

"They all wanted to have a hydroponic centre for a living room," he said. 

"That's fine if that's you. It's fine but it does give me a little bit of an ick."

Image: TikTok/@louiburke

You all know what he's talking about because chances are your home was a jungle fever dream with planters, ferns, Philodendrons, Monsteras and Snake Plates swinging from every surface. 

A millennial's interior dream. Image: The Modern House.

"Nine times out of ten this is the person that will comment below saying, 'I don't follow trends,'" he said. "This was a trend in 2019."

And of course, people sounded off in the comments taking umbrage with his ick.

"You just got ice for millennials... it was skinny jeans, sideways parts, Harry Potter and now plants — let us have things that bring us joy without the judgement," wrote one user.

"Sir, those are my children," declared another.

"My biggest ick is people who yuck someone’s yum. Leave people alone man," wrote one person.

"I moved on from the trend super fast as all my plants died," confessed another.

Burke's opinions on 'millennial plant hoarding' particularly resonated with me because when I moved into my first rental on my own in 2019 I made indoor plants my entire personality.

My first indoor plants absolutely fighting for their lives. Image: Supplied.

The truth is I was so excited to finally be living independently after being in share houses since graduating from uni that I wanted to make this space feel like my own. However, in reality, I was dirt-broke in Sydney so I didn't have the cash flow to deck out this dilapidated art deco one-bedroom unit — so, plants were all I had to build this home.

I scrounged Facebook Marketplace for people giving away (or selling for cheap) their plants and I took on any little leafy friends I found discarded on the street. These were my children and I took them under my wing to make my proper entry into adulthood feel purposeful.

My plant babies. Image: Supplied.

Sure, I accidentally killed many along the way but somehow I kept adding to the collection and before I knew it my apartment was in full greenhouse effect. 

My sink was falling apart, some days the hot water wouldn't come in and I lived on a diet of tinned tuna on special but I was so house proud with all of my plants. It was my home, all mine, and I had created it with these indoor plants. 

My plant babies. Image: Supplied.

I went through hardships, heartbreak, boozy early hours and the best of times in that apartment and it might sound overly sentimental but my plants were there through it all.

So yeah, Burke's comments do feel weighted because the 'trend' he's referring to underscored such a pivotal moment in my life.

Since then I've moved on from my bachelorette solo days and my interior styling has changed. I moved out to new homes, had a baby, got married and gradually all of the plants just went away.

We've recently relocated to a new city and all I have to show for my green thumb past are a couple of leaves snipped from the garden placed in a glass jar in water that absolutely needs changing.

Image: Supplied.

It wasn't until I saw Burke's video did I stop and reflect on how much our lives change — and by extension, how our homes change as we move through the different phases. I don't have any plants in my home right now because quite frankly keeping a child alive is about all I have time for in this season of life.

But once upon a time those plants meant something to me and they will always hold special memories of how I finally felt independent in this world. Sure, his opinion is just an opinion but it makes sense that people are feeling a little brushed by his commentary.

But just like we might hate the squiggly mirrors all Gen Z's have in their rooms, it's a trend that we can acknowledge and let them enjoy. So, if you're a millennial with a zillion plants filling your home — let those leaves take over if it makes you happy.

Heck, do whatever makes you happy in your home. Commentators like Burke are simply here to voice their opinions because that's what they have a special interest in doing. 

Don't ever let anyone make you feel like you can't have that obscenely large Monstera plant in your kitchen, because they'll never know the blood, sweat and tears it took to keep it alive through COVID-19 and move it into your new apartment. 

Fill your home with plants or keep it bare, just don't forget to water them and you.

Feature Image: Supplied, TikTok/@louiburke