Millennials’ taste in house design has become the punchline of Gen Z jokes, as they attack their elders’ dismal, grey decor.

However, there is a psychological rationale for millennials’ love of gray – their preference for “millennial gray,” as it is known, can be linked back to their childhood home design, according to experts.

“There was an over-saturation of yellow ‘builder beige’ in the ’90s when most millennials grew up,” Los Angeles interior designer Loren Kreiss, CEO and creative director of the luxurious furniture brand Kreiss, told sources. As a result, millennials have become “allergic to warm colors,” he explained.

“Millennial gray,” as the trend is known, is the neutral tone that pervades every part of millennial home design.

“The shades of gray trend really accommodates our desire to move away from the overstimulating chaos of our childhoods and towards a more serene environment,” Ontario-based interior designer Marissa Warner, owner of The Home Narrative, told the site.

According to Jennifer Chappell Marsh, a marital and family therapist in San Diego, gray is a calming color for a minimalist generation that values mindfulness and prefers a steady atmosphere.

“It’s like having one less thing to worry about in a world of uncertainties,” she told HuffPost. She said that a visually “uncluttered house” designed in “palatable, neutral tones can provide a sense of stability and control.”

“Keeping things simple can really help reduce stress and create a sense of order.”

According to experts, millennials’ preference for gray decor may be linked back to their 1990s childhood houses, which were more flamboyant and maximalist.

Gray is also gender neutral, which matches “with more inclusive and non-binary values that many millennial parents and couples support,” she noted. Real estate agents predict that the “millennial gray” and “sad beige” color schemes will continue to be popular, despite criticism.

“We are seeing lots of gray and white interiors within new construction and within flips, and millennials still seem to be placing strong offers on those types of homes,” Gracie Loebs, a Virginia realtor, said.

However, Kreiss feels that a “grandma-core” aesthetic is on the way, which “might even be worse.”

“Think your grandmother in the English countryside, but hipster: stripes, checkers, and other cheekily ironic and contrived design choices,” according to him. “Everyone wants their house to look like it’s old now.”

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