A millennial showed off the minimalist home she designed after growing up with her mother's clutter. She got roasted by Gen Z and boomers likening it to an 'airport lounge.'
A millennial mom went viral touring her minimalist home in response to her childhood clutter.
Commenters were less than impressed, calling her house "bland" and "boring."
The creator, Meesh, told BI her popular account is a means of processing childhood trauma.
A TikToker and professional home stager who made a comedic video denouncing her mom's "anxiety-inducing" clutter tendencies is now being roasted by viewers for her uber-minimalist home.
Meesh, 33, a mother of two based in Arizona who wished to be referred to by her nickname, launched the @notlikemymother TikTok account last year as a way to process her childhood trauma, she told Business Insider. It has now grown to 215,000 followers.
In addition to having grown up with clutter — including rooms packed with furniture that could only be traversed via small paths — Meesh was also raised in the "high-demand religion" of Mormonism, she told BI, and has experienced mental illness she felt her mother did not validate.
On Thursday, she posted a partial home tour of her minimally-appointed space with 3 million views. "We don't have a bunch of random-ass furniture shoved in all the corners," she quipped.
While she has gone viral before, she's never received this much hate, she told BI. She noted that judging from their profile pictures she believes many of them are either Gen Z or boomers. Her detractors rushed to defend a "maximalist" aesthetic instead, likening her home to an "airport lounge" or Airbnb and calling it "bland" and "boring."
"We have the grey tone on grey tone on grey tone with a snarky tone thrown in," wrote one commenter.
Meesh clarified on TikTok that she didn't mean to deride the maximalist design aesthetic (which she loves). She was simply calling out the "mini-hoarding" she grew up with.
"People are either loving the house, and they're millennials, or they're anything but a millennial, and they hate it," she told BI.
It's particularly ironic, she said, given her job for the past seven years has been to "neutralize" homes to get them market-ready.
"It is millennial gray, and compared to maximalism, it's a very stark home," she said of her personal style. "But I don't really give a shit. It's comfortable for me."
'My mom has kind of reaped what she sowed,' said Meesh
Meesh used to send her sister comedic videos about their mom and then started sharing them on TikTok at her sister's urging. Those videos then went "super viral overnight," she told BI.
"I love my mom, and I do like her," Meesh added, "but she's her own breed."
She said her mother is aware of the page, but she doesn't go on social media much, "so it doesn't really affect her that I'm aware of."
That said, people have denounced the way Meesh speaks about her mom, including calling Meesh a "bitch" and disapproving of her tone, she told BI. And while she doesn't necessarily disagree, she doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon.
Meesh told BI she's also been somewhat restrained in her critiques given what she could be covering — including her mother's views on the LGBTQ+ community and the patriarchal values she's espoused.
"My mom has kind of reaped what she sowed," Meesh said. "She accidentally turned me into a raging feminist."
Read the original article on Business Insider