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By Soo Kim
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A viral post comparing painted brick to boomers carpeting over hardwood floors has sparked debate about whether the design trend enhances or erases a home's character.
The Threads post was shared on August 31 by user @jolleycs, who identifies as an architect. It featured a before-and-after photo of a brick home painted white with the caption: "I'll say it again, painting brick is the millennial equivalent of boomers carpeting over hardwood floors." Since then, it has drawn more than 3.3 million views and thousands of reactions.
The median spending on home renovations in the United States was reported to have risen by 60 percent in recent years, increasing from $15,000 to $24,000 between 2020 and 2023, according to a 2024 survey by Houzz, a home design website.
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The Millennial Draw to Painting Brick
For several designers, the critique in the Threads post struck a chord.
Peter Miles, principal architect at The Drawing Board, told Newsweek: "I agree that painting brick is the millennial equivalent of boomers carpeting over hardwood flooring, except it's a lot easier to rip up carpeting than it is to remove paint from brick. With a little elbow grease and can-do attitude, you can paint a brick house in a weekend. Whether or not you should is another question," Miles said.
The architect added that the permanence of paint makes the practice risky. "Like carpet over hardwood flooring, paint on brick is a clear degradation of a natural material that wears well and will last for generations.
"Unlike carpet over hardwood, painted brick is much less easily restored to its former glory. Besides being exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to remove, paint can also damage brick by trapping moisture within the wall assembly leading to flaking paint and possible structural damage to the building."
Despite such warnings, designers say the practice is growing.
Angie Kreller, an interior designer at Yabby, told Newsweek that ease is part of the appeal and linked the rise to the modern farmhouse look that dominates social media.
She said: "This trend is on the rise generally because there has been a surge in the popularity of the modern farmhouse aesthetic. People are using whitewashed and muted tones on brick to give the house a contemporary look.
"In the same way that carpeting over hardwood hides something that can be considered 'charming,' painting is a way of removing this beauty," Kreller said. "However, making the change is also a way that millennials are bringing DIY to their homes, and making them more their own."
Isfira Jensen, CEO and principal designer at Jensen & Co. Interiors, told Newsweek that painting brick has steadily grown in popularity over the past decade. "We've seen this creeping up mainly because homeowners are looking to neutralize the heavy, reddish brick in favor of a lighter, cleaner-looking color palette," Jensen said.
She added: "Millennials are likely drawn to painting brick because it provides an instant face-lift to a room without the need for heavy renovating, it photographs well, and it aligns with the modern farmhouse look that has been popular on social media over the last 10 years."
Jensen said: "I agree with the Threads poster that this is the equivalent of boomers carpeting over hardwood flooring as both design choices conceal a natural surface to be in line with something they find more on trend."
But Jensen emphasized the difficulty of reversing the decision. "Once brick is painted, it requires maintenance due to peeling, cracking, etc., and is extremely difficult to go back to its original texture and color should the trends change."
Jensen recommended limewashing as a more-flexible option that allows the brick to breathe. "This prevents the peeling, chipping and trapped dampness often associated with painted brick, allowing the surface to be more easily reversed to its original form," Jensen said.
'That's a Crime'
The Threads comments section quickly filled with strong opinions.
User amandina7197 called painted brick "a scourge," while smtk75 wrote: "That's a crime."
Another user, mrslherzog, posted: "So many problems with that. The Brick is porous and has to breathe. Soon it will peel."
Others defended the trend. User jamocat24 argued that context matters, saying: "Painting a 100 year old structural masonry home is an abomination for sure. The pictured home (Young House Love) is your typical suburban Virginia 1980s orange brick facade house. These aren't historic homes and they are a dime a dozen in that area. I think the paint was a big improvement for this particular house."
User kirker offered historical perspective: "Millennials not only didn't invent painted brick; it was commonplace in pre-Civil War America, if only because bricks at the time decomposed more easily without it. Also, the main reason Boomers got into carpet in the first place was because postwar housing did not have hardwoods in most cases."
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via Threads.
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