“Sad Beige” is one of the many and new coined terms that has come around in recent times, in this new internet age and it’s used to describe mums who, in essence, prefer to decorate their homes in more neutral “sad” tones.

Mum’s are getting criticised by the internet at large for taking a dislike to multi-coloured interiors and in tandem brightly coloured children’s toys and clothing. The narrative is that these mums are selfish and want to impose their aesthetic on their child/ren…

Please. Although I agree that children should be exposed to different colours in the early stages in life, they can, but my home doesn’t have to bear the brunt of this!

Outside of the home can be chaos, and when we come home, I want the environment to not to resemble visual vomit. Rather I want home to be a serene and calming place. I don’t want to be over-stimulated in my home with different colours all over the place. I want home to be home, that is, to be completely opposite to outside.

Children get to experience colours all over, including outside the house. This is what I was alluding to in the previous paragraph. Whether it be going for a walk, having a spot of lunch at a cafe or going to a soft play facility, a supermarket or a shopping mall away from home. Getting out of the four walls of your house or even going to relatives or close friend’s house are a good chance for baby to see and experience different things, this includes different colours, no?

The different foods we feed baby, orange foods like carrots and butternut squash, greens like and broccoli and spinach, the yellow hues of eggs, and the rich bluey-purples of blueberries are examples of what should be a literal visual feast for our babies.

Additionally, certain activities for kids like painting and play dough can be done at home (with painters cloth laid down first of course), but it’s doesn’t mean it can’t be packed away and tidied at the end of the day.

Motherhood isn’t easy and anything to make it that bit more pleasant for main caregiver in most cases, the mother, shouldn’t be a crime!

Honestly I’m not even triggered by the these videos and posts. I’m writing about it as it’s relevant to the content of my blog. Quite frankly, I don’t care what people have to say about a house/ my home they don’t contribute financially to, nor the time and effort it takes to this keep the home running smoothly.

I think the ick is that this plain, neutral aesthetic has been adopted by influencers who are often times usually wealthier than the average or they want to appear better than the average. Some influencers have been labeled as “out-of-touch” but let’s be honest, there is a real paradoxical disdain for the well-to-do online. Some desire to be like them but in the same breath those that want to have what they have may be resentful, even jealous and hate the wealthy because they think they can’t have what they have. I say, if you don’t like something you have the choice not to consume their content. 

And why am I a sad beige mum? I saw watching some TikTok posts (below) in light of coming across this term “sad beige” and I couldn’t agree with it them. Selfishly or not.

I cAn NoT fUnCTIon with visual clutter, and if I can’t function with visual clutter, how can I look after my baby in the best way. Babies are messy as it is and it’s taken me a while to accept that my home will not always be tidy, but it doesn’t mean I have to completely loose control and allow the home to look like it’s been ransacked. For me colourful visual clutter also gives that ransacked vibe which we don’t want! Adults live in my house too, not just a baby! We must respect all occupants of the house!

Also something quite personal to me is that I come from a family of migrants parents who had a cluttered home caused by a slight tendency to hoard, which I grew up in and amongst. I lived with this in frustration for far too long, and this has meant that I want a life now that’s free from that, a complete 180º. I like plain walls (with panelling mind you), and I don’t want my rugs to clash with the curtains and sofas because we can afford to choose better now, and I don’t mean “afford” just in terms of money, but also, we can afford to take the time to carefully consider what we bring into our homes now.

This generation in my family, of me, is about thriving and not just surviving. And for me part of that looks like a carefully curated home, adorned with intentional. similar-hued pieces, whether that be for baby or ourselves.

A lot of the colours that plastic toys and materials are coloured or dyed with are fabricated with chemicals that may not be good for our kids to be up and around, and I don’t think the internet trolls have considered this.

Lastly, I love colour, and quite frankly in my heart I’m actually a maximalist as well, as long as all the eccentric elements of a maximalist design come together in complete harmony. In fact, I went to an art school and I’m actually a fine artist and a graphic designer in my spare time! Not all mums are arty, but in my case, colour has a huge significance in my life (as in literally my art and graphics has been my life for as long as I remember, and I’m a visual learner etc.), and when baby’s old enough to paint, I will get her to paint with me and I’ll show and explain to her colour theory etc. The reason I’m mentioning this is because I’m trying to demonstrate that colour can be shown in many different ways to baby, it doesn’t mean the house that we live in has to be flooded with it.

Let me know what you think. Should monochromatic interiors and thing of the past once you have a baby? Let me know your thoughts

Afia 💜