So, having pulled up this story about 23-year-old Heloise McKee‘s decorating spree at her new group house in Burleith, my first instinct was to quell my gag reflex, throw it in Morning Links, and move on with life. People do have the right to spend their time and money beautifying their living spaces with vignettes and consoles, after all, and the Post is certainly entitled to fawn over the experience if it likes.

But it’s not just a cute profile, which would lower the gag factor. McKee is a trend!

Today’s 20-somethings are more design-conscious and design-savvy than previous generations: They grew up with 24-hour decorating cable TV channels, they read design blogs and online shelter magazines, and they shop at retailers that offer good design at budget-friendly prices. They know that decorating is not only about aesthetics; it’s about expressing who they are.

Writer Terri Sapienza doesn’t even try to back up that statement with an industry expert, or even two more examples to justify the plural “they.” It’s just, well, a story’s not a story unless it has greater significance to How We Live Today. Are today’s recent graduates really much more design-savvy than their forebears? Maybe they shop at Pottery Barn more, but I’m going to venture to guess that the Heloise McKees of 1965 spent time decorating their new pads with whatever was fashionable at the time.

This story probably doesn’t quite deserve a Monica Hesse award, given its lack of attempted substantiation, but it might contend.