This year saw an incredible shift in the day-to-day operations of the world. Offices shuttered, daily commutes ended, and we tried to do it all—from schooling to working out to therapy to vacations—in our homes. According to a study, 36.2 million Americans (22% of the workforce) will be working remotely by 2025, which is an 87% increase from the number of remote workers prior to the pandemic. It’s no wonder that how we’re thinking about renovation projects has likely changed from previous years. So we reached out to those in the world of decorating, landscape design, and home improvement for the scoop on what they think the big trends will be for 2021 reno projects.
“Entertainment and recreational room design help requests have, as of recently, begun to supersede family room makeovers, which were the leading trend for the past eight to nine months,” says Devin Shaffer, lead interior designer at Decorilla Online Interior Design. “The pandemic continues to teach us new ways to maximize the uses of the space that we’re spending time in. Because of this, many homeowners have maxed out the design opportunities for the most commonly used rooms in their homes and are now seeking expert advice on what rooms or areas in their home can take on a new life. Basement remodel projects are a great way to create a recreational room, and they have been in high demand over the last quarter of the year. We expect this to trend more and more over the next year.”
The most fun requests Devin is seeing: in-home theaters, indoor bowling lanes, full home bars, indoor golf simulators, and climbing walls. “It’s been really interesting to see designers and clients get creative with out-of-the-box alternatives to basements with garage-to–home-gym conversions, guest bedrooms–to–at-home arcade rooms, and the latest is a home library–to–Lego-collection showroom.”
“With more and more workers taking up remote positions in a post-COVID world, I think we are going to see an even larger increase in demand for live/work-space renovation, whether that’s the transformation of current bedrooms and bonus spaces into offices or the addition of purpose-built home-office structures to empty land,” says Christian Adams, CEO and cofounder at Repair Pricer. “The focus will be on creating functional spaces that can double for both [live/work] purposes, such as built-in furniture that can be hidden away or used for work and storage, or improving sound insulation in existing walls and areas to create a calm environment for work.”
“People will spend more time and effort in designing a unique working space to maximize their concentration, motivation, and productivity,” says Jing Xue, COO and cofounder of DecorMatters. “Things like location, colors, decorations, and furniture have a big effect on your mental and physical state. In fact, bright lighting has been shown to make people happier, ambient sounds help people focus, and poor air quality can lead to a drop in productivity.”
“One trend I have seen emerging in major markets that has even been picked up on by large tract builders such as Lennar, is the creation of purpose-built multigenerational homes with essentially two separate homes under one roof,” says Christian. “This is not just down to the shifting dynamic among families but also because of the ability for homeowners to monetize the extra space for long-term rentals or even Airbnb-style short-term leasing.”
