Wellness Continues To Trend In New Residential Design Survey

Leading design and remodeling platform Houzz published its 2022 Summer Survey today and it’s chock full of wellness-related design trends. The survey measures searches on its massive site in the first quarter of 2022, with comparisons to the same period last year. Searches don’t necessarily translate to 2022 sales, but indicate strong consumer interest that can show up in sales and completed projects six to 12 months later.

Outdoor Living

Among them are a continued focus on outdoor living, with hot tubs on decks showing the biggest gains at 130% increase. These outdoor spas offer numerous health benefits, including stress relief, muscle relaxation, improved sleep, pain relief and cardiovascular improvements for some users, according to Healthline.

Functionality

Also trending is task lighting, a functional improvement to kitchens and home offices. Having proper illumination onto a countertop can be the difference between a julienned carrot and a julienned fingertip.

With more people than ever working from home too, spare bedroom’s or living room’s typical ceiling-mounted light fixtures are often insufficient to reading paperwork. According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, poor lighting conditions can cause eye discomfort, headaches and impact your ability to perform precision work.

Another functional trend is hallway cabinets, up 101% in popularity. These entry storage features can help keep a home more hygienic and organized, with space for household members’ shoes and bags.

Style Statements

In its Styles Defined section, Houzz reports that Japandi kitchens have increased in popularity by 104% and Japandi bathrooms by 229%. Ja-what? Salt Lake City-based home design retailer Vevano Home gives a helpful definition of this fusion aesthetic: “Japandi interior design brings together the elements of Japanese and Scandinavian designs to create a home environment where beautiful simplistic functionality reigns and a connection to nature is essential.” Functionality and nature connections – often called biophilia – are both hallmarks of wellness design.

Another popular style is barndo or barndominium. According to Family Handyman, “A barndo is just what it sounds like—a barn that has been converted into a living space.” The popular remodeling site describes them as affordable, energy efficient and low maintenance. Barndos’ wellness benefits include their low maintenance, which makes life easier for homeowners, and often ample natural light. Some of these homes are repurposed from actual barns, but kits are also available to create barndo-style homes. Barndo design searches increased by 154% and barndominium-inspired kitchen styles rose 138%, Houzz reports.

Pandemic Inspirations

Small one-wall kitchen ideas are trending, potentially because of secondary spaces like in-law suites, morning kitchens and accessory dwelling units. Dog feeding stations are up 55% and chair covers 429%; are those two trends related? So many “pet parents” encourage their animals to join them on the furniture. Having removable covers that can go into the washing machine help in that regard.

The closet-based home office, sometimes dubbed a “cloffice” (76% growth), and computer armoires (90%) both point to a continued work from home trend. Bidets are also up, but only 14%. Are people hitting the pause on these wellness boosters, despite the many new, more affordable offerings? Did they max out after the great toilet paper shortage of 2020? It’s likely that new primary bathroom remodels will continue featuring these health-enhancing home fixtures, but they may not be compelling enough for the average homeowner to replace now with the electrical and plumbing work required for the advanced models.

The full Houzz report is available here.