Popular lockdown home improvement trends

With a recent study1 finding that 85% of UK residents have undertaken home improvement activities during the lockdown period, the ‘do it yourself’ boom is set to continue throughout lockdown and beyond. With this said, what are the most popular home improvement trends that have been completed by homeowners? Here is a selection of home renovation jobs that many of us have undertaken.

Disclaimer: AD | Article in collaboration with Quickslide

Open plan homes are changing

It seems more people have recently preferred having a separate lounge as opposed to kitchen diners. Homeowners have favourited jobs that involve putting a wall back in to create separate living spaces, as these see a huge increase of 350%2 in 2020 compared to 2019.

This trend may have been influenced by lockdown and having to spend much more time at home creating more of a need for space and privacy, but regardless, there’s no doubt that this surge suggests that open-plan homes are evolving.

Door upgrades

With much more time to complete home renovations, many property owners were looking to invest in more durable doors and windows: The keyword search term ‘double glazed door’ increased by 75% from 2020 to June, and ‘double glazed windows’ increasing by 56% from March to June. When investing in new fixtures, it is important to ensure that they have a good energy rating. Sash windows from Quickslide come with 22mm double glazed units with an energy rating of ‘B’ with multi-chambered frames and sashes that use the power of air as an insulator to stop warmth escaping – a perfect option as the colder months approach.

Garden makeovers

The garden is a safe space for many vulnerable or shielded people, so it is no surprise that gardening and landscaping has been a surging trend this year. With lockdown beginning in March, many homeowners were turning to makeover the garden by May, which saw the term ‘gardening ideas’ googled over 2.4 million times, which is an increase of 158% from March 2020.

Adding a lick of paint

It’s clear that DIYers were looking for colour inspiration from February, with the term ‘wall colours’ increasing by 57% to almost half a million searches from February 2020 to April 2020. Keywords such as ‘house paints’ saw a search increase of a whopping 167% throughout the same months this year, with the keyword ‘painting’ up by 95% in this same period, with a total of 3.8 million Google searches in April alone. It seems that people were not only painting over scuffs and marks throughout lockdown, with more time to repaint the whole home.

Upcycling

Interestingly, more homeowners were keen to reuse instead of buying home décor brand new and invest in second-hand and reclaimed furniture. The search term ‘second-hand furniture’ increased by 92% between April 2020 and July, with ‘upcycling’ increasing by 54% between March and June, showing that with more time at home, people were getting creative by giving something used a new lease of life.

A boom for indoor botanicals

House plants have been a trend for the past couple of years now, however a love for indoor plants has never been as strong as during lockdown: the term ‘house plants’ increased by 105% between February and May. With many different indoor botanicals to choose from, they are a brilliant way to liven up the home and bring colour and life indoors with minimal effort.

It’s fair to say that lockdown has inspired homeowners to use this time to revamp their homes and give it some much needed TLC while offering interesting insights into the increase in search trends.

 

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