With summer still in the early stages, there’s plenty of time to achieve your plans for renovations and design upgrades. Houzz, the popular home remodeling and design platform, has published their 2023 Houzz U.S. Emerging Summer Trends Report. It lists the emerging home trends based on search insights from their community over 65 million homeowners, design enthusiasts and industry professionals.
Ready to jump in? Here’s the list of top nine trends to inspire your next log home project.
Diving Below the Surface
Don’t forget about your home spaces below the main level; Houzz’s users certainly aren’t. Functional uses for finished basements as family rooms or recreation rooms saw searches up 791% and 524% respectively, followed by movie theaters, game rooms and home gyms. The most popular idea? Searches for “basement golf simulator” spiked 1,905% from last year!
Head to the Rooftop
If you have a rooftop space, make the best of it! Expand your living space with entertaining equipment and relaxation essentials. Searches for “outdoor rooftop terrace,” “rooftop deck” and “rooftop patio” topped the charts at 1,555%, 90% and 40%, respectively.
Increased Accessibility in Bathrooms
Do you feel like you’ve found your forever home? So do plenty of other homeowners on Houzz’s platform. Renovation and improvement trends to support owners through retirement are increasing in popularity. “Aging-in-place bathrooms” and “handicap-accessible bathrooms” more than doubled in searches from last year. Searches for adding features like “handheld shower head” (68%), “ADA compliant bathroom vanities” (43%) and “curbless showers” (41%) help achieve this goal.
Get Cooking in Industrial-Style Kitchens
An interest in industrial-style kitchens can be attributed to easy-to-clean surfaces, a commercial ambiance and high-traffic durability to start. Searches for “kitchen track lighting” and “pull-down kitchen faucets” have tripled while “stainless steel countertops” and “brick kitchen wall” have doubled. On-the-rise trends include “concrete countertops” and “copper kitchen backsplash.”
A Dream Kitchen for the Entertainer
In the 2023 Kitchen Trends Study from Houzz, nearly 3 in 5 homeowners use the kitchen for entertaining after a renovation (57%). This motivation has influenced searches for “open concept kitchen to family room” (up 76%) as well as island cooktops and ranges for cooks to engage with their guests as they prepare a meal. “Walk-in kitchen pantry” searches for additional storage jumped 2,636% from last year, while “scullery kitchen” searches grew 38% to keep messy kitchen tasks away from guests.
A Degree of Separation
Even though open-concept designs are on top, an increased interest in short-term separations is popping up. Searches for “living room divider,” “Shoji screen” and “partition wall” were up 445%, 60% and 41%, respectively.
Don’t Overlook the Overhead
The ceiling, also referred to as the fifth wall, is typically overlooked. Design aficionados on Houzz’s platform are trying to change that. “High-gloss ceiling,” “painted ceiling,” and “black ceiling” have increased search traffic, and “tongue-and-groove ceilings” grew 73% from 2022.
Reviving Historical Styles
While there’s a growing interest in historical architecture styles, Colonial and Spanish Colonial are topping the search results. Searches for Colonial-associated “front porch” (536%), “exteriors” (167%) and “living room” (123%) all increased compared to 2022. “Spanish Colonial living room” searches jumped significantly by 1,470%, while “Spanish Colonial kitchens” and “Spanish Colonial exteriors” tripled and more than doubled, respectively.
Small but Mighty Outdoor Features
Tight on outdoor space? Don’t let that stop you from spending your summer outdoors. Searches for “small swimming pool” grew by 46%, and “small plunge pool” and “small pool house” jumped 375% and 210%, respectively. An interest in “small outdoor kitchens” more than doubled, while “small screened-in porch ideas” grew by 522%.
