Home Improvement Trends 2011

Enjoy this excellent article by Rob Jones at BuildDirect.com about how homeowners are focusing on transforming what they have...

Homeowners in 2011 are becoming more and more savvy at reading the signs of the times. Things aren’t great right now when you consider the state of the U.S housing market, and the increasing awareness that nothing can be considered business as usual.But, in many ways, this shift in paradigm can be considered something of a catalyst to creativity, and with homeowner self-education when it comes to home improvement trends. Homeowners are seeking to change the status quo more so than ever. To do this, they’re using their creative brains, and their increasing awareness of staying to budget.They are more likely to put an emphasis on efficiency and cost savings. They are more inclined to work in greater detail with each other, with home improvement specialists, and with building materials retailers, to get the visual effects they’re after with long-term savings built right in.Home improvements: “smart” not “more”Homeowners read the news and study economic patterns more so when thinking about their home improvement projects.Trends in green construction, efficient lighting, energy conservation, more awareness when it comes to water use, and all of the cost savings associated with all of those, are the keys to the home improvement decision-making process in 2011 so far. This certainly indicates that homeowners are thinking about building, renovating, transforming their spaces with “smart” in mind, and not necessarily “more”.Modern homeowners Home Improvement Trends 2011The angel is in the detailsThe details are becoming more important in 2011 home improvement projects. Those grandiose plans of the past have evolved into the subtle, and tasteful updates of today. Adding crown moldings, a garden path to a front door, refurbishing furniture, or creating more storage space is a sign of increasing awareness of both cost savings, and the beauty and grace to be found in subtlety.The search for the Dream Home has turned inward, with the idea that the Dream Home is the one we’re already in, waiting to be transformed by the creative eyes of those we live there. And further to that, the Dream Home is revealed not by adding a new wing to the home, but by adding tasteful tweaks that will bring the home to life, including bolder and more personalized color templates, and extended living areas that bridge the interior with outdoor living spaces.A hopeful 2012With the trends moving in this direction, it seems that the modern homeowner is placing education, conservation, and subtlety when it comes to interior design to the forefront.Yet, the home improvement trends for 2011 isn’t about being limited about what a home can be. It’s about opening up to the possibility to what’s already there, waiting to be revealed. Once again, it’s all about that magical word – transformation – which is something that a bad economy can’t dampen. And this makes for a very hopeful 2012.