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By June Mathews
A little more than two years ago, no one could fully imagine the impact the pandemic would have on people around the world.
Health habits, social interactions, work schedules and other aspects of life changed overnight. Parents became instant homeschool teachers, practical shoppers became hoarders, masks rendered us unrecognizable to neighbors, and restaurant deliveries skyrocketed.
Everything was different, and the influence of it all quietly changed us in ways we didn’t expect.
Take home construction trends for 2022, for example. In-demand options reflect who we’ve become, not who we were pre-pandemic.
Trend No. 1: Home Offices
A seismic shift took place in the working world in 2020 when companies all over the country shut down due to COVID-19, and massive numbers of employees began working at home. But what was first considered a temporary situation may not be so temporary after all. According to a report in Forbes, by 2025, an estimated 70% of the workforce will be working at home at least five days a month. So, it only makes sense that people might want to carve out a spot in their homes dedicated to their jobs.
“The biggest thing we’ve added to new houses over the past two years is home offices,” said Patrick Gilbert, owner and president of Wedgworth Construction.
The company’s project manager and marketing director, Patty Leeming, agreed.
“The work-at-home thing is real,” she said. “People want a space now. For a while they were taking them (home offices) out. They don’t want a big one, and they don’t want a fancy one. They just want a spot of their own to go into, essentially. And it’s nice to have your work in a place where you can walk away from it instead of having it on the kitchen island where you’ve been working on it all day long.”
Trend No. 2: More Color
As they spend more times in their homes, homeowners are saying goodbye to the neutral color schemes they’ve spent so much time looking at over the past two years and opting to put some cheerful hues into their surroundings. Whether this is in response to a reported increase in depression due to the stresses of pandemic life or a simple case of being bored with uninteresting walls, one can never be sure. But the color bug has truly bitten.
“Seeing people put more color in their houses is nice to see and a bit daunting at the same time,” said Leeming.
The all-white house – inside and out – appears to be going away, Gilbert predicted. As homeowners spent day in and day out in their homes, the propensity of all-white surfaces to show dirt became a bit wearing.
“It’s like white cars,” said Gilbert. “They look good when they’re clean, but when they get dirty, you can really see it.”
Trend No. 3: More Walls
During the past decade or two, the open concept achieved by connecting common living spaces has been an ongoing trend, but its popularity may be waning. It’s great until a pandemic comes along. Then maybe the kids get a little too noisy in the den while the adults are talking a few steps away in the kitchen. Or a noisy dishwasher in the kitchen makes TV viewing difficult in the den. Or maybe too much family togetherness has gotten to be, well, too much, and a little separation in the form of a wall is called for.
“We’re seeing more people put walls up,” said Leeming. “The open concept is still there, but people are wanting a bit of separation, particularly between the kitchen and den.”
Trend No. 4: Homebuilder Dilemmas
While homeowners enjoy trends associated with new homes, homebuilders are experiencing trends of a less pleasurable kind. Shortages caused by production delays and a lack of workers have them scrambling for building materials, appliances and fixtures.
This trend, said Gilbert, has caused builders to change the way they do things.
“We now order things when contracts are signed, but we may still be waiting on something to come in when we’re trying to finish up the house nine or 10 months later,” he said. “So, we just kind of restructure how we do things and work around the delays as best we can.”
According to Leeming, delays can drag on far beyond what anyone would expect.
“Every day’s a new day,” she said. “You just don’t know when you’re going to get a phone call that something else isn’t going to come in when it was supposed to. We ordered a dishwasher for a new home in June of last year, and it’s still not here.”
