Top Home Improvement Indicators for 2020 and the Role of Lighting

Admit it. You’ve always wanted to do it.

You’ve watched every episode of HGTV’s Fixer Upper with Joanna Gaines, the co-founder of Magnolia.com, and your Pinterest pages, “Dream Kitchen” and “Romantic Master Suite” are a never-ending scroll of kitchen cabinets, granite surfaces, lighting fixtures, and other unique design elements you never thought existed.

But is it time to move forward with the dream kitchen or master bath you envision?

And how do your dream home aspirations compare to the reality of what’s trending in the real world of home renovation of 2020?

Well, if you’re a “nosy neighbor” who likes to take deep dives into data, you’re in luck.

Houzz.com—a leading platform for home renovation and design, and that offers the latest renovation and decorating resources—recently compiled 87,000 responses to 160 home remodeling questions asked to US homeowners in its annual nationwide survey.

In its 2020 Houzz & Home Study, Houzz delivers a meaningful overview of key renovations and indicators, as seen through the eyes of U.S. homeowners, making it a highly effective home remodel-planning dashboard.

The home renovation data is assembled into a full-color, 46-page study that provides
at-a-glance charts and topical summaries, including: home improvement trends by
metro-area, generational perspectives, and project popularity—in addition to spend benchmarks and financing solutions. It also has an extensive appendix that drills further into generational demographics and changes in year-over-year median spend by metropolitan areas.

 “From a home improvement perspective, one of the greatest takeaways I recognized was that the reasons for renovating—‘wanting to do it all along’ and ‘customize a home to make it my own’—hasn’t changed,” says Steve Brielmaier, owner and founder of LampsUSA.com. “It was also interesting to see that minor home redecorating efforts, such as changing the color of a room, updating a room with new lighting fixtures, or adding new coat of paint is the easiest and most budget-conscience way to get the new look you want when a complete overhaul isn’t necessary.”

As kitchen and bathroom renovations continue to hold the title of top two renovations, adding a home office complete with an audio/visual wall monitor, standing desk, and wet bar for barista-inspired coffee, contends with outdoor living spaces where the comfort of the indoors is created outside with cooking, dining, entertainment, and lighting systems.

Deb Milis, a seasoned lighting professional from LampsUSA commented, “Outdoor lighting is often overlooked until the last minute, but it’s the functional yet artful detail that fuses the indoor and outdoor spaces into a just the right about of light and ambiance required for night time activities. Plus, there are so many styles available now that weren’t available even several years ago.”
(For more information on outdoor lighting, see the LampUSA’s Outdoor Lighting Buyer’s Guide.)

Another growing trend in home remodels is renovating an old bedroom or long-forgotten attic space, into a personal home office or work area. And, as many industries and employers recognize the value of providing a quality work-life balance, roughly 10% of Gen Xers and Millenials (and even the Baby Boomers) intend to add or update a home office that includes table lamps and lighting fixtures to create a personal work space that is enjoyable, and truly their own.

Having a project to look forward to is something that can help bring a sense of accomplishment and joy to your life for many years to come. So as you plan to turn your Pinterest page into reality, the outlook for home renovations and the scope of indoor and outdoor projects appears to remain steady for US homeowners.