Trends in residential remodeling are ever-changing.
Keeping ahead on trends can make it easier to understand what your clients are likely to ask for - and help instill faith in potential clients considering you for their remodel. What was in two years ago can now be considered passé and what you could never have imagined would be popular might now be in every house.
Check out these 5 big residential trends for 2019.
1. Defined Open Floor Plans
Open floor plans – which make use of large, open spaces and minimize the use of small, enclosed rooms – are just as popular as ever.
However, some homeowners who’ve incorporated an open plan into a new build or home remodel find the acoustics that come along with it less than desirable.
Tired of hearing the music someone is playing on the other side of the house or sounds from the kitchen in all corners of the home, they are looking for an open floor plan that isn’t quite so… open.
The latest trend in open space floor plans focuses on defining different living areas in order to negate the ‘warehouse’ type experience an open floor plan can create.
On the design and construction level, you can help define these areas using on-trend innovations such as:
- glass-and-steel room dividers
- different floor levels
- low level walls
- varying ceiling heights
- islands that separate the kitchen from the dining/family areas
These tactics can not only help keep sound from traveling so far but can also visually separate different areas within a larger space.
Tip: Clients dreaming of knocking out walls and opening up space? Make sure they understand how all of their design elements can impact acoustics in their home. Suggest floor underlayments that can go underneath hardwood, tile, or wood to improve soundproofing in their new, larger space.
2. Moody Colors
Happy white, you’ve had your day. Light gray, get on the bench.
Black – and it’s many moody friends – are up to bat, taking the lead in home remodel trends for 2019.
Expect that choose darker colors like navy, forest green, and black in home remodel projects you’re on this year.
The shift away from bright whites and grays is, in part, a reaction to their dominance in home design for the past decade.
Also – according to Houzz editor and writer, Mitchell Parker – it’s possible that exposure to visual imagery of richer, moodier tones in home design on social media has made homeowners feel more emboldened in their color choices.
Tip: Black is the new gray. While still a neutral shade, black is kicking home-design-dominator-gray to the curb and bringing more depth to kitchen and bathroom design in 2019. Expect to be ordering a lot of dark cabinets for your clients.
3. Social Kitchens
Gone are the days of formal dining. Well, maybe not for all of us, but there is a trend toward casual in home dining that is changing kitchen landscapes.
Enter social kitchens.
Designed as a combination kitchen and dining space, social kitchens render formal dining spaces obsolete.
It is becoming common in mid-size home remodels to incorporate the space designated for eating into the kitchen as sort of an oversized breakfast nook.
Why? The open space floor plan has long situated the kitchen as the heart of the house, the perfect location from which to cut, wash, prep, and cook while still being a part of the greater house.
A social kitchen takes this interaction a step further, designed to include:
- Space for multiple users to work in the kitchen at the same time, with appliances spaced out to accommodate.
- A large island with seating, preferably including a sink and range that allows host to interact while cooking.
- Dining table in kitchen, sometimes even as a table extended from the island.
Tip: Ask your client how many times a year they actually use their formal dining room. If the answer is one or less, then a social kitchen overhaul may make more sense. This trend isn’t for those who enjoy a separate, formal dining space but rather for those who are ready to take their casual dining to the next level.
4. Gold and Mixed Metal Accents
Stainless steel and nickel finishes aren’t getting quite as much play time in 2019, with warmer metals – like gold and brass finishes – gaining in popularity.
Homeowners are thinking outside the box by mixing metals within the same space, by varying colors and finishes of:
- faucets
- cabinet hardware
- mirrors
- light fixtures
If your client is ready to embrace this trend, choose two or three metals that compliment one another, making one the dominant color throughout the space and use the others accents to compliment it.
Tip: Advise your clients against choosing metals in the same color family, which can come across as looking accidental. Make sure the mixed metal looks intentional - not like an accidental design disaster.
5. Tech Features
Talking to appliances? A friend calling and their face popping up on a t.v. screen in the kitchen?
Sounds like an episode of The Jetsons, but no. It is 2019.
One of the biggest trends in home remodeling this year will be an increased incorporation of techie innovations to make life easier.
Gone are the days of having to walk over to a microwave to enter time and power level – just ask Alexa to do it.
Voice controlled devices can include:
- mirrors that tell expected weather and traffic for commute
- fixtures that start shower at designated temp and spray mode
- fixtures that fill a pot to the desired level
Tip: Expect clients who want to video chat while they chop. Facebook has released a device with a large screen and 12-megapixel camera on the front that allows them to video-chat – via Facebook messenger – with their Facebook friends.
From bold colors to tech innovations and mixed metal accents to kitchens designed for socializing, there are many residential remodeling influences on trend in 2019.
