Ten Home Improvement Trends of the Last Decade

Having grown up in the construction industry, the last ten years really didn't seem all that different until I looked back at the trends we have seen. I suppose the first and most obvious of those trends is the McMansion. Which I will go into further in a moment. The trends are typically larger, sleeker, lighter with more and more technology. These trends aren't going anywhere, if anything, they are going to be amplified once we dig ourselves out of the latest real estate bubble, which is a side effect of some of our trends. Keep reading, you will get what I am getting at in a moment.

NUMBER ONE: THE MC MANSION
Named the McMansion because thirty years ago the average home was about 1500 square feet. During the eighties that number increased up to about 2200 square feet. The nineties increased that number to around 3500 square feet, but the first decade of the 21^st century with it's real estate boom brought the average up to around 7500 square feet. That is not to say that smaller homes were not being built, but that allot of your high end homes were being built with a minimum size of 15,000 square feet and it is not uncommon for that to expand up to 25,000 or even 50,000 square feet. As the rich got richer, their homes went from a relatively small 5,000 square feet to homes large enough to house an elementary school. This didn't only apply to new homes, but additions on many homes are dwarfing the original structure by five to ten fold in some cases.

NUMBER TWO: HOME THEATERS
With the growth of the McMansion people had to find uses for all of that extra space. The most common use seems to be a home theater. It is no longer good enough to have an over-sized television in the family room, the home theater is filled with custom seating, custom sound systems and projection systems to rival your local cinema. Sloped floors, surround sound and drapes all around to mimic the theaters in town are no longer the stuff of the down-town cinema, they are right in the home. These theaters can even be found in smaller homes belonging to families that are not rich, just comfortable. This is one trend that I don't see going anywhere as the world gets scarier every year, our tendancy to nest becomes stronger with every passing day. Not only that, but why would anyone go to a theater when they can stay at home and watch a movie for less than five dollars and have all the comforts (such as having a beer or smoking or eating steak) without the sticky floors and rude cell phone users.

NUMBER THREE: THE GLAMOUR BATH
The glamour bath is another side effect of the McMansion. This trend is driven by the female of the species which wants all the comforts of a five star spa right beside their bedstead. This trend has become so ingrained into our culture that most mobile homes now have them, or some semblance of one. The trend has also spawned trends of its own, what would a glamor bath be without a whirlpool tub. Glamour baths also typically include a smart toilet with dryers, deodorizers, heated seats and often even have remote controls with auto-flushing. They also can have towel heaters, a bidet, urinals, tanning showers or spa showers and a sauna. These bathrooms (which are just too fancy to be called that) can cost more than most homes, certainly more than my home. This trend is also here to stay, watch for more and more exclusive items to run up your remodeling bill.

NUMBER FOUR: THE SUPER KITCHEN
Again we are talking about trends within trends. Here we find granite and marble counter tops with flush mount sinks. There we find innovative and sleek faucets which seem to amaze me more every year with how we end up getting water into our homes. Cabinet space and counter top space can never be over-looked. If your even thinking that you might want to sell your home later, you must keep in mind that you cannot sell a home to the man, the woman is making this decision and if she doesn't like the kitchen and/or bath, you wont sell it. Another trend in kitchens has become the commercial kitchen look with stainless steel appliances, slop sinks and open cabinet space with a large adjoining pantry. Without these touches, your either keeping the house or selling low. Plan these items in your next remodel and you will have a better chance of recouping your investment. Another trend in kitchens these days is the modern sleek look of the casework (cabinetry), hardwood cabinets have gone out of style, however, I still prefer cherry or oak to laminates.

NUMBER FIVE: THE LAUNDRY ROOM
Here is where I think we have seen more changes than anywhere else in the home this last decade. The lowly washer and dryer has finally climbed the ladder all the way to the newest status symbol. The appliance manufactures have caught on that the woman runs the home (o.k. call me a male chauvinist pig, I deserve it) and she wants a laundry room where she can not only wash and dry, but she wants to fold, iron and do cart wheels in the space if she wants to. She also wants it all to look as nice as her kitchen and bath and she no longer wants to have to bend over to do it (hence the four hundred dollar stands that are sold along with the washer/dryer). This is another trend that will get larger as time goes by, also don't forget that even though these new machines are quieter, you will still have to sound proof the walls around this room, this has become standard along with sound proofing the baths.

NUMBER SIX: THE SPECIALTY ROOM
These rooms can be whatever you want them to be. You can find anything from a room just for Fido with walk in tubs to wash your dog without bending over to dance studios. It used to be that the only extra room you got in a new home was the one over the garage and we called it a bonus room to make you feel like you got something for free. Now they are anything but free, we are talking about libraries, sewing rooms and even basketball courts and indoor pools. This is another trend that will expand, people want to stay home and do whatever it is they want to do, even if that means spending another half a million on their home.

NUMBER SEVEN: THE GARAGE
Here again we see what used to be so small that you would fill it full of junk and park your car outside, no longer. Now it is not uncommon for the garage to be large enough to hold as many as twenty or thirty cars, although the average is around four. Why would anyone need a four car garage? Well I think I can answer that, you will want at least two spaces for your personal cars. One space for your hobby, whether that is another car or a motorcycle, to a boat or even a catapult. As people stay home more, their hobbies are staying home with them. The fourth space is for all of that junk that kept you from parking in your one car garage. Garages are also coming with built in cabinetry for your tools or pet food or whatever it is you want to keep in all of that space. They are also coming with lifts, drains and hardwood fold up doors. Some garages are even adapted to hold small planes much like T-hangers found at your local airport. Which is another trend within a trend, homes built around runways.

NUMBER EIGHT: HIGH CEILINGS and TRAY CEILINGS
Now this you might think isn't as significant as some of the other trends we have discussed. This trend is just as relevant as these higher ceilings are something that has increased along with America's wealth. If you have ever been in a home built in the late 1800's that wasn't a rich mans home, you will find that the ceilings on average were anywhere from six foot high to seven foot. The only high ceilings were in rich peoples houses because the lower the ceiling, the easier to heat. This is the same reason that my Great-Grandmother"s bed was four feet off the ground, it was all about keeping warm. Remember, they didn't have global climate change to keep them warm. Newer homes have an average ceiling height of nine feet, compared with eight feet ten years ago. Look for ceilings to get higher still, at least in your high end homes.

NUMBER NINE: GREEN BUILDING
Green building isn't really about using scrap materials from other sites. It is really more about using solar panels or under ground heating systems (geothermal) where the ground temperature stays steady year around making it cheaper to heat and cool or heat the air from a stable point. It is cheaper to heat air from sixty-eight degrees from underground than heating thirty degree air from outside. It is also about using sustainable materials such as bamboo instead of using the last known boa-boa tree to finish your floors with. There are so many techniques that it would be impossible to explore even the tip of the iceberg of this subject. This is probably the one trend that hasn't escaped anyones notice. Unless of course you have been living under a rock the last ten years. Which that would be a green home in itself, wouldn't it?

NUMBER TEN: GATED COMMUNITIES
This isn't so much a home improvement trend as much as a building trend. More and more American's feel safer behind high gated walls where they can keep the "real" world at bay. Developers are giving them what they want, that "warm and fuzzy" feeling of living inside a prison of your own making. Myself, I prefer to live in the country with my big dogs and even bigger guns. This trend is a result of the "mean world syndrome" (look this up, it's amazing at the information on the subject) which is exactly what the nightly news has been leading you to believe. It is much easier to take someones rights away if they are scared of their neighbors. But I digress, this article isn't about politics, it's about building trends. To bad we cannot separate the two, if we could, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in now.

NUMBER ELEVEN: THE FLIP
O.k. so I said ten and I went to eleven, I guess I could have left out number eight, but I felt that it was a viable subject for this article. The flip has become so prevalent that there are television shows dedicated just to flipping homes. If you have been living under your green home rock, then just for you, I will explain the flip. A flip is where you buy a property (preferably one that is cheaper than average for it's location) that needs remodeled/updated and you set yourself a budget and do the necessary work. Then you try to sell it for more than you have in it. This practice along with sub-prime loans helped us get where we are today. Not that you can blame anyone for trying to make money, but this is one bubble that we all should have seen coming. Once again I digress, we are talking trends not politics. Too bad you cannot separate the two, if you could, urban sprawl wouldn't be an issue, would it? O.K. I will shut up now........