Wren Kitchens’ Store Development and Design Director, Darren Watts, gives his household trends for 2021
- The trends for this year focus heavily on multifunctional spaces
- Plants take centre stage as consumers have growing desire to connect to natural elements
From changing attitudes to increasing practicality, Store Development & Design Director at Wren Kitchens, Darren Watts, has outlined his four favourite household design trends that have risen in popularity directly because of the government lockdown, and how you can incorporate each style in your home.
The home office era
Working from home has fast become the norm in numerous households up and down the UK. In fact, ‘home office’ harbours over 60,000 Google searches per month and December 2020 saw a rise in its search volume of almost 50% on the year before, and it’s a trend that people aren’t keen to discard in a hurry. With this comes the notion of permanence, and how workers can improve their home office situation for the long-term. While, previously, somebody working from home might have ‘made do’ with the kitchen table as their temporary office space, there’s a growing emphasis on creating a dedicated area that better facilitates productivity, efficiency, and creativity.
In 2021, keep an eye out for a growth in demand for practical storage, dynamic workspace, and comfortable seating.
A focus on multifunctional workspaces
Despite a very definite leaning towards dedicated home office environments in 2021, some households have greater demand to cater to than others. Many are likely to have a couple of home workers as well as home schoolers to accommodate, a complication compounded by traditional kitchen, living, and even dining areas struggling to adapt to long-term change. As habits continue to evolve, contemporary design will need to allow for families who frequently share workspaces. This is particularly evidenced in recent search data that highlights an extreme need for flexible spacing: ‘folding desks’ demonstrated a 400% uplift in Google searches at the close of 2020, compared to 2019, while ‘room dividers’ saw interest rise by 50% in the same period.
Opening doors to the natural world
One trend certain to gain traction this year is the idea of styling the home according to organic principles, and a growing desire to reconnect with more natural elements. In the literal sense, interest in plant life has grown at an incredible pace in recent months, with Google searches for ‘house plants’ and ‘indoor plants’ increasing by over 80% in December 2020 on the year before. More subtly, there’s a developing focus on home and kitchen features that prioritise light and grace, which can often come from vibrancy and colourful appliances, broad and expansive windowing, and open space; crisp, white styling makes the perfect canvas for an expressive palette, while natural light encourages feelings of wellbeing.
A growing appreciation for the home we live in. We’ve all spent more time in our homes recently than, likely, any other period of our lives. With this, there’s now a greater priority placed on the state of our surroundings, both personally and professionally. Put short, the home is no longer simply a place for evening sanctuary and weekend relaxation.
For many, this means investing more in enhancing the at-home experience. A trend worth following is the increased desire to style an improved array of smart appliances in the home, with ‘smart kitchens’ gathering particular momentum with almost 50% more Google searches at the end of 2020 compared to 2019.
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