IFDA Survey: Homes Getting Smaller, More eco-Savvy
Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, September 16, 2011
NEW YORK - McMansions will give way to smaller, more eco-savvy homes with fewer rooms while family rooms and kitchens will grow larger, according to a new survey of International Furnishings and Design Assn. members.
Also in the forecast: Dining rooms will morph into multipurpose spaces, formal living rooms will get less attention and smaller furniture will replace bigger pieces and builtins.
IFDA surveyed its nearly 2,000 members to come up with a preview of tomorrow's American home, called "20/20: IFDA's Vision for the Future." The new report was planned as an update to a survey done in 2000 as the new millennium was dawning, officials said.
"American home life changed dramatically soon after we conducted our first survey in 2000. We were hit with a decade of circumstances we couldn't have foreseen," said Susan Hirsh, the former IFDA national president who directed the 2000 study.
The newest survey predicts:
► Americans will be living in smaller spaces with fewer rooms by the year 2020, say more than 76% of IFDA members. Eleven years ago, only 49% foresaw less living space in our future.
► Formal living rooms are going extinct, according to an increasing majority of the design professionals (64%, up from 51% in 2000).
► Kiss your dining room goodbye too: 71% of the respondents doubt that there will even be a separate dining room in most homes by 2020. The space will be put to multiple other uses (home offices, kids' study areas, etc.) instead because...
► Separate rooms are disappearing; they are blending into spaces that serve many different purposes, believe 91.5% of the design experts - which is exactly what they foresaw back in 2000.
► Furniture also is going multipurpose, say 67.5% of the the IFDA forecasters. They see modular, moveable, and smaller-scaled furniture overtaking built-ins and big pieces. There will be more interest in ergonomic designs - tailored to fit the human body - but almost none in furniture designed to be disposable.
► Eat-in kitchens are voted most likely to succeed in 2020. More than half of IFDA's members said it is "likely or very likely" that eat-in kitchens would replace dining rooms, and nearly 65% believe future kitchens will grow larger, thanks to Americans' escalating interest in home cooking.
► Spa baths will draw heated interest. Although the trend towards larger bath space has slowed down, 83% of the design industry pros feel that luxurious bathroom products such as spa showers, high-tech fixtures and TVs are on the rise.
► Master bedroom suites won't be bigger, just busier. Although 52.2% of the surveyed members think the master suite will stay about the same size as now, they see it sharing space with the home office, media center and exercise room.
► Everyone's working at home. A home office is a given, say more than three-quarters of the respondents, but here's the news: Nearly 40% of the forecasters see more than one home office under every roof.
► High tech is here to stay. A whopping 97% of the IFDA respondents believe that by 2020 more home equipment and furnishings will be activated not by touch but by other means, such as voice and sensor. Top candidates for remote control are lighting, entertainment gear, environmental controls (heating/cooling), and window coverings - 75.8% of the IFDA members believe that window treatments like shades, blinds and draperies will be motorized by 2020. Growth in other energy-saving devices drew 83.3% of the forecast vote.
► Outdoor living is still in for 2020, but low-maintenance is a must. The 2010 survey showed 69% expecting outdoor living spaces to expand by 2020. It's thumbs-down on swimming pools and hot tubs; thumbs-up on more low-maintenance landscaping and "functional" gardens (herb/vegetable) - 44.9% and 48.5%, respectively. That's because about one-fourth of the IFDA members believe we'll be spending more time gardening (26.9%) and entertaining outdoors (25.8%).
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