Classic white remains the most popular color choice in kitchens, but homeowners continue to experiment with wider palettes for that room and other areas of the home.

“With white kitchens, there’s never a risk of looking dated in a few years, while the sleek minimalistic feel is effortlessly complemented by dark counters or contrasting kitchen accessories,” says Living Cozy, a home design resource, which analyzed global search data about design over the last 12 months.

White also ranked in the three most popular for several rooms in the house that might “benefit from the illusion of more space,” such as pantries, home offices, and laundry rooms, according to the study.

Green is becoming a more common choice in kitchens, ranking second. It has emerged as one of the trendiest colors of 2022 and also ranks within the top three for all interior areas to redecorate in. Shades of sage, olive, and jade are trending, the study shows.

Blue is the third most popular kitchen color of 2022, including shades of teal, turquoise, and light blue.

An unexpected color is making more headway in bedroom design: black, according to the Living Cozy study that tracked Google searches. 2022 is seeing a rise in popularity in black-painted bedrooms, including shades of charcoal and dark gray.

In the bathroom, black colors reigned again. In more than 2.2 million worldwide Google searches for bathroom colors in 2021, black was the clear winner, according to Living Cozy.

“Black bathroom ideas are stylish, modern, and chic, and are taking over the traditional chrome and gold colors that have dominated bathroom design for years,” the researchers note. “Bathrooms in 2022 incorporate dark black design elements through fixtures, feature walls, and flooring.”

In the living room, green is trending, according to the study. “Using green in your living room design can be the perfect way to bring an essence of nature indoors without the need for plants,” the designers note. “Layering different shades of green works best, from incorporating dark hues to featuring light pistachio shades.”

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

Simple kitchen and bath improvements can leave home shoppers swooning over a listing, according to a new study by Knock, a site about homeownership.

Homes are selling fast, but certain home updates can help them sell even faster. An updated home can sell an average of 30% faster than a home without improvements, the analysis shows.

Knock compared the average days on the market for homes that are updated before being listed with those that sellers leave as is. It pinpointed which home updates tend to result in the fastest sales.

“Getting a home ready for sale can be a stressful experience, and the supply chain constraints and contractor backlogs brought on by the pandemic have made it even more difficult to get work done,” says Sean Black, co-founder of Knock. “Three years ago, homeowners had to put a lot more work into their home before listing it. However, even in the current market with homes selling in record time, the data continues to support the benefits of getting your home show-ready.”

Knock was selected for the 2021 REACH class, a technology accelerator program through Second Century Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the National Association of REALTORS®.

Homes with modern renovations sold in an average of eight days, compared with an average of 12 days without improvements. Homes with two or more improvements sold in an average of six days, according to Knock.

The most common home improvement: interior and exterior paint. Seventy percent of sellers painted their walls, spending an average of $3,500.

But freshly painted kitchen cabinets, which cost an average of about $1,319, really help buyers fall in love with a house, the study shows.

Here are the updates that consumers say they most loved about a house.

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to inspire changes within the home. Here’s a toast to one of the latest: the return (and update) of the at-home bar.

Key Takeaways:

• Homeowners should find the best spot for mixing and pouring, with room for all the bar accessories.
• Decide if it’s mostly for liquor storage or if they want to provide full service with a sink and refrigerator.
• They can add some glam to the decor with a luxe stone countertop, mirrored backsplash, and good LED lighting.

In addition to spurring designated work-from-home spaces, larger kitchen islands, and more relaxing outdoor living areas, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought back the at-home bar trend in a renaissance of home entertaining.

What started with Zoom cocktail gatherings and mixology events has stirred more homeowners to create an at-home bar.

In its 2021 Houzz Emerging Home Design Trends Report, Houzz, an online design source, found that searches for home bars and wine cellars both were up nearly four times from the prior year.

“People have been relying on their homes to provide new avenues of activity and entertainment since the beginning of the pandemic,” says Julie Noble, senior communications manager.

The concept isn’t new, however. At-home bars were a centerpiece for entertaining guests in the 1950s and 1960s. A certain cohort may recall the scene in the 1967 movie “The Graduate,” when Mrs. Robinson sat down at her home bar and asked college grad Benjamin what he wanted to drink.

Today, homeowners have adjusted their room designs and decors themselves to bring together the furnishing needed for a bar. Some are as simple as bottles of liquor and wine, along with an ice bucket, glasses, napkins, stirrers, and coasters on a counter or big tray. Others are professionally designed with added features such as shelves, cabinetry, a sink, and a refrigerator or wine cooler.

The interest in home bars also led to the return of stylish bar carts, which can roll into different rooms and outdoors.

Dallas-based architect Eddie Maestri of Studio Maestri is among the professionals who have found the at-home bar to be an increasingly popular client request.

“Every single project we have currently involves a bar of some sort,” he says. “We are doing a lot of floating shelving on brass, incorporating mirrors into the back wall, for sure. Whether it has a sink just depends on the space and if the client wants one.”

Maestri, himself, has an at-home bar with a sink and ice maker. He also just completed a project for a client converting a dining room into a bar.

The styling of home bars has also evolved, says real estate salesperson Jennifer Ames Lazarre of Engel & Volkers in Chicago.

“They used to be a formula: base cabinets, upper cabinets with glass doors, granite top, sink, and refrigerator,” she says. “Now, they are often more artfully designed with floating shelves, LED lighting in a channel on the underside of the shelf, and beautiful hardware.”

Professionals like Chicago kitchen designer Mick De Giulio of de Giulio Kitchen Design agree that the at-home bar is being requested more often. He prefers to call it a beverage center. In addition to the pandemic trend of entertaining at home, De Giulio believes homeowners are also seeking an organized arrangement of living areas in an open plan.

“Beverage centers can include not only traditional barware, ice makers, sinks, and liquor storage but also refrigerated drawers for beverages and wine storage,” he says. “Companies like Sub-Zero have manufactured modular wine and refrigeration units in many more sizes and configurations, and now have the ability to mask the fronts with cabinet and furniture-like facades, allowing for bars that don’t look like bars but blend seamlessly into the surroundings.”

And Los Angeles–based designer Lori Gilder of Interior Makeovers Inc., who has seen an increased interest in home bars over the last few years, thinks the trend simply is another way homeowners reassessed their living spaces.

“We repurposed and redesigned unused living rooms by transforming them into new areas to entertain family and friends, indoors and outside,” she says. For some clients, Gilder has nestled dry bars into existing nooks, and for others, she set up more elaborate wet bars that included a sink, refrigeration, and display shelving for barware.

People’s “entertaining aesthetic tells a personal story,” Gilder says. To make the areas attractive, she carefully chooses finishes, woods, metals, stones, glass, wall coverings, integrated lighting, and hardware.

Where to put a bar varies according to how homeowners use their homes. Designer Jodi Swartz of KitchenVisions in Natick, Mass., has one large installation going into a basement. Typically, she places bars in a kitchen as a beverage center, or outside that room in a butler’s pantry, in an alcove, along the buffet wall of a dining room, or even behind a door in a closet. She tends to include a sink and refrigerator and often a dishwasher. For decoration, she might line a backsplash with tiles, a full splash of quartz, or a mirror, possibly an antique. She rarely uses wallpaper since it can easily get splattered.

Designer Krista Watterworth Alterman of Krista + Home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., considers a custom bar to be a terrific way to use a fun nook or an unused area in a living room. “I like to add a bar to break up a very large space—it adds zones that are perfect for entertaining and connecting,” she says. Other additions include a lot of storage, open shelving, and an ice machine or wine fridge.

The popularity of the at-home bar has also helped designers boost business. Case in point: Renee and Marc Simon, owners of foo-BARS Designs in Ocala, Fla., experienced a 100% year-over-year sales increase for their furniture business, which started out making reception desks, then shifted to handcrafted bars. The bars vary in shape and size up to 14 feet. Most use pressure-treated lumber when designed for the outside and pine for bars inside a home; some are stained and others are painted. Others incorporate corrugated metal. And while many clients live in Florida, the couple has worked with homeowners in New York and California.

For now, nobody seems to know whether the home bar will remain an important part of more homeowners’ wish lists or fizzle when the pandemic ends.

How to stock a home bar?The site The Spruce Eats, offers suggestions. Cheers!

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

More than three-quarters of Americans who have a yard say the family yard space is one of the most important parts of their home, according to a poll of 1,700 consumers by the TurfMutt Foundation. Since the pandemic began, homeowners are showing more appreciation for their yards and spending more time in them, the poll found. 

What’s more, 72% of consumers say a spacious yard would be at the top of their wish list if they were searching for a new home. Homeowners are more willing to invest in their yards and are using them for everyday activities, including work-from-home office space, according to the survey.

“What we are seeing with Americans is greater reliance on the backyard as an extension of the home,” says Kris Kiser, president and CEO of the TurfMutt Foundation. “It’s not just a place that looks pretty—it’s a place to live and do daily activities such as working, dining, and relaxing. They’ve discovered that ‘backyarding’ is a better way to live and there’s no turning back. They are also willing to hire professionals and invest money into yard improvements.”

Eighty-four percent of respondents say they plan to invest more in their yard in 2022, including by purchasing plants, trees, flowers, vegetables to plant; purchasing items to maintain or improve their grassy areas; and installing or updating hardscaping themselves, the survey shows. Other popular projects include interest in installing a fence (19%) or a shed (15%) or adding a swimming pool (10%).

Besides refocusing the yard space for entertaining, relaxing, or doing hobbies, a yard also has become a place to work from. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they’ve spent time performing job-related functions in their yard during the pandemic, with men doing so more often than women

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

Heating bills this winter have left many homeowners in sticker shock. The rising cost of fuel has made heating bills jump by from 5% to 50% this winter—a warning that federal agencies made last fall.

Still, in some regions, heating bills are higher than forecasters anticipated.

Money Magazine spoke to homeowners who reported heating bills double their 2021 levels in Minnesota, while In Wyoming, residents said their heating bills climbed by $100 or more compared to a year ago. Natural gas suppliers in Missouri, Mississippi, and Alabama said they raised prices by 96% this year.

“Natural gas prices have skyrocketed globally,” Megan McFarland, a spokesperson for Pacific Gas & Electric, told an NBC station in California. “We’ve seen a 90% higher cost than last winter. We’re not making any money off this situation.”

The higher utility bills can particularly affect low-income households, who tend to spend three times as much of their income on energy costs compared with the rest of the population, Money Magazine reports, citing Natural Resources Defense Council data. Programs are available to help low-income residents pay their energy bills. Learn more: Benefits.gov

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

It’s all about the indoor-outdoor connection with this year’s home building showpiece.

Each year, home builders and product manufacturers set out to impress crowds by showing off the latest innovations in residential new-home construction through the New American Home series. In 2022, Envy Homes, an Orlando, Fla., builder, took on that challenge, offering up a modern-coastal design that mixes old with new.

“We wanted to build a home with numerous ‘wow’ features, but within a scope that is relatively more realistic compared to other show homes, as far as size, price, and location, to appeal to an even broader audience,” says Serena Hahn, CEO of Envy Homes, the builder of this year’s New American Home.

The New American Home 2022 highlights energy efficiency with net-zero features and top-notch air quality and spotlights the latest design concepts, efficient construction methods, and innovative products. The home, located in Orlando, focuses on seamless indoor-outdoor connections that put a courtyard at the center of its design.

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission