Kitchen Or Home Bar? This Year's Most Popular Home Improvements

• Rated People analysed its own data of over 800,000 home improvement jobs posted by UK homeowners to uncover the biggest trends in home design and renovation in 2022  
• Homeowners are planning to spend more on creating home bars this year than a brand-new kitchen or a home gym
• The end of open plan is here, with homeowners now more keen to create separate rooms, as well as build extra spaces to entertain and relax in

New research from the find-a-tradesperson platform Rated People shows the pandemic is still influencing the types of improvements we want to make to our homes, and in 2022, homeowners are prioritising building a home bar over a new kitchen or a home gym.

The findings are taken from the 2022 Rated People Home Improvement Trends Report where Rated People analysed more than 800,000 home improvement jobs on its platform posted by homeowners around the UK, in order to discover 2022’s biggest trends in home design and renovation.

Top 2022 Home Improvement Trends

The study shows homeowners plan to invest most of their money on maximising space, creating new areas to entertain and relax in, and enhancing the functionality of their homes in 2022.

When looking at how homeowners want to spend their home improvement budget this year, four of the top five adaptations are around space optimisation. Extensions top the priority list, with an average planned spend of just under £19,000. Homeowners are budgeting around £17,000 to create a self-contained annex to create extra space for family or friends to live in, and for a conservatory or orangery, they’re looking to spend just over £15,000.

Interestingly, fifth on the priority list when it comes to the amount of money homeowners want to spend, is breaking up open plan designs – homeowners are now more keen to create multiple usable spaces within the home, and building walls to break up open-plan zones is one of 2022’s top five improvements that they want to spend the most money on.  

After the stress and challenges of the last two years, one in 13 homeowners (7%) say they’ll be building a home bar in 2022, setting aside around £14,000 to do so. This is a larger budget than homeowners are willing to spend on home gyms, a new kitchen, or a new porch.

The top 15 home improvements that homeowners want to spend the most money on in 2022:

• Building an extension - £18,580 (average planned spend for this job)
• Building an annex - £16,731
• Adding an en-suite bathroom - £15,885
• New conservatory/orangery - £15,564
• Building a wall to create separate rooms - £13,977
• Creating a home bar - £13,939
• Creating a home gym - £13,574
• New kitchen - £12,057
• New porch - £11,252
• Adapting a room to make it multifunctional - £10,772
• Adding an outdoor entertaining area - £10,483
• New windows throughout - £9,547
• Tiling - £7,728
• Garden landscaping - £6,622
• Painting - £4,743 

Most Popular Home Improvement Jobs for 2022

When it comes to the jobs most people want to do this year, more than one in three (38%) of us want to revitalise our homes with a lick of paint. The top 15 jobs that homeowners want to do the most in 2022 include staples like new kitchens and new bathrooms, but pandemic-influenced improvements like creating multifunctional space, home bars, and outdoor entertaining areas are also now more popular than ever.

The home improvement jobs UK homeowners want to do the most in 2022:

• Painting – 38% (of UK homeowners want to do this year)
• New carpet – 21%
• Garden landscaping – 19%
• New bathroom – 14%
• New wooden flooring – 12%
• New kitchen – 11%
• Tiling – 11%
• New windows – 11%
• Creating multifunctional spaces – 11%
• Building an outdoor entertaining area – 9%
• New roof – 8%
• Creating a home bar – 7%
• Adding an extension – 7%
• Loft conversion – 7%
• Adding a garden room – 7%

Adrienne Minster, CEO of Rated People commented: 

“The ways in which we use our homes are constantly evolving, but the pandemic has caused a more rapid shift, with us wanting even more space and now additional areas in the home to do different things like entertain, work and exercise. The home has never been used so much, in so many different ways, as it is now.

Our priorities are shifting, with homeowners wanting to use more of their money on creating new spaces for at-home socialising, instead of spending it on staples like a new kitchen. 2022 is definitely the year of the home bar!”

To see the full research, visit: https://www.ratedpeople.com/blog/home-improvement-trends-report 

Source : Rated People

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