FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November2011
2012 HOMEs MIX OLD AND NEW UNDER ONE (SMALLER) ROOF
Trend Expert Forecasts Popularity of Right-Sized, Personalized Home
North Olmsted, Ohio… Today’s consumer mindset is steeped in common sense and careful decisions. When making a purchase, individuals aren’t looking to accumulate “stuff…” they’re looking to buy an experience. That experiential purchasing behavior is especially true when it comes to selecting items for the home. Current home decorating is not about flashy, over-the-top design; rather, it’s about decorating for real life – a home that’s smaller, more well-equipped and custom-made for its owners’ lifestyles.
During a recent presentation at Moen Incorporated’s INSPIRE Design Seminar, leading consumer trends advisory firm Iconoculture took a deep dive into home trends on the horizon for 2012. “Homeowners are getting back to basics,” said Rebecca Kolls, senior director, consumer strategist of home and garden, Iconoculture. “They are putting roots down and investing in items to increase their quality of life."
How are homeowners making their spaces more practical and livable for the long term? What exactly are the hot trends for 2012? Kolls pointed to several distinct ideas, including: practicality, rightsizing, style-telling and universal design.
Practical and PerfectlySized Homes
Today’s average new home is smaller than those from recent years at 2,135 square feet. It emphasizes inviting, livable spaces, and downplays the formal, untouched rooms of yesterday. Despite a decrease in overall square footage, kitchens are growing, homeowners are adding more porches, ditching the conventional living room concept and embracing fewer – yet larger – rooms.
To fill those rooms, homeowners are looking for products that provide function, as well as fashion. Theyare no longer buying for the sake of buying. “The first question consumers are asking is, ‘Do I need this or do I want this?’” said Kolls. They’re looking for more practical solutions for everyday life, like items that promote health and overall well-being, versus over-the-top indulgences.
Instead of one purely decorative element, homeowners are springing for more affordable luxuries with experiential benefits. In the bedroom, these purchases include new mattresses for increased comfort and a better night’s sleep, plus items like improved lighting and window coverings that facilitate a gentle transition from sleeping to waking. Bathroom remodels include items like towel warmers, steam showers and multiple body spray outlets that promote relaxation and spa-like indulgence. Moen®Flushmount Body Sprays are especially appealing to the remodeling consumer looking for added wellness benefits: each body spray is equipped with an adjustable spray face, allowing the user to position the water sprays exactly where he or she desires by pivoting up to 20 degrees in any direction, for the ultimate in customized relaxation and rejuvenation.
Style-Telling Solutions
Gone are the days of perfectly-matched rooms and pristine homes. Today’s homeowners are looking to tell a story through their decorating, with pieces that put a personal stamp on their spaces. We’re stylizing the most-used room in the home – the kitchen –by adding workstations, artwork, photography and more furniture-like cabinetry enhanced by decorative cabinet knobs and pulls, like those offered by Moen.
Homeowners mix-and-match more now than ever before… complementing a great-grandmother’s antique dining room table with modern, geometric dinnerware; putting vintage photos into new stainless steel frames; storing K-cup® coffee pods in antique coffee bins. “Homeowners are adding pieces that make sense: items that enhance their experience and put a personal stamp on a room.”
Flexible Design
Baby Boomers are the first generation to collectively fight aging. These individuals are caring for their parents, their children, and even their grandchildren…all while making plans for their own future. Boomers want to spend the rest of their lives in their own home…and they’re looking for universally designed products to help them do just that. In the bath, Boomers are incorporating ADA-compliant products, like new Weymouth®lever-handle faucets and custom showering options from Moen. The Weymouth collection brings elaborate, traditional styling to the bath, plus reliable, nearly effortless operation for individuals of all ages and abilities.
In addition to more accessible everyday items, homes with several generations under one roof are also utilizing technology to help keep all members of the family safe and well. In fact, according to Kolls, wireless home health monitoring technologies are expected to grow by $4.4 billion by the year 2013. Smart mirrors that can monitor our day-to-day health, including changes in our appearance and needed SPF, plus alerts that tell us whether an aging parent has commenced his or her daily routine,are just a couple of examples of how technology is bringing additional security and flexibility to our lives.
Today’s home may have a smaller footprint, but it is much more personal and memorable than houses of the past. Families are spending more time in the home and incorporating multiple generations under one roof, which makes for rich design – and even richer experiences – than ever before.
For moreinformation about MoenFlushmount body sprays, Weymouthbath and showering products orcabinet knobs and pulls,visit moen.com.
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About Moen
As the #1 faucet brand in North America, Moen offers a diverse selection of thoughtfully designed kitchen and bath faucets, showerheads, accessories, bath safety products and kitchen sinks for residential and commercial applications – each delivering the best possible combination of meaningful innovation, useful features and lasting value.
Moen has worked diligently to support, promote and advance sustainability within the organization and the plumbing industry. The company has been recognized with the 2011 EPA WaterSense® Excellence Award, as well as the 2010 EPA WaterSense Manufacturer Partner of the Year Award, for its work to protect the future of our nation’s water supply through the introduction and ongoing support of water-efficient products, programs and practices, while keeping consumers’ needs top-of-mind.
Moen is part of Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. (NYSE:FBHS), which creates products and services that help fulfill the dreams of homeowners and help people feel more secure. The company is a leader in the home and security industries and features well-known and trusted brands like Moen® faucets, Master Lock®, MasterBrand Cabinets™, Therma-Tru® entryway systems and Simonton Windows®. For more information, please visit
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