{"id":3539,"date":"2018-06-14T08:14:01","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T12:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/?p=3539"},"modified":"2019-04-30T06:39:33","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T10:39:33","slug":"specialty-rooms-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/14\/specialty-rooms-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Specialty rooms for all interests"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"specialty<\/a>
Home improvement spending is increasing to include specialty rooms (infographic from census.gov)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prior to the Great Recession, home owner spending for remodeling and renovations was very strong.\u00a0 Besides remodeling the kitchen and bathrooms, many home owners also created specialty rooms (also known as special function rooms) in their homes.\u00a0 Specialty rooms such as home theaters and media rooms were not just trendy because they were cool to have in the house, but they also added resale value.\u00a0 According to Kermit Baker writing for Harvard\u2019s Joint Center for Housing Studies<\/a>, post-recession home remodeling spending dropped off by as much as 28 percent between 2007 and 2011.\u00a0 That spending decrease meant that while home owners focused on saving and paying their mortgages, specialty rooms were no longer a necessity.<\/p>\n

The return of the specialty room can be measured by the increased home remodeling spending over the past few years.\u00a0 Specialty rooms are increasingly in demand.\u00a0 The recent LIRA press release<\/a> projects that home remodeling will remain strong at least through 2019.\u00a0 Chris Herbert, Managing Director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies stated:<\/p>\n

\n

“Strengthening employment conditions and rising home values are encouraging homeowners to make greater investments in their homes\u2026Upward trends in retail sales of building materials and the growing number of remodeling permits indicate that homeowners are doing more\u2014and larger\u2014improvement projects<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Prior to the Great Recession, specialty rooms were a must for home owners.\u00a0 However, many of these specialty rooms were primarily added for display and resale.\u00a0 Home owners have since moved away from the large gaudy specialty room and are opting for more practical spaces focused on enjoyment and function.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, panic rooms were in demand for protection.\u00a0 It wasn’t just to protect from a home invasion, as portrayed in the movie “Panic Room,” but also to\u00a0 offer shelter from severe weather<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 FEMA<\/a> even provides information on creating a safe room in your home.<\/p>\n

Yes, specialty rooms are becoming popular again, but not in the way they were prior to the recession.\u00a0 According to the 2017 AIA Home Design Trends Survey<\/a> (aia.org), creating an outdoor living area is the currently the most popular specialty room today.\u00a0 The outdoor living area is a way to extend indoor space and amenities (such as kitchen and home entertainment) to your back yard or roof top deck.<\/p>\n

But home owners are opting for other specialty rooms too.\u00a0 Building a fabulous mudroom comes in second in the AIA Home Design Trends Survey.\u00a0 No longer that meager alcove separating the garage and kitchen, the mudroom has become a multi-purpose functional suite<\/a>.\u00a0 Obvious coat hooks, benches, and shoe cubicles are standard.\u00a0 But mudrooms have become larger to accommodate storage units and desks, typically with high-end flooring and moldings.<\/p>\n

Other specialty rooms mentioned in AIA\u2019s survey include the home office and in-law suite.\u00a0 However, other types of specialty rooms that are popular include fitness rooms and wine cellars.<\/p>\n

As the economy improves, home owners have more money to spend on their passions.\u00a0 Currently, there is a trend to build specialty rooms to help home owners<\/a> pursue hobbies and talents.\u00a0 Hobbyists are creating spaces for their collections and interests.\u00a0 Many home owners are designing dedicated rooms as art studios.\u00a0 Music lovers and musicians are finding that technology has made the music listening room and recording studio<\/a> easy and affordable to create in their homes.<\/p>\n

Over time, the home has evolved<\/a> from a Spartan shelter to a space where we relax and express our personalities.\u00a0 It is likely that specialty rooms will continue to evolve based the home owner\u2019s lifestyle, finances, as well as technology.\u00a0 Specialty rooms will also vary based on societal norms (consider formal dining and living rooms) and economic conditions.<\/p>\n

By Dan Krell
\nCopyright \u00a9 2018.<\/p>\n

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\"Protected<\/a>Disclaimer<\/a>. This article is not intended to provide nor should it be relied upon for legal and financial advice. Readers should not rely solely on the information contained herein, as it does not purport to be comprehensive or render specific advice. Readers should consult with an attorney regarding local real estate laws and customs as they vary by state and jurisdiction. Using this article without permission is a violation of copyright laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prior to the Great Recession, home owner spending for remodeling and renovations was very strong.\u00a0 Besides remodeling the kitchen and bathrooms, many home owners also created specialty rooms (also known as special function rooms) in their homes.\u00a0 Specialty rooms such as home theaters and media rooms were not just trendy because they were cool to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Specialty rooms for all interests”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[113,419,478,406,13],"tags":[855,926,939,797,1095],"class_list":["post-3539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-improvement","category-home-owner","category-home-renovation","category-homeowner","category-real-estate","tag-home-improvement","tag-home-owner","tag-home-renovation","tag-real-estate","tag-specialty-rooms"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1VZLf-V5","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3539"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4384,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539\/revisions\/4384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}