Home Interior Trends 2017 | How Popular Are Your Home Decor Spending Habits?

In our previous home interior trends post we explored the results of our in depth survey with a view to finding out more about our customer’s home decor choices. The second part of the Black By Design home interiors trends series is uncovering the spending habits behind the home decor and homeware choices.

There’s so many homeware and furniture retailers on the market, from well known major brands to independent labels with homemade accessories. All of these options cater to different budgets and offer various price points, but which way of shopping for your home do you prefer?

How much do you spend on your home?

A recent survey by Ideal Home found that the biggest spenders on interior design in the UK are Londoners, followed by homeowners in the West Midlands and those living in Wales. Scots were the most thriftiest of those surveyed, choosing to spend less on home furnishings than the average Brit. Which begs the question, how much do you spend on homeware on average per year? There was an almost tie between 30% of people who spend more than £500 and 31% who would spend more than £300 on homeware per year. However, we do acknowledge that the participants in our home interiors survey will probably have more of an interest in the topic, and therefore more likely to spend on homeware!

We’ve all got a room that we have focused on when it comes to perfecting the layout, decor and styling. Maybe there’s a favourite room in the house that you have that you spend more time and money on, or perhaps it’s simply because you spend the most time there. We found that 60% of people choose to spend more money on living room in terms of furniture, decorating and accessorising. This is likely due to the daily use of the room and the universal appeal that it must have to accommodate a whole family. Lounges are the hub of the home! Interestingly though, the hallway, bathroom and dining room received similar low votes, whilst the master bedroom proved to be the second most popular room to spend money on, which is compatible with the amount of time spent in the master bedroom.

Where do you buy furniture and homeware from?

As homeware retailers, we are intrigued as to where our customers prefer to purchase their furniture – do you enjoy the experience of shopping in a store, or do you prefer shopping online in the comfort of your own home? In this almost fully digital age, it was no surprise that exactly half of our survey respondents opt for making online purchases. Buying furniture online is so convenient and relatively simple due to the delivery options available, plus with the high quality imagery of homeware and furniture stores, one is able to see the item situated or styled, making the decision to click ‘buy’ much easier. 40% of people chose well known brand furniture stores, and 10% prefer to visit outlet stores for their furniture shopping adventures, perhaps relying on the brand name when buying with confidence.

Now we know how people shop, we were intrigued to know where consumers are most likely to shop for homeware. 63% said major retailers such as ASDA Living, Tesco Direct, TK Maxx, which we could attribute to those larger stores being widely available in most towns and cities. 23% opt for independent retailers such as small one-off retail stores, whilst surprisingly only 14% choose to buy their homeware online, from online stores such as Maison du Monde and Ebay. Hunting down unique treasures for your home will no doubt be more successful in independant retailers or online stores such as Etsy where there will be less chance of mass produced home accessories. However, with the majority of our survey participants choosing to purchase their homeware at major retailers, this shows that it’s plausible that the trends shown in big stores are key when looking to purchase accessories for the home.

A gift for the home

It’s undeniable that there has been a popularity surge in homeware gifts (we have our own homeware gift ranges here at Black By Design!), so it wasn’t too surprising to find that 83% of our survey respondents told us that they often buy homeware as gifts for friends and loved ones. A set of champagne glasses or whisky tumblers have long since been the gift choice for weddings and anniversaries, but decorative ornaments and vases are also increasingly proving to be go-to homeware gift options too. The practical nature of homeware, combined with a great aesthetic, make homeware a sold gift choice – especially if you’re aware of the recipients interior design style and you can find something that will fit right in.

Homeware accessories from our gift range, from brands such as Just Slate & Thomas Kent

At Black By Design we wanted to discover the popular interior design choices that our customers prefer, where they get their inspiration from and the spending habits behind those home decor decisions. In our first post we found that consumers were likely to redecorate every 3 years or more, invest in furniture and homeware that will last and prefer to style their homes to reflect their personality and interests. Pinterest and Instagram proved to be the main tool when it comes to getting fresh interior design ideas, whilst the vintage trend is still a firm favourite.

From our home interior trends 2017 survey about homeware and furniture spending habits we found that:

• People spend between £300 – £500 on their home each year
• They are more likely to spend money on their living room
• Major retailers are where people purchase their homeware & furniture
• Homeware gifts are an exceedingly popular gift option

So, where do your own home decor and spending routines tie in within our results? Follow us on Instagram and tag us in your interior design pictures – we always love to see how you style your homes!