Know Your Marketplace - Millennials Influencing Interior Design Trends

As we mentioned before, in this post Staffing for Retail Furnishings & Furniture Stores, millennials are driving much of what is happening in the staffing of businesses in the 21^st Century. However, these 18 to 34 year olds are beginning to have a strong influence in home design, as well as the design of workplace environments.While it’s always important to understand your client base, the rapidly evolving marketplace in which we live and work today can make this difficult. Technology and concern for the planet are both influencing how home owners and business owners view the spaces in which they choose to live and work.How to Appeal to MillennialsFor example:According to REALTORMag, an online resource for Real Estate Professionals, “Millennials don’t view their homes as a status symbol or long-term investment but as an important purchase for living now and enjoying life. But they also know that as they age, their tastes and style of doing everything may also evolve.”This type of thinking creates a radical change in the dynamics of your target audience; with a smaller, urban feeling combined with functionality, simplicity, and efficiency, blended to a green and healthy space, being of paramount importance to this quickly emerging demographic. Knowing what millennials want, and when they want it, will keep you at the forefront of your market.

1. Fast information gathering – Whether looking for a house or what material to use for a kitchen countertop, this niche doesn’t immediately dial up a pro. They first look for ideas for what’s chic online from resources such as Houzz, Pinterest, Instagram, Etsy, and retailers’ websites. This means that you must do the same!
2. Urban and smaller – Besides choosing to live in dense downtowns, cost is another factor for diminished square footage. They tend to be financially conservative for a host of reasons, making your job that much tougher as budgets will tend to be somewhat limited and restricted.
3. Fewer embellishments – Millennials are not generally looking for all the traditional details and fancy materials that can increase a home’s price. Keep your designs simple and on point and only embellish if and when they ask you to do so.
4. Open, multifunctional interiors - The interior layouts that attract millennials come in all sorts of variations, but the key is fewer partitions and walls since this group likes to socialize and live casually. Keep the space as open as possible, while maximizing functionality.
5. Low maintenance – Millennials are NOT lazy but, since work long hours and have many interests, they do prefer materials that require minimal time and care, such as faux wood or porcelain tiled floors that mimic wood or vent less fireplaces.
6. Technologically efficient, green, and healthy - High on millennials’ wish list is being able to use all their “toys”. Tablets, phones, audio systems, programmable LED lighting, and energy-efficient heating and cooling systems rank high on their list of priorities for both entertainment and communication. Interiors with lots of outlets and flexible placement of charging stations are also appealing. Renewable and reclaimable materials such as bamboo and glass rank high on their list of values.
7. Value-minded – While they may splurge on a favorite furnishing or appliance—maybe an imported coffee machine that grinds and brews their favorite beans—they’re also highly value-conscious. A big reason is that they know trends keep changing, especially when it comes to the “latest” technology.

With something like 80 to 90 million people becoming home owners, it’s important that you focus on this demographic as you market and offer your interior design services.