What Will Historians See in Us?

Isn't ironic that we associate "turn of the century" American life with the year 1900, and not with the upcoming millenium? A hundred years ago found many of our grandparents immigrating to this country, packed into huge ocean liners with dreams of a better life.

Some of us (such as myself) may have been spawned by first generation Americans, who prided themselves with providing for their families and hoping for an easier future for their children than they somehow endured. Postwar couples indulged themselves in the American Dream in huge numbers in the late 1940's and the 1950's. And we were happy with the basics; a two or three bedroom house (no second thoughts were given to three kids sharing a room!) on a modestly sized home site, hopefully with a white picket fence, and a one-car garage (who had two cars when they were little?). Homes were built with hardwood floors, usually one bathroom for all, and a solitary television set with a communal kitchen phone (complete with loud ringer) graced our residences.

It is interesting to ponder what people entering the next turn of the century will say about our current leap into the new millenium when it comes to the American home. Interior design trends must ultimately depend on demographics common to the new American homebuyer. What will builders gear themselves towards in the new millenium?

New homebuilders are undoubtedly aware that buyer profiles are changing. Those days of capturing the typical Beaver Cleaver family profile somehow disappeared long ago. Experts now predict that much of the home buying marketplace will be composed of "non-traditional" buyers. Add to this the trend for buyers to look for homes where their interests, and not their age, is the key factor, and the result is a dramatic shift in homebuilding and design trends.

Doris Pearlman, founder of Possibilities for Design in Denver, Colorado, specializes in market-driven interior space merchandising and trend setting designs for new homebuilders. With her finger on the pulse of American home buying and decorating trends, Pearlman predicts builders will gear themselves towards profiles that include:

"First Time, Full Circle, Free Spirit Buyers":

This is an all-encompassing diverse group indeed. Builders have always known about the needs of young couples leaving rental life for their first modestly priced home, but to this group we may now add the Full Circle component. These are owners who have had several homes in their lifetimes but are now interested in returning to smaller homes (with smaller house payments) as their nests begin to empty and their focus is towards more leisure activities or early retirement. "They're forcing a shift in the shape of housing." says Pearlman, "Rooms have to work harder to afford greater flexibility."

Free-spirited buyers redefine the term "family" as part of a growing segment of singles, gay couples, and Dual-Income-No-Kids pairings.

Traditional Buyers:

Although shrinking, this group is not disappearing. These are growing, family-centered buyers whose lives (for the present) revolve around big screen TVs, soccer activities and pool parties. Communities traditional buyers tend to choose have ample space for recreation, dedicated space for schools, developer-paved bike paths and room for growth.

Move-Up Buyers:

In addition to the segment of full-circle buyers are those within the Baby Boom generation who find themselves at the peak of their income levels and are not willing to wait as long as their parents did to have the finer things in life. With their kids on the verge of selecting college campuses or already having flown the nest, these couples are at last ready to splurge on fancy interior finishes, state-of the art home offices, and perhaps an entirely new array of designer furniture. They usually select single level or downstairs-master floor plans and go for elegant, but easy maintenance homes that they can turn the key on and impulsively fly off to destinations unknown, a luxury unthinkable to them just a few years ago.

Liberated Buyers:

These are buyers whose money will be spent on their interests and needs, more than their image. They favor planned communities with built-in social components for commonly shared diversions. To many of these buyers, their friends have become as important as their families, and the need to connect with like-minded individuals becomes more intense. Home designs for this group reflect practicality, with design including dual masters, great rooms, covered patios and entry porticoes.

We are often identified by what elements we choose for our homes, just as archaeologists make important findings through the everyday artifacts of ancient cultures. Perhaps historians will research us, as they would any past culture, by the trends that were tied to the times in which we lived. Pearlman states it this way, "If we look back over the past decades, the changing catalog of preferred colors, finishes and fabrics tells us much about where we've been and where we appear to be going."

Home design will also play an important role in the anthropological images we project for the future, continually defining our sense of "home", "family" and the American way of life.

For more information on design trends for the new millenium, contact Doris A. Pearlman at poss4dsign@aol.com or call her at (303) 571-0325.

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