We spent the money on home improvements

People, who do not go out due to the coronavirus unless it is necessary, and who are deprived of the social life they are accustomed to, have found the way to spend time doing home renovations. Those who want to improve and make their homes beautiful, showed great interest in many products including painting equipment and supplies, home decoration materials, home appliances, and building materials, and became DIY experts. According to e-commerce data, in the first 6 months of 2020, there was a 126 percent increase in hardware and construction market materials, 124 percent in electrical products, 117 percent in home decoration products, and 95 percent in major home appliances.

Izmir University of Economics (IUE) Vocational School Lecturers Oylum Dikmen Güleryüz, Interior Design Program, and Şeyma Göktürk, Architectural Restoration Program,  gave information about the improvements made in houses. They advised those working from home to create a more efficient working environment.

IMPROVEMENTS WE DELAYED

Stating that with the time spent at homes, citizens turned to a new layout and interior design, Dikmen said, “We started to realize many things that we postponed especially due to our workload. First of all, we made major changes in the organization of our homes. The most important of these changes was that we emptied and rearranged our cabinets, closets, organized them and got rid of excess stuff. Most of us moved our office to home. In addition, we had to bring home certain routines that we could not carry out in crowded environments due to the pandemic. For example, we created a space in our homes where we can do sports. We moved coffee shops to our homes with the help of coffee machines and furniture and accessories that give us peace.”

BALCONY DESIGNS, TILE REPLACEMENT

Stating that unused areas in homes have started to be transformed into new spaces, unused products have started to be evaluated in different ways with the effect of the do-it-yourself movement in social media Dikmen noted that there is an increase in balcony designs, ceramic-tile replacement and kitchen renovations. Dikmen said, “We started to apply the decoration ideas that we see and love on social media in our homes by purchasing either furniture and/or accessories. People, who needed to have their homes renovated generally preferred to do these things themselves due to the pandemic. In a way, everyone became do-it-yourself expert. During this period, the demand for products that can be applied easily increased as well. In the selection of wallpaper and wall paint, individuals mostly benefited from applications that make their work very easy.”

MAKES A POSITIVE EFFECT

IUE Architectural Restoration Program Lecturer Şeyma Göktürk stated that humans are social beings, and living, working in the same place for a long time, and adapting their daily work to this area are factors that directly affect their psychology. Noting that making changes in spaces gains importance in terms of making people feel positive, Göktürk said, “In our living spaces, we supported the decoration with indoor plants in order not to stay away from nature and the colors of nature. We have purchased a variety of plants, like never before. We tried to achieve the balance of interior-exterior in the spaces by choosing  colors in more positive and warmer tones instead of dark wall colors or thick fabric curtains, and by making maximum use of daylight. We had to make new arrangements as houses became both working and office spaces during the pandemic period.”

WALL PAINT IN LIGHT TONES

Göktürk, who also gave advice to make working at home more efficient, emphasized that it would be beneficial to separate the working and living spaces from each other. Göktürk said, “We should place our desks in the most lighted part of the room in order to benefit from daylight at the maximum level. We should pay attention to the use of warm and cold colors in rooms. The colors we use on the walls can make the space wider or narrower, lighter or darker. With the wall paint we choose in light tones, we can create a work area that feels brighter, wider and more spacious. We can personalize our workspace according to our own taste by using wall panels on which we will follow our daily work, inspiring images and indoor plants.”