Haley Falco, Krysten McCumber and Jessenia Feijo
With the rising prices in the housing market in Toronto, renovating and multigenerational living are the trends being introduced at the 2016 National Home Show.
Denise Hayward, Show Manager, explains a new trend in young families: multigenerational living.
Hayward is currently living with three generations of her family in one home. While this may sound crowded, Hayward finds it as a financial solution to Toronto’s markets.
“We keep changing the rooms in the same house. It just keeps changing; the rooms keep modifying depending on what the family needs,” she said.
This trend is convenient for large families with a house that accommodates all their needs.
“I think it’s a really good trend because the housing market is so expensive and it’s forcing families to stay together. They just can’t go and buy their own house. That’s currently a big trend.”
Another new trend is renovating with technology by adding in products that change the essence of the room without changing the furniture or the design of the room.
“What I’ve really learned through this thing is how much technology can advance the way that you live and also the actual design of a space.” – Christine Dovey, designer
Christine Dovey, a Toronto designer, is working with Best Buy at the show to help homeowners learn how to add this new technology into their homes.
“We used to think about lighting with the light fixtures and incorporating that into design or pot lights and that’s in the construction aspect but now actually thinking about the light tone itself and thinking about how that impacts the design,” she said.
Dovey herself use to rearrange to hide technology and the endless cords that come with it. Now, she realizes the benefits it could bring to a room.
“What I’ve really learned through this thing is how much technology can advance the way that you live and also the actual design of a space,” said Dovey. “Now the actual pieces themselves are so good looking that they’ve become the focal point of our room.”
Technology is an easy trend for young people to follow especially since most 30-year-olds don’t own their own homes, said Hayward.
She went on to say in order for Toronto homeowners to maintain their lifestyle, renovations are the key because homes are worth more now.
Dovey was in her home for 10 years and has renovated it from top to bottom. The biggest lesson she learned is to manage expectations.
“You really have to know at the beginning that it is going to take way longer than you think, it’s going to cost way more than you think and you have to kind of almost give yourself a little self-acceptance,” she said.
For those who are thinking of renovating, redesigning or adding some new tech into their home, Dovey suggests remembering one important thing.
“[The renovation] has to get worse before it gets better. And it does always come together.”
The National Home Show is the largest home show in North America. It runs at the Enercare Centre in Toronto from March 11th to March 20th.