New research from Confused.com has revealed the things that people really notice when they visit our homes. Using eye-tracking technology, the study pinpoints the exact parts of our homes, and the current decor trends, that attract attention the most and hold our gaze for the longest.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the amount of time spent working from home over the past 18 months, office chairs beat all other items in the home as the most viewed, amassing a total of 410 views.
Kitchen floors, with 323 views and maintaining the gaze of visitors for 2,987 milliseconds, are the second most viewed element, and the cot in a child’s bedroom came in third place. Bed throws came fourth and kitchen cabinets fifth.
The top 10 things in a home people focussed on the most
To conduct the study, a sample of people were shown a series of images of different rooms in a home. Confused.com’s research team tracked the total number of times people looked at different elements within the room, along with the total amount of time they looked at it for.
Bathroom mirrors and drawers under a bathroom are both among the top 10 areas of a home that people looked at the most. In the bedroom, a throw on the bed and a chest of drawers also made the top 10, and in the kitchen, it’s the floor and the cabinets that were inspected the most.
The top 10 areas in a home that people looked at the most:
| Rank (based on # of views) | Element | Total Views | Viewing Duration (ms) |
| 1 | Office Chairs | 410 | 3,396 |
| 2 | Kitchen Floors | 323 | 2,987 |
| 3 | Children’s Cot/Bed | 255 | 2,553 |
| 4 | Bed Throw | 221 | 2,440 |
| 5 | Kitchen Cabinets | 204 | 2,183 |
| 6 | Bathroom Mirror | 177 | 1,867 |
| 7 | Bathroom Sink Drawers | 162 | 1,888 |
| 8 | Office Computer Monitor | 150 | 1,360 |
| 9 | Children’s Bookcase | 137 | 2,169 |
| 10 | Bedroom Chest of Drawers | 135 | 1,768 |
Room by room analysis
The kitchen
The kitchen is possibly more integral to family life than any other room, and with the rise of the kitchen-diner, it’s now where so much of family life takes place. In the kitchen, the research shows it’s the floor that people’s eyes are drawn to the most, pulling in over 100 more views than cabinets, which came in second place, and almost seven times as many views as the sink in third place.
| Rank (based on # of views) | Room element | Total views | Viewing duration (ms) |
| 1 | Floor | 323 | 2,987 |
| 2 | Cabinets | 204 | 2,183 |
| 3 | Sink | 48 | 911 |
| 4 | Countertop | 37 | 683 |
| 5 | Window | 33 | 629 |
| 6 | Decorative shelves | 23 | 736 |
| 7 | Oven | 22 | 758 |
| 8 | Lighting | 16 | 668 |
| 9 | Pots and pans | 12 | 534 |
| 10 | Plant/flowers | 10 | 688 |
| 11 | Art | 10 | 322 |
| 12 | Extractor fan | 9 | 441 |
| 13 | Utensils | 3 | 412 |
| 14 | Hob | 1 | 193 |
The living room
In the living room, soft décor and key furniture pieces attract the most attention. Coffee tables, rugs and decorative cushions pulled in the most views, each with over 100 glances. Although cushions came third when looking at the number of views, they appeared to hold attention for the longest time out of all other elements in the living room.
| Rank (based on # of views) | Room element | Total views | Viewing duration (ms) |
| 1 | Coffee table | 139 | 1,419 |
| 2 | Rug | 125 | 1,258 |
| 3 | Decorative cushions | 106 | 1,707 |
| 4 | Floor | 82 | 1,155 |
| 5 | Fireplace | 68 | 1,273 |
| 6 | Door | 67 | 841 |
| 7 | TV stand | 47 | 600 |
| 8 | TV | 42 | 948 |
| 9 | Curtains | 34 | 521 |
| 10 | Mantelpiece | 22 | 763 |
| 11 | Wall art | 12 | 511 |
The bathroom
When it comes to the room we use primarily for self-care and grooming, it’s perhaps no surprise that it’s the mirror that attracts the most views. Just behind in second place, it’s the sink drawers and then the sink, toilet and bath ranked in third, fourth and fifth positions.
| Rank (based on # of views) | Room element | Total views | Viewing duration (ms) |
| 1 | Bathroom mirror | 177 | 1,867 |
| 2 | Sink drawers | 162 | 1,888 |
| 3 | Sink | 125 | 1,507 |
| 4 | Toilet | 120 | 1,363 |
| 5 | Bath | 94 | 1,349 |
| 6 | Cabinet | 90 | 1,044 |
| 7 | Tiles | 73 | 907 |
| 8 | Shower | 49 | 802 |
| 9 | Window | 46 | 890 |
| 10 | Plant | 28 | 575 |
| 11 | Towel rail | 17 | 473 |
| 12 | Bath taps | 11 | 672 |
| 13 | Lighting | 11 | 348 |
| 14 | Taps | 11 | 305 |
| 15 | Toilet roll holder | 10 | 621 |
The bedroom
In the bedroom, it was the throw at the end of the bed that pulled in the most views and was looked at for the longest. Art, the flooring and the curtains were the things that people looked at the least when glancing around the bedroom.
| Rank (based on # of views) | Room element | Total views | Viewing duration (ms) |
| 1 | Bed throw | 221 | 2,440 |
| 2 | Chest of drawers | 135 | 1,768 |
| 3 | Window | 105 | 1,331 |
| 4 | Decorative cushions | 82 | 992 |
| 5 | Bedspread | 67 | 824 |
| 6 | Bedside table | 47 | 1094 |
| 7 | Lamp | 30 | 656 |
| 8 | Art | 28 | 843 |
| 9 | Floor | 18 | 730 |
| 10 | Curtains | 12 | 373 |
The child’s bedroom
In the child’s bedroom, it was the cot or bed that was looked at the most and for the longest. Interestingly, art ranked as one of the least attention-grabbing elements in the kitchen, living room and bedroom too, with artwork gaining the most attention in the home office, ranking in fourth position.
| Rank (based on # of views) | Room element | Total views | Viewing duration (ms) |
| 1 | Cot/bed | 255 | 2,553 |
| 2 | Bookcase | 137 | 2,169 |
| 3 | Rug/floor | 127 | 1,431 |
| 4 | Nursing chair | 116 | 1,248 |
| 5 | Changing table | 74 | 919 |
| 6 | Art | 41 | 638 |
| 7 | Curtains | 22 | 680 |
| 8 | Wall art/mural | 22 | 580 |
| 9 | Lighting | 13 | 541 |
| 10 | Blinds | 4 | 350 |
The home office
More of us have worked from home than ever before over the past 18 months, the office chair by far the thing people looked at the most and for the longest amount of time. Surprisingly, the desk itself was one of the elements that was focused on the least, pulling in just 20 views, compared to the chair’s 410.
| Rank (based on # of views) | Room element | Total views | Viewing duration (ms) |
| 1 | Office chair | 410 | 3,396 |
| 2 | Monitor | 150 | 1,360 |
| 3 | Shelves | 104 | 1,064 |
| 4 | Art | 45 | 579 |
| 5 | Rug | 38 | 615 |
| 6 | Lamp | 35 | 631 |
| 7 | Keyboard | 28 | 585 |
| 8 | Desk | 20 | 472 |
| 9 | Plant | 10 | 297 |
Jessica Willock, home insurance expert at Confused.com comments:
“No two homes are the same. Our decoration, style, furniture and ways of living make our homes completely unique, but it has been interesting to see which rooms and furniture attract the attention of the masses.
“Only you know the things that are the most precious to you, so to keep your home safe, secure and fully protected, make sure you have the right cover. To ensure you’re not underinsured, take into account all of your prized possessions when calculating the overall value of your contents. If you compare home insurance quotes with Confused.com, you could save up to £113*.”
To see the full research visit: https://www.confused.com/home-insurance/what-people-look-at-in-your-home
