More and more of us are turning to Google each year for our home-related queries searching for the answers to questions like ‘How to arrange plants in a living room’ and ‘what colour goes with grey kitchen units’.
Next has crunched the numbers to find the most common home queries that we turn to Google for and analysed this for each room of the home. Next has then spoken to interior design and home décor experts as while Google does its best to answer our coveted questions, sometimes we might still need an expert’s advice.
Most searched-for kitchen queries
‘How to paint kitchen cabinets’ comes in as the most popular kitchen-related search query with 26,000 monthly searches or 312,000 global searches. With many watching the money in their pocket and the time on their watch closely, upcycling hacks such as painting kitchen cabinets are becoming more popular than ever. Luckily, we have our experts on hand for painting advice.
Zara O’Hare in-house interior design consultant at Land of Rugs says: “First, strip the units down (take the doors off) and ensure each side has its own space. Next, strip the cabinets down to their bare wood by stripping off any primer or previous paint. Clean and prime the cabinets and you’re ready for painting! If you’re applying with a paintbrush, apply softly and smoothly and ensure to sand down slightly before each coat. If you’re using a spray painter, go slow and ensure the coat is even.”
Next on the kitchen list is a colour pairing question with ‘what colour goes with grey kitchen units?’ Grey is a colour that has been popular for many years along with other key neutral colours like white, off-white and black largely due to its versatility. This means, that you’re not often limited when it comes to pairing with other colours.
Zara O’Hare In-house interior design consultant at Land of Rugs says: “Grey is such a versatile colour, and you will find that a large number of colours will suit grey kitchen units really well! My personal favourite colours to pair with grey kitchen units are whites, off-whites, and navy blues. I especially love navy blue as it really makes the kitchen stand out! You could implement this colour scheme with grey kitchen units and a navy-blue feature wall. When it comes to colour though, don’t just think it has to be one solid colour! Wood tones work well with grey kitchen units and even metallic shades too! You really can have some fun with this.”
Other key kitchen questions to Google include ‘How to organise kitchen cupboards’ (21,600 searches per year) and ‘How to update kitchen cabinets without replacing them’ (16,800).
Living room
When it comes to the living room, the most popular search is ‘How to choose the wallpaper for the living room’ with 103,200 searches annually. With wallpaper making more of come back in recent years, many find the wallpaper colour and print decision difficult and so turn to Google for support.
Nomita Vaish-Taylor, Founder and Editor at yourdiyfamily.com says: “This is such a personal choice but as a guide, I recommend bigger, bolder prints for small spaces as tiny patterns can make a small space feel smaller. Also, remember that wallpaper can dominate so choose something you won’t outgrow or tire of in a hurry. Finally, just like you would test paints before choosing one, it’s equally important to test wallpaper.”
Next on the difficult decisions list is ‘what size rug for the living room’ (88,800 global annual searches). While wooden floor is easy to clean and looks stylish, it seems that we still want the comfort we get from carpet and so often choose to partner harder floors with rugs for the perfect balance.
Zara O’Hare In-house interior design consultant at Land of Rugs says: “The size of rug that is right for your living room will depend on if you’re going for an expansive look, a statement look or an accent look! If you want to go for an expansive rug, you need a larger rug that all your main furniture pieces can be placed on! If you are going for a statement look, you need a rug large enough for your coffee table to be placed on to add contrast to your living room. If you want an accent look, the rug only needs to be large enough to take up enough floor space to make an impact. A smaller rug will do a great job here.”
The curtain choice, decorating for Christmas and arranging plants also make the top five when it comes to living room searches with 79,200, 78,000 and 76,800 searches respectively per year.
Dining room
The dining room is often a real meeting place in the home with many using the dining room table (and dinner time) as a key focal point.
Open plan living room through-to dining rooms are incredibly popular, particularly if you have less space in your home. While they offer a spacious feel, many turn to Google for advice on how to separate the two spaces. ‘How to divide a living and dining room’ is the most popular dining room question with 12,000 global searches per year.
Zara O’Hare In-house interior design consultant at Land of Rugs says: “One of the best ways to divide a living room and dining room combination is to use a stud wall to separate the spaces. They are generally easy to install and allow you really separate your two spaces without having to install a large wall! However, if this is going to be beyond your budget and/or you don’t want to install a wall in your space, you can use other items to separate your space. Rugs are a great option for this! Add in a large rug to place your dining table and chairs on and you can really create that sense of separation, even being in the same room as your living room!”
Another key question when it comes to open plan living and dining rooms is around ‘How to arrange furniture in a living room dining room combo’ with a total of 84,000 global annual searches. With this, our expert advises leaving some empty floor space between areas where possible.
Nomita Vaish-Taylor, Founder and Editor at yourdiyfamily.com says: “Start by marking out the area that will be used for each space. I usually recommend giving more space to the area used more which is almost always the living room. Most importantly you want to have some empty floor space between the two areas. The goal here is to create two clearly defined spaces that still look cohesive and flow into each other. The best way to get the layout right is to experiment and move furniture around until the layout works.”
Bedroom
Our bedroom can be one of the most sacred rooms in the house- particularly when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep at night. But we can’t all be lucky enough to have big bedrooms which is why ‘how to make a small bedroom look bigger’ is one of the most common searches on Google with 22,800 searches per year or 1,900 per month.
The advice from the experts is to:
- Use bedroom furniture sparingly if you’re struggling for space
Nomita Vaish-Taylor, Founder and Editor at yourdiyfamily.com says: “The temptation in a small bedroom is to use every inch of space but this is exactly what you shouldn’t do. Instead leave space empty and your bedroom will instantly look bigger. Invest in multifunctional furniture that can maximise storage. Things like a bed with storage or shelving with a desk. Finally, keep clutter at bay – nothing makes a room look smaller than having lots of stuff lying around.”
- Opt for light colours to create a spacious feel
Zara O’Hare In-house interior design consultant at Land of Rugs says: “One of the best ways to make a small bedroom look (and feel) bigger is to paint it in white or off-white colour. Why these colours work so well is because they reflect light well! Making your room seem naturally bigger, even if the physical space doesn’t quite feel that big. You can also add shelving on your walls and use wardrobes without doors to make the room feel a little bigger, although this won’t have as great of an impact as re-decorating your space.”
The third most popular bedroom question is about how to share a small bedroom space. ‘How to divide a bedroom into two rooms’ has 19,200 searches each year, that’s 1,900 per month.
Ellie Newman, Trainee designer at Frame Homes comments “Zoning is important. In this instance, lighting can zone perfectly within a bedroom. Bedside lights and dressing table/drawer lights can divide these areas subtly, turning each off when using one area of the room. Different accents in areas can also divide rooms, these accents could be a change in colour of accessories of a furniture colour change.”
Other key questions are around ‘How to decorate a slanted wall bedroom’ (18,000 searches per year) and ‘how to feng shui your bedroom’ (14,400).
Overall, search queries around upcycling/ painting advice, home décor trends and making the most of small spaces dominate the top 10 across each room of the home.
Meg Barrington, Kitchen interiors expert at Tap Warehouse comments: “Interior design trends are ever-changing. However, it’s more sustainable and economic to keep our interior design foundations similar all year round, and just switch up the changeable things in our homes without transforming the whole design. Updating paint colours, accessories and wall art is a great way to freshen up our interior design and this can be done every few months to reflect the seasons. For example, more pastel, cool colours are great for spring/summertime, and warm, cosy tones work well for autumn and winter.”
To get inspired by all things homeware, visit Next Home for everything from your wallpaper and paint, right through to your finishing touches.
