Home designers are catering to women's interests and accommodating their opinions in home designs. This comes as no surprise given that women are the major decision makers in home purchases accounting to 83 % of consumer spending decisions in the U.S. Also the percentage of women home buyers is 22% and increasing each year and home designers and builders are increasingly trying to cash in on women's influence in the home buying process.
One of the main focuses of the recently held International Builder's Show in Orlando was on the need to build homes with designs that please women homebuyers. Recognizing the influence women have in the home buying process at a seminar on 'building homes for women', Architect Ann Olson and Paul Foresman, manager of Omaha-based Design Basics, offered what they called as the "ten commandments of women-centric home design".
The following are the ten focus areas for home builders and designers based on what women want in home design:
1. Women want options in the master baths although they seem to be unable to decide on wanting a tub in the bath. Builders and designers need to pay extra attention to the design of de-stressing areas such as baths.
2. Women need a lot of storage space in the rear foyer in order to store stuff. They want more closet storage space and a separate laundry room. Builders would do well to give the rear foyer entry more thought than to treat it as a mud room.
3. A kitchen is an important place for women and also serves as the chief entertainment zone. Given a choice between a bigger kitchen and a bigger master bath, women prefer the former. Hence builders need to design bigger kitchens.
4. Women who have blended families need their homes to have separate bathrooms instead of shared ones.
5. Women want their homes to be easy to organize. They prefer closet organization systems that have double storage capacity to ordinary ones.
6. Women want larger storage space in their homes especially in the kitchen. They require bigger kitchen pantries to store prepared foods.
7. Women prefer home designs that let in natural light in their home such as a window over the bath tub, in the shower etc.
8. Women prefer home exteriors that need little or no maintenance such as maintenance-free decking.
9. Women like change so homes need to be designed with flexible features.
10. Women who run home-based businesses or work from home prefer homes with office space.
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