With the New Year ushered in, people across the world are having increased interest in trend updates to ensure that they are always up to date and can keep their living and lifestyles abreast of modern-day changes, be it in areas of fashion, health, technology or home and living. Home innovation leader SCG is therefore summing up three up-and-coming home trends in 2020 that can be long-term living solutions for people. Today, home is not merely a place we reside in, but rather a space where we spend our life. Home spaces should therefore be built or improved with long-term ability to adapt to changes in living conditions and lifestyles of its occupants so that this home will always be a very happy space for everyone in the family.

Mr. Chua Kuptithanhi, Consult and Design Solution Business Lead at SCG, said, “People’s living and lifestyles today have changed towards an increasingly digitised world in which technology is becoming part of our everyday life. The world’s population trend is also seeing changes due to declining fertility rates and rising life expectancy of people. Thailand is one of the countries expected to experience population aging soon. With all these, home of modern-day time is meant to be not only a place to reside in, but also a space for enriched living and good quality of life of all the occupants. SCG is providing an update on home trends that will offer not only beautiful designs but also practical functions for every occupant and will coincide very well with living behaviours of modern-day people. The three key trends are Eco and Sustainable Living, Universal Living and Smart Living.”

Eco and Sustainable Living – People all over the world are valuing eco-friendliness and integrating this concept into their homes to make them friendly to the environment, energy saving and enriching to occupants’ quality of life. This trend encourages homeowners to adopt technologies for an eco-friendly home.

– Alternative Energy Home – Have a solar power system installed to switch to a cleaner source of power instead of conventional electricity. SCG Solar Roof Solutions offers a solar rooftop system that can be installed on any style of roof without compromising on home aesthetics.

– Energy-saving, Low Air Pollution Home – By having Active AIRflow™ system installed, interior airflow increases while interior and under-roof heats can be vented out efficiently, resulting in an ability to reduce interior temperature by two up to five degree Celsius and under-roof temperature by more than ten degree Celsius. Moreover, with a Well AIR system installed, the indoor air quality is improved because airbourne pollutants are reduced. A thermal insulation material can also be installed to block out heat that would otherwise radiate through the roof; it can reflect more than 95% of radiant heat.

– Green Home – Choose building materials with contents of waste materials. With a commitment to utilisation of waste materials in its production, SCG consistently increases the use of recycled contents in all its products to make the most out of valuable resources. For example, floor tiles are made of earthen and ceramic scraps whereas recycled fly ash and crushed dust are used to make fibre-cement roof tiles instead of virgin materials. In addition to their eco-friendliness, these building materials have achieved high safety standards and are friendly to home occupants.

Universal Living – In line with aging population and the uptrend of multigenerational homes, universal living favours home designs or functional adaptation of home spaces to meet diverse living needs of different generations.

– Allocating A Suitable Personal Space for Everyone, Especially Children and the Elderly – As an expert in home design for the elderly, SCG Eldercare Solution suggests that home spaces should be adjusted with physical limitations of elder people in mind, including flat floor design, inclusion of bathroom handrails, installation of DoCare Protect, a smart home device for the peace of mind when an elderly person stays home alone, and installation of stairs lift, etc. For homes with young children, creative bedroom designs help promote their imagination, such as by using lively colours or a wallpaper in their favourite design and bathroom fixtures especially designed for kids. Interior vinyl flooring is recommended for its shock absorption property. To prevent risk of injuries, also opt for furniture with rounded corners.

– Keep Shared Spaces Nice for Happy Co-dwelling of Multigenerational Members – By cladding the living room, home entertainment room, or kid’s music studio with Zandera acoustic insulation, in-room reverberation can be minimised and the noise is better confined, preventing it from bothering others in the house. Outdoor areas can be decorated for recreation or open-air parties by creating an in-garden seating area, making garden walk comfortable with paving blocks, and growing trees and flowers for a more refreshing home environment.

– Maximising Use of Home Spaces – For smaller homes, making each interior space multifunctional is a good approach. For example, a kitchen can double as a dining room by designing a U-shape kitchen top and matching a few bar stools to it, which allows the top to serve as a dining table or a coffee bar.

Smart Living – More and more technological innovations are being introduced for home use to make living more comfortable and safer. These include app-controlled home systems, voice command systems, automatic lighting and appliance control systems, automatic locking systems, movement detection camera systems, reception robots, etc. Being a home innovation leader, SCG has developed home innovations, such as solar rooftop system, Well AIR system, and DoCare Protect system. The company has also integrated IoT and AI technologies into its products and developed “Smart Living Solution” as a single platform that connects innovative home products from SCG to provide an overview of home functions via mobile app in real time for ultimate convenience of modern homeowners.

In addition to these trends, survey findings revealed that today’s homeowners begin their research on home-related needs online, including home styles, builders, cost estimation and choice of building materials. Their online searches for information are paralleled by physical visit to building materials stores to look for the sought-after products, although some would still order them online. They spend more than six months to search for information and visit stores before a buying decision is made—a long customer journey due to reluctance on choice of materials and how an interested product would fit to an existing house, etc. Once decided to begin a home renovation project, common problems found include cowboy builders, unskilled workers, escalated costs, etc. Based on these findings, SCG has developed a service solution to match the lifestyles of modern-day people. The solution provides a seamless online-and-offline shopping experience with SCG HOME website and mobile application along with a complete array of services including expert advice, building materials recommendation, design, cost estimation and installation. With the expert teams including SCG Roof Renovation, SCG Sound Solution and SCG Landscape Solution, customers can enjoy convenient access to information and expert assistance across all channels, anywhere and anytime.

Homeowners interested in renovation for happier living can stay updated or ask for more information via SCG HOME Contact Center 02-586-2222, company’s website www.scghome.com and Facebook page “SCG Brand”.