Tailoring Our Tiny Worlds

The final trend we’ll point to for the coming year has been taking shape since at least the 1980s when “cocooning” became a thing. People are creating increasingly tiny worlds, focusing intently on their homes, which now often double as places of work. (A new jobs benefit: work-from-home stipends to help remote workers kit out their home offices.

) This is about more than getting cozy, as exemplified by the past decade’s embrace of the Scandinavian concepts of hygge and lagom. It’s about security, self-empowerment, and self-reliance. People feel a heightened need for protection— against everything from mutating viruses and weather events to uncertain jobs markets and supply chains—and they’re responding by fortifying their homes with the technology, stockpiled goods, and entertainment options they think they’ll need to make it through whatever crisis comes next.

With mental health and wellness becoming more of a focus, how our homes make us feel has become nearly as important as their functionality. In the past couple of years, interior design has become a hobby, spawning a spate of mobile and online games. Meanwhile, the global home décor market is forecast to grow from USD 662 billion in 2022 to nearly USD 806 billion in 2026.

This includes an emerging trend of highend board games as luxury home décor. In our increasingly disconnected, computer-mediated world, we’re also seeing a return to community associations and block parties, as people seek a sense of belonging, safety, and empowerment. In the U.

S., roughly 28 percent of the population now belong to some sort of community 23 association, be it a homeowners association, condominium community, or housing cooperative. Such associations can offer both practical support—e.

g., maintenance of common areas and amenities—and the reassurance of knowing neighbors will have your back should issues arise. In 2023, we’ll see more people turning their homes into health and wellness sanctuaries.

The indoor plants market is forecast to exceed USD 26 billion by 2029, up from just under USD 18 billion in 2021. More companies are producing backyard pods that can serve as meditation retreats (or just kid-free zones). And we’re seeing more multisensory experience showers featuring customized water treatments, lighting, sounds, and more.

Chaos may continue to reign outside, but for the luckiest among us, it stops at the front door..