Originally posted: https://www.mytoolshed.co.uk/blog/post/lockdown-2020-home-improvement

• “DIYâ€� and “How-Toâ€� related searches increase over 40% during lockdown.
• Searches for “Paintâ€� increased by 77% between March and April.
• Inside, the kitchen was the UK’s most redecorated room during lockdown.
• Search volumes for “Fence Paintâ€� increase by 196%.
• “House Extensionsâ€� see huge drop in April-May then yearly high two months later.

2020 saw the UK locked down due to the Coronavirus and at MyToolShed, we’ve been wondering what people have been spending their time doing when it comes to home improvement and which areas of the home people have been focusing on the most. We’ve used a combination of Google Trends and Search Metrics to find out.

“DIY� And “How-To� Searches Skyrocket

When you delve into Google Trends you can see that after the first lockdown was announced (March 23rd) the jump in searches relating to various DIY jobs around the home skyrocketed.

The term “DIY� itself covers a wide range of jobs but is included most of the time when people are searching for tips on how the average Joe can spruce up the home without any professional help. In April the search volume for “DIY� went from 235.4K to 347.8K, an increase of 48%.

Another term found commonly in DIY-related searches is “How To�. For example, how to build or shed or how to paint a fence etc. These terms rose dramatically too…

The biggest of these increases was “How To Paint� which saw a 44% increase in searches, from a monthly search volume of 2,337 in March to 3,365 in April.

So, now that we know that the UK went on a home improvement spree, what exactly were we wanting to improve in our homes?…

77% Rise In Search Volume Leads To National Paint Shortage

If you were one of the thousands that decided that this was the perfect time to give the home a new lick of paint and were then horrified to find that there was none left at your local store, it’s hardly surprising when you look at the data.

“Paint� saw the highest increase across the board when it came to search volumes. Between March and April, volume rose by 220.8K to 391.6K, a 77% increase. But what paint were people searching for and which part of the house were homeowners looking to spruce up?

If you split the average home up into the main rooms, according to Google Trends it was the kitchen that people were looking to redecorate during lockdown. Interestingly however, according to Search Metrics, it was bedroom paint that saw the highest search volume rise.

Search Volume Increase Between March-April 2020.

• Kitchen Paint 20,097 – 29,137 45%
• Bedroom Paint 3,927 – 7,057 80%
• Bathroom Paint 30,000 – 35,031 17%
• Living Room Paint 932 – 932 0%

Aside from looking at rooms individually, what other types of paint were people looking for? It turns out, there was one clear winner…

It appears that the UK’s homes have had some very neglected fences these past few years as Google Trends shows an enormous increase in searches related to fence paint during lockdown. Search volumes also went through the roof, with “Fence Paint� increasing from 172.9K to 511.3K over the course of one month, totalling a percentage increase of 196%.

Kitchens Are The Most Wanted Extension During Lockdown

When we look at larger projects, in particular home extensions, we see a really interesting trend both when the initial lockdown measures were put in place and then as we progressed on throughout the year.

As lockdown comes into effect and homeowners begin saving pennies, we see house extensions plummet in the first few months. Then, surprisingly, the term takes an unexpected leap and reaches a yearly high just two months later. But what have UK homeowners been extending in particular?

You can see from the graph above that according to Google Trends, it’s the kitchen that has been increasing in size this year across the nation.

Did you know that extending your kitchen could raise the value of your home by over £46,000? Read more about this here.

As you can see, the nation has been very busy during this tough time. If you’re thinking about working on some home DIY projects while stuck at home, make sure to check out our site for all the tools you’ll need to get your home spruced up in no time.