These figures come from the "Tendances Salle de Bain" study by the ideas website Houzz and their French edition. The survey of 1 085 Houzz users, who are engaged in a bathroom renovation or have been in the past, provides a detailed breakdown of how they spent this money. Almost a quarter (23 per cent) enlarged the bathroom, three quarters (77 per cent) enlarged the shower. In most cases, the renovation work involved new wall coverings (stated by 83 per cent), new washbasins, new taps, cupboards and lighting (between 78 and 82 per cent).
The main reason for tackling this work is exactly that which trend and consumer researchers again and again determine to be the fundamental motivation for consumers: bathroom renovators want to personalise their new homes, say 41 per cent; amongst young survey participants (25 to 34 years) this proportion is even 62 per cent.
Of course these indications are connected to how old the inventory is in the first place. Thus, 22 per cent specified that the last renovation was 11 to 15 years ago, in 17 per cent of cases, this was five to ten years.
However from the preferred colours, which the study questioned in some detail, no particular willingness to take risks or experiment could be recognised: white is the clear favourite for the walls (40 per cent), cupboards (33 per cent) and washbasin work surfaces (41 per cent), while grey is preferred for the floors (33 per cent).