With all the chatter about new construction and eager buyers battling for a limited housing supply, it’s easy to overlook the uptick in remodeling activity. Believe it or not, not everyone is looking to move.

When it comes to making upgrades, nothing can refresh a home like a new kitchen or bath. (Or both!) Over the past decade, each room has gone from mainly functional to decidedly premium. These are the areas where homeowners are really willing to invest for quality and style to make their home feel modern and elegant.

Professional Remodeler recently mixed its research with the findings from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Home Design Trends Survey and the National Kitchen and Bath Association’s (NKBA) 2013 Kitchen & Bath Style Report to create a list of the top 15 kitchen and bath design trends.

1. Kitchens as social space, furniture-type cabinetry
2. Cost-effective, unfitted bathrooms
3. Transitional kitchen and bath styles
4. Emergence of quartz countertops
5. Color palette favors grays
6. White cabinets and blending finishes
7. Darker finishes, changing depths and heights
8. Undermount sinks create extra space
9. LED lights and reflectivity
10. Glass, ceramic, metal backsplashes
11. Creative use of ceramic and porcelain tiles
12. Increase of touch-activated faucets
13. Satin nickel, bronze, oil-rubbed finishes
14. Larger showers, better amenities
15. Pinterest & Houzz influence designs

Trend No. 1 — the kitchen as a social space — might be the most exciting for building pros, because it presents a truly interesting design challenge. As one builder told Professional Remodeler, “Kitchens have become the new living room, and as a result, they are more unique and collected in terms of finishes and vocabularies. I love hearing people talk about how important their kitchens have become to them, not just for cooking, dining, and cleaning, but for just hanging out with friends and family.”

Ask anyone outside of the building industry the last time they stepped foot in a brand new home and they may need to pause and think. Surely for some, it’s been quite a while. The housing bubble burst nearly six years ago, and only recently has new construction picked up.

It’s worth noting the design and features in today’s homes are in many ways very different from the new home of 2007. Where big, spacious behemoths used to be desirable, today’s homeowners appear to seek practicality, functionality and sustainability above all.

BuilderOnline.com senior editor Claire Easley recently surveyed three respected architects on the latest design trends in today’s new homes. She found more owners of newly built homes desire:

Smaller homes closer to urban areas. As one architect told Easley, ”The pool of people only buying on price per pound is shrinking.” More homeowners want great location with convenient access to entertainment and amenities.

A distinct neighborhood feel. One of the architects Easley interviewed said, “People are looking for a sense of community,” particularly cottage communities that offer smaller, well-designed homes that promote a close-knit feel.

Floor plans with greater functionality. Dens, open floor plans, larger gathering rooms. Designated spaces have gone the way of the formal dining room, er, the dinosaur. Homeowners want space that can be used as they see fit.

Outdoor space with privacy. Increasingly, homeowners want space for outdoor kitchens, fire pits and room to garden.

Green features. One architect said it best: “There’s a certain amount of sustainable feature that people are willing to buy on an emotional level, even if it doesn’t make sense economically. Ten years ago, people would ask for a pool; now they ask for a geothermal heat system. … They’re willing to pay more so they can feel like they’re doing their part and express themselves.”

Are more homeowners ready to sell?
Listed
“The latest data from Realtor.com found that the number of homes for sale increased 2.36% from February to March. While that doesn’t indicate a stampede of sellers, it may be a sign that at least sellers are ready to quit sitting on their hands.”

Construction Groups Criticize Limits in Guest Worker Deal
New York Times
“Several major construction industry groups are criticizing the agreement reached last week over how many low-skilled guest workers should be granted visas each year, complaining that the proposed limits were “unrealistic.” The trade associations, including Associated Builders and Contractors and the National Electrical Contractors Association, issued a statement late Wednesday highlighting their concerns about the proposal between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the A.F.L.-C.I.O.”

Existing home sales dip 0.6% in March
USA Today
“A low supply of homes for sale took a bite out of existing home sales in March while prices continued to climb, the National Association of Realtors says.”

Self-Taught MBA: Make Your Digital Devices Work Harder and Smarter
Fine Homebuilding
“To get the most out of your digital toolbox, start by using applications that address your most important or time-consuming responsibilities first. Then add more applications as you find time. I’ve grouped my favorite apps by category to make it easier to prioritize them.”

Picture your next clients.

They are young, bright-eyed first-time homebuyers and they are eager to break ground. They know exactly what they want — inside and out — and all of their financial ducks are in a row.

There’s just one thing: They are not married.

Data proves young adults are getting married and starting a family later than previous generations, but they have not been as willing to put homebuying on hold. In fact, new data from a Coldwell Banker demonstrates a growing number of couples are buying homes before marriage. According to a recent story from Time.com,

“Nearly one-quarter (24%) of polled married couples ages 18 to 34 said that they purchased a home before they were married. Among married couples ages 45 and up, just 14% said that they bought a house together before tying the knot.”

A spokesperson for Coldwell Banker points to the pragmatic nature of younger buyers. They understand mortgage rates are near historic lows and now is an excellent time to buy a home. In turn, they are willing to purchase before tying the knot.

This isn’t true of just any couple, though:

“There is some sign, however, that a certain breed of millennial is more interested in homeownership of late. According to the PulteGroup Home Index Survey, among renters ages 18 to 35 with income of more than $50,000 annually, 65% say their intention to buy a home has increased significantly or somewhat over the last year.”

In other words, your next clients might be saying “I do” to their first house before they say it to each other.

Jed Kolko, chief economist for online real-estate website Trulia, stopped by the Wall Street Journal earlier this week to discuss some interesting findings from a recent survey of homeowners. During a recording of “Lunch Break” (above), Kolko joined the growing number of economists who now believe the market has shifted and sellers now have the upper-hand.

The Trulia survey found the No. 1 regret among homeowners is buying a house that’s too small. And second? Not investing in remodeling projects right away.

See the video above for more from Kolko and Trulia.

You Can’t, and Don’t Need to, Win Them All
Builder
“Just as real baseball fans don’t get too upset when their favorite team loses a game (it’s a long season!), followers of the housing industry shouldn’t dwell on month-to-month metrics.”

Remaking the great room
Professional Builder
“Although the idea of a great room has been around for many years, the design and definition have both evolved. Years ago when we saw the emergence of one large living space that combined the formal living room (parlor) and family room, this great room typically featured soaring ceilings, massive fireplaces, and, quite often, no open connections to the kitchen. ”

The Return of That ’70s House
Wall Street Journal
“Often dismissed as the era of A-frame homes with hot tubs in the bedroom, the 1970s also saw some forward-looking advances in home design, from stricter building codes to the beginnings of the green-home movement. Now, some historians and homeowners are looking past the mirrored walls and laminate surfaces and restoring these retro residences—saving some from the wrecking ball.”

10 homes made famous on TV or in movies
MSN Real Estate
Here’s a bit of fun for Monday morning! Do you recognize any of these houses?

Chances are few builders actually identify themselves as “green builders,” but given the way energy efficient solutions have flooded the marketplace, it seems every builder is  building greener homes these days — intentionally or not. Call it circumstantial expertise or specialty by default.

Building, in general, is bustling with exciting new “green” products and materials. Because of these breakthroughs, the average new home is anything but average. In fact, by yesteryear’s standards, today’s homes are really quite green. That kind of progress is one of the great storylines in the industry right now.

Cormac Reynolds of Greener Ideal recently wrote about the five tech innovations we can expect to see in the green home of tomorrow. (In other words, it’s only a matter of time before these green innovations become status quo.) Here’s what Reynolds envisions:

Energy
“The increasing efficiency of green technologies means that the homes of the future will be self-reliant and manage to store the energy required to power them and all inside via a mixture of solar power and fuel cells. Batteries will store unused power for other times and anything extra will then be sent back to the grid.”

Appliances
“We’ve seen a significant drop in the amount of energy most appliances consumer and in the future this will be set to continue. Homes and the electrical appliances that reside within them will be ever greener and use increasingly less electricity. This will mean that even today’s energy efficient items will look like energy guzzlers when they are compared to the new ones in homes in the next decade or so.”

Insulation
“So much of the heat consumption of a home depends on the insulation and the amount of it. In the future we can expect insulation to become more efficient, smaller and obviously more effective. Cavity wall insulation will begin to change the way we keep our homes warm and prevent heat escaping from them. This will boost home’s energy ratings and makes sure that there is else and less power used in the home.”

Affordability
“Many of the future technologies we use are available now, but they just cost too much for us to actually implement. We will most certainly see a rise in the number of heat pumps used in homes in the coming years. These pumps exist currently but they do cost money to implement. Essentially, these will take advantage of the constant earth’s temperature to heat water underground and bring it to the surface as warm water.”

Biomorphic Skins
“This seems like one from the far flung future; however biomorphic skins are here, now. This technology reacts to the day outside and will insulate and absorb the heat on warm days. It will also turn tinted to prevent too much light. On darker days it will turn clear and release some of the heat it has stored. The walls also capture rain and this can then be used for interior needs on dry days. It’s a truly innovative concept that we may soon come to reality.”

The National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) recently unveiled the top six overall kitchen design in 2013 based on its 2013 NKBA Design Trends Survey, which included responses from more than 300 member designers. Each year, the survey polls members on the materials, product types and style they used during the final three months of the previous year.

White-painted cabinetry.  The popularity of white-painted cabinetry jumped from 47 percent to 59 percent in 2012 and further increased to 67 percent this year.

Darker finishes. Use of light, medium and natural finishes has remained more or less consistent over the past year. Light finishes are currently used by 30 percent of respondents, medium finishes by 54 percent, and dark finishes by 55 percent.

Glass backsplash. The preference for glass splashes has grown dramatically over the past three years: from 42 percent in 2010 to 64 percent this year.

LED lighting. As consumer awareness of energy efficiency has risen, it comes as no surprise that light-emitting diode, or LED, lighting is being specified by a higher percentage of designers, increasing from 70 percent to 77 percent over the past year. That’s up from 50 percent in 2010.

Touch-activated faucets. Growing in popularity are touch-activated faucets, specified by 32 percent of member designers, versus only 20 percent of designers in 2011 and 2012.

Satin nickle. When it comes to faucet finishes in kitchens, satin nickel has been on the top since 2011, its usage increasing from 42 percent in 2010 to 60 percent this year.

Hola, bonjour, guten tag and hello!

Here’s a question: Do you speak more than one language? We’re guessing the majority of our readers are native English speakers, but depending on where you live, being able to speak another language could come in very handy. Because we all have lives and jobs, though, it can be difficult if not impossible to take classes and have an immersion experience for fluency. But if you have staff that speaks another language, you might instead attempt “micro-fluency.”

According to Bradley Hartmann at Housing Zone, “I know several construction managers who are bilingual in very specific situations. They know a handful of words – maybe 50 to 100 – and apply them with confidence only in certain situations. ”

So if you’re a builder, you might not need to know how to carry on a conversation about your favorite foods in Spanish, but you might need to know the words for windows, door, roofing, flooring and joists. Now, even having a wide vocabulary of building terms isn’t enough to explain in detail how to tile a fireplace, but you might be able to punctuate your native language with certain useful words and phrases in another language.

Are you “micro-fluent” or even completely fluent in another language? Do you find language knowledge useful when working with building crews?

In anticipation of a frenzied building season, the National Association of Home Builders is trying to get the word out to buyers they can afford a higher-priced new home.

Based on data from the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2011 American Housing Survey, its possible buyers can afford a new home with a higher sticker price, as compared to an older home of equal value, because of operating costs.

That might seem like common sense to some, but the numbers are quite staggering

The NAHB found that “homes built before 1960 have average maintenance costs of $564 a year, while a home built after 2008 averages $241. Similarly, operating costs average nearly 5 percent of the home’s value for pre-1960 structures, while they average less than 3 percent when the home was built later than 2008.”

“Home buyers need to look beyond the initial sales price when considering whether to buy new construction or an existing home,” said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C. “They will find that with the higher costs of operating an older home, they can often afford to spend more to buy a new home and still have annual operating costs that fit their budget.”