With social distancing rules in place, more people  are spending time at home. Children are being taught remotely and parents are working from home, encouraging homeowners to reassess their home needs. 

House & Home spoke with Steve Matteo, co-owner and store manager of Matteo Family Kitchens & Flooring about how the new normal is going to change the way homes are seen.

Why choose Matteo Family Kitchens & Flooring?
We are a family-owned business where each customer is going to be treated like family when you come in the door. You’re not just a customer, you’re our friend—we want to explain things to you and give you the best bang for your buck. When you come in to design a kitchen or a bathroom, we have the majority of the items that you need to make that happen. It’s not just designing a kitchen of your dreams or keeping it exactly the same and just making updates—it’s also supplying the countertops, the sink, the faucet, the handles, flooring, the backsplash tile. We have coordinated all of that and we offer it all in our store.

What were some new projects that you were working on  in the beginning of 2020?
A lot of our residential customers wanted to make a change to their homes. They wanted to upgrade it and make it more suitable for their family by either taking the dining room wall out and making one big eat-in kitchen or change the home around because it was a basic spec house in a development of 500 homes and everybody’s kitchen looks exactly the same.  

We get excited to work with clients who want to do a new project kitchen, maybe changing out the master bathroom with a big soaking tub and a small stand-up shower to a big walk in shower—make it something a little bit more useful. We’re upgrading it, we’re giving them something that they truly wanted in a better way:   more storage, more countertop space, more of an open floor plan so that they can have their friends and family over. 

With everyone spending more time at home, what are some changes homeowners are going to make?
We have seen that since a lot of people are home, families are spending more time together and they are noticing little things like wanting to upgrade the carpet, adding in an office, expanding the bathrooms or making the home more livable to encompass more family values.

I have been dealing with one customer who is taking two big windows out of their dining room, moving their dining room into their formal living room that they never use, and creating a bar in their house for their friends to come and hang out. They  have a nice backyard with a pool so they’re going to take the windows out and put a sliding glass door in and we’re going to build them a bar for them to have people over and just enjoy being at home with their friends and family.  

Do you expect to experience a large boom in work when things begin to go back to normal?
Yes I do. Normally in the summertime, people are spending money on their outside patios and decks but now I think they are going to be upgrading [the interior of] their homes and creating more livable space. I still think patios and decks are going to be very big, but I think more people will be using their vacation money to do more work o n their house. 

What areas of the home do you think will be the most popular to redesign?
There’s going to be a lot more people transitioning to working from home. We already do a fair amount of home offices, but I think we will do more. Also people will want more storage and  upgraded cabinets, maybe with drawers. The master bathrooms will be upgraded since everyone is home. They will want to make the bathroom more of a sanctuary, some place you can get away and just have a little piece of your Zen room. I think the trends coming in from the end of last year to the beginning of this year have been getting rid of fiberglass and instead installing a nice new tub and tile   walls, beautiful tile niches—things like that.

Matteo Family Kitchens & Flooring
Woodstown, N.J. | (856) 769-2490
MatteoKitchens.com

Published (and copyrighted) in House & Home, Volume 20, Issue 10 (April/May 2020). 
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