Homeowners face a dilemma if they want to sell their houses after adding COVID-friendly amenities, like home schoolrooms. Do they leave things as they are? Or try to convert those rooms back to their traditional uses?
The Ralph family, from left, Molly, 12, Jeff, Emily, 9, and Randi at their Vernon Hills home on Feb. 15, 2022. The family converted their dining room into a schoolroom to facilitate remote learning for Molly and Emily during the pandemic. Jeff and Randi are interested in selling the home and are debating whether to keep the room as it is or to covert it back to a dining room.
As the spring home-selling season gears up, homeowners who installed temporary or permanent amenities to accommodate COVID-19-era living now must navigate a maze of no-win decisions.
Now, some of those recent Toto converts are selling their houses — and taking their beloved seats with them, said Bill Strang, president of e-commerce for Toto USA. The only reason why a bidet devotee would let the seat remain with the house is if they intended to install an even grander setup in their new house. Many do, Strang said, because integrated washing toilets “give a better aesthetic.”
Thanks to the pandemic, gradual growth in separate living units is now on a fast track, said Jeremy Nova, creative director for Denver-based Studio Shed, which manufactures and installs such units. When public health priorities forced millions to work and learn from home, some households suddenly needed just one more room for work, quarantine, or live-in help.