By Puja Gupta

New Delhi, Aug 9 (IANSlife): After coping with the sudden disruption caused by the lockdown, families across India are now settling down to make the best of their lockdown situation. In the initial few weeks of the lockdown in April, there was anxiety-led buying as users scrambled to stock home necessities and personal protection supplies.

According to the buying trends in May and June, online buying expanded to include more home use products like utensils and pressure cookers as well as summer apparel products. Users also bought products in pursuit of new hobbies especially cooking, gardening. The need for minor repair and maintenance work at home also led to increased sales for DIY small repairing kits etc.

While Unlock 3.0 is under process, most families across the country are still staying at home. With time and opportunity at hand and with the festive season now commencing, many users are taking up small home improvement projects.

E-commerce platform Snapdeal recently conducted a survey among its users to understand their mood with regard to home improvement.

The survey covered nearly 2000 respondents, many of who had purchased home-related products in the last eight weeks on Snapdeal.

It revealed that 34 per cent of the respondents intend to spend on making their bedrooms more comfortable. Cotton bedsheets, mattress toppers, comfortable pillows and cushions and better bedding were the top picks in this category.

While 22 per cent of respondents intend to spend on storage products to make their homes better organised. Food storage containers, collapsible racks for varied storage, shoe racks and hanging storage shelves were the top picks.

Also, 20 per cent of the respondents chose green plants as their indulgence for the freshness and positive vibes that plants bring to their homes. Succulents, money plant and palms were their top picks. 15 per cent of people intend to make their homes "office-ready." Laptop tables, tablets, chairs, routers, small UPS, extension board etc were the top picks. 9 per cent of the respondents ruled out any such purchase in the near term.

The top three reasons for home improvement projects as cited by the users were bringing positivity and cheer into homes, followed by preparing for the festive season and making homes more suitable for WFH needs.

Respondents also added that they are using their hobbies to create home decor items like knitting macrame plant hangers, assembling dream catchers from DIY kits and painting art pieces to display on the walls. Users also said observed that learning a new art gives them a feeling of harmony and peace during these times.