The World Stops, but Home Improvement Thrives

The Coronavirus pandemic has halted productivity around the world, but home improvement stores and DIY enthusiasts in Palm Beach, Florida are thriving.

Photo by Theme Photos on Unsplash

While streets, malls and restaurants have become ghost towns, just visit any home improvement store, and all of a sudden it’s Coachella. The parking lot of Home Depot in West Palm Beach is more full than Publix and Target. Adults are prioritizing their homes, Coronavirus and quarantining giving families the opportunity to take on home improvement projects they otherwise would have put on the back burner.

Alexandra Olsson, mother of two aged 5 and 2, and husband Nicholas Olsson, have become big fans of Home Depot during the Coronavirus outbreak.

“I’ve been to Home Depot and Lowes five days a week,” said Alexandra Olsson. “I go food shopping once a week. It’s our priority now.”

Home Depot in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Home Depot: Standing signs in the parking lot read “Curbside Pickup,” with a number to call for assistance. Customers are able to keep their distance while picking home improvement items during the pandemic in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Standing signs in the parking lot read “Curbside Pickup,” with a number to call for assistance. Customers are able to keep their distance while picking home improvement items during the pandemic in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Home Depot: Tents line the outside of the store with cones and tape on the ground for customers to keep their distance when shopping for home improvement items. Pictured before entering.[/caption]

Nobody has an excuse anymore to put things off. One of these things being home improvement. With seemingly endless time, and much more energy to exhort, the Olsson family found these projects as an outlet to spend time, money and energy on during the outbreak.

“The world stopped with COVID-19,” said Alexandra Olsson. “Within a week of being cooped up inside, my family realized that in order to stay sane, and also be productive, home improvement projects would be a good release.”

Their home sits on a large property in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, giving them the space to plant new palm trees, invest time in gardening, and repaint several parts of their home.

“Instead of spending money and blowing it,” said Nicholas Olsson. “A good way to invest both money, time and energy, is to put it into our equity, our homes, into our yards.”

Before (left): Val and Lars Olsson, Nicholas’s parents, lounge on the outside wooden porch in January 2020. After (right): Outside wooden porch removed from the around the Royal Poinciana tree, completed in March 2020.

Before (left): The Olsson’s outdoors area, coated in white paint wraps around the turquoise pool. After (right): Outdoors repainted in the color Almond Roca, to look like Limestone.

Before (left): Patio floor, fan and furniture has a dark feel to the indoor-outdoor space. After (right): The indoor-outdoor patio has a new, fresh feel after repainting the chairs, redecorating, painting the coffee table white, and a new Limestone colored floor in Almond Roca.

Before (left): The Olsson’s kitchen looked plain and dull before the paint job. After (right): The kitchen looks lively and colorful for the Floridian home, painted in the color Blue Chaulk.

Before (left): The entrance to the Olsson’s home was a muted beige, almost blending in with the outside walls. After (right): The doors have a new, modern look, standing out against the light walls. The glass is now framed by the color Red Oak.

Before (left): The driveway and garage door before was dull and cracking before being fixed up. After (right): The driveway redone, painted in the same Almond Roca by the pool. and the garage door in Red Oak to match the entrance doors.

While some say that Home Depot and home improvement stores such as Lowes, are technically non-essential businesses, they are a necessary essential for the mental well-beings of many. America’s unemployment rate has reached 25.6 million as of April 29th, 2020. The home improvement industry is thriving. This is positive news in an otherwise negative and strange time we are living in.