The $30 Trillion Design Opportunity the Home Industry Is Missing
Interior designer Lori Carpenter is urging the home furnishings industry to look at longevity through a different lens.
A few years ago, when interior designer Lori Carpenter watched dementia and Alzheimer’s touch the people she loved most—her mother, her brother, an aunt—she realized something unsettling. None of them were prepared. Not emotionally. Not financially. And certainly not in the way their homes supported the lives they were suddenly living.
Rather than simply reacting, Carpenter went looking for answers. She earned her Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS) designation and around the same time, conversations with longtime marketing strategist Leslie Carothers—who was navigating similar experiences with an aging parent—began to take on a life of their own. Together, they recognized that what they were discussing resonated far beyond their own experiences.
What began as a conversation about caregiving gradually became a conversation about longevity, purpose, community, and design. In early 2025, that dialogue evolved into a multimedia platform called The 3rd Phase.
The platform began with a Facebook Community and Instagram Live series dedicated to helping people navigate the opportunities and challenges of aging with intention. Carpenter’s approach extends well beyond design. She curates conversations with an impressive roster of experts spanning health and wellness, finance, design, caregiving, and related service industries. A companion podcast ensures those conversations continue reaching audiences beyond the live broadcasts.
Today Carpenter walks every trade show with a new filter and different set of questions: Is it beautiful? Will it last? Could someone still benefit from this design twenty years from now?
The perspective changed the way she covered KBIS. Sharing her finds as a Designhounds influencer, she scoured the show floor looking for products that would be relevant to the 60-plus crowd.
By Spring High Point Market, that lens evolved into a more formal initiative. Working with Carothers, Carpenter introduced Signature Selections, a curated program highlighting products that marry beauty with functionality, adaptability, and comfort.
“Buy now…when you have the money, not at 80,” says Carpenter. “Make the investment at 60 – and do it right!”
Among her Market discoveries were a recliner from Palliser, an adjustable desk from Copeland Furniture, and a Fairfield dining chair from Libby Langdon’s collection with low-profile arms that tuck neatly beneath a dining table while remaining sturdy yet light enough to maneuver. She also singled out Woodbridge Furniture’s wheelchair-accessible puzzle table, Taylor King’s customizable “Find Your Sit” program, and WUGS’ weighted rugs. Carpenter notes that it wasn’t easy to identify beautiful furnishings that benefit the 60-and-over crowd.
“So many things on the market now for older people are not beautiful,” she says. “Most manufacturers think people our age can’t afford it, but The Third Phase is addressing an audience that can, and the benefits for older people need to be pointed out.”
This demographic is one Carpenter knows well. 80% of her design clients are over 60—active, engaged, and ready to invest in quality furnishings. “We don’t look super young,” says Carpenter, “but our brains are young.”
Carothers notes that 30 trillion dollars of wealth is expected to transfer to that generation.
With numbers like these, it’s hard to understand why the home furnishings industry isn’t speaking more directly to this audience. Carothers believes engaging mature consumers is one of the industry’s greatest untapped opportunities and urges CMOs of all ages to open their minds. “The money is there,” she says. “The marketing isn’t.”
Fortunately, some manufacturers are beginning to listen.
This October, Taylor King and Woodbridge will partner with Carpenter on Longevity Home, an initiative designed to help designers identify products that beautifully support clients through every stage of life. The collaboration includes a curated lookbook featuring Carpenter’s vetted selections.
“This book will help designers find the products that are right for their clients faster,” explains Carothers. “They can quickly see what is appropriate and why.”
Carpenter will also moderate a panel discussion at Woodbridge on Monday, October 19, featuring designers Carla Aston, Michelle Blemel, and Elizabeth Scruggs, each bringing a distinct perspective on designing for longevity.
“Woodbridge is excited to welcome Lori to our showroom for a conversation about designing for longevity. While we have long furnished senior living and assisted living environments, we are eager to learn which pieces from our existing collection Lori believes best support aging in place in residential spaces and the design elements that make them successful,” says Woodbridge creative director Savannah Brown. “Creating timeless, heirloom-quality furniture has always been at the heart of the Woodbridge philosophy. We look forward to gaining new insights from Lori and the design community on how thoughtful details—from scale and functionality to craftsmanship—can continue to shape products that are as enduring in purpose as they are in design.”
What began as a personal search for answers has become Carpenter’s life’s work, now occupying nearly three-quarters of her professional time. Through The 3rd Phase, she is helping designers, manufacturers, and consumers see what she now sees every time she walks a showroom floor: a generation that is vibrant, design-conscious, and too often overlooked. Her hope is that the industry begins designing and marketing with them in mind, creating homes that support every stage of life without sacrificing beauty, dignity, or delight.
