Interior Design
Here’s What Interior Designers See in Our Homes Post-Covid
Are you ready for version 2.0 of apartment living?
Home offices will be VIPs (Very Important Places)
With the boundary between work and home dismantled, designers see homeowners taking a serious stance on home offices. With working from home and home-based learning expected to be the new normal for many, having a properly designed home office is paramount.
The current scenario in many homes – parents and child working from the dining table is not ideal. Imagine closing laptops and coiling away cables at least twice a day to convert the surface from work/study mode to mealtime. Two to four people working on different things in a shared space is also too noisy and distracting says Zhuo Jinhai of Design Zage. “I believe each room will have a study table and this will be an essential item in space planning in the future. The study desk has to have a proper seating chair if not the efficiency level may drop.
With the boundary between work and home dismantled, designers see homeowners taking a serious stance on home offices. With working from home and home-based learning expected to be the new normal for many, having a properly designed home office is paramount.
The current scenario in many homes – parents and child working from the dining table is not ideal. Imagine closing laptops and coiling away cables at least twice a day to convert the surface from work/study mode to mealtime. Two to four people working on different things in a shared space is also too noisy and distracting says Zhuo Jinhai of Design Zage. “I believe each room will have a study table and this will be an essential item in space planning in the future. The study desk has to have a proper seating chair if not the efficiency level may drop.
As enclosed home offices are not always doable when occupants outnumber the rooms, Quck Zhong Yi of asolidplan puts forth the use of “acoustic compartmentalisation for minimal disturbances during teleconferencing.”
“They can be temporarily created through sliding partitions, thick curtains, a study booth or even a walk-in closet or store. Ideally, there should be at least one acoustic compartment per resident in an apartment,” he says.
“They can be temporarily created through sliding partitions, thick curtains, a study booth or even a walk-in closet or store. Ideally, there should be at least one acoustic compartment per resident in an apartment,” he says.
With video conferencing replacing office meetings and even job interviews, what appears in your home office background is up for discussion. Just look at Room Rater, a Twitter account that scores the home decor of celebrities and news anchors from their video calls. A plain old wall will earn the term “hostage” video while tidy shelves and considered art scores high.
“Consider a nice backdrop that doesn’t reveal too much of the home, “ advises JQ Ong of The Association. He recommends a textured background or wood grain as “it’s not loud and reflects character.”
He also calls an improvement over the ubiquitous central ceiling light found in many homes. “Overhead lighting cast shadows on your face; even table lamps can be too direct,” he says. Diffused lighting is a better choice. Think a ring of light like those makeup lights at the vanity or a clip-on light for selfies.
“Consider a nice backdrop that doesn’t reveal too much of the home, “ advises JQ Ong of The Association. He recommends a textured background or wood grain as “it’s not loud and reflects character.”
He also calls an improvement over the ubiquitous central ceiling light found in many homes. “Overhead lighting cast shadows on your face; even table lamps can be too direct,” he says. Diffused lighting is a better choice. Think a ring of light like those makeup lights at the vanity or a clip-on light for selfies.
The joys of the kitchen
Whether it’s to fight boredom, takeaway fatigue or just having the time to cook, many are not just cooking more but also making meals from scratch and even baking bread. Just look at the photos and recipes shared on the socials (#quarantinecooking, #bakecorona, #confinementcooking) and you know kitchens are one of the heavily-used spaces now. Ong expects this to ignite more interest in kitchen design. “Homeowners will look to have more storage for dry goods or set up pantries,” he predicts.
Whether it’s to fight boredom, takeaway fatigue or just having the time to cook, many are not just cooking more but also making meals from scratch and even baking bread. Just look at the photos and recipes shared on the socials (#quarantinecooking, #bakecorona, #confinementcooking) and you know kitchens are one of the heavily-used spaces now. Ong expects this to ignite more interest in kitchen design. “Homeowners will look to have more storage for dry goods or set up pantries,” he predicts.
Finding space for fitness
With gyms and sporting facilities off-limits, many have turned to buying fitness equipment for isolation workouts at home. Sports emporium Decathlon saw sales of fitness products increase by 43 per cent in the two days following Prime Minister Lee’s Circuit Breaker announcement. Fitness equipment business HomeGym.SG is selling twice the amount they used to pre-Covid-19. “Before, the homeowners who buy from us were mainly fitness-savvy young couples living in BTO flats. They typically devote one bedroom to a home gym,” says its founder, Wayne Poh.
With gyms and sporting facilities off-limits, many have turned to buying fitness equipment for isolation workouts at home. Sports emporium Decathlon saw sales of fitness products increase by 43 per cent in the two days following Prime Minister Lee’s Circuit Breaker announcement. Fitness equipment business HomeGym.SG is selling twice the amount they used to pre-Covid-19. “Before, the homeowners who buy from us were mainly fitness-savvy young couples living in BTO flats. They typically devote one bedroom to a home gym,” says its founder, Wayne Poh.
For those without a spare room, both Poh and interior designer Zhuo recommend a two-metre by two-metre space that can house a folding bench and set of dumbbells or a yoga mat.
Think of your home as a personal trainer
Think of your home as a personal trainer
Furniture and rooms will work harder
Quck thinks it’s time to rethink our furniture needs. “Do we still need a living room with sofas facing a TV? If the TV is to be used as a videoconferencing medium, should the TV be mobile or should the living room furniture be adaptable as a conference table? For those of us using the dining table as a study desk, can there be chairs ergonomic enough as working chairs yet beautiful enough as dining chairs?,” he poses.
Expanding a room’s utility is fundamental to Japanese homes where rooms are living rooms by day and bedrooms by night. “If communal spaces are to be optimised and adaptable, why not our most intimate spaces as well?” asks Quck. “Perhaps even bathroom designs could be revisited to cater to work and learning: if the shower stall already has a bench and some greenery, why not add a small ledge with enough space for a laptop and a glass of wine?”
Multifunctional Furniture for Small Spaces
Quck thinks it’s time to rethink our furniture needs. “Do we still need a living room with sofas facing a TV? If the TV is to be used as a videoconferencing medium, should the TV be mobile or should the living room furniture be adaptable as a conference table? For those of us using the dining table as a study desk, can there be chairs ergonomic enough as working chairs yet beautiful enough as dining chairs?,” he poses.
Expanding a room’s utility is fundamental to Japanese homes where rooms are living rooms by day and bedrooms by night. “If communal spaces are to be optimised and adaptable, why not our most intimate spaces as well?” asks Quck. “Perhaps even bathroom designs could be revisited to cater to work and learning: if the shower stall already has a bench and some greenery, why not add a small ledge with enough space for a laptop and a glass of wine?”
Multifunctional Furniture for Small Spaces
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Has #stayhomeSG made you want to change things in your home? Share your ideas in the Comments below.
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Has #stayhomeSG made you want to change things in your home? Share your ideas in the Comments below.
More
Find interior designers and decorators in Singapore
There is a definite change in the way we use our homes these days and interior designers are already envisioning how this will refocus their designs.