By Shagun Singh,Founder & Interior Designer,Homework
The Pandemic came upon us quite suddenly and all of us were forced to spend all our time at home. It gave us a new found respect for our personal space which a lot of people didn’t really pay attention to.In these two and a half years so many people have had time to look into and look after their homes – think about refurbishment addressing issues that they were so far ignoring. But one of the other important aspects was how people wanted each space in their home to be multi-functional. This perhaps came from what we all went through with either one member getting locked in one room because they had tested positive or perhaps from the need of realising that each individual in the family needed their own space if WFH became a permanent feature. As a designer I have had multiple requests from clients asking for help to make their spaces more functional. Some thoughts and ideas on this came to me naturally because I got married quite young and had a tiny home and really needed to think about in those years how I could make a little home comfortable, beautiful and functional. So here are a few of my thoughts
a. Creating a space in the bedroom for work is a must. It need not be an elaborate study table set up but find a spot where you can put in a small desk just for a laptop and a diary so you can sit and work. The desk width just needs to be about 14″. If you feel like you have a really tiny space then even just putting a foldable table is a good idea. You can just pull it up when you need to work and push it back up against the wall when not in use. Adding a floating shelf above the table is always a good idea and since it is up on the wall and doesn’t obstruct the way it’s nice to put a small planter or some books or just to put away your work papers in a designated spot especially if you have a pull up and push down kind of table.
b. If you are a TV buff and need a space in the bedroom and have the luxury of space, think of adding a sleek media in the space itself. You could in fact even club your media unit and a study table together and that way kill two birds with one stone. With all kinds of Smart TV’s available in the market today you don’t have to think of you know heavy media units. You can be creative about the wall on which your TV goes like perhaps adding some rafters to it or even a beautiful large marble slab on which your TV can be put so it adds a nice little accent to the wall. Whilst I myself am not a great TV buff I realised when we got Covid how important it was to have a TV in the bedroom. How does one keep oneself entertained locked in one little room for 14 days.
c. For those with larger homes and the availability of space creating a little corner to exercise is always a good idea. Infact in my own home our family lounge was just a lounge all this while but given the new scenario and on many days when one could not work out we needed to have a space where we could get a work out. So I created a small mini gym kind of space in my lounge. I already had the TV there so that was not a problem but adding the exercise cycle was essential and I needed to redesign my sofa little bit so that I would have the space to do my work out
d. Love the idea of a bar but either you don’t want it to look like a real bar. Well there are ways to address that too. I find making a nice crockery unit with a space for a counter stone and some glass cabinets above is a great way to add a bar to a room. If you don’t want an obvious bar set up it’s an easy fix to push away the alcohol bottles in the closed storage space and the glass cupboards are a great way to display glassware or crockery. Plus with a counter you also have the added benefit of using that space as a buffet table when you have many people over. For those of you who may not have enough space or don’t want a separate crockery unit and operating bar this is a great way to use the space efficiently and get two things in one. We at Homework have made plenty of these and our clients absolutely love them.
e. Finding a laundry space is one of the biggest pain areas for people. We often now have helped people design their powder bathrooms in such a way that they double up as a laundry area as well. With the machines nicely tucked away behind pretty little cupboards your guests will never even know that the bathroom has a multifunctional use to it.
