The Future of Interior Design: How the Pandemic will Reshape Our Homes

After spending months trying to complete all our daily activities within the confines of our home, many of us are reconsidering the way we live and how our homes function. I believe the future of interior design is just one of the many things that will be reshaped by the pandemic.

Learning from our current situation is important to our future happiness and well-being. Now more than ever, our physical environments should inspire us with beauty while also ensuring we can LIVE WELL and FEEL WELL at home. Today’s world has shifted our need to have healthier homes.

Thoughtful minimalist design can provide solutions to many of our current home woes. When it comes to the future of home design, look for these changes to occur in response to our current situation.

Adaptable Layouts

Even in small homes, we now need room for work, school, play, exercise, and entertainment at home. Re-configuring our living spaces to allow for a variety of activities doesn’t mean homes have to be bigger. It just means we have to come up with creative and flexible solutions to make them work more efficiently.

Before the pandemic, we typically had to set-up and tear-down for different activities. Now, homeowners want multi-functional living spaces that can accommodate the whole family’s needs with easy, user-friendly solutions.

Multi-functional Furniture

Trying to do so many different things at home, may make you think you need more stuff. But clutter only adds to the problem. Instead, we need to figure out how to do more with less. Furniture that serves more than one purpose or folds easily away will help homes of all sizes to be more functional.

Incorporating features such as wall-mount or roll-away desks that can be “put away” when not in use can create home offices or home-schooling areas in even the smallest of homes. And, built-in storage units can provide functional space where you least expect it.

Go Hands Free

The CDC warns that germs are often spread when we touch a surface that is frequently touched by other people.  Our homes feature many common touch-points that you probably don’t even think about disinfecting. Everything from light switches, to faucets, to the TV remote receive hands-on contact multiple times a day.

Smart hands-free products that help stop the spread of germs can help combat this problem in our homes.  By switching to voice activated and motion sensor options for these frequent touch-points, we can drastically reduce the spread of germs.

Live Smarter

Aside from enabling us to operate many features of our home hands (and germ)-free, technology can also enhance wellness. Smart lighting, thermostats, and even window coverings can all help create an interior environment that promotes better health.  

Our bodies are meant to wake when the sun rises and sleep when it gets dark. But with so much artificial light in our everyday lives, we no longer follow our natural internal clocks. And this has turned out to be detrimental to our health. Lighting technology that aims to recreate the body’s natural circadian rhythm can help us sleep better and wake naturally.

Focus on Inner Peace

Our homes should be a calm and restful place to help us relax and unwind. And now that we face additional stresses such as work and school at home, we need separate spaces that allow us to retreat from our busy daily routines.

Research proves that tranquil scenes can have a positive impact on the brain. Reducing clutter and creating quiet spots in the home, can help make sheltering in place less stressful for everyone. Whether it’s a quiet reading nook or a tranquil outdoor room, a peaceful place to recharge will be a priority in the future.

Use Colour Wisely

You may not realize the importance of colour in the home. But choosing colours to help create a particular mood or feeling can actually improve our well-being.  The Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health backs up the theory, stating that “colours can evoke spontaneous emotional reactions that can affect mood and stress”. 

Choosing colours found in nature such as soothing blues and greens, can help create calm, restful spaces.  Alternatively, stimulating colours like yellow and orange can inspire productivity in home offices.

By focusing on what’s important to you today, minimalist design will give you a home that supports your well-being. Connect with me to talk about how we can adapt your home for life after the pandemic.