Making Room
Right now, as we are spending so much time inside with our families, our houses are starting to feel small. I feel your pain and want to help! Our current needs create an opportunity to rethink how we actually use spaces. Here’s a couple of ideas which may create a feel of spaciousness to your home.
Window Seats. These are my favorite addition to any project. Whether wall-to-wall or inset in a bay, a window seat provides an intimate connection to the exterior and an alternate perspective within the interior space.
The below two images demonstrate a window seat expanding a small library to facilitate larger parties (remember those), but also providing an intimate perch to lounge away from the whole family.
Multi-task. Now more than ever we are calling on our rooms to be multi-functional. Living rooms and dining rooms need to be our workplace, school and gym. The key is flexible seating areas to activate an entire space and provide opportunities to adjust these for use throughout the day. Smaller seating areas within a large room, even solo chairs, allow a comfortable ease in adaptable function while still supporting larger functions.
Functional furniture. A cozy lounge chair in the living room… provides a space to nap, read, or Zoom. A beautiful cabinet… may provide a place to stash your printer for work or hide your yoga mats. A smart dining table… can discretely hide power/cable ports to easily adapt to a home office or remote classroom.
Now is the time to think outside of the box and retrofit your home with a few smart purchases.
Rethink spaces. Do you have a guest bedroom that is rarely used? Convert it into a home library for learning and work. Provide flexibility with sofa beds, or murphy beds.
Have an extra closet? Consider converting it into an home office.
David Bjørngaard, June 2020
Check out our latest work, at Bjørn Design
What do you think?