Page 15 - Allisons Magazine Holiday 2021 Issue 04
P. 15

How COVID-19 Has Changed                                                                                             the Face of Home Design








                                                               When COVID-19-related closures began in                             are rethinking interior and exterior spaces, home    For some, this may be as simple as putting up a wall to
           written by: CHRISTY MURDOCK EDGAR                   March 2020, many people hit big-box stores to                       design, and daily living for the post-pandemic world.   enclose a little-used formal dining room. For others, it
                                                               prepare for a couple weeks of inconvenience.                                                                             may mean adding walls and sectioning off existing open
                                                               Instead, they found themselves working                              Goodbye open concept,                                living spaces into a series of smaller rooms for a variety
                                                               from home permanently while supervising                             hello flex spaces                                    of uses. If you want to keep the option to have it both
                                                               virtual classes and trying to safely take a                         For many years, the chopped-up, old-fashioned interior   ways, consider adding French doors, pocket doors, or
                                                               stroll around the neighborhood. The days that                       home layout has been out of favor and the open-      sliding barn doors to extra-wide doorways so that you

                                                               followed brought swamped medical resources,                         concept, free-flowing floor plan has been preferred by   can open up the space as needed.
                                                               a stratospheric real estate market, and a host                      homebuyers in virtually every category and market.
                                                               of generation-defining paradigm shifts, which                       However, the new reality of post-COVID living—       Create separation between
                                                               have created permanent changes in the way we                        including working from home for multiple family      out there and in here
                                                               think about our health and our homes.                               members, virtual classrooms, and the need for privacy   Before COVID, many people thought little about the
                                                                                                                                   when spending every minute of every day under the    transition between the great outdoors and interior

                                                               As we are navigating life post-COVID, many                          same roof—means that more homeowners are looking     spaces. However, months of wiping down groceries
                                                               homeowners are thinking about ways to make their                    to transition their wide-open spaces into discrete,   and careful handwashing have made many people
                                                               homes better suited to their new realities. Here are a few          purpose-driven environments.                         more mindful of the guests, objects, and germs in our
                                                               of the ways that everyone, from experts to individuals,                                                                  interior environments.

          12  |   GOOD TO BE HOME                                                                                                                                                                                   goodtobehomemag.com  |   13
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