The New Normal at Home

Having spent over a year working from home, many of us now realize how the pandemic has changed our work environments as well as our homes. As vaccines continue to roll out and the New Normal is on the horizon, we’re realizing that the post-pandemic world is likely to include a blend of working in the office and working from home. The big stressor for many of us now is figuring out how to make a home office a permanent part of our living spaces.

As we packed up and brought our offices and classrooms home, we struggled to accommodate the arrival of new desks, storage, supplies, and full-time occupants. Our families competed for the best workspaces in the house (next to natural light, in private areas with fewer distractions, or close to power outlets to keep electronics charged) if we were fortunate enough to have those in the first place. Overnight, our homes had to function as both home and office but without an increase in square footage. Between Zoom meeting interruptions, using the closet for private calls, and clearing the kitchen table of laptops just to fill it back up with dinner, our homes have never felt smaller and our spaces in higher demand. Learning from this, we realized that furniture needs to be just as multifunctional as our homes.

Functionality, and by extension Multi-functionality, became key words in the discussion of our homes this year. While we understood the importance of having different areas to support different activities, the reality is that our homes weren’t designed to accommodate a full time work space for every member of the household. While the initial reaction is to feel forced to move to a bigger place, the more realistic option is to make our spaces more efficient, flexible, and transformable. New opportunities come from rethinking the function of furniture. Instead of a table that sits on the ground and is tailored to a specific function, we created one that mounts to walls and appears only when you need it. Previously unused spaces, as well as limited private spaces, can now feature additional work surfaces, storage and outlets, all on-demand (See our Space Table here).

The vaccine rollout brings the potential to fully return to the office. While some are excited to leave their home offices behind forever, many prefer to have flexibility in where they can work. This past year has proven the viability of working from home. We can expect more companies than ever before to remain open to a hybrid model. New Normal will likely make working from home a more permanent part of our lives, but that doesn’t mean we all need to find larger homes to accommodate this. We can simply make space where and when we need it!