5 ways Covid has changed home design needs

Now people want their home to deliver more than just a roof above their head. Interior designer Alifia Shabbir tells more

Home has become the centre of our life since the pandemic broke out. We work at home, study there, work out, Netflix and chill, devour restaurant food, hang out with friends and do much more. This shift has got people to rethink what they want from their home.

In this weekend guide, Bengaluru-based interior designer Alifia Shabbir dwells on the home design needs the pandemic has thrown up.

She is the founder of Designmint, a metal works and design company, and now also the author of ‘Soul Spaces’, an interior design guide for new homeowners. The book contains quizzes and tips to help people find their inner style and identify an interior designer that is best suited for them.

Now, back to how the pandemic has shaped our home sensibilities.

Home gardens

Deprived of the outdoors and the sight of plants, flowers, leaves and butterflies, a lot of people decided to bring the greenery indoors. People staying in apartments started tending small gardens in their balcony or on terrace. Some stuck to flowering and ornamental plants, some went the extra way to raise a kitchen garden for self-sustenance. “Some users said they found the process of gardening therapeutic and that it helped them keep their mental health steady during the pandemic,” she says.

Independent villas

There has been an increase in the number of people buying villas and independent homes with yards and open spaces. “Before the lockdown, having a breathing room was considered a matter of luxury. But now people know its importance,” says Alifia.

Bigger balconies

For those who can’t afford to go independent, they have started toiling with the idea of having homes with bigger balconies and more legroom. “Staying confined within four walls for such long periods is uncomfortable,” she explains why.

More nooks

The pandemic got a whole lot of people to take up new hobbies and activities or resume the ones they had left off in their childhood or college days. For some it was about working out, for others it was about picking up the habit of reading. The need for having dedicated activity rooms have, thus, been felt. People are looking to have a personal home gym or a study corner.

Personal style

Your home cannot be a museum; it should resonate with your personality, architect Shruti Jaipuria says in Alifia’s book ‘Soul Spaces’. And that trend is slowly setting in. “We are beginning to see houses with more ‘personality’. Although this can be said for only a few homes in the community, the number of unique homes with flare and the ability to tell stories through their architecture and design is rising at a steady rate,” observes Alifia.

She illustrates with an example of an apartment she designed. The owners wanted their abode to exude a Morocco-meets-Scandinavia vibe. She brought that in with an open plan with detailing in the kitchen tiles, the carpet and the vintage kitchen cupboard, and the cool blues and minimal whites and clean lines.

Another example of a home with personality would be a project that designers of Anu and Prashant Chauhan of Studio Zero 9 had executed in Mumbai, and that finds mention in her book. The duo had to squeeze the essence of a bungalow, where the owners previously lived, into an apartment they were moving to.