Changes and Updates In Your Home Brought About By the “New Normal”
Sanitation has become a priority.
As you’re spending a lot of time at home due to the extended community quarantine, you can’t help but notice things that can use a bit of cleaning and rearranging—from organizing your closet to defining a work space, you now realize that the “new normal” is bringing a lot of changes with how and where you live. These are pushed by new needs that living during a pandemic has created, and while these circumstances are unprecedented and worrisome, one of the few things we can do is to adjust and eventually adapt.
As sanitation, stockpiling, and suitable working arrangements are becoming part of new routines, your home may have already accommodated some (or all) of the following:
1. A sanitation area by your front door.
Sanitation is a must especially for the person who does grocery and supply runs for your household. Prior to entering the house, you must already have an area by your front door which may include any (or all) of the following:
- A foot bath
- A pail with soapy water and a bit of bleach for clothes and reusable PPEs like masks, gloves
- A basket for groceries
- Disinfectants and other cleaning agents
A rack you can use for shoes you’ve just disinfected may also be a good addition to this space.
2. A grocery sanitation area in your kitchen
If you’d like to be really sure about your groceries, you may want to have a specific area where you can first disinfect each item. Canned and packed foods may need a good wiping. Produce can easily be cleaned with a vegetable wash or with simple baking soda and water.
3. A reorganized pantry
There’s no reason to hoard, but it’s smart to stock on goods that can last your household a week or two to lessen the need to head out. This means that you may be buying more items that what you’re used to. You may need to move a few things in your pantry to create more space, or repurpose old crates and trolleys. If you’ve run out of cabinet space, you can head here for more tips on arranging your pantry.
4. A makeshift work area
Work-from-home arrangements have become highly relevant as companies slowly shift to online workspaces. It has pushed many to take a long. hard look at their own spaces and realize that a home office, no matter how small, may actually be a necessity.
For now, dining tables are everyone’s best bet. A rolling cart is a good storage idea for your documents and supplies, as this can easily be pushed around the house.
How will future homes be affected by the pandemic?
It doesn’t come as a surprise that COVID-19 will change the way people see their own homes. In an article on Dwell, several designers and architects gave their opinions on how spaces will change with the times.
San Francisco-based architect and founder of Ryan Leidner Architecture Ryan Leidner sees an increase of outdoor inspiration for indoor spaces.
“As access to the outdoors becomes more limited, I can see people getting more creative and interested in ways to bring the outside in, possibly re-imagining their living spaces as indoor gardens and landscapes.”
CCY Architects associate Maura Trumble notes that work-from-home arrangements can be a huge factor in designing homes in the future.
“A result of the COVID-19 experience may very well be a wider acceptance of work-from-home policies and telecommuting, given the baptism by fire that the professional world is currently embarking in. How do the spaces we live and eat and play in also allow for a functional and separate use for work? How do smaller spaces perform multiple duties, but still create a separation of work life and home life? It seems like this should be another lens through which we evaluate the design of homes.”
As for the regular home dweller, the new normal may bring about adjustments in a few areas based on how your life has changed—your home is your sanctuary, and you’ll want it to be as welcoming and functional as it can be. For now, what you can do is to plan for the future. List down everything you want to add or remove from your space, and browse through pegs to help you along. A goal can go a long way not just with coping with change. but also with adapting to it.
