Modern Living: Pandemic Home Design Trends
/PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH EASTVIEW HOMES
COVID-19 has forever changed the way Mississauga residents live and work.
The experience of co-existing with a deadly virus has increased the need for home workstations and improved recreational spaces and that has changed the way we design our houses.
Eastview Homes, a certified and awarded home building company that remodels houses in Mississauga / Oakville and surrounding areas has some answers. Eastview’s designers create new living spaces by re-designing floor plans or by constructing home additions. Removing walls, relocating kitchens, adding new exterior doors to a covered porch adds efficacy and value to modern houses.
Homebuyers are now seeking homes with designated office spaces, learning spaces / private areas for their children remote learning and functioning recreation / leisure spaces.
Throughout the pandemic, Eastview has received an increase in requests from current homeowners looking to improve their current homes.
“Bedrooms were already becoming more versatile with the rise of modular furniture, but now they’re even more functional during the daylight hours”
Most additions, whether a second floor or rear addition, are spawned by the need to create more living space for our changing needs. Eastview has helped homeowners transform their houses into functioning offices, personal classrooms, and exercise rooms in family-centric floor plans.
Open concept main floor designs, kitchen remodels, resurfacing bathrooms and finishing basements continues to be Eastview’s most popular renovation requests, but with some new twists. The epidemic has made homeowners rethink layouts, materials, and accessibility. Effective home offices need doors and privacy. Bedrooms have become learning centres which require improved lighting, and designated work stations.
Another change in our lockdown lifestyles is the need for a recreation space / home gym. Often this area is found in our basements where we add exercise equipment – free weights, universal machine or cardio equipment. At times it’s a place for the kids to just play around and kick a ball. Exercise rooms are bright and well-ventilated spaces that can increase the health of the whole family.
Bedrooms Double As Office Workstations
Bedrooms were already becoming more versatile with the rise of modular furniture, but now they're even more functional during the daylight hours. Tables that are desks are also dressers filled with clothes, and hideaway-beds provide a more businesslike setting for Zoom meetings. Desks and workspaces are now regularly incorporated into bedroom designs. Bedrooms that have separate bathrooms allow the necessary segregation should someone need to self-isolate. Flat screens on the wall allow the occupants to watch TV while resting and small refrigerators keep refreshments more convenient.
Bathrooms Go Hands-Free
Eastview Homes now gives homeowners the option of installing hands-free technology to curb the spread of germs. Hands-free sinks and toilets, smart thermostats, automated lights and voice-controlled Wi-Fi connected devices allow people to stay comfortable while also limiting what they need to touch around the house.
Outdoor Living Spaces Get New Life
Stuck in quarantine, everyone wants to get outside. Eastview helps better integrate outdoor living spaces into modern homes by adding multi-use covered porches and decks. On hot summer nights this is often the most popular room in the house. Screened in areas can help keep mosquitoes at bay. Outdoor home-recreational items like trampolines, multi-use hard surfaces have also seen a sales boost.
Create A Multi-Generation Home
The construction manager at Eastview Homes reports the number one trend among wealthy homeowners is the return of the multigenerational house. This used to be standard in rural Canada, and there are still some communities where it never went out of style. This is like having two homes in one.
A multigenerational house has at least one bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and living area separate from the core of the house to accommodate adult children or elderly parents. This set-up has become more requested as young couples move-back in with parents, and in-home care for the elderly becomes more popular.
COVID-19 Home Designs
The coronavirus-19 pandemic has caused huge amounts of stress in our population as many people feel events outside are beyond their control. In such turbulent times the family house becomes a fortress because it’s the one thing people feel they can control, and it becomes a refuge against uncertainty. These design trends will last long after the pandemic has ended because people now realize the importance of having their homes be both comfortable and functional no matter what’s happening in the outside world. With professional design / build renovators like Eastview Homes, your home will experience needed remodelling accommodating your every need.
