With Covid-19, home trends have completely taken a turn. The pandemic has changed life as we know it. Beyond a place of comfort and rest, homes now double as a work office and school for some. Homes are also now, even more so, a sanctuary.
Home trends have always been influenced by our lifestyles. The Spanish flu gave us the design of vanity rooms, with hand-washing basins placed immediately inside the front entrance of a home. So it’s safe to say that homes will look different post-pandemic.
We speak with Antoine Besseyre des Horts, Vice President LIXIL Global Design and Consumer Experience, to learn more about these changes. Read on to see what this award-winning designer thinks will be the four post-pandemic home design trends.
This global health crisis has completely changed the way we value hygiene. As Antoine shares, “Home is the only place where we can control the level of hygiene of the environment. We will definitely see more touchless products at home as hygiene becomes a priority for many. For instance, a faucet with hands-free infrared sensor technology enhances safety and convenience especially for children and the elderly as it operates automatically.”
According to Antoine, “Technology is increasingly playing an important role in transforming our daily lives. Smart products carrying digital technologies offer benefits in terms of comfort, safety, convenience, water-saving, and allow people to tailor their experiences to their needs and customs.” With that said, the demand for products with touchless technology for both public and residential applications has dramatically increased since the Covid-19 outbreak and will continue to grow further in the future as people become more aware of limiting the spread of bacteria.
“Bacteria build-up is a recipe for disaster in terms of hygiene and it is critical to manage this risk.” Antoine shares, “Anti-bacterial technology, which includes flushing technologies, eliminate bacteria in an efficient manner, preventing even the first build-up.” Which is why we’ll start seeing more of these smart technology in home trends post-pandemic.
According to Antoine, “Space in most Singapore homes is already scarce, and Covid-19 has intensified the demand for space optimisation and transformative solutions. ”
The pandemic is forcing us to spend more time at home and we are increasingly looking for multi-purpose and transformative solutions to tailor our spaces to our needs and behaviours.
As Antoine shares, “Most of us had to suddenly reorganise our living space so that we can work, yet maintain a high level of mental and physical well-being. Most of the spaces originally designed for dedicated activities had to become multi-purpose in terms of usage to accommodate different needs and behaviours.”
One of the largest lifestyle changes in this pandemic is that many are now working from home. And it seems like this is an element that’s here to stay even after the pandemic. Antoine explains “It is crucial to be able to carve out a dedicated space for work, ideally, a room where one can isolate, focus on professional tasks, and that is physically separated from the living spaces to avoid distractions.”
“If there is a lack of spare rooms, then in the future, homes will have a defined space that is easy to transform from an office area during the day back to a living area at night, marking a clear separation between work time and personal time.”
While it’s unclear which home trends will be left behind, Antoine believes that Covid-19 will surely amplify existing ones. Specifically, bathrooms being a self-oasis, a place of rejuvenation for the body and the mind.
“Bathrooms are the only space in the home where one can be isolated. Sometimes it’s the only place where someone can indulge in personal time, and we foresee that people will increasingly upgrade their bathrooms to indulge in spa-like experiences which help them maintain their mental and physical well-being.”