What Has 2020 Taught Us About Our Homes?

The year 2020 has taught us many lessons about life, work and the way we live in our homes. We all watched as COVID-19 consumed the globe. For many of us, our lives were turned inside out.

Lockdowns and stay-at-home orders plagued a large part of the year. Many of us spent more time in our homes than we would normally. This forced us into an even more intimate relationship with our homes and those we live with.

With most schools, businesses and commercial retail stores closed to all in-person activity, families crammed into their homes. Not only were we all forced to stay home at the same time, but we also had to perform functions in our homes that it was never designed for. Our homes became our offices and our classrooms.

But now that 2020 is finally over and we begin this new year, what has the year 2020 taught us about our homes and how we dwell in them?

The lessons that we learned from the last year could be useful the next time we are building or renovating our home or even when looking for a place to rent.

Impact Of COVID-19

COVID-19 has been the big, bad villain of the saga that was 2020. Its harrowing grip was felt across the world and it has dominated several aspects of our lives. It has affected us all. Some more than others.

But in the despair, they were some lessons that we learned along the way. Our societies have been forced to pause and consider how we do certain things. This has pushed us to make improvements to some of our day-to-day operations. I have seen the progress we have made in my own country. Strides were made on how we conduct business at a governmental and commercial level.

We also tapped into the powerful resources of the internet even more. This modernised several of our operations making them more efficient and accessible to more people of limited mobility.

I think the past year has also encouraged us to value our quality of life more. It gave us a greater appetite for living life to the fullest and appreciating the simple comforts.

What Have We Learned About Our Homes?

In 2020, we used our homes to their maximum. For a few weeks or a few months, according to your location, you and your family got to test the limits of your home’s capability. We were stuck at home without the ability to go anywhere.

During this period, we got the opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses of our homes. Did your home rise to the challenges that occurred in 2020 or did you find several deficiencies?

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Whether you live in a home in a tropical region or any home in general, here are some issues you may have come across during your time in lockdown in 2020.

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Separation Of Spaces To Work And Play

Your home has had to perform multiple functions in 2020. Remote working and learning turned it into a school and business.

As such, they were multiple video conference calls, telephone calls, work tasks and studying going on at the same time.
Additional spaces like the gym and play park were also required.

Along with the regular functions of the home such as cooking, showering and general living, some functions inevitably overlapped. This may have even created some extremely awkward situations during your child’s online class session or your meeting with a customer.

Finding multiple spaces in the home where you and your children could work and play would have been a challenge. This was a greater concern for you who have smaller homes or open-plan arrangements. As a result, larger homes may have had an advantage during this time.

As much as open-plan arrangements are popular and good in tropical climates, these do not offer a lot of private spaces for multiple functions. However, open-plan does not mean your home could not be designed with some separation between spaces. This need not be full height walls with doors but you could use screens or shelving units that over some visual separation.

Shifting spaces apart or changes in levels could also create a sense of separation in an open arrangement.
Nooks and niches for some tasks like reading or studying could also be created. This could give a cosy sense of privacy and separation without taking up too much space.

You can also consider how a room can serve multiple functions. During 2020, some rooms may have had to be rearranged and repurposed to perform additional functions. Hence you will be able to get a ton of functionality without making your home too big.

Home Office

I hope most of us will not have to go through the level of lockdowns we had in 2020 again. However, I think some aspects of how we work in the future may have changed.

The company you work for may have decided to implement the work-from-home method indefinitely. You may have made the plunge to finally start that small or micro-business you have always wanted to do but never found the right moment.
Whatever your reason is, I think a home office is going to become a bigger part of home designs in the future.

Being hunched over on your dining room table or a corner of your bed may have been adequate for a while, but it is not a long-term solution.

Ensure that your home office space is designed so that it is comfortable and encourages productivity. It should be well ventilated and have lots of natural light.

Thermal Comfort For All Rooms

Before 2020, you spent most of your daytime away from home. You are at work and your children are at school.
Outside of weekends, you may not have had the opportunity to experience how your home functions throughout the day.

How the afternoon sun comes through the window or how effective the breeze flowing through is in the middle of the day.
The environment around you is constantly changing throughout the day and the year. By the time you get home in the evening, it is a slightly different environment and maybe beginning to cool down.

Being home all day, you may have realised that some rooms are cooler than others. Many rooms may also be unbearably hot and uncomfortable.

Some of you probably could not wait to get back to the office to get some air-conditioning. Perhaps you seriously considered installing air-conditioning in your home.

The need for good natural ventilation became more evident during this time. Not only for your bedrooms but for all your rooms.

Good passive or natural ventilation strategies should be an important part of any home in the tropics.

Adequate Storage

For many of us, our homes also came up short on adequate storage. After all, we needed space to put all the panic bought food and toilet paper we acquired.

During this period, it was understandable that persons would prefer to buy in bulk and store. This meant you did not have to join the long lines into supermarkets or suffer through the restrictions and protocols of going shopping. You could also reduce the potential for exposure to the virus.

It was a time where an extra refrigerator or deep freezer would have come in handy as well.

Building designated storage areas in your home is often a good idea. Provide different types of storage for different items.
Vertical cupboards and walk-in-pantries are a good way to pack more storage area into your kitchen.

General storage areas like under the stair could also serve to hide away some essentials while decluttering your home.

Outdoor Spaces

We human beings love the outdoors. But there is a greater appreciation for the outdoors when you are trapped in your home for extended periods.

In the tropics, we have a great climate that is ideal for outdoor living for most of the year.

A covered outdoor space could provide your family with comfortable breakout spaces to relax, play or even get some work done.
Kitchen gardens also regained some popularity in 2020. This was once a common part of every home. But with our modern, hectic lifestyles we moved away from this.

However, a kitchen garden could be a great space for outdoor activity, in the sun, with members of your family. Young children can go out and get their hands dirty while exploring how things live and grow.

The joy of being able to step out of your home and into your garden to grab a few herbs for the day’s meal is also rewarding.

Creating useable outdoor spaces will make better use of the land around your home. It also gives you a different type of space than the typical indoor rooms.

Conclusion

As we begin this new year of 2021, we know that we are not out of the woods. COVID-19 and its menacing effects have followed us into the new year. However, hopefully, 2020 would have taught us enough lessons to better prepare for whatever challenges we still have to endure.

The lessons that we have learned from the design of our homes can also serve us in developing future new homes, renovations, or DIY home projects.

Open plans are trendy and good for maximising cross-ventilation but perhaps we should try to find a balance with creating private spaces where multiple functions could occur.

Creating a designated work area like a home office may become a part of your future. Ensure this space is designed well for comfort and productivity.

It is always a good idea to provide ample natural ventilation in any home in the tropics. You could also create more storage for food and other items.

Outdoor spaces are also a great way to add functional spaces to your home in a natural environment.
Let us try to find the lessons that 2020 has taught us to make 2021 and beyond even better and brighter.

Featured image by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels