Make Your House a Home: Interior Design in the Time of Quarantine
Home is where the heart is. A good place to start.
Interior Design in the Time of Quarantine
We love designer Barbara Vail’s thoughtful approach to design—a counterweight to our primal urge for instant gratification. Cookie-cutter decorating maxims aside, Barbara simply asks you to think about how a space makes you feel, and work from there. Sound too deep? Don’t worry: This is The Verse, so we won’t get too woo-woo. Here are pragmatic pointers and actual actions to take you to the heart of it.
Curate Your Way to Productivity
As we do more inside our homes, it’s mission-critical to curate a space where you can be productive. We understand you may have drawn the short straw when work spaces were doled out, but you still have some agency. If you don’t feel productive in your space, ask yourself why. Why don't you have what you need? Is it cluttered or otherwise not clean? Set about changing that.
Make Less, More
As we’ve noted, Make Space is contactless picking up things you want stored. If you have an extra space to move things to within your home, try that. This may be a good time to let go of sentimental items—if they are out of the way and you don’t miss them, do you really need to keep them?
Move In On Multitaskers
Pieces that serve more than one purpose never wear out their welcome. A secretary desk like this one or this one easily folds up shop when you aren’t working. Some side tables, like these or these, can be shuffled to give you some temporary surface space. Seating is so much more when there’s storage in it, like this storage ottoman. A screen might be just the in-house social distance you need (and provide you with an enviable Zoom background); try this or this.
Don’t forget when thinking about adding a piece to trace out the measurements on the floor with masking tape so you can get a sense of the true occupancy. Also pay attention to scale—it can be wildly off from pictures.
Set The Mood
Now may be a good time to think about your lighting. Barbara suggests soft LED lights (bonus if they’re dimmable). If you have harsh overhead lighting, you may want to add in some floor lamps for now to mellow things out.
Plants are always a good idea—and you’ve got nothing but time to nurture them—as they cheer up any space. The Sill, Leaf & Clay and Bloomscape are good spots to get you started with some new greenery.
Look Ahead
Want to call in reinforcements? You could begin discussions with a designer now, but since many trades are not working, there will be limits on what you can get done. Still, it is worth some introductory calls to start cataloging what you want to do and get a feel for what it entails. Seek out inspiration: home sites, magazines and decorating books. Think about styles you like. What will best reflect you? Swatches and paint color cards are also on the table.
And you can thank your home—for being there for you. It may not be perfect, but it’s yours.
