‘From a functionality perspective, people are looking for flexibility,’ says interior designer Sarah Gallop
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Mechanical office furniture of questionable utility aside, the home office has come a long way since the early days of COVID, when office workers realized they can do just about everything they did at the office at home, only with pets and kids.
Today, workspaces are an amenity in new developments, purpose-built in new homes and an in-demand feature in renovations.
“It might be that they’re back to work part-time, but they’re working part-time from home versus full-time. And a partner might share a home office, where one is there for a couple of days a week and the other is there for the rest of it.”
Or a couple might set up multiple workstations, where each has their own setup in one office, as she and her husband have.
“If we’re here working at the same time, it works, or if one of us here individually. We’ve got our own preferences on how our desks are set up.”
People sometimes want a space for their kids in the home office as well, she says.
“We have a little station for our daughter to do stuff. We’re not all necessarily here at the same time all the time, but there’s flexibility in how we can use the space, depending on our needs. Everybody has their own little corner. It’s not like there’s a family computer being shared by everybody. These days everyone, for the most part, has their own devices.”
When helping plan a new home, placement of the office is a consideration.
“I like having my home office quite close to my kitchen great room because I can just pop in here and do a couple emails while I have something in the oven. On the flip side, I know some clients who need that quiet separation, like if they’ve got a few little kids running around and maybe they’re on calls a lot, or they are working full-time from home. Then you need somewhere to go.”
If you don’t have the luxury of being able to dedicate a whole room to earning your daily crust, all is not lost.
“We do a lot of renovations, and we have put little office spaces, almost little nooks, into a lot of homes where space is at a premium,” says Gallop. “You can get a lot of functionality even out of a five-by-five space if it’s planned well and you have a space for everything you need.”
Lara Reid, associate development manager for Jim Pattison Developments, says that the company is “definitely hearing from prospective buyers that they’re looking for flexibility for office space.”
The condo project, which will be near the headquarters of companies like Hootsuite and Relic Entertainment, may be especially attractive to tech industry workers.
“We’ll also have two booths as dedicated work areas. The idea there too is flexibility. During midday it’s a nice area to work at, more café style.”
Now that working from home, at least part-time, has become a reality for many, esthetics is more of a consideration than in the uncertain early days of the pandemic when any old backdrop or desk lamp would do.
“Having a window behind you on Zoom call is terrible,” Gallop says. “We need to think about lighting, and where the light’s coming from, and how you’re going to lay out the room with the furniture or the built-in storage units to make it work for all of these different needs that we have now.”
Then there’s the all-important work desk. Gallop and her husband each have a standing desk in their home office. And she, for one, uses hers for more than just sitting.
“We have our monitors on mounts on our desks so that they’re not moving around so much when the desks go up and down. Because if I’m in here for a day, I’ll go up and down on the desk multiple times.”
Standing desks are still in demand, though keeping the desks, which don’t come with drawers or other storage spaces, free of clutter, can be a challenge. Gallop recommends adding some storage nearby.
“Maybe you add a built-in with file drawers and a pencil drawer, and maybe a pullout printer or other pieces, so that the standing desk can stay clean. The cable management can be challenging too, with a million cords. Keeping that nice and tidy is important.”
Treadmills and other desk-adjacent devices that promote movement are also popular.