Covid-19 has brought us all many challenges, including requiring us to stay in our home more. While it may seem limiting, it also brings us opportunities to create new spaces in our home for different purposes and uses.
I looked around my area to see what I could do to enjoy the space more, even if it was just temporary.
We had a storage room in our basement that we didn’t really use much and was vastly under-utilized. While looking at our environment’s current challenges we came up with a great solution for this space.
Our daughter loves arts and crafts and creating various inventions out of cardboard and recycling. She is very creative and loves displaying her work all around the house and as her parents, we encourage her to pursue this but the constant clean up and clutter around the house was really getting to us.
Our solution was to set up a temporary art and STEM studio for her in this unused storage room. She now has a dedicated space where she can create and store her inventions and art.
This enables her to pursue her artistic interests while preserving our sanity. Over the next couple of months, we will evaluate if the space is being used maximally for this purpose or not, and if it is, we will do a small renovation project to make it more permanent and aesthetically pleasing.
Spaces don’t have to be limited to inside either.
Our neighbours have set up an amazing space by winterizing their gazebo. They have put up an insulated curtain around it and have the most comfortable furniture inside complete with heating lamps. String lights, pillows and blankets add to the ambience and make the space even more intimate and snug. On a cold winter evening, they will sit outside in their insulated gazebo with a propane fire keeping them warm.
Enjoying a hot drink while either talking, reading or playing games adds to the hygge element of winter and creates a cozy sanctuary. Instead of dreading the weather and outdoors in the winter, they have embraced it and created a space that they not only use regularly but has fast become one of their favourite places. This is on my to do list for our own yard too!
My daughter can play in snow forts for hours and I have to admit, that as an adult, I love them too. It is something fun we can do with her together outside and enjoy our “buildings” throughout the winter.
Prior to the latest restrictions, her friend across the street and she would meet every night after supper and play in them until bedtime. It is a whole other space that she can utilize during these limiting times and she always comes back inside with a big smile and rosy cheeks.
Of course, our daughter also has the passion of re-designing and organizing microspaces. We have little reading nooks with fairy lights, book lights and blankets all over the house and she has created her favourite homeschooling spot for learning. I love that we can create fluid and functional areas throughout our entire home and change them into something else again with little to no money.
What special spaces can we help you create in your St. Albert home?
Kara Murray | Partner
Alair St. Albert
