Something that has proved to be invaluable to homeowners over the past year is how flexible our homes can be. All our Stewart Milne homes have been designed with the ever-changing needs of modern life in mind.
In a year where families have been required to spend more time than ever at home, bedrooms have been turned into offices, kitchens into crèche’s and lots of other wonderfully creative adaptions.
As part of our #newhomechallenge series which celebrates all that is great about owning a new build home, we’ve teamed up with Kirsty Rae (@our.home.at.29) and asked her to share how she has used her space to help her balance working from home with family life.
Don’t make it a big job
Kirsty said: “Our new home came with a dedicated IT space, which was perfect for a home office or study space for the kids. When we first moved in we didn’t use it much, but since the start of lockdown, we been using it more and more.
“My husband and I have both worked from since March 2020, juggling our work alongside looking after our three-year-old daughter, so transforming the space into something we could all use, was really important.
“We didn’t want the project to be too time consuming, so we started off with some small changes. The first thing was to move the desk to face the window, we have a lovely view of the neighbourhood and surrounding greenery so wanted to make the most of it.
“We also added in a neutral-coloured blind from Blinds2Go (£75) for when it (occasionally) gets too sunny.”
Affordable upgrade
“Although it was a home office, we still wanted it to fit in with the style of the rest of the house, so we decided to upcycle our existing IKEA desk and OnlyHome.co.uk chair as a fun lockdown project.
“We used some black furniture paint from B&Q (Rustoleum Satin Furniture Paint, £14) which is good for colouring wood to update the whole desk and chair legs and arms. It’s made a huge difference to the space, giving it a pop of colour that matches with our other furnishings.”
Extra touches
“The final touches we added to the office was some extra furnishings to make the space more stylish. I’m loving pampas grass at the moment so added some in from TheLittleDeer.co.uk (£22) and displayed it in a vase from IKEA (Frampressa vase, £19).
“I love using mirrors to bring in extra light and found a circular one from Zara Home which I’ve put on one of the walls. I also think it helps to give the allusion of more space too.”
Make the most of it
“The final thing we added in was a storage cabinet from IKEA (Oxberg cabinet, £65). While working from home, we wanted to keep our home clean and tidy so this has helped to keep things out of sight and out of reach, which is handy when you have a little one with wandering hands.
“The office is absolutely perfect for both of our needs and it’s proved to be a lifesaver during this challenging year. Even as things start getting back to normal, I think we will both continue to use this space now.”
Kirsty and her family live in a four-bedroom Hollandswood, a stylish home which is full of light and character.