Very small spaces within interior environments
Times and circumstances have cast entirely different considerations onto the use of very small spaces within interior environments. Both business evolutions and residential adaptations now present many creative opportunities for excellent uses of small space. Once thought to be impossibly useless areas (often overcome with clutter) the nooks and crannies of the past are gems of opportunity, as families and businesses approach contemporary needs with fresh eyes. With the onset of COVID isolation creativity in small spaces became even more relevant.
The evolution of “small is now larger” concepts has been coaxed and nurtured by the scaling down of space needed to do business. The simple realities of how our business “equipment” has gradually shrunk in size, character and volume, has widened the doors of opportunity regarding accommodation, function and need. Some of those “doors” are on closets and pantries or lead to garages, just begging for conversion from catch-alls to solve-alls!
It's not as though efficient use of small spaces is something new; those wonderful old Victorians had every corner and angle put to some use or other; it is more a matter of looking at small space through a different enduse lens — not only as a part of the primary, adjacent use.
Some of us can recall when the family doctor had his or her office or clinic connected to their residence, when only hospitals were the external institutions. Clusters of medical services gradually pulled into separate facilities. The town's legal specialists also often had their offices downstairs and their living quarters above. What were traditional “old way” constructs slowly transitioned into the separation of work and home.
It is interesting to observe the trending back toward versions of past patterns; however, without the burden of traditional bulk — equipment and storage! Small spaces that once didn't serve efficiently are now bright opportunities. A laptop with its multiple aps (and the Cloud) is an incredible contrast to the many cupboards, shelves, desk surfaces and filing cabinets it once took to administrate a business.
Your professional interior design team is expert at small space conversion. New construction Work/ Live complexes are springing up in many communities as the concept of “compact” re-asserts as a model. Interior Designers are taking the efficiency paradigm to new and interesting lengths. Retrofitting your existing small spaces for much better use, or creating new space, has inspired interesting, economical design.
Service businesses have the opportunity to re-think location as well as function. A small, detached unit on your residential property, or small additions or conversions to your existing structure may be the alternative answer to more costly space in commercial facilities. Commuting has long ago lost its charm (if it ever had any!), and telecommuting now provides a much more palatable construct for many professionals. The potential within most residences for telecommuting workstations is almost limitless! (…and no dress code required.)
Quite aside from business needs, most residences contain some amount of “wasted,” misused or under-used space, in small increments throughout the interior environment. That old adage about not being able to see the forest because of the trees may be your dilemma. Interior Designers are forest-and-trees experts! When you realize you are in a frustrating space crunch, maybe it's time to reach out to those experts for solutions!
Robert Boccabella, B.F.A. is principal and founder of Business Design Services and a certified interior designer in private practice for over 30 years. Boccabella provides Designing to Fit the Vision© in collaboration with writingservice@earthlink.net. To contact him call 707-263-7073; email him at rb@BusinessDesignServices.com or visit www. Business Design Services. com or on Face Book at Business Design Services.