When the coronavirus pandemic began, people across the world were forced to start working from home, and at the same time their kids had to begin home schooling which forced a lot of people to start asking, “How can I create separations within my home?” “How can my spouse and I set up different work zones in our home?” “How do we create separate zones for the kids home schooling and work zones for us while we’re at home together?” Of course some homeowners have the luxury of space and extra rooms they can designate for a new home office or home schooling, but a large majority of the population live in smaller homes, condominiums and apartments where space becomes a central challenge to meet our new demands.

My first response is this is exactly why as an interior designer I have not been a fan of the open floor plans everyone wants to create in their homes these days. I already thought our lives had become too hectic, demanding, and intertwined - before the pandemic even entered our vocabulary - and was already of the belief that we all need areas of separation and quiet zones to escape to in our homes that will provide us with important alone time in order to recharge our often depleted batteries. Not to mention that different rooms really allow the residents to move about and delve into having different experiences in these different and separate spaces within their home, making it more interesting, in my opinion, through having this variety. {Hint: the dining room is not a bad thing! Fortunately my younger clients are beginning to embrace this notion and I’m seeing an uptick in dining room design requests.}

So, to answer the question everyone seems to be agonizing over this past year, “How do I set up different school and work at home zones in the home?” I’ll provide you with some expert interior designer tips to help you during this new way of living, working, and home schooling:

DESIGN TIP #1 - Install Interior Glass Doors Whether Traditional French Doors or Modern Glass Doors to Open Doorways to Divide Rooms and Create a Quiet Zone for Remote Work or Schooling at Home - and Paint it Vibrant Red to Energize Your Home!

My first design recommendation is to install interior doors where there is currently only an opening and no actual door. Specifically I recommend glass paneled hinged doors as a way to create a separation between rooms so they become quiet, semi-private, and yet still visible so parents can keep on eye on things. You may have several rooms off the entryway or kitchen such as a den, an office, a living room, or the family room and installing glass paneled doors will give you an immediate separation of space by closing those rooms off from one another. Then your kids can use that room/those rooms for their home schooling or you and your spouse can use them as a home office creating a private work area. Rather than solid wood doors that are better for the total privacy needs of bedrooms and bathrooms, the glass panel doors will provide the quiet divide you need between the spaces, yet allow light to still enter the room, and let you parents keep an eye on what your children are doing behind those doors. Glass doors are available in many style configurations from a single glass panel to over 10 panes like found with classic French glass doors. French doors are often seen in a traditional style home, and a single glass pane door, a triple pane glass door, or even a 4-pane glass door would work well with both modern and contemporary style homes. Depending on your preferred design style, you can customize the glass (or acrylic) from an assortment: clear glass, frosted glass, textured glass, colored glass, smoked glass, and even acrylic filled with any number of materials like grasses, reeds, etchings, bamboo, and so much more.

DESIGN TIP #2 - Install a Sliding Barn Style Door to Create a Private Space for a New Home Office, Remote Learning and Homeschooling Area in Your Home - and they Come in a Variety of Modern, Transitional and Traditional Styles - You’re Not Limited to Rustic, Barn, Farmhouse and Coastal Anymore!

Another alternative to hinged glass doors is installing fun sliding doors which will help divide public spaces in your home. Sliding doors were originally popular in Asian homes, specifically Japanese style homes, using sliding Shoji screens. Today, many of my clients request sliding doors, especially “barn doors” which are often made from reclaimed barn or ship wood, to work with their more rustic and casual coastal or farmhouse home designs. Of course you can also have glass paneled slide doors as well for more traditional and modern style homes. Keep in mind though that because of the gaps that exist with sliding doors there will be a slight reduction in both the privacy and acoustic barrier that you get with a hinged door.

DESIGN TIP #3 - Adding Curtains to Door Openings Without Doors Will Help Create Privacy, Help Reduce Noise, and as a Bonus will Help Cut Down on Cold Air Drafts

If installing interior doors is not an option, or the space you need to divide is across a room, or you’re thinking of a more short term solution, you can install draperies to create a separation of space, defining temporary separate work and school zones. One option is to use a standard curtain rod and brackets either with ornamental finials on the ends, or with simple more modern end-caps, especially if one of both ends would be close to an adjacent wall. Another option is to use closed curtain rod brackets that can be ceiling mounted coupled with the curtain rod. For a larger space such as across a bedroom or family room, you can install a ceiling track system. For smaller spaces like a single door way you can opt for the easiest solution and hang a simple tension rod. Whichever solution you go with, keep in mind you want curtains made from thick, dense fabrics in order to provide your home with the optimal sound-proofing benefits. (History lesson - back in 4th Century Europe they used a version of these doorway draperies in castles called a Portiere. Although Portieres were in large part used for ornamentation of doorways, it was also used to mitigate drafts so they used heavy materials such as velvet, brocade, and plush.)

DESIGN TIP #4 - Use Freestanding Folding Screens to Divide a Room for Homeschooling Multiple Children or Remote Working From Home, and in Addition to Creating Separate Zones in the Home these Room Dividers are Beautiful, Stylish and Available in a Variety of Materials Like Reclaimed Wood, Rattan, Mirrored, Lacquer, Wicker, and a Variety of Styles like Modern, Transitional, and Traditional

Another design tip for how to divide space in your home or create a room within a room, is to use folding screens. You’ll find them available in an array of design styles, materials, sizes, ornamental details, and price points, from high-end luxury to mid-level to budget savvy. Choose a style that works with your decor and your lifestyle -and please note if there is anyone in the home with a disability, or young toddlers, rambunctious teenagers, cats, dogs, or other pets, an elderly parent with a walker, or anyone you think could potentially knock over a folding screen, then obviously don’t go this route unless you can carefully secure it to prevent it from falling over and causing harm. Folding screens can be found in antiqued mirror, metal, carved wood, rattan, upholstered, rice paper, acrylic, wicker, lacquer, reclaimed wood, hand-painted, and more. What you choose will depend upon your design aesthetic, your budget level, and product availability. Keep in mind if you have a larger space, you can always repeat the same screen 2 or 3 times, abutting one to another, in order to create a larger separation of areas.

DESIGN TIP #5 - Create Separate Areas in an Open Floor Plan Using a Few Indoor Trees and Plants Placed Side By Side in a Row or One Oversized Floor Tree for a Quick, Easy, and Affordable Way to Divide a Room in Your Home, Whether Live, Preserved or Artificial Faux, they Will Also Make the Room Beautiful

Just as trees, shrubs, and bushes, growing in nature do more than clean the air and provide shelter & food for all types of wildlife (side note: dead trees out of harm’s way also provide crucial habitat, food, housing, and an escape route from a predator for many of our wildlife cohabitators, so please consider leaving them be), they also provide important buffers that help reduce noise by muffling sounds (cars, people, everyday noises), and for buffering views and night time light pollution (street lights, neighboring house lights, cars or people passing by), and indoor house trees can provide your home with some of these same buffering benefits, on a smaller scale of course. Although I prefer living indoor trees over faux, you may not have a choice because of the natural lighting situation in your home. I do know of several great faux and preserved tree manufacturers I’ve been working with for over a decade and have installed their products with great success in many of my commercial and residential design projects, so I am never afraid to place faux plants when I am decorating a space. Please check with your local nursery before purchasing any living house plants or trees to make certain you have the right home environment and enough natural light to allow it to thrive. *IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have pets or a toddler who are prone to chewing anything available, please check toxicity safety at https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants, or with your physician, before installing any house trees or plants. Whether live, faux, or preserved, I love the architectural look of ficus trees, fiddle leaf fig trees, olive trees, sculptured junipers, certain palm trees, and several others. Depending on the areas you need to separate, a single tree may suffice. You could even place a row of Boston Fern plants atop freestanding pedestals, preferably a modern, simple, squared edge style. But if you have a large space to divide it may require a row of 3, 5, or 7 trees to create the division of space you are craving. This design suggestion is not going to provide your home with as much separation, noise reduction, or privacy as some of the other recommendations I’ve made, but it may be the preferred idea and perfect solution for some of my readers.

DESIGN TIP #6 - Transform a Closet, Pantry, or Nook in Your Home into a New Home Office, Homework, or Homeschooling Quiet Study Zone and Simultaneously Help Others Through This Home Edit You’ve Been Wanting to Check Off Your To-Do List by Finally Donating Home Goods, Accents, Clothing and Furnishings You Really Don’t Need or Use Anymore

If you’re looking to create a quiet work zone or homework nook in a smaller home or apartment, see if there is a walk in closet or pantry you could partially, if not fully, reclaim and transform into a quiet zone. I know a lot of my clients could stand to purge & organize their excessive belongings, so this is a great opportunity to do a home edit, emptying the entire closet and donating any excess goods to someone who may really need and benefit from them. Once you’ve emptied the closet, measure it, and ideally you can put a small desk & chair in there with a desk lamp and install a couple shelves above the workspace. Depending on who your child is and their individual preference, perhaps in lieu of a desk you simply place a bean filled or memory foam bean bag chair on the floor which they can comfortably lounge in while studying. (Again, be sure to measure your space and notate the product dimensions prior to purchasing, as many of the beanbag sacks being sold from retailers like Pottery Barn are extremely large in size). If you elect to go the bean bag chair/sofa lounge route you’ll probably need a small adjustable to short floor lamp, or you can install a plug in wall sconce to provide some reading light. If there is no outlet nearby or easily accessible with a single extension cord (please adhere to fire safety precautions - don’t over extend and certainly do not plug in too many cords which can cause a fire), then a cordless lamp may be the solution for you.

DESIGN TIP #7 - Rugs Help Define Specific Areas in a Room Design But They Are Also Great Helping with the Acoustics in the Home, Softening the Noise Level from Children who are Remote Learning and Adults Working From Home on Zoom Calls

Another decorating tip for improving your home during the pandemic, a time when your family is on top of each other working, home-schooling, and simply engaging in everyday living - is to buy some area rugs to dampen the acoustics in your home. Even for the repurposed closet-turned-home-office (Design Tip #6), a small area rug placed in there will help enhance the quiet your are seeking in your new Quiet Zone. The addition of good quality rug pads will both preserve the life of your area rugs as well as add another sound deadening layer to the home, but make sure you choose a rug pad that is the right one for your application and your flooring, as some of them could actually harm your beautiful floors. Also, keep important and seemingly small details (but actually very big ones) in mind when choosing the right area rug - the details that 20 years of interior design expertise has taught me to handle for my own local Boston, MA area clients and worldwide virtual clients at Lisa Jensen Interior Design, so they never have to worry about making costly and time-consuming mistakes. If you’re asking “What kind of rug is good for a home office?” The short answer without knowing you or your space, style preferences, allergies, family, pets, lifestyle, budget, and more is a flatweave or low pile tight weave rug because these rug construction types will be better for your office chair to slide or roll and easily slide around if you have a roller chair with chair caster wheels. Indoor/outdoor rugs have a very low pile so they can be a great option for a high traffic area such as an office and come with the added benefit of being waterproof and withstand dirt. A final option if you select the right one with a tight weave could be a Jute rug which are durable.

DESIGN TIP #8 - Consider Hiring a Local or Virtual Professional Interior Designer or Decorator Who is Experienced with Problem Solving and Developing Creative Ideas and Solutions For The Home, Especially These Days With the New Demands of Home Schooling and Working From Home This Skilled Trade Can be the Best Investment in Your Home and Your Sanity that You’ll Ever Make!

The final tip is that if determining the best solution to create divided areas within your home is too overwhelming for you to figure out, then hire a professional and experienced interior designer or decorator to help problem solve your unique home challenges and use their creative planning and spatial skills to develop dedicated work and school zones in your home, through local or online design services. If you’re interested in hiring Lisa, Lisa Jensen Interior Design offers local interior design service for clients living in the Boston, MA area and virtual, remote online interior design services for clients who live a few hours away in CT, NY, RI, VT, NH, ME, or ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. Her specialty for 20 years is creating whole room designs whether you’re tired of a dated living room or bedroom, or moving into a new home, or new construction. Want to work with Lisa? Click HERE to submit the contact form.

I hope these 8 professional interior design tips can help provide you and your family with some great ideas to set up a makeshift, temporary, or permanent remote home office or home school remote learning area in your house, apartment, or condominium. I understand the need for quiet solitude when I need to concentrate on my interior design work and simply cannot create a client’s new room design with anyone in my space. I first learned this in the early 2000’s when I was running my award-winning home decor shop Elixir (a cure for people’s homes) with locations in Salem, MA and on the Marlborough/Sudbury town line. Working on my interior design projects in that retail setting wasn’t ideal because although I adored my customers and enjoyed helping them choose the perfect items from my store like furniture, artwork, table lamps, accent pillows and decorative accessories for their homes, serving these shop customers detracted from my focus on the design project deadlines in front of me. Fortunately, once my interior design business had grown exponentially over those first 5 years I was able to move away from the retail setting and set up my interior design firm in a primary office in Lynnfield, Massachusetts and then subsequent office locations around Boston’s North Shore where I grew up and now in the beautiful historic coastal town of Newburyport, MA.

Like many of you reading this, I learned that in order to produce my best work I need to be completely alone and minimize distractions while working on my client projects, from when I first sit down to study the client’s program of needs, really getting to understand them as people, their lifestyle and what’s important to them, down to the smallest details to when I’m sourcing, shopping, or designing furniture or drafting their to-scale floor plan during which I can not have any distraction that could cause a mistake in measurement (in fact in 20 years, I have only made one mistake on a custom window treatment measurement a long, long time ago, and it’s because the client stayed in the room and continued talking to me while I was measuring and with that distraction I wrote one of the measurements down incorrectly. Of course I corrected the mistake with my workroom and the client was pleased with the end result, and with the way I handled the mistake - but I learned way back then to politely tell clients I need to be alone when measuring and photographing their spaces for their own benefit).

If you need design or decorating help in your home and are interested in working with Lisa, whether you live in the Boston, Massachusetts area and she can work with you locally, or you live in California, Connecticut, New York, New Zealand, Spain, the Caribbean, or anywhere in the world, she can help you through online virtual design service. Lisa’s specialty for 20 years is creating NEW Whole Room Designs that include everything for that room from a floor plan to furniture to all the accessories, One Room At A Time! Are You Ready To Finally LOVE Your Home? Interested in Working With Lisa? Submit the Contact Form NOW & Schedule Your FREE 15-Minute Discovery Call!

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