The home is no longer just a place to live in, but a place to work from, educate our children, exercise, and entertain family and friends.

During the pandemic, lots of us repurposed spaces in our homes for many uses such as work, gym, school and sanctuary. In some cases that meant combining spaces to be multi-use. Creating a home office space that’s both functional and good for mental well-being is a great example.

Working from home, which is more popular than ever before, while maintaining work/life integration and balance can be challenging. It requires the ability to disconnect from work and connect with our loved ones or ourselves. One way to accomplish this is through a home workspace that doubles as a fitness or wellness room.

It may sound counterintuitive to combine a home office with a wellness/fitness room but according to James Stanley – the Founder of James StanleyNY – it works. Here, the luxury designer explains how it can be accomplished in just a few easy steps.

Workstation
I’ve converted all spaces including closets and cupboards into home offices, but if that’s not feasible, select a furniture piece like an Armoire. They’re perfect for a concealed home office, they have doors that usually open up into a hanging bar that you can remove, add some shelving on the upper section and add slide out top in the lower section like a computer keyboard slider, and you can attach a slim drawer to the bottom of your slider top.

Choose a side chair that you can pull over, and just like that, you have a complete office that’s hidden in plain sight. There are also fantastic convertible workstations that transition from standing to seated or fold out or up, and if your budget is conscious like most of us these days, most are affordable.

Wellness/fitness space
Whether you’re meditating or doing yoga (or just escaping to a more peaceful, quiet area away from everything, you will need a few essentials such as a yoga mat, floor pillows or meditation cushion, and depending on how much you actually are sitting in this room, a small seat or singular lounge chair will work. You can also include space-effective fitness equipment such as a stationary bike or treadmill, which you can even use while working, for example, while taking calls.

Lighting
Like any other room in your home, lighting is a very important aspect. Install lighting fixtures that provide you with the ability to control a well-lit room for working and exercising and switch to a more peaceful dimmed ambience for yoga and meditation. If you do not have LED recessed lighting on separate dimmers, great floor or table lamps are great alternative solutions. Choose one that not only lights up the ceiling, as most are designed to do, but you also need it to shine a light on the floor and outward, drum shades are perfect for all-around lighting.

Storage
Whether for working or practising self-care, you will need storage solutions. I suggest vintage/thrift shop finds. They are an inexpensive and creative addition to any room. Think of a small cabinet or a tall chest of drawers that can store items. Also, second-hand buying helps limit your carbon footprint and keeps these great items out of our landfills.

Painting
A cool pop of colour on one accent wall or a soothing mixture of earthy tones over the entire space can help create the environment that helps you get into the zone.

Window Treatments
Window treatments can be another great way to add some dimension and change the feel of the entire space. My first pick for a meditative and mentally soothing area is sheers. Flowing sheers set the tone of any room. If you need more light filtering or blackout, install a roller shade behind the sheers.