by KAREN HAYWOOD QUEEN

People are getting creative to save space, and sanity, by making rooms, kitchens, pantries, closets, garages and furniture— especially beds—work double duty.

For those faced with a finite amount of square feet, bedrooms can also work as office spaces. Kitchens can serve as both home offices and home office break rooms. Dining and living rooms can convert at night to sleeping spaces.

Not surprisingly, the pandemic kicked off the trend. Kate Lister, the president of Global Workplace Analytics, has forecast that about 25% to 30% of the workforce will be working remotely, for several days a week, by the end of the pandemic. Additionally, according to Statistics Canada, multigenerational households are the fastest-growing households in the country.

“The lockdown made us all realize how important the home environment is. When people have to spend most of their day within the same four walls, it becomes a priority to get the most out of the living space you have and make it as comfortable and functional as possible,” says Hanh Nguyen, a buyer at Costco.

“We’ve seen increases in categories such as wall beds and office furniture,” Costco buyer Anthony Singh tells the Connection. “Instead of spending on vacations, people have been using that money on their homes.”

Wall bed sales are a big part of that trend. As the name implies, wall beds fold up flush to the wall when not in use. Many wall beds now come combined with desks, shelves and storage units.

“Wall beds have the ability to transition a room pretty easily from a sleeping space to a functional place—whether an office, an exercise room, a child’s play space or crafting room,” says Earl Dozier of TGD North American Furniture, a Costco supplier.

Today’s wall beds are safer and easier to operate than older models; they use hydraulic pistons that counterbalance the weight of the mattress and the mattress frame and take less than a minute to raise and lower, Dozier notes.