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LET A HOBBY ROOM ENHANCE YOUR HAPPINESS AT HOME
FEATURE HUGH METCALF
For some, the idea of a hobby room is a total pipe dream, a luxury that their home simply can’t afford. But for many people, in homes big and small, there exists a space in their house that’s currently not being used to its full potential. Maybe it’s the guest room that’s used once a year, or the ironing room that, while functional, doesn’t bring you joy.
And really, isn’t joy what we’re working towards in our homes? Dedicating space to something you love doing and that feeds your spirit doesn’t sound like a bad place to start in terms of making your home a happier one.
When it comes to your general wellbeing, it’s easy to see why a hobby room might be beneficial. It has the potential to be a place to unwind and to help you focus, while keeping your hobby equipment organised and in one place, reducing clutter and therefore your stress levels. Plus, it gives you the opportunity to adapt your interior design to make it a better fit for your passions, too. If you love to paint, you can rearrange furniture so that you have the perfect light, while if you want a meditation space, you can streamline your decor and introduce a colour scheme that promotes peace.
Whatever the reason behind your hobby room, and whatever it’s for, interior designers and architects are seeing an upward trend in requests for rooms dedicated to specific tasks. But why? If there’s one thing the modern world is good for, it’s providing distractions. While losing focus may be particularly problematic when it comes to working from home, don’t discount the effects it can have on your leisure time, too.
‘The places we live are continually evolving with our needs and rituals as homes are increasingly used for work, as well as sleeping, eating and playing,’ says architect and designer Emily Abruzzo of Abruzzo Bodziak Architects. For clients in their Brooklyn townhouse, a dedicated space to listen to vinyl records was part of their brief to the designer. Now, creating a listening room has been hailed as the next big interior design trend by some – but does an entire room dedicated to listening to music not seem an extravagant use of space? ‘Perhaps the listening room is a counterbalance to the workspaces so many people have now dedicated,’ Emily ventures. ‘This dovetails with an appreciation for artisanal audio equipment and the very real spatial needs of, say, a record collection.
‘These things can coexist with our more traditional living spaces but allowing them their own space focuses the activity of listening,’ she adds. ‘What better luxury than focus, especially now?’
Some variations of hobby rooms are more common than others, but in realit
