“Doing the most you can with the space you have” 

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Doing more with less – that seems to be the overarching real estate trend for the GTA in 2024. And it deepened this month, when an uptick in inflation prompted market watchers to question whether the overnight rate would be lowered when the Bank of Canada meets on July 24. 

For anyone waiting for lower rates before trading up for a bigger home, it’s a good time to look at their existing rooms with fresh eyes to get maximum mileage from every square inch of them. 

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For some architects, designers and builders, “multi-use spaces” are a no-brainer. According to Martha Franco, owner of Martha Franco Architecture and Design, “people no longer want spaces reserved for just a single activity.”  

Franco sees opportunities to maximize usability in most homes, but with a caveat: “Every detail should be planned ahead. The key to creating a multifunctional space is carefully thinking everything through.” 

Creating an effective “flex room,” as these double duty spaces are often called, is an exercise in jigsawing and concealment. Take the home office-guest room, the most common flex room, says Franco. Making it work can mean hiding the room’s secondary purpose while the first activity is taking place.  

“Trying to hide an office is not practical,” says Franco. But concealing a bedroom with a bed that disappears into the wall is definitely doable. Murphy beds witnessed a resurgence during the pandemic, and the trend has not dissipated. The hide-away solution has come a long way since it was patented in 1908; models available at places like Murphy Beds Canada can be neatly concealed behind custom molded cabinets.  

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Franco also recommends any sort of furniture that has built-in storage, like ottomans and lifting-storage coffee tables. 

Likewise, space to work is now also space to work out. Post-pandemic, home offices-meet-guest rooms often play a third role of home gym. 

“Exercising at home requires space for equipment and space to move,” Franco says. If your flex room is going to play triple duty, you may want to consider making the largest bedroom your guest suite-office-gym, and transforming a smaller room into the master bedroom. Foldable exercise equipment hides away when it’s time to work, and wall-mounted, fold-down desks flip up to sit flush to the wall when it’s time to hit the yoga mat. And if you want to do both at once, there’s the ambitiously named Exerpeutic ExerWork 1000, a folding exercise bike with a desk instead of handlebars. 

The kitchen is another spot where multiple functions can play out — a room Franco sees as “the most multi-use space in the home.” Breakfast nooks become laptop-laden home offices and the island becomes the bar at parties and the dining room at dinner, so why not make it everything at once with intentionality?  

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A popular design right now, says Franco, is an expansive island abutting the kitchen that also serves as a long dining table. 

“Instead of feeling like a dining room stuffed into a kitchen, it creates an open kitchen vibe,” she says.  

She recommends a design with plentiful seating that mimics a proper sit-down dining room arrangement.  

“Normally you’d have stools along one side, but people want to sit together, to face one another,” Franco says.  

To make a breakfast nook a truly useful workspace, Franco suggests installing adjacent custom cabinetry with internal electrical outlets to store and conceal essential items like a printer and paper.  

Thoughtfully designed cabinetry can also hide midsize kitchen gear that can clutter up a cooking space that doubles as a place of work. 

“An appliance garage can solve that problem,” agrees Ryan Melbourne. He’s the director of sales at Oriel Renovations, a Toronto renovations company specializing in older homes. Like Franco, he favours custom millwork to create hideaway homes for the toaster, waffle iron, blender and coffee maker.  

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“It’s a creative way to have an open-concept space and keep it tidy,” says Melbourne. “People can decide what they want to display and when.”  

He also says that multi-use spaces can extend right into the backyard. 

“During COVID, people were really thinking of ways to luxuriate (in) their homes, and backyard office spaces definitely became popular,” Melbourne says.  

Melbourne has encouraged some of his Toronto clients to consider a “supershed” to add “room” to their yard. “The city has basically been rubber-stamping density measures,” Melbourne says.  

Homeowners can currently construct a backyard office without a building permit if it is under 160 square feet. If the structure needs power, it will have to be approved by the committee of adjustments, but Melbourne says the city wants these sorts of projects to go forward. And there are plenty of designs that still leave green space. 

“Most people can put in a small office and still have plenty of backyard to enjoy,” Melbourne says. “It’s all about doing the most you can with the space you have.” 

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