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Making Room for Someone Else’s Hobbies
Bring peace and harmony to your home environment by embracing the bits and pieces of your partner, housemate or family member's hobbies
From playing the ukulele or collecting Star Wars figures to sewing or skiing, hobbies enrich our lives, but what impact do they have on our homes? Clothing, equipment and materials can take up vital space and stick out like a sore thumb in a stylish home. Worse, if it isn’t your hobby but a loved one’s that’s leaving its mark, this can lead to tension.
A dedicated hobby room or studio is the ideal solution, but most of us lack the space or funds to create one. Instead, follow these tips and be resourceful, organised and creative, so your hobby-happy housemate and all their gear can be accommodated stylishly.
A dedicated hobby room or studio is the ideal solution, but most of us lack the space or funds to create one. Instead, follow these tips and be resourceful, organised and creative, so your hobby-happy housemate and all their gear can be accommodated stylishly.
Use vertical space
Walls are your friends when it comes to keeping a housemate’s hobby from spilling into every room. Use the walls to hold anything from books, ceramics collections and guitars to sports gear and fishing rods. Hooks, racks, shelves and rails will transform vertical space into perfect hobby storage.
Walls are your friends when it comes to keeping a housemate’s hobby from spilling into every room. Use the walls to hold anything from books, ceramics collections and guitars to sports gear and fishing rods. Hooks, racks, shelves and rails will transform vertical space into perfect hobby storage.
Make hobby space multi-task
Devoting a corner or room in the house to a single hobby or pastime can be a waste and prioritises one person’s passion over another’s need for space. So aim to squeeze maximum value and use out of any dedicated hobby area.
This music room also serves as a small library, home to a bookworm’s collection. It provides a quiet spot for reading as well as playing.
Find your perfect piano match
Devoting a corner or room in the house to a single hobby or pastime can be a waste and prioritises one person’s passion over another’s need for space. So aim to squeeze maximum value and use out of any dedicated hobby area.
This music room also serves as a small library, home to a bookworm’s collection. It provides a quiet spot for reading as well as playing.
Find your perfect piano match
Draw a curtain
Transform a nook or alcove into neat hobby storage, then hang curtains in front so you can hide the area when it’s not in use. Curtains are a less expensive and more tactile alternative to building in storage with solid doors, making this an achievable solution.
Transform a nook or alcove into neat hobby storage, then hang curtains in front so you can hide the area when it’s not in use. Curtains are a less expensive and more tactile alternative to building in storage with solid doors, making this an achievable solution.
Tackle up
Not all equipment or hobby paraphernalia is suitable for displaying, but some pieces can beautifully serve as decoration, so think creatively about keeping kit in almost any room in the house.
Check out these fishing rods, for example. They’re not the first thing you’d expect to find stored in a bedroom, but hung neatly above the bed, and complemented by nautically themed décor, they look sculptural and elegant. And they’re ready to be used at any time.
Not all equipment or hobby paraphernalia is suitable for displaying, but some pieces can beautifully serve as decoration, so think creatively about keeping kit in almost any room in the house.
Check out these fishing rods, for example. They’re not the first thing you’d expect to find stored in a bedroom, but hung neatly above the bed, and complemented by nautically themed décor, they look sculptural and elegant. And they’re ready to be used at any time.
Choose a strong supporting cast
Few of us have space in our homes for a room dedicated to our hobbies, but we don’t want them dominating a communal space. So think hard about the hobby and how best to accommodate it.
Often, it’s not the hobby equipment or materials that take up space or draw attention, it’s the work station at which the hobby takes place. Choose a sleek, contemporary piece or a handsome vintage find that can contribute to the style and atmosphere of the room it’s sitting in. Here, a retro, industrial-style desk looks hip reinvented as a sewing spot.
12 out-of-the-ordinary desk ideas
Few of us have space in our homes for a room dedicated to our hobbies, but we don’t want them dominating a communal space. So think hard about the hobby and how best to accommodate it.
Often, it’s not the hobby equipment or materials that take up space or draw attention, it’s the work station at which the hobby takes place. Choose a sleek, contemporary piece or a handsome vintage find that can contribute to the style and atmosphere of the room it’s sitting in. Here, a retro, industrial-style desk looks hip reinvented as a sewing spot.
12 out-of-the-ordinary desk ideas
Be free about storage
Sometimes it’s a good idea to focus on freestanding storage when it comes to living with someone’s hobby. Your first impulse may be to confine all the hobbyist’s bits and bobs to a built-in cupboard, but freestanding storage has the advantage of flexibility.
Individual wine racks, for example, that can be stacked in a range of configurations and moved around, and can accommodate a wine lover’s bottles without eating into vital communal space, as a piece of permanent storage might.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to focus on freestanding storage when it comes to living with someone’s hobby. Your first impulse may be to confine all the hobbyist’s bits and bobs to a built-in cupboard, but freestanding storage has the advantage of flexibility.
Individual wine racks, for example, that can be stacked in a range of configurations and moved around, and can accommodate a wine lover’s bottles without eating into vital communal space, as a piece of permanent storage might.
Keep it tidy
It is so much easier to live with someone else’s hobby if that hobby can be made to look gorgeous. Forget messy benchtops and creative disorder, I’m talking neatly displayed spools of cotton, balls of wool or bolts of fabric.
Many hobbies involve raw materials that are, by definition, colourful and attractive. Spending some time storing them thoughtfully turns these items into a stylish display that’s pleasant to live alongside.
It is so much easier to live with someone else’s hobby if that hobby can be made to look gorgeous. Forget messy benchtops and creative disorder, I’m talking neatly displayed spools of cotton, balls of wool or bolts of fabric.
Many hobbies involve raw materials that are, by definition, colourful and attractive. Spending some time storing them thoughtfully turns these items into a stylish display that’s pleasant to live alongside.
Convert outside space
Reluctant to sacrifice outdoor space to a hobby? Think about how much a shed could help. Even a small shed can take the pressure off indoor space, offering storage for bulky sports gear or equipment.
Expand up to something bigger and a shed could satisfy a range of hobbies, and be used by all family members. This one works incredibly hard, as a roof garden, a place to play music and an artist’s studio in one.
Inspiring ideas for garden sheds
Reluctant to sacrifice outdoor space to a hobby? Think about how much a shed could help. Even a small shed can take the pressure off indoor space, offering storage for bulky sports gear or equipment.
Expand up to something bigger and a shed could satisfy a range of hobbies, and be used by all family members. This one works incredibly hard, as a roof garden, a place to play music and an artist’s studio in one.
Inspiring ideas for garden sheds
Impose limits and ring the changes
Collecting is a popular hobby, but it can quickly romp out of control. So insist on limits. Collect jelly moulds? Stick to a small selection, arranged neatly.
Ensure collections look attractive too, by ordering them according to material, colour or the object itself (from cake stands to tea caddies) and regularly move displays or reconsider them to keep them looking fresh.
TELL US
How do you share your space stylishly with someone else’s hobby? Let us know in the Comments below.
MORE
World of Design: 10 Ways to Live in Harmony With Housemates
How to Share a Small Bathroom Space (and Still Remain Friends)
Relationships and Renovating – Do They Mix?
Collecting is a popular hobby, but it can quickly romp out of control. So insist on limits. Collect jelly moulds? Stick to a small selection, arranged neatly.
Ensure collections look attractive too, by ordering them according to material, colour or the object itself (from cake stands to tea caddies) and regularly move displays or reconsider them to keep them looking fresh.
TELL US
How do you share your space stylishly with someone else’s hobby? Let us know in the Comments below.
MORE
World of Design: 10 Ways to Live in Harmony With Housemates
How to Share a Small Bathroom Space (and Still Remain Friends)
Relationships and Renovating – Do They Mix?
Sometimes, making space for someone’s hobby is as simple as choosing a really generous table. This can serve as a hobby HQ, somewhere to work from home and also a dining table in one.
Be sure to back this up with shelving and storage nearby, so it’s easy to clear hobby paraphernalia away and help the table move between roles.