How luxury real estate and interior design will change after COVID-19

• Thanks to the pandemic, many Americans have spent weeks locked down at home.
• As a result, they’ve become more focused than ever on their living spaces — and the pros who tackle interiors have seen a surge in requests to update those spaces.
• Practical design is shaping up to be a new hallmark of luxury: think self-disinfecting surfaces, requests for double pantries for optimal food storage, and sumptuously outfitted laundry rooms.
• Living walls, herb gardens, and expanded outdoor spaces are also in high demand.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

A week before the pandemic struck, 44-year old attorney Jason Post closed on his dream home: a townhouse in Sunset Harbor, a quiet bayside corner of South Beach, Florida. Post was primed to begin a gut renovation, steered by Brooklyn-based architect and interior designer Adam Meshberg. Those plans shifted drastically as soon as the impact of COVID-19 became evident.

“The idea was that you’d walk in, and everything would be wide open, so you could see the water from the front door, and I wanted to maintain that feeling,” Post told Business Insider. “But I also wanted a distinct area when I walk in — not to sound so clinical, but almost like a decontamination station: somewhere to put down my groceries and take off my shoes.”

Briefed this way, Meshberg carved out a small, self-contained foyer, like an elegant air lock, with ample storage, shelving and seating. Floors there will be stone, rather than wooden as elsewhere in the house, for easier disinfection.

Post is thrilled and reassured by the pivot: “It’s my own little space to separate the outside world from the house, my home.”

It’s a newfound need that’s easy to understand. Thanks to the pandemic, many Americans have spent weeks locked down at home. As a result, they’ve become more focused than ever on their living spaces, conscious of what they like, and of course, what they don’t. The pros who tackle interiors have seen a surge in requests to update those spaces. Meshberg and other high-end interiors experts are busier than ever.

San Antonio, Texas-based Melissa Morgan says that despite the economic uncertainty, business is up 20% compared to the same time last year. “So many people want to start projects now because they have the time, they’ve been thinking about getting these things done, and the only thing they can’t do is travel,” she told Business Insider.

They can, however, transform their spaces with several new trends that were distinctly kickstarted by the onset of COVID-19.

Interiors will follow the ‘Poppins rule’

Call it the Poppins rule: Everything should be practically perfect, Meshberg said.

The Pinterest boards clients like Post send him have pivoted in recent weeks: “There are more useful concepts, rather than just pretty pictures — instead of a beautiful marble bathroom, it’s more…