This is where a family of 3 generations lives. Mai Tu Anh shared, the condition of the house before repair was very shabby, sloppy, dark and full of rats and cockroaches. Not to mention smelly and unhygienic sewers. Tu Anh runs an online business but is an interior enthusiast, always dreaming of living in a comfortable, professionally designed house. Many times, she dreamed of buying a new house or rebuilding it, to make it a reality. However, the economy does not allow it, the current house has many advantages: Near the school of 2 children, near the grandmother’s house, only fifteen minutes to the old town. In the end, the couple decided to renovate their damp, run-down townhouse. The old kitchen smelled of musty, musty moss. Some people advised her to consider it, because anyone with enough money to do such a renovation. However, the results after completion surprised everyone. The messy townhouse suddenly “transformed” into a luxurious home thanks to the architect’s hand. “After every hour of stressful work, looking at the clean and airy kitchen, eating a real home-cooked meal together, I feel poor but happy,” Tu Anh confided. The new kitchen uses pastel blue and pink tones. At the same time, there are additional windows to help circulate air and eliminate odors. Dining place with eye-catching colors, tiled floor with vintage motifs. The overall kitchen is modern and luxurious. Tu Anh added that her house has undergone 3 home repairs so far. For the first time, 2 years ago, she and her husband renovated the house on a small scale, but the cost was too expensive, the cramped and messy situation continued. Things are still not as I expected. The second time a year ago, she remodeled the small bedroom. This time, she hired a professional design agency and felt very satisfied. The bright and clean new kitchen corner is an inspiration to help Ms. Tu Anh cook a family meal. The bowl rack can be moved up and down, convenient for arranging dishes. For the third time, at the beginning of 2021, she rented the unit that used to repair the small bedroom to design the master bedroom and kitchen. “The third time I repaired, I signed up for the industrial cleaning package. When finished, the house is clean, just need to move in, don’t have to clean up, “said Tu Anh. Because the two children still haven’t slept separately, after the renovation, the whole family still has plenty of space to live as well as a place to play for the children. The spacious bed is free to roll and especially the owner tries to minimize the furniture to avoid dust. The total cost of design and construction for the master bedroom and kitchen is more than 300 million, including electronics. “You hire a designer, they will do from drawing, construction, interior installation, cleaning… to decorations, curtains,” Tu Anh said. Over 7 years under the same roof, Ms. Tu Anh and her husband feel very satisfied with their achievements. The entire bedroom is a wedding dress more than 7 years ago. At that time, Tu Anh did not calculate that when having children, many things would arise. Bed 1m8 is cramped, not enough room for 4 people, must put an extra bed for children. The floor is rotted due to termites, so it should be carpeted. The new bedroom is scientifically arranged to make the furniture more neat. The extra bed of the big baby is also minimalist to fit under the bed. The balcony is removed, making it a reading corner, a storage cabinet. The makeover is considered by many to be “worth the money”. The wardrobe plays bare, for Ms. Tu Anh contains the “world” of fashion with countless accessories. Small bedroom cum office and study room. Because this bedroom is small, the architect closes a monolithic bed system. Tu Anh’s mother-in-law still wants to keep all the living room furniture, so she only paints it, closes the plaster ceiling and installs more led lights. At the entrance, there is a closet for shoes, a very convenient place to wear shoes. New replacement iron gate, suitable for the house aesthetic.

The line of notice posted in front of the familiar coffee shop on May 28 made Tram An (25 years old, HCMC) a bit disappointed. As a freelancer in the field of design, she often “roots” here 4-5 times a week to work. Before that, she once breathed a sigh of relief when the City People’s Committee only asked restaurant and coffee shop businesses to limit the number of guests to use on the spot, encouraging take-out sales to prevent the epidemic. Coffee shops in Ho Chi Minh City are only allowed to sell take-out to prevent the Covid-19 epidemic. Photo: Duy Hieu, Quynh Danh. “I told myself that it’s better to limit the number of guests coming in and out than to close it completely. At least, I can still text to ask to keep the table or confirm the number of guests before coming,” An told Zing . No longer being able to go to the cafe to work, the female freelancer is quite worried, not knowing how she will work from home in the coming days. Tram An is not the only young person who is troubled by the loss of a familiar workplace. Many people try to get used to working from home, others see this as an opportunity to change the environment. ‘You know what, the epidemic’ In recent years, the trend of going to coffee shops to study and work has become more and more popular. Not only a space to enjoy drinks, meet friends, these places also become a workplace for a part of young people. “The house is quite crowded, so I live in the same room with my grandmother and my sister. When designing products, running deadlines, I want to go to a coffee shop to focus and be more comfortable,” An explained. In addition, the uniquely designed space, with a variety of styles in the stores, also helps her find inspiration and motivation to work more easily. Not only a place to enjoy drinks, gather friends, cafes are also chosen by many young people as a “work place” regularly. Photo: Phu Qui, Hong Anh. Now, when all familiar places are closed to prevent the Covid-19 epidemic, An said that she faces many difficulties because she has to share a working space with relatives, and is more easily distracted. Phuong Thao (20 years old, HCMC) also often chooses a coffee shop as a place for group study with friends. Every 1-2 days, her friend goes to the “gut shop” near her house to find inspiration to work. “The internet in my room is quite weak, the space is small, so I like to go to the restaurant to sit. There is a nice space, good drinks, good wifi, so it is faster to run the deadline at school.” She added that going out to study and meeting deadlines also creates a sense of separation between work and rest. Share with Zing , this female student said she spends about 1/3 of her monthly income from part-time work in the category of working coffee. Thao feels that this amount is not too large, has practical effects, so she has no regrets. “Now, the shop, the library are closed. Personally, I find it difficult to concentrate when studying at home, sometimes when I’m at work, I get caught up in this and that. But I don’t know, the epidemic.” Phuong Thao said. Renovate your own workspace at home About 1-2 times a week, Man Linh (23 years old), a reporter, will go to the cafe to work for 2-3 hours. Outside the editorial office, she likes to write, find inspiration and topics for articles in unique, quiet spaces. “For me, a highly aesthetic scene helps a lot in the creative process. In addition, watching people attentively type at a computer, write, and sometimes hear people whispering loud and loud also makes me feel good. God works more,” she shared. Before the epidemic, Man Linh spent 1-2 times a week going to a coffee shop to work and find inspiration. Photo: NVCC. Due to the complicated development of the epidemic, coffee shops in Hanoi also stopped allowing customers to sit back, only accepting take-out. Since then, Man Linh has moved to work from home most of the time. Although quite sad because there is no longer a chance to change the working environment from the office to the restaurant, Linh said that this is a necessary job in light of the current situation. Therefore, she took the time to arrange the neat and delicate working corner, with the desire to create the ideal space at home. “Luckily, I have a spacious, well-lit private room, so I just need to arrange a little. Sometimes it’s distracting because of housework and the ‘charism’ of my beloved bed, but everything is fine “, Linh smiled and said. Long Hai self-renovated the bedroom space, study desk to increase aesthetics, help increase performance and be more motivated to work in the near future. Photo: NVCC. As for Long Hai, a 23-year-old office worker, not being able to sit and chat over coffee and work in the coming days does not bother him. On the contrary, he sees this as an opportunity to change his lifestyle and save money. “The epidemic is stressful, it’s not very safe to sit in a coffee shop with many people. I think working from home is also good, saving a ‘good’ amount of money every month,” he said. Since the previous epidemic, Long Hai has become more interested in creating an ideal living and working space at home. Taking advantage of the long break, he redesigned his bedroom by himself, buying furniture and equipment needed for the renovation. “Thanks to that, I have a satisfactory private space so that I can feel comfortable and quiet in the house. I can both work, rest, avoid the epidemic safely and without spending money,” he said.

Mr. Tien Trung. Due to the fact that that discipline is computational and less than design, he switched to studying business administration and doing financial analysis after graduating from school. Currently, he pursues a business and develops a youtube channel on food and furniture. He still reads books and articles, participates in architecture forums and applies to his home. Although renting a house to live alone, Tien Trung takes care very meticulously, especially the kitchen – where many of his activities take place during the day. Nordic style is applied thoroughly in the 18m2 wide kitchen. He designed and renovated a beautiful small kitchen with an area of ​​only 18m2. According to Tien Trung, the German side usually only cooks with an area of ​​5 – 10m2, but he is lucky to rent an apartment with an 18m2 kitchen. Therefore, he is more and more creative, turning this place into an integrated space including: working room, relaxing, cooking, laundry. The kitchen is both a place to work, wash and relax. “In Germany, it is very expensive to hire a designer or repair a home, a kitchen…. I renovate myself to save costs ”, Mr. Trung shared. Kitchen cabinets purchased and installed by former tenants. When he arrived, the person did not want to take it away, so he sold the kitchen cabinets and kitchen equipment. Tien Trung found that the cabinet was still solid, so he did not change the cabinet or the kitchen counter but bought paper stickers. The whole time to buy, renovate, and clean up takes about 1 week. The kitchen after finishing has a minimalist style. Old cabinet color beige changed to gray. The kitchen counter is brown to white. Spices, food and cooking utensils are stowed away in the drawers, convenient for storage and use. He said, the concept of this kitchen design came from a trip in Copenhagen (Denmark). Here, he saw the architecture of the house and the rows of shops, although with little furniture, but still delicate and luxurious. So Tien Trung brought this style to his kitchen. The bottles are arranged in open cabinets. Utilized windows as a place to decorate. Single sink and built-in dishwasher. Tien Trung kitchen corner often shoots cooking clips.

Jeremy and Mia Thompson (Washington, USA) feel tired of work and want to travel for a change of atmosphere. Hence the couple sold the house in the city nine years ago. After a year of traveling, the couple decided they really wanted a family and have children, so the couple bought a school bus at an auction and turned it into a mobile home. Jeremy is an experienced carpenter and auto mechanic who easily turns buses and containers into a bungalow with green roofs. And Mia charted the plan, design and interior decoration. The couple have renovated the bus into a mobile home for about 2 years. The space inside is quite small, but Jeremy has carefully calculated to use the space as efficiently as possible. Under the bed there are drawers, under the sofa there is more room to store more things, above is the bed of the couple Jerermy and below the small bed of the children. The mobile home is parked on a piece of land where the Thompson family owns a motel, so they have the space to do some everyday and essential activities such as laundry and using the Internet.

In January 2019, bored with the repeating tedious life every day, the young couple decided to buy a van for £ 8,800 (about $ 12,200), quit the office to travel, according to Metro . Charlie Low and Dale Comley buy cars and renovate their own homes to realize their dream of travel. The couple spent more than a year renovating the original car into a mobile home where the two can rest or work remotely while traveling. “We decided to live in the car and travel together because we were tired of office life. Because we both love moving, we want to create our own adventures, “Charlie said. Initially, repairing a car into a fully equipped mobile home is not easy, from installing windows, partitions to kitchenware, toilets. The couple have tinkered and made everything by themselves. “It was a real challenge and we learned a lot more skills.” All repairs cost the couple an additional £ 6,700 ($ 9,300). Even so, the two are very satisfied with the results. Small but fully furnished mobile house. “Our kitchens have gas stoves, fridges and even sinks. The living rooms, toilets are reasonably designed to make the most of the space in the car. The bedroom has a fixed bed, which is okay.” have a small desk for easy work, “Charlie said. Due to the epidemic, the lovebirds cannot go too far ahead. The two explored several locations in the UK and hoped to travel around Europe together when the situation stabilized, restrictions lifted.