As we near the end of 2020, wouldn’t it now feel strange to leave the house without a face mask and hand sanitiser? They say it takes just 28 days to turn a task into a habit, and the ‘new normal’ is not feeling so new anymore! With public health and safety precautions here to stay for the foreseeable future, it’s time to make your at-home hygiene station part of the furniture. No more dumping your face mask on the nearest console when you get home, or having awkward moments when a guest arrives and you want them to sanitise their hands. 

We asked three design-savvy women from Dubai’s interiors scene to show you how you can make your home hygiene station look less sterile and more in keeping with your décor while encouraging everyone, from your family to visitors, to leave germs at the curb before they step into your abode. 

Blend Safety With Style With Lilly Engelbrecht

“Make sure that your hygiene station contains all the essentials to keep you and your family safe during these unsafe times,” says Lilly Engelbrecht, interior designer and founder of Escape Home, an interior design studio in Dubai. Lilly has added a hygiene station to the entryway by her front door using a fashionable seagrass basket with a tribal-style chevron pattern that complements the black and tan colours and wooden features of her hall. 

Follow Lilly’s advice on what to include and how to organise them stylishly: 

• Masks are a must — don’t get caught without one!
• Sanitiser for your sanity! While you can’t beat handwashing, it might seem rude to steer a guest straight to the tap! In which case a generous blob of sanitiser will give everyone peace of mind. And decanting your sanitiser into a decorative soap pump will make your sanitiser a little more stylish and inviting.
• Get your gloves on! These are great when you head to the supermarket or when you take delivery of packages. Although the requirement for wearing gloves has eased up, it’s still a good idea to have some gloves ‘handy’!
• Make sure that your hygiene station is located near the door that you use the most, whether it’s your front door or back door. It needs to be accessible for all and it should be visible to serve as a reminder to adhere to the necessary safety precautions before you head out.
• Just because it’s a hygiene station that doesn’t mean it should be ‘sterile’ in its aesthetics. Let’s face it, the current situation might be around for some time, so blend your hygiene station in with your décor to ensure that this functional feature can be a pretty one too. Pop all your items into a colourful box, a seagrass basket, on a decorative tray or even on a cute cake or candle stand. Who says safe has to be stale!
• If you use a larger box or basket for your hygiene station, you can always subdivide it into smaller sections by using inserts. This will keep it well organised and compartmentalised for ease of use. 
• A sign of the times… Print some labels to place on your hygiene station or on its various components to help you keep it organised and ready for those grab-and-go moments when you’re in a rush to leave.

Above: Lilly Engelbrecht, Interior Designer @Escape_Home

Make An Eye-Catching Station With Kaltoum Dumonceau  

“I have created a sanitising station that is both practical and pretty and I hope it inspires you to create one too,” says Kaltoum Dumonceau, interior stylist, queen of colour and namesake of @baytkalthoum on Instagram. While Lilly uses a basket for her hygiene essentials, Kaltoum has repurposed an eye-catching checkerboard tray that helps draw attention to her hygiene station. 

Here, Kaltoum reveals what you can repurpose, style and make to keep everyone motivated to stay safe:

• Use a decorative base such as a tray to place the different pieces of your hygiene station on and to keep it nicely organised in one visible place. 
• The most important items to include are hand sanitiser and face masks for everyone in the family plus some spares for when reusable masks are in the wash or they need replacing.  
• To keep everyone’s face masks separate for hygiene reasons and so everyone can find theirs easily, hang them on a stand like a jewellery holder and place masks on one side for mum and dad and use the other side for the kids. 
• To make the station look pretty and more in keeping with the rest of your home, add a few home décor pieces that will complement the setup. Candles, scented diffuser sticks or incense, a decorative tissue box, and even some artwork or a family photo will work well. 
• Hand-write or print a funny, motivational slogan and frame it to remind guests to respect your house rules by using the station and bring a smile to their faces. 

Above: Kaltoum Dumonceau, Interior Stylist @Baytkalthoum

Create A Harmonious Hygiene Station with Cynthia Salloum 

“With the spread of COVID-19, we’ve all had to adapt especially when styling our entrances in order to find beautiful ways to leave ‘germs at the curb’,” says Cynthia Salloum, interior stylist and Instagrammer behind the hygge lifestyle account @WhiteHavenDecor. “I hope you are inspired by my simple and easy styling tips to beautify your own sanitising station.” Cynthia sourced a white ceramic hurricane specifically for the task of creating a hygiene station in sync with her ‘white haven’ home décor. 

Follow Cynthia’s tips to get the look:

• Look for cute containers that will match the whole vibe of your entrance so that it feels like it’s part of the aesthetic and not just a sanitising station. You can use anything from woven baskets to paper bags or even big hurricanes like the pretty ceramic one that I got from Crate and Barrel Middle East.
• Make sure to include only the necessary items to avoid cluttering the containers. This will make the station easier to use and access the items you need. I have masks and sanitising spray as essentials in my station.
• Label it up! Using a fun and quirky label from The Label Souq that says ‘Be Wise, Sanitize’, I added the label to a lovely spraying bottle (also from The Label Souq). Fun slogans can be a good conversation-starter when you have guests over and they can make the whole sanitising process more enjoyable! 
• Style your station with some small décor pieces to camouflage it with the rest of your home. I’m obsessed with dried palms so adding a lovely little one from Bound No.82 was a must for me in order to style up this hurricane-come-sanitising-station and make it match the rest of the entryway. 

Above: Cynthia Salloum, Interior Stylist @WhiteHavenDecor

We’d love to see how you have created your hygiene station at home — post on Instagram and tag @homeclubme and we’ll repost your ideas! You’ll find more COVID-19 news and home inspiration here and if this feature has got you in the mood to tidy, check out our expert home organisation features.