Edmonton Real Estate Blog

1. Maximize wall space in an entryway with cut-to-fit lattice from your local home-improvement store or garden center. Thread S-hooks through the slats to hang baskets filled with scarves, hats, and Rover’s leash. Lattice; Lowe’s stores. Green “Carrie” baskets; unicahome.com.

2. Do one small organizational task daily, no matter how small. Clean out one drawer or the top tier of the spice rack. Just think: After a month, you’ll have checked 30 things off your to-do list.

3. Open the mail over the shredder or recycling bin, and get rid of the junk immediately. This forces you to make quick and definitive decisions so nothing piles up in your hallway or anywhere else.

4. Keep each kid’s tests, drawings, and papers in a large art box, and go through the boxes with your children at the end of each school year. Holly Bohn, founder of seejanework.com, allows each child to pick one thing to save. She chooses one special item as well, then everything else gets pitched. “This way you don’t have to make immediate decisions when they bring something home,” she says.

5. Store all your notes, lists, and ideas in one small three-ring binder you keep in your purse. Periodically recycle outdated pages (last week’s grocery list) and keep others (that million-dollar idea that came to you at the doctor’s office).

6. Separate bras and undies with drawer dividers. Home and lifestyle editor Wendy Manwarren uses velvet dividers (available at organize.com) to sort her lingerie into sections according to type (bras, undies, and camisoles) and function (everyday garments stay up front; strapless bras are tucked in the back).

7. Once or twice a year, host a shop-my-castoffs party. Turn on the tunes, open a bottle of wine, and let friends take what they like – from purses and baubles to frocks and shoes.

8. Give yourself recognition for your organizing accomplishments, suggests Gail Blanke, author of Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life. Show off your solutions and brag a little. You’re more likely to maintain order in a space if you’re truly proud of it.

9. Treat organization the same way you would a diet or exercise plan: as a lifestyle change. To maintain results, you have to do a little bit, often, says Meryl Starr, author of Home Organizing Workbook.

10. Hang two canvas totes, embroidered with REPAIR and DONATE, from hooks in the laundry room, suggests seejanework.com‘s Holly Bohn. She tosses too-small, worn-out, and snagged clothes into the bags as soon as they come out of the dryer to keep from stumbling across these mini-projects all the time.

11. Stash a permanent marker in the bathroom cabinet and mark makeup, sunscreens, and medicines with the dates of purchase so you know when they should be tossed. In general, mascara shouldn’t be kept for more than three months, and sunscreens and medicines should be pitched at the end of a year, advises Lorie Marrero, creator of The Clutter Diet. Look for POA (“period after opening”) icons, like the one at right, on packaging; “3M” means a product lasts three months.

12. No bathroom storage? Hang a canvas shoe organizer on the back of the door, says Julie Edelman, author of The Ultimate Accidental Housewife. Put dental-care items in one row of pockets, makeup brushes in the next, your husband’s shaving gear in another, and so on.

13. Get a clutter buddy. “You’re a better editor with someone else’s stuff,” says stylist Christine Cameron, of mystylepill.com, who regularly helps one friend clean out her closet. “I insist she let go of that when-I-lose-five-pounds skirt, and she reminds me that a girl doesn’t need 10 pairs of black pants.”

14. Store frozen foods and meats in easily accessible, labeled plastic bins, as REDBOOK reader and organizing pro Sue Becker did here. You’ll never freeze your fingers hunting through your well-stocked but overpacked freezer again.

15. Record birthdays, anniversaries, and other key dates at sites like americangreetings.com or giftelephant.com, which can send you reminders when someone’s special day is approaching. Some even set up an automatic free e-card delivery.

16. Employ one system to help organize favourite recipes. The Recipe Nest (available at reciperelish.com) is a binder with six tabbed dividers that you can customize with your own categories, such as Grandma’s Secrets or Entertaining Menus. It’s nearly two inches deep, so there’s plenty of room for you to add to your collection.

17. Make yourself a YNK (you never know) box, says Alicia Rockmore, cofounder of Buttoned Up organizational products. Here’s how: Empty the contents of a drawer (the kitchen utensil drawer, or a junk drawer) into a box. Then, every time you need one of the items, remove it from the box and return it to the drawer after you use it. After two months, whatever is still left in the box should be thrown out or donated.

18. Dangle necklaces and baubles from pushpins on fabric-covered bulletin boards, as REDBOOK editor-in-chief Stacy Morrison did here. She hung boards on a wall between two windows and now can always find the perfect accessory. (When the curtains are in place, the treasures are out of sight.)

19. Edit, edit, edit. How many pots can you fit on the stove at once? How many free pens do you really use? How many old T-shirts do you really need to save for the next paint project?

20. Sift through your ever-growing stack of magazines and catalogs while on a plane, train, or bus trip. Bring a few clear plastic envelopes (available atseejanework.com) along with you to stash recipes you want to try, decorating ideas, and reference articles you tear out.

21. Give yourself permission to regift. Just because someone you care about gave you something does not mean you have to hold on to it for the rest of your life (even if you have room for it!). Pass it on to someone who will appreciate and use it.

22. Corral clutter where it lands. Keep containers near mess hot spots, such as the front door, the bedroom dresser, and the kitchen counter. Then empty them once in a while (or when they get full), put the items away, and start over.

23. As soon as you upload your new photos to the computer, create a digital photo book. As for old photos that never made it into an album, Donna Smallin, author of A to Z Storage Solutions, suggests organizing them in photo boxes, categorizing by vacation or time period so they’re easily searchable.

24. Repurpose your old TV cabinet as a hideaway bar, suggests REDBOOK reader and organizing specialist Grace Brooke. Here, she installed inexpensive hanging glass racks and used three-tiered stacking shelves and trays to maximize the vertical space inside the cabinet.

25. Clean house like you’re moving. Keep only those things you’d take if you relocated.

26. If you travel a lot and collect cards and brochures from favorite restaurants, shops, and activities, throw them all into one box when you get home. When a friend is headed someplace you’ve visited, you can sift through your box (like the one below) to pass along some suggestions. Everyone wins: You have one spot where stockpiling a mishmash of info is allowed, and friends get travel tips from someone they know and trust.

Source: Redbookmag.com

Who doesn’t need more storage space in their home? From closets and attics to kitchens and laundry rooms, we’ll show you some innovative storage ideas that can help eliminate the clutter around your home. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to get busy cleaning up that mess!

Closets

Closets are the first place to look when improving storage in your home. Replacing old hanging rods and shelves with adjustable metal shelving and wire baskets should be high on your priority list. It’s not that hard to do, and can make a great DIY project.

Here’s how to go about it:

• Start by cleaning everything out of the closet.
• Remove the old shelf and rod.
• Locate the wall studs and mark their position.
• Secure the horizontal track to the studs on the back wall near the top of the closet.
• Hang the vertical supports on the track and secure them to the wall.
• Cut the wire shelves to length with a hacksaw or reciprocating saw.
• Attach shelf supports to the vertical supports.
• Install hanging rods, shelves, and baskets.

Under Bed

A lot of good storage space can be found under your bed. To access the stored items, build one or more large open boxes that fit under your bed from plywood or medium density fiberboard (MDF).

 Install casters to the bottom of the box and a handle on the front to allow it to easily roll in and out.

Laundry Room

Your laundry room is another area of the house that can usually benefit from some serious organization. Some ideas for laundry room storage include:

• Add a store bought or built-in storage unit that has been sized to hold an individual laundry basket for each member of the family.
• Install shelving on your laundry room walls above the washer/dryer as well as along the area near the ceiling to store cleaning supplies and detergent, as well as tools and other items.
• A great DIY project that can make your laundry room more functional is to install a built-in ironing board, complete with an electrical outlet and storage for your iron, into the laundry room wall.

Attic

Attics are a great place to store items that aren’t damaged by extreme temperatures. To increase the storage space in your attic, consider building hanging shelves that are attached to the rafters.

Here’s how to go about it:

• Determine the pitch of your roof and the width you want your shelves.
• Using these measurements, build “L” shaped brackets cut from 2″x 4″ lumber to support the shelves.
• Use a chalk line to mark the position of the brackets on the rafters.
• Attach the brackets to the rafters with screws, making sure the shelf support is level.
• Slide 1″ thick shelving onto the brackets.

Kitchen

There are a number of ways, from lazy susans to sliding bins, to increase storage space in your kitchen. One simple way to free up a drawer and make the lids to your pots more accessible is to mount a bathroom towel rack to the inside of a cabinet door. Here’s how to go about it:

• Start by attaching one of the towel rack brackets to the cabinet door stile at the proper height.
• Next, hold the other bracket in place and measure the length of the towel rod.
• Cut the towel rod to length with a hacksaw.
• Insert the towel rod in the two brackets and screw the second bracket to door.
• Place lids on the towel rack with the handles facing out.

Bookcase

A DIY built-in bookcase in your living room or den makes the perfect place to store books or display memorabilia and photographs. Store bought models are also available.

To build a bookcase:

• Start by making a cutting list and cutting the stock (plywood, MDF, or solid wood) to size for the bookcase and shelves.
• Assemble the bookcase.
• Construct a separate recessed base below the bookcase.
• Assemble the bookcase and base.
• Attach a frame to the front of the bookcase.
• Prime and paint or stain and finish the bookcase and base.
• Install bookcase in room.

Bathroom

Bathrooms can always use some added storage space. There are a number of options available, including:

• Build or buy a shallow hanging cabinet to attach to the wall above the toilet for storing towels, soap, and toilet paper.
• Add a built-in window seat or a freestanding chest in your bathroom to serve as a place for clothes and to sit when dressing, as well as for storage space inside.
• Install a built-in, recessed medicine cabinet, such as Nutone’s locking bath cabinet on the wall above the sink in the space between two studs.

Charging Station

A recessed wall cabinet with an electrical outlet mounted inside is the perfect place to keep cell phones, iPods, and MP3 players while they’re charging. It also doubles as a convenient place to hang your keys.

 by Danny Lipford