A well-organized home represents the oasis of calm and tranquility you need, and it also requires less work to keep clean and tidy. The secret of a perfectly organized home lies, as always, in the details – the appearance of clutter and chaos is created by all the things around the house, big and small, that don’t have a designated spot.
Fortunately, there are many solutions that can help you contain the clutter and enjoy a streamlined home. Renting a self storage unit for seasonal items, sports equipment, furniture and other items you’re not currently using will help you create a bit more space in your home. As for the rest of your stuff, check out these unique ideas and gadgets that will help you maintain perfect order and find everything in your house at a glance.
1. Add extra storage to your kitchen with a compact yet sturdy shelving unit
If your kitchen is a little bit small for your needs, or if your appliances take up most of the countertop, a narrow, compact shelving unit can solve your problem. It takes up very little floor space, and can house small appliances such as toasters, blenders or coffeemakers, plus pots, pans, cups and other items.
2. Turn inexpensive magazine or file holders into corner shelves
Flip magazine holders horizontally and attach them to the wall, in the corner of a room, creating a smart and compact storage unit for the knick-knacks menacing to take over your home. Pick any type of holders you prefer – mesh, plastic, cardboard or even wood. For an extra touch of glamour, you can spray paint them in your favorite shade, or pick ones that come in colorful prints.
3. Add dividers to your kitchen cabinets
Digging through your cabinets to retrieve one pan that happens to be at the bottom of a large and unstable pile of other pans is definitely not fun. Fortunately, there’s a cheap and simple solution to this problem: use some tension rods as dividers inside your cabinets and arrange your frying pans, cutting boards, and other large and flat cookware vertically. Of, if you want a more aesthetically pleasing product, you can purchase a pan organizer rack.
4. Undershelves expand the use of vertical space in your cabinets
Most kitchen cabinets are taller than the items you store inside, which means that almost half of the space goes unused. You can change that with the help of under shelf baskets that make the most of the space inside your cabinets or your pantry.
5. Attach shoe holders to cabinets doors
Over-the-door shoe organizers are extremely versatile and inexpensive gadgets that are great for so much more than just shoes. Basically, you can cut them up into various sizes and attach them to the back of every door in your home, be it a cabinet, pantry or wardrobe door, or even actual room doors. They can contain a variety of items that would otherwise clutter your countertops, coffee table, nightstands and other surfaces in your home.
5. Make the most of Lazy Susans
These rotating devices are available in different sizes and styles, and are either simple or tiered. The gadgets are ideal for keeping spices or cans in the pantry, condiments in the fridge, or cosmetics and personal care products in your bathroom or bedroom.
7. Use muffin tins to organize small items
Muffin tins are great for holding your small items. Slide them inside your drawers, and everything from jewelry to craft supplies or sewing kits becomes easier to organize. Whether you’re giving new life to your old muffin tins or purchasing new, inexpensive ones for this purpose, you could also use spray paint to make them look better.
8. Basket up your home
A few baskets attached to a tension rod on the wall, be it in the kitchen, hallway, bathroom or other spaces in your home will pick up a lot of clutter. From keys and glasses near the entryway to magazines and remote controls in the living room, or even fruit and veggies in the kitchen, hanging baskets by the walls will solve a lot of storage issues. And, if you’re not into making your own home accessories, you can purchase similar products online.
9. Get a space-saving shoe rack
Shoes tend to take up a lot of space in your closet, but gadgets such as this creative, space-saving shoe rack will help you keep your shoe collection in perfect order. The rack can easily fit inside a walk-in closet, but you can also keep it in your hallway, the corner of your bedroom, and so on.
10. Use a regular shoe cabinet as a linen closet
If you’re living in a smaller house or in an apartment, you probably don’t have space for a linen closet. However, a narrow shoe cabinet that you can install in the hallway, close to the bathroom, can hold a lot of towels in an organized manner. Simply roll up your towels and arrange them inside the shoe cabinet – one can definitely hold dozens of towels.
Do you have any other ingenious secrets for turning you home into a well-organized haven? Let us know in the comments!
Should You Vacuum Seal Clothes? Everything You Actually Need to Know
Vacuum storage bags seem like the perfect solution when storage space is an issue: suck out the air, shrink that pile of winter sweaters into a fraction of the space and suddenly your closet is no longer overflowing. For the right types of clothes or other household linens, vacuum bags are actually quite handy and a great way to save closet space.
ATV Storage Guide: How To Store and Winterize Your ATV
The riding season is winding down, and that’s when most people start thinking about ATV storage. Keeping an ATV at home isn’t always easy. Garages fill up fast, sheds are rarely built for a four-wheeler and some apartment complexes and homeowners associations don’t allow one in the parking lot or driveway.
21 Garage Storage Ideas: Free Up Your Floor Space
Garage storage is more important than it sounds, because it helps you move things off the floor and onto walls, ceilings and rolling units. In time, this makes a big difference and saves you from awkwardly tiptoeing around stuff you’ve left on the ground. Use the garage storage ideas below and you’ll build a setup that fits what you own, how often you use it and how much space you have.
How to Move a Piano: Moving, Insurance & Storage Guide
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the matter, let’s agree on the simple fact that, unlike other types of relocation conundrums, moving a piano is just a very cool thing to see, let alone accomplish. The labor that makes piano concerts possible and keeps legendary instruments alive, a piano relocation takes meticulous planning, special equipment and a crew that really knows their stuff. That is, unless you’re set on recreating the piano crash of a classic Looney Toons gag.
Hall Closet Organization: 30 Ideas for Simpler Storage
Be it built-in, freestanding, or wholly improvised, your hall closet works best when you can grab anything quickly and put it back just as fast. These 30 ideas for organizing your hall closet walk you through planning, deciding where things go, choosing the right containers and way more. By the end, you’ll even know what to do when your closet still runs out of room.
Holiday Decoration Storage: A Guide for Every Season
Taking down the holiday decorations is never as exciting as putting them up. One minute, your home is looking wonderfully festive, and the next, you’re trying to remember which box the Christmas ornaments came in while wrestling with a string of lights that managed to tie itself into a dozen knots. With every holiday bringing its own collection of decorations, a good holiday decoration storage system helps you keep a growing collection under control.
Where to Get Moving Boxes in Philadelphia
Philadelphia’s historic charm can put your patience to the test on moving day. Between cobblestone streets, narrow rowhouse entrances and the occasional pothole, you don’t want to worry about not having enough boxes on top of it all. Start gathering your moving boxes early and you’ll have one less box to check off on packing day. Luckily, you have plenty of places to get your boxes from.
Art Supply Storage from A to Easel
Paint tubes, brushes, sketchbooks, scraps of paper, beads, half-used rolls of tape and that one very specific pen you swear you just had in your hand. Building up an art supply collection is rarely a neat process, and each new material brings its own storage needs.
Scary Good DIY Halloween Decorations That Won’t Haunt Your Wallet
A few floating candles in the hallway, a family of ghosts by the front door and a suspicious number of bats climbing up the bedroom wall can make October feel a whole lot spookier. While Halloween stores are full of tempting finds, some of the best DIY Halloween decorations can come from things you already have tucked away in drawers, closets or the recycling bin.