Monthly Archives: August 2010

How to Use Garment Racks in your Home

Garment racks were originally only used in retail settings. However, they have become so useful and popular that they are available in just about every home department store. They have many home uses that can help you to get organized, create storage, and have some flexibility while doing your housework. Learn how a garment rack in your home can help you to make things easier on yourself.

1) Use a garment rack where closet space is lacking. You can place one in the corner of the room to give yourself some extra hanging space. Some have two bars, baskets on the sides, bars that extend, and shelves for more storage. These types of “portable closets” can save you a lot of space, allowing you to use your regular closet for your everyday wardrobe.

2) Use your garment rack to create storage. You can hang clothing, box up shoes, stow scarves and hats, whatever you need on your rolling rack. If you want to store some clothing long-term, use a dust cover. These covers usually come with the rack or are sold as an accessory. They zip up and seal off your clothing and belonging from moisture, humidity and insects. Protecting your stored items has never been easier.

3) You can use clothing racks as portable storage. Many people with back problems or ones that are simply incapable of moving heavy boxes full of clothes from storage to the closet love using garment racks instead. They are usually set atop of heavy casters so you can roll them from the garage to the bedroom.

4) Being portable also makes these racks useful while doing laundry. Hang your air-dry clothes on quality clothes hangers that can handle the weight of heavy clothes. Coat hangers or wood hangers are good choices. You can hang the clothes while they’re still in the laundry room, keeping them out of sight and contained until the clothes in the dryer are done. You can fold, hang and organize all of your laundry, and then simply roll it around the house to the rooms where the clothing goes.

5) If you’re hanging wet clothes, make sure that you use hangers that are either designed for drying wet clothes, or ones that you at least know won’t deposit stain or rust onto your clothing. Flimsy hangers can bend or break. Hangers that are designed to hold heavy items are generally curved at the shoulder, which helps you to avoid puckering. They should also have a wider body to hold the front and back of your garment apart for better circulation.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.

Creatively Use Your Space

Everyone gets short on storage space at some point. If you’re looking for some creative storage ideas, you’re in the right place. It’s beneficial to expand your mind and see things in a different light. Adapting the space that you need to store things in to fit the amount of things that you have to store can help you to find space that you didn’t know you had. It doesn’t necessarily take a lot of skill to reorganize in a way that helps you to keep clutter under control, but it does take a little bit of brain power and ingenuity.

If you’ve got a lot to organize, it’s best to first focus on clearing out the floor. Getting the floor space free will make your home seem bigger and cleaner, right off the bat. Go around the house looking for problem areas. There are probably some piles of shoes, clothes, bags, and toys that pretty much live on the floor full time. Make spaces for these things first and you’ll be on your way to controlling clutter in your home.

Hooks and hanging bars are inexpensive and can help you to get the process started. Make a space for all of those little things that just get thrown around. For kids, and some adults for that matter, it is best to make the storage area very easy to access and use. Reminders, in the form of decorations or distractions, can be helpful, too. Place a bin, storage bench, or chest in the area where you want your family to hide away bulky items, like boots or backpacks. If you hang hooks, help people avoid using the floor instead by placing a wastebasket, small table with a flower arrangement, or other distraction directly underneath. If they start to put their things there, they can easily reach for the hook instead.

Make the most of the space that you have designated for long-term storage. Combine items as much as you can, or use stackable containers that you can label. This will help you to use some of that wasted space by the ceiling in your closets. Shelves and cubbies squeezed in above and around the door inside the closet will give you plenty of places to hide away things like camera equipment, sports equipment, photo albums, and important memorabilia.

Create even more space in the closet by using specialty clothes hangers. Hangers designed to make space are perfect for opening up a new area. Hang suits on coat hangers that also have a hanging bar for pants, instead of hanging them on separate hangers. Wood hangers are sturdy enough to hold your heaviest items without breaking. A good space saving clothes hanger is one that can hold more than one item. Other specialty hangers can help to easily organize ties, belts and scarves in a very small space.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.

Create a Bathroom Storage Area

Is your bathroom cluttered up with all of your beauty products and hair accessories? Even if you don’t have much space in your closet, you can create a dressing area that helps you to reclaim your precious bathroom storage and stay organized in the process. Many women find that they collect a lot of little tiny things through the years, from hair pins to mascara, and keeping it organized can save you from clutter overload. In this article we’re going to discuss how you can keep those things together in one area, without using up a lot of space. Time to use those few precious bathroom drawers for other things!

1) You will need a garbage bag or wastebasket to get rid of the things that are expired or have been buried for a while. Just to give you an idea, mascara expires in six months, creams and foundations about twelve, eye shadows and powders around twenty-four months. If you keep your brushes and sponges very clean, they could last a little longer, but as a general rule, you should throw out any questionable items.

2) Take the things that you use the most and place them in a separate area. You can use shoe boxes to start categorizing what you want to keep readily available and what you want to be kept in your storage area. Make-up, medications, hair accessories, lotions, curlers, and whatever other categories of things you have should be separated. This should give you a good idea of how much space you’ll need for each item.

3) Find a small space to create your storage. Most people have an empty corner in the front of their closets. This is a great place to stash a few shelves where you can put bins, baskets, buckets, and other containers that keep things separated and neatly stowed away. You may want to use a bookshelf or other set of shelves just outside of your bathroom. If you want it to stay hidden, install a sheer curtain or other piece of fabric that will hide the stored items and keep your room looking neat.

4) Determine the best way to store or display each item in a small area. You may want to get creative with how you store things so that you can easily access them when you need them. Pencil drawer organizers are great for keeping lip pencils, eye liners, shadow brushes and other cylindrical items organized. Some even grip the pencils, so you can hang it on the wall if you’d like. Small hooks are great for hair ties and necklaces. Baskets that mount are great for storing your hair dryer, curling iron, or straightening iron so that the cords don’t get tangled or take up extra room.

5) If you’re building up this bathroom storage area, you may want to also install a wall-mount hanging bar. These are usually created for foyers or entryways, but they also work beautifully in bathrooms. You can put a few clothes hangers on it to hang your clothes that may be wrinkled in the steam of the shower. You can also get hangers, like coat hangers or wood hangers for other things, like your robe.

About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.