Monthly Archives: April 2012

Storage Under Cover

It can be difficult to find places to store things in your home. Houses are generally built to make rooms look bigger, taking valuable storage space away from closets, laundry rooms, and pantries. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t find ways to store things, even in the smallest of spaces. There are many clever ideas out there for storing items around the home where you can’t even see them. Disguising clutter and storage spaces by using innovatively designed cabinets, furniture, ottomans, and even plant stands is a great way to minimize the mess while maximizing the style and space of your home.

Years ago I started trying to only purchase things that helped me to either create space or provide me with storage. After a few years, I was able to stock my cabinets only with nesting bowls and casserole dishes. I have nesting plastic wear, glass wear, stainless steel bowls, and I even store small crocks in my slow cooker. I actually own double the bowls and casserole dishes that I did two years ago, but they take up half of the space in the cabinet that my old, oddly shaped ones did. Making the decision to change things long-term around the house can help you to establish habits that slowly but surely turn things around for you.

Another thing that I did was to change the way I stored things in the bathroom. I have a very, very small bathroom and it becomes instantly destroyed after one morning of getting ready for work. I considered building shelves and shallow cabinets into the walls, but I really didn’t feel like making permanent changes like that. Also, I might have been just a little too lazy to take on a big construction project.

So, finally I started thinking outside of the box, which was, my bathroom. What did I have against walking one foot from the sink into my bedroom to get something that I needed? Was it really necessary to cram two hundred beauty products into what seemed like a four foot space? No! I got an old media cabinet that we no longer used, and simply moved it to right outside of the bathroom door. This thing is amazing. It has adjustable glass shelves and holds everything from rollers to tweezers. I have several containers that hold stockpiles of different things and get them out of my bathroom. Making room for the things that I use everyday made a huge difference.

Find solutions for your home that help you to move storage items out of the way and you too can enjoy the fruits of creative thinking.

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.

How to Disguise Clutter

Do you ever clean your house only to discover that it still looks messy and cluttered? Is it almost impossible to create more storage in your home? Do you use some things so much that they never seem to be put away? Clutter is one of the number one complaints of people looking to organize their homes. We use so many products nowadays that there seems to be little piles of things all over the place. Chargers, nail polish, art supplies, mail, video game accessories, magazines, crafting supplies and more can quickly turn your home into a clutter mountain. Learn how to get things hidden without hiding them away so that you can still use them without living in a heap of junk.

The first step is to go through everything. Study each category of stuff that you have. Research online to see if you can find images, tutorials or clever ideas for storing the items that you don’t know what to do with. Access to the internet is so easy that people everywhere are posting their great ideas. Web sites are dedicated to sharing the most popular storage ideas from around the world. Sharing with friends and strangers everywhere has never been this easy. If you don’t know what to do with your cupcake decorating supplies, someone else has surely come up with a clever solution that will get your brain working on something that will work for you.

The next step is to adjust the spaces that you use in your home so that the things you use most often can be easily accessed and put back away. This is the same theory that many closet organizers use to organize closets in a way that they stay organized. Whatever you use most goes front and center. Things you use less often go higher, lower, and further to the left and right of the closet. Try to utilize this same theory in your home. If a slow cooker that you rarely use is taking up a whole shelf in your cabinet, move it to the garage for storage and place a divider rack for your everyday frying pans in its place.

Making small adjustments like this all over your home will slowly but surely remove clutter from your life. You may have to tackle clothing one week and office supplies another, but eventually it will be done. When it starts to get more organized, you can more easily assess where the problems are coming from and take corrective action.

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.

Uses for Garment Racks at 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.