Organize Your Home: 20 Living Space Upgrades for the New Year

When the calendar flips over to January, about 60% of us make New Year’s resolutions.

Some of the most common New Year’s resolutions are to get in shape, eat healthier, and learn a new skill. Right up there with them is the desire to organize your home.

The concept of home comfort has taken on a new level of importance in our lives over this past challenging year. Spending so much time indoors has made us rethink how we use our living spaces.

Many of us have become more mindful of how our homes look and function. Are they contributing to our quality of life or adding more stress to it?

organize your home, woman in walk-in closet

Organize your home by fixing once space at a time

Almost every home has at least one area that needs some TLC. If your home has a few areas in need of some upgrades, don’t take on too much at once. That often leads to a less than satisfying outcome.

Pace yourself and have a smart plan you can stick to. When you set out to organize your home, commit to improving one space at a time. Then you won’t need to go back and tweak or improve your home upgrades, which isn’t productive.

Organization expert Christina Scalise once said that organization isn’t about perfection. Organization is about:

  • better home efficiency
  • reducing clutter and stress
  • saving time and money
  • improving your overall quality of life

How will you organize your home this new year?

Right now is a great time to upgrade and organize your home. Interest rates are low. You may qualify for a home renovation rebate or a work from home tax deduction as well. These can help offset some of your home remodelling costs.

And most importantly, you’ll boost your home comfort level by upgrading your organization systems and refreshing your décor.

But nothing happens without taking that first step.

So where will your efforts to organize your home this year start? Here are 20 areas in your house or condo that are worth upgrading.

Home office

The most popular home design trends of 2020 have been the addition of exercise spaces and home offices. The latter is one trend that will have staying power.

Even after the pandemic ends, remote work will remain the way many of us will earn our living. Forbes.com reports that homebuilders have seen more demand for residences with extra space that can be used as a home office.

Using a proper workspace is better than a makeshift setup of working or studying at the dining room table or on the couch. You can set it up in a part of the home that gives you more privacy.

Talk to us about personalizing your home workspace and designing it to accommodate your work needs. This will provide you with a more comfortable work environment that leads to better productivity.

organize your home office

Reach-in closet

Is keeping your closets organized a constant battle you can never win? If so, look at some solutions that will make it easier to maintain tidier reach-in closet spaces.

Our closet organizer systems will maximize your wardrobe storage space. We have customization options that range from simple to extravagant closet designs.

Do you need a tower of shelves and drawers in the closet’s centre? How about extra hanging rods? Are your closets in need of some sprucing up? Decorative touches like new baseboards, crown moulding, and stylish hardware will help in the latter area.

Just ask us and we’ll work our magic to create a reach-in closet space you’ll love.

two organized reach-in closets in home

Walk-in closet

You’ve been eyeing that spare room and hoping to eventually transform it into the dream walk-in closet you’ve always wanted. Make this the year you finally take action.

A traditional reach-in closet space can’t always meet your storage needs. A walk-in closet provides valuable extra storage space for all of your clothes. It eliminates the headaches that come with managing a large wardrobe collection.

Customize your walk-in with a variety of features for better functionality and stylish appeal. Create a private,  personalized space for getting dressed and more efficient wardrobe storage with:

  • wall-to-wall cabinetry
  • a makeup area with a vanity
  • handy closet accessories like a jewellery drawer and pullout ironing board
  • an island with extra storage space
  • a full-length mirror

Entertainment centre

Our home entertainment rooms got a real workout in 2020 as hours upon hours of TV, movies, and streaming content were watched. Could your home’s main entertainment space be improved?

A small, simple TV stand with a few drawers or shelves may not be enough to meet your needs. A home entertainment setup must accommodate the wide array of audio and video equipment and accessories we use every day.

A built-in entertainment centre is the solution.

A custom home entertainment centre keeps all of your devices and cables organized. Physical media can also be stored on open shelves or hidden behind cabinet doors.

You can even add an electric fireplace to your entertainment centre! There are plenty of custom options available to create a home showpiece that becomes the focal point of your living room or home theatre.

Choosing a custom entertainment centre over a prefab furniture unit has many advantages. Find out why custom entertainment units are better than prefab units from big-box stores.

entertainment centre in condo

Study space

Kids were certainly impacted by the shift to remote learning in 2020. They’ll benefit from having a private, more comfortable area to study in with fewer distractions.

We can transform a spare room or even a small area of your house or condo into a productive home study space. If space is an issue, a study area could also be combined with a home office as part of a multi-purpose room design.

Find out more here about creating a learning-friendly study space in your home.

Sliding closet doors

Sliding closet doors have multiple types of applications. They can be used as sliding doors for a traditional reach-in closet. We can also install custom-built gables and sliding doors that add instant closet storage anywhere in your home.

Sliding closet doors are ideal for using as room dividers, too. This lets you partition off an area of your living space for more privacy when needed. With families quarantining together, interior designers have seen an increase in demand for sliding doors being used for this purpose.

Have your sliding doors custom-made so you have a large selection of design options to choose from. Organized Interiors has a wide range of custom options for door frames and glass, mirror, or melamine inserts.

closed sliding closet doors

Guest room with a Murphy wall bed

Another spare room idea worth considering is turning it into a useful guest room. Including a Murphy wall bed in the room’s design is a great idea, too.

A Murphy wall bed’s biggest benefit is that it takes up very little space. Until they’re needed, the bed stays folded up and out of the way. You can surround the bed within beautiful custom cabinetry that provides storage space for your guests’ linens and pillows.

Having a guest room always-at-the-ready is a wonderful thing to have, not just for unexpected overnight guests, but any time. Your guests will appreciate sleeping on a comfortable mattress that’s a lot friendlier to their backs than an air mattress or lumpy couch.

organized room with lowered Murphy wall bed

Wardrobe closet

Your main bedroom closet has gotten the makeover treatment and you’re still not satisfied with how much storage room is available for all of your clothes. What can you do?

Let a wardrobe closet be your clothes storage saviour! Custom wardrobes can be built to the size you need to fix the problems caused by an overstuffed bedroom closet.

Whether it’s for extra shoe storage, more hanging space, or extra accessories, wardrobes are ideal as a supplementary bedroom storage solution. They can be designed as a built-in or standalone furniture piece.

And if that shared closet space with your partner just isn’t working out, eliminate the frustration you’re both feeling by getting a wardrobe that one of you can use.

open wardrobe closet in kids room

Laundry room

Laundry tasks can be a whole lot more miserable to tackle when the room you’re working in feels like a dungeon.

An increasingly popular way to organize your home and improve one of its hardest working rooms is to update the laundry room’s appearance and functionality.

There are numerous ways to upgrade your laundry room:

  • max out the room’s storage with custom cabinetry
  • update the décor of the room
  • add more usable countertop space
  • upgrade the room’s lighting
  • add convenient helpers like laundry hampers and extra hanging accessories

washer and dryer in laundry room

Wine room

Is your wine collection in need of more storage space? Perhaps your wine collection has never had a proper home and is being stored on wine racks in your basement or living room.

The perfect solution is to turn your spare room into a walk-in wine cellar or a wine room that’s stylish enough to use as an entertainment space.

For smaller spaces or more modestly-sized wine collections, a reach-in wine closet is another option to keep your bottles organized and in ideal storage conditions.

Wet bar

With a little imagination, inspiration, and customization, you can set up a wet bar in almost any room in your home.

Custom bar cabinetry is a great way to keep your liquor organized. It also adds an aesthetically pleasing touch of class to any room.

Entertain in style with one of our custom-designed cabinetry units, island-style bars, or mini-bars.

holiday home organization tips bar cabinetry

Linen closet

The linen closet doesn’t get a lot of home improvement attention. It’s often overlooked because it’s a utilitarian storage space that’s typically small and has a fairly straightforward layout.

That’s exactly why you should think about a linen closet makeover, however. There’s plenty of room for improvement in most reach-in linen closets, which do their fair share in helping to organize your home.

You can have the closet redesigned to freshen up its appearance, maximize its storage space, and keep up with the daily use it gets storing the many linens in your home.

Discover more linen closet ideas here.

Built-in bedroom cabinetry

For a stylish solution to a good night’s sleep, look no further than built-in bedroom cabinetry that is custom-designed for your space, creating a seamless blend with your bedroom’s decor.

Our bedroom cabinetry combines your bed with surrounding built-in storage below, above, and around your sleeping space in a smartly designed integrated furniture piece.

built-in bedroom cabinetry in home

Makeup table

With makeup application being such a staple of the daily routine for so many women, it makes a lot of sense to have a makeup table in order to streamline the process.

A posh makeup area where your beauty routine occurs almost every day is certainly practical, as it helps you to stay organized. It’s also nice to have a personalized space to complete your beauty ritual more comfortably.

Learn more here about why a bespoke makeup table could make a great addition to your walk-in closet, dressing room, master bedroom, or bathroom.

Mudroom

Mudrooms are rather under-appreciated, but they’re quite valuable when it comes to helping organize your home.

The National Association of Realtors believes that the mudroom may even become known as the “disinfection room” in an era of a pandemic. As they wrote in a recent blog post, “The mudroom is gaining prominence as a spot to sanitize before heading further inside.”

A mudroom can come in variety of forms. It might be a small room near an entrance or combined with your laundry room. Even a dedicated space in the hall of your home’s entryway can be considered a mudroom.

Organized Interiors can help keep this transitional space in your home more orderly. We can design a mudroom that creates a proper home for all of your shoes, umbrellas, jackets, and other outwear using hooks, custom cabinetry, shoe racks, and other solutions.

organize your home, bench in mudroom

Basement

Basements provide ample room for home storage, but they’re rarely given much consideration to keep the things you’re storing organized and easy to find.

Adding better storage systems like custom cabinetry to maintain order and to eliminate visual clutter will help make the basement look more presentable.

An unfinished basement leaves a lot to be desired in the looks department. Make the space cozier by:

  • finishing the walls and ceiling and upgrading the basement’s insulation
  • adding a raised “floating floor” that is more comfortable (temperature-wise) to walk on
  • replacing old carpeting with new carpeting, carpet tiles, or interlocking floor tiles
  • reducing the chill in the basement with an energy-efficient electric fireplace

electric fireplace flames

Library/reading room

If you’re an avid reader and have a large book collection, dedicating a spare room or smaller part of a room for storing books on custom cabinetry shelves keeps things looking tidy and easier to organize.

Make a few more practical additions to the room by complementing your books stored within stylish furniture with some of these ideas:

  • a comfortable accent chair
  • a high-quality reading light
  • an ottoman
  • a side table for beverages

Now you have the ideal personalized space where you can indulge your passion for reading in privacy and blissful comfort!

Craft room

2020 was the perfect year to learn a new hobby. 2021 can be the year you dedicate more time to a new creative pursuit or one of the hobbies you’ve been enjoying for years in the comfort of your own craft room.

A craft room is another great way to use a spare room more effectively. If you or anyone in your family is the creative type, a craft room provides you with a space that is dedicated to your creative passions. You can use it as a room for:

  • sewing
  • scrapbooking
  • playing music
  • drawing or painting

craft room

Closet accessories and decorative hardware

To get even more out of your closet spaces, take advantage of the many helpful closet accessories Organized Interiors carries.

Accessories like extra hanging rods, valet rods, pullout shoe racks, and racks for ties, scarves, and belts elevate a closet space’s functionality to the next level.

Decorative hardware that accentuates the custom cabinetry and complements your décor is also an important consideration when having your storage systems designed.

The garage

Plans to organize your home in 2021 might include getting your garage in order. If your garage clutter has left your vehicles parked in the driveway every day, talk to Garage Living.

They specialize in transforming disorganized, visually unappealing garages into highly efficient storage spaces that look as stunning as a luxury car showroom.

Let us help you organize your home this year

It can be difficult to decide where to start with your New Year’s home organization project.

For some homeowners, it may also be a bit overwhelming trying to decide what storage solutions and design changes are most practical for their living space.

Rely on a pro like Organized Interiors to help you organize your home this new year. Our storage solutions and expertise are abundant and available!

Get 2021 started off on the right foot and schedule a free design consultation with us today.

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