You know that it’s long overdue – it’s time to update the storage space in your home and get organized. If the pandemic did one thing, it heightened all the areas in your home that just weren’t working.
On a typical day (pre-pandemic), you’d be rushing to get ready in the morning and encouraging everyone else to get their skates on, as you tossed breakfast dishes into the sink or dishwasher, lined up lunch boxes, and helped child number two find suitable footwear for the day ahead. Once home, after work and school, dinner, homework and nighttime routines took over, and you continued on as you did the day before, and the day before that.
Even if things weren’t working, you didn’t have time to think about making changes, let alone actually doing it.
Now you’re able to reassess how you’ve set up your house, and if it’s really working for you and your family. Are there obstacles in the way? Are there things that you do by rote when there might be a better way?
An organized home creates a feeling of calm and efficiency
Tripping over shoes when you enter your home isn’t welcoming. Tossing your coat on the back of the couch infringes on your seating area, and turning a blind eye to things that never got put away only ups the frustration level and leads to a chaotic atmosphere.
There’s a feeling of calm and sensibility that is derived from an organized home. Similar to the feeling that you have after cleaning, you want to maintain that status quo for as long as you can. Family members and pets are banned from traipsing in from the outside on a recently washed kitchen floor, and heaven help the person who makes the first spill on a freshly shampooed carpet.
Nate Berkus, a favourite designer of Oprah Winfrey, says, “Your home should rise up to greet you. And, at the end of the day, it should ground you in a sense of peace.”
Consider every inch of valuable storage space
Floor surfaces aren’t the only place where you can arrange things. Look up – way up. All that wall space affords many options and alternatives when it comes to storage, shelving, and wall units.
You may be too close to visualize the breadth of possibilities, or even know what options are available. For this reason, you’ll benefit from a design consultation from Organized Interiors.
One of our design consultants can analyze your space, to understand how it is that you live and what specific requirements are applicable to your family’s needs. You’ll be amazed with the design solution we come up with, and you’ll begin to see your surroundings in a more manageable way.
5 steps to creating an organized home environment
Edit: Pare back your belongings. Go through clothes that your children have out-grown, and items that you haven’t worn in years. Get rid of paper – magazines, newspapers, and outdated bills. When’s the last time that Johnny played with that train? Donate items to charity and recycle toys with other families. Be ruthless. If you don’t use it – get rid of it.
Space planning: The layout of a room should support its function, as well as have a natural flow. Reclaim space that isn’t being used to its full potential.
Proper lighting: This is so important to the function of any room or storage space. If you can’t adequately see the contents, then you’ll become frustrated in your search, and all that you’ve organized will be for naught.
Zone designation: If room permits, have designated areas for playing games, crafts or personal collections, and then have display cases made, and storage designed to accommodate specific items.
Comfort and compatibility: Ultimately, this is what you’re going for. You want your home to be comfortable and well-organized – a space that is tailor-made to its occupants and everyday living.
Update the outdated
Editing your belongings does not mean that your home has been decluttered. It’s how you organize what you have left that ultimately provides a feeling of living in a cohesive environment.
It could be as simple as using hooks, instead of hangers, for everyday outerwear, so that family members actually hang up their coats. And using the ‘right’ hangers for specific closets also helps to maintain order.
Depending upon the age of the house that you live in, closet space might be at a premium, and what little you do have doesn’t accommodate all that you own. What’s behind those closet and cabinet doors is what’s important.
Each grouping of items needs to be defined and accounted for. A simple shelf isn’t adequate. Instead, drawers, dividers, rods, shelving, and angled shoe shelves, as well as belt, tie, scarf and jewelry racks are just the tip of the iceberg. Once you’ve redesigned your closet space, and moved on to the laundry room, the office, and the mudroom, the need for order will become a condition of the household.
The possibilities are limitless in terms of how a space in your home can be reconfigured and re-adapted. Start anew with a fresh perspective on a better way of living.
Request a free design consultation
Organized Interiors can transform any living space to adapt to your specific requirements. If you are considering a closet makeover or a bigger-scale project in your home, contact Organized Interiors for a free design consultation today.
From concept to completion we can reconfigure your space for maximum efficiency.
Working from home is an acquired preference, and requires discipline.
Prior to COVID-19, many people would say that they would have chosen to keep their work and home life separate, going as far to admit that they’d miss the social interaction with their colleagues, meeting people for lunch, and actually having a reason to get up and get dressed every day – so that they could put their best foot forward. Going out to work provided structure to their day.
On the flip side, many people spent hours commuting, rarely made it home in time for dinner or to put their kids to bed, and were stressed to the max because they couldn’t find that work/life balance.
Europeans like to say that they work to live, while North Americans live to work – and that sentiment is true. Many countries have a minimum of four weeks of holidays per year when the average allotment in North America is only two weeks out of 52 per year. It’s crazy.
In 2017, France introduced a law that allowed workers the ‘right to disconnect’ from after-hour emails. In addition, 9.3 hours of their day is devoted to relaxation and leisure. We have it backwards. In the Netherlands, the average workweek is 30.3 hours, they have a generous parental leave policy and are one of the highest-ranking countries when it comes to an enjoyable work/life balance for their citizens.
Multi-tasking work and home life
For those of you who found yourself working from home (not by choice), along with other members of your household and school-aged children, the home priorities took on a different light. Scheduled meetings, client calls, class time, and deadlines were all vying for your time. The chaos of domestic life was ramped up, and you no longer just had to think about yourself when you walked out the door in the morning.
There’s no doubt that young families bared the brunt of this pandemonium, as two-income earners tried their best to manage their work hours and attend to their children. In one-parent families, multi-tasking took on a new meaning. Down-time was an unheard-of commodity, and everyone became everything to everybody.
If for no other reason than personal sanity, having a designated office is now a priority. We’re not talking about make-shift work stations or sharing space with someone else, we’re talking about an organized environment that has a door, along with associated rules and times when others can enter.
And, this work-from-home space has to address all of your wants and needs as it relates to your profession, along with the compulsory measures that are vital in order for you to perform at your best. Organized Interiors can tailor specific requirements, as it relates to surfaces, storage, and organizational solutions for maximum functionality and efficiency.
Working from home is a good thing
Ultimately, these enforced changes to your daily routine can be viewed in a positive light. Change can be difficult for many, but when you take a situation and weigh the pros and cons, it can often tip the scales to a favourable outcome.
Work from home pros
No need to commute
More free time
Reduced travel budget
Less wear and tear on vehicle
Reduced wardrobe budget
Save money on eating out
Flextime
Ability to do more with kids
More aware of household operations
More in-tuned with family members
Time to cook nutritious meals
Able to schedule regular outdoor breaks
Factor in time for exercise and meditation
You’re no longer a clock watcher
The family budget is enhanced
Live/work balance achieved
Work from home cons
Feeling of isolation
Difficulty getting motivated
Miss quiet time when driving
Find it hard to get outside
Don’t have a reason to dress up
Nine to five workdays with everyone else
Workday + commute = no time with kids
Relationships become strained
Less professional feedback
Life is unbalanced
Big businesses are making big decisions to have their employees work from home
The pros and cons apply to employers, as well. They have less overhead, in terms of costs related to office space, parking permits, expense accounts, etc. Some may choose to have employees interact in an office space on occasion, but with Zoom calls, email, phone calls, and texts, information is quickly shared, rather than have everyone drive, or fly, to a business meeting. Of course, there’s a domino effect to everything, and hoteliers, restaurateurs, and other socially-focused businesses will be feeling this reclusive pinch. We’ll find our way.
In the meantime, it’s time to focus on your personal office space. Not only have these changes affected how we work, but they also affect the way that we work. You don’t need a study to tell you that an organized workspace leads to better productivity. That’s common sense.
Rather than lugging your computer, workout gear, lunch, and files back and forth, and then sitting in a de-personalized cubicle, you can create a home office space that suits you to a ‘T’.
Important things to consider when setting up your new home office
Do not work in the same area that you sleep in
Carve out space that is yours alone, and has a door
Spend money on the design of your new office
Have cabinetry custom made to adequately meet your professional demands
Choose a damn good office chair and furniture
Select paint colours that boost your mood and productivity
Make the most of natural light and add plants
Consider your background for Zoom calls
Make friends and family aware of your business hours
Take regular breaks
Ensure that there is definition to your day so that timelines aren’t blurred
When you do a dictionary lookup of ‘cloffice’ on Meriam-Webster, the result is, “The word you’ve entered isn’t in the dictionary.”
Dictionary editors spend their time reading and looking for changes in language. They look at publications and sites (like this one) and identify vocabulary that has entered mainstream life – terms like bucket list, sexting, and unfriend. A word gets into the dictionary when it becomes commonly used by many people who all agree that it means the same thing.
Is cloffice the right word?
Cloffice? Offclo? Closeoff? Offset? Maybe we just call it what it is – a closet that has been transformed into a home office. Now everyone has to agree on the right term to get it into the dictionary.
A bit of closet history
The closet, itself, has underlying connotations and hasn’t always been viewed in the best possible light. The word has been around since the 17th century, and is derived from the Latin word ‘clausum’, which means ‘closed’. Closets were originally associated with an upper-class status and were often small rooms that were adjacent to the bedroom where people would spend their leisure time.
Back then, closets were seldom a consideration in the construction of homes for the lower class. Wardrobes and bureaus were used to store one’s possessions.
As housing styles changed and storage became a part of the design, closets were added, but only accommodated a limited number of garments. A single shelf that was placed above a rod for hanging might hold a precarious pile of sweaters and boxes that threatened to tip every time the door was opened. The floor was a dark, secret cave of abandoned shoes and misplaced items that had nowhere else to go.
So, maybe it’s time that the closet has regained a prominent position in the house – one that can also house a leisure-like getaway or a workspace.
Working from home out of necessity
Being aware of trends and demographics is imperative for designer Jane Lockhart. As she points out, condo dwellers were already moving to the suburbs in order to get more space, boomers were already moving out of the city or procuring a second residence, and 2.1 million Canadians were already working from home. “The pandemic was like throwing gas on a fire,” says Lockhart. “It accelerated these trends that were already underway.”
As of June 2020, Statistics Canada reported that 40 per cent of Canada’s workers are working from home. In 2018 it was less than 10 per cent. Everyone in the family were trying to eke out their space for office work and homework. Zoom calls were now a thing, and private areas were difficult to find.
While the general public is now used to seeing a presenter’s dog or toddler enter the screen while watching the news, there are times when you need to focus and get away from the surrounding chaos of the home environment.
10 great reasons for having a cloffice
Closets have doors, which can be closed – whether it’s bifold doors on a small closet or a more-substantial door on a large, walk-in closet.
Shutting the doors serves two purposes. It provides privacy and it also hides work that is in progress, so that you don’t have to tidy up every time that dinner is served or a visitor arrives.
While there are pantries, broom closets, and front hall closets, bedroom closets provide an extra layer of privacy.
Guest rooms were the first area to be repurposed as home office space. Without overnight visitors, it made sense to take over a room that could have more than one function.
The closet in the spare room is a natural alternative to work space, as it’s more likely to be unused.
At the end of a workday, you can literally turn it off. This is very important on a psychological level in order to define when you are working – and when you are not.
If working in the kitchen, noise is echoed off of tiled floors and walls. Carpets, drapery, and furniture help to deaden sound. If your office is in a closet, you have an increased sound barrier.
Closets make excellent Zoom rooms for those all-important meetings.
Consider hanging fabric, or rearranging props for a suitable, studio-like backdrop during Zoom calls.
You’re less likely to be disturbed if you’re not visible to the rest of the family.
Short term or long term cloffice?
Even if students are scheduled to go back to school, they are going to continue to excel if they have a dedicated study/work area at home.
Many people will not be returning to an office environment. Working from home is going to become the norm for a high percentage of the population. So, again, you’re going to want a space that is devoted to your particular requirements, with a suitable surface, drawers, shelves, and storage.
Each work/office space should be individually designed to suit personal needs and wants. No one works or learns the same. Some kids are visual learners, while others or auditory. Some of us are messy and need extra room, and some of us are uber-organized. The designers at Organized Interiors take all of these requests and desires into consideration when re-purposing a space.
Put your closet to work with a cloffice
Organized Interiors can transform any living space to adapt to your specific requirements. If you are considering a cloffice, contact us to schedule a free design consultation today.
From concept to completion, we can reconfigure your space for maximum efficiency.
We all know that condo living has its advantages and disadvantages and one of the latter can be having enough space.
Organized Interiors has been dealing with getting the most out of small and unusual spaces for more than 40 years now. Our custom design expertise really got a workout on this condo remodel in Toronto.
The project involved redesigning a few areas in this small condo space.
This closet makeover in a Toronto condo adds built-in drawer and shelving storage and attractive sliding glass doors.
4 condo remodel ideas we used for this project
The following condo remodel ideas were used for this project:
a custom built-in wardrobe was added
a small home office space was created
sliding doors were installed in multiple closets
three bedroom closets were given makeovers
Let’s walk through each step that was taken for the condo remodel and explain how we dealt with some of the design challenges that were encountered.
Custom condo wardrobe
A built-in custom wardrobe and home office space were part of this condo remodel project.
Because closet space is often at a premium in condos, adding a wardrobe is a smart way to increase your clothes storage space.
A new wardrobe closet was needed for the condo’s entrance area. The tall cabinet section in the photo above shows the wardrobe that we built, complete with lower drawers.
You can see that the wardrobe drawers and doors have no pulls visible, so you may be wondering how they are opened. Touch-latch hardware was used. By avoiding installing handles or knobs on the wardrobe’s front, the clean lines of the design are preserved. The doors and drawers simply need to be pressed lightly and they pop open.
We used LED strip lighting across the wardrobe top (facing the ceiling) to provide some ambient lighting for that corner, as the condo’s overhead light fixture in that area is a little further away.
On the immediate left of the wardrobe is the original entrance closet, which had sliding glass doors added. That closet is half-occupied by a stacked washer and dryer, with the remaining half being used for storing cleaning products and linens.
Home office space
Having a home office was useful even before the pandemic. Now a home office has become even more of an asset as working from home becomes the norm for many of us.
Along the adjacent wall to the wardrobe, we built a home office space. It includes a desk with upper drawers and larger file drawers down below, which both use the easy-open touch-latch hardware. An overhead cabinet with lift-up doors provides additional storage space.
As you can see, creating a useful office workspace at home doesn’t require much room. Having a dedicated part of the home you can use for work and studying helps you be more productive and avoid having to use areas like the dining room table to get work done.
The home office is situated between the condo’s entrance and an open kitchen. We used high-gloss white laminate for the custom cabinetry exteriors (including the wardrobe) to match the finish of the kitchen cabinets.
Sliding closet doors
The existing builder-grade sliding mirrored closet doors were replaced with our glass sliding doors. The left closet has a drawer tower and a short hanging rod and the right closet is designed for hanging wardrobe storage.
There were two narrow master bedroom closets on either side of the entrance to the en suite bathroom. All the condo closet doors were builder-grade sliding mirrored doors, which were replaced with our aluminum-framed white laminated glass sliding closet doors.
The challenge with adding doors to these two closets was that we wanted to increase the access to the closet interiors, without affecting access to the bathroom in between.
The solution: our top-hung bypass doors. Using the same door profiles and glass as our regular sliding doors, we used top-hung hardware to create a single large panel for each closet. Each door slides completely to the side in front of the bathroom door, to reveal the entire left or right closet.
The top-hang feature means that there is no floor track in front of the entrance to the bathroom, so you don’t have to step over it each time you enter and exit. If anyone is in the bathroom and someone else uses a closet and forgets to close its door, the doors have the same grip on the front and back so they can be opened and closed from either side.
Sliding doors aren’t just meant for closets in a condo. Using sliding doors as a room partition is ideal for enjoying an open space, while also giving you more privacy when needed.
Deep drawers, easy-to-access shelving, and two hanging rods maximize this small closet’s storage space.
There was another small reach-in closet in the second bedroom. Once again, we added our sliding closet doors, this time with a standard bottom track.
For the interior, we used the same type of design that the left-hand closet in the double master closet has. To maximize the small closet’s storage space and functionality, the drawers are built extra-deep. The shelves above them are shallower to make them more useful higher up. Short upper and lower hanging rods were added as well.
In both closets, the drawers are designed with scooped fronts to once again avoid handles. In this case, it was to ensure any handles did not interfere with the sliding doors.
Talk to us about your house or condo remodel needs
If you’re planning a house or condo remodel, talk to Organized Interiors about what we can do to transform your living space.
Whether it’s giving one of your closets a makeover or you’re considering a bigger scale project like this that involves multiple upgrades for your home, we can help.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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!
