by Heidi | May 22, 2012 | Uncategorized
We are in the midst of a series of articles featuring tips and solutions for Organizing in Small Spaces.
When dwelling in a small space, it’s helpful to find strategic ways to set up your rooms to serve dual purposes.
A book case is a superb way to section off one large space into multiple activity areas/zones (with a bonus of additional storage):
- One Space / Three Purposes:
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| {1: living area of a personal friend of mine} |
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| {2 : computer/message area} |
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| {3: Play Area} |
- A shared sibling bedroom:
- Kitchen/Creative Work Space:
Create space for an office/creative space in any room with the help of …
~ a closet ~
~open shelving~
or,
Design rooms to serve you and your families individual needs:
- Formal Dining room turned Home Office:
Before:
After:
Need a hand creating dual purpose spaces in your home?
Read more from the Organizing Small Spaces Series:
- How to Create Space in Small Living Areas
- Maximize Storage with Shelving
- Designate a {Limited} Place for Everything
by Heidi | May 16, 2012 | Uncategorized
We’re in the midst of a series featuring tips and strategies for organizing small spaces.
Here’s what we’ve covered so far:
- How to Create Space in Small Living Areas
- Maximize Storage with Shelving
Today, let’s talk about finding a place for everything.
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| Quote by Benjamin Franklin; Wall Decal by Twismo |
When striving to achieve organization in any space, it’s important to find a place or ‘home’ for each and every item you own. If there is not a designated space for things to go, they’ll immediately turn into clutter. I’ve said before that clutter is magnetic. It just takes one or two ‘homeless’ items lying around, and more nearly always tends to gather there as well.
It is especially important to find ‘a place for everything’ when living in a small space, because items that are out of place are always ‘in your face.’ There’s just no hiding the visual clutter.
The first step is to truly accept and embrace the storage you actually have currently and then begin setting up visual boundaries in addition to a few limiting containers for your things to ‘live’.
Take a tour around your home
– Make note of where clutter regularly builds up and what items are the usual suspects of landing there. When your tour is finished, begin making action plans of where ‘homeless’ items could potentially live, rather than always landing in any random location.
Assigning specific places for things will save time you’re likely currently loosing while looking around for them. This will also grant you a general sense of peace, knowing important things will be there when you need and want them.
Never can find your keys, wallet and/or purse?
– Designate a specific place for them.
A simple solution could be as simple as a few cleverly mounted hooks:
…or in a decorative dish, sitting on a shelf near where you enter/exit the house:
Always poking around for where the various remote controls, cords or small electronic devices could be?
– Give them a specific place like a tray, bin, or basket:
Feel like you’re drowning in newspapers, magazines or books?
-Choose a limiting container, shelf or space for them to be stowed.
When it’s full, let some go before allowing any more in your home:
- Paper is a # 1 culprit for cluttering up counter tops.
- Toys and children’s belongings are also regular offenders in main living areas.
-Set up small ‘zones’ in specific areas of your home to house these things.
Then, only allow what will fit in that space to be stored there.
There has always been a designated place for a few toys to be stored in the main living areas of our home. Here’s a peek of the ‘toy zone’ in our living room:
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| {only toys that fit in this corner may ‘live’ in our living room} |
We currently live in a 2 story home. While most toys ‘live’ upstairs in bed rooms, I know my kiddos would much rather play where everyone else is on the main level. I’m fine with allowing a limited amount of toys to be in the living room/family room – as long as there is an ‘out of the way’ place for them to be put away between play sessions. Once these 3 baskets are full, the expectation is that some toys must be put away upstairs before new ones are stored here. (that big one is actually a bit fuller than I’d prefer – but that’s how it *really* looks during rest time today) 😉
We’re preparing to move to a new home in the next few months, and I’ve got a little something like this in mind to house ‘living room toys’ in an even more concealed manner:
I linked to a post from CentsationalGirl.com on the Operation Organization-MN Facebook page recently highlighting ideas on setting up a Home Office in a Small Space. Check it out!
Both paper and toy clutter will likely require minor daily maintenance to keep on top of, but again – this ‘defining the space’ is just a first step….
Living in a small space means you must be ever more diligent to ‘keep only what is truly useful and beautiful’ as well as what actually fits in the space you have available.
Though you may have a beautiful collection of shoes and/or purses, only keep what you can reasonably and adequately store within a designated {and limited} space. Consider an under-the-bed storage bin or an over-the-door organizer to hold extras that are not being used.
When these places/spaces are full, that is a visual boundary to remind you that you need to let go of some of these items before purchasing or collecting any more.
If you simply adore the hobby of scrap-booking, crafting, or preparing an artfully packaged gift, you have to be very aware about how much space you realistically have to stow the physical materials that all these activities require. Set up a limited space where they will belong as well as limiting containers that will fit comfortably into that space. Then, don’t purchase any more than will fit there:
A shared family bathroom can be quite difficult to keep tidy when considering all the items used by multiple people each end every day.
– I love this idea by a thrifty and clever homeschooling mom of four:
Assign a uniform sized personal care container for each family member to hold necessary bathroom gear. If there is not space for these containers within the bathroom (inside a cabinet, closet or constructed open shelving). A bathroom caddy could be created for each family member to keep in bedrooms and toted to the bathroom – just like life in the dorms:
It’s important to understand that just assigning things a ‘home’ does not automatically guarantee they’ll always be there (that’s whole other discipline to developing an organized lifestyle), but knowing you have a space and place for your things is certainly a step in the right direction.
Are there areas in your home or office that could use some designated storage planning ?
I’d love to come alongside you to help save time & money!
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Please do consider sharing with the social icons below…
by Heidi | May 7, 2012 | Uncategorized
We are in the midst of a series of articles featuring tips and solutions for Organizing in Small Spaces.
The introductory article highlighted a few simple ways to create more space in small living areas. One of those points included being on the lookout for shelving opportunities.
Shelving is one of the best ways you can make add a power punch of storage without forsaking much square footage for living. A few lucky home owners have lovely built-in wall storage, but with a little creativity, even a home with no built-ins can achieve the same look with bookcases or constructed shelving.
In the Living Room or Den:
Get brave and creative with furniture placement. Save those walls for some shelves!
- Line an entire wall with bookcases…
(1)
(2)
- Even a half wall of shelving offers a lot of storage…
(3)
(4)
Notice how in all the above images, at least a portion of furniture is in front of the bookcase?
- Shelves can be utilized to stow books & magazines, decorative items, media collections, special mementos, games, photos/photo albums, or even toys.
- Create the option of a visual barrier if you wish, by suspending a curtain from wall-to-wall.
(5)
(an IKEA DIGNITET Curtain wire would be a great solution to pull this look off)
In The Kitchen:
Lacking in cupboard and cabinet storage?
- Add some shelving to an open wall!
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
Added shelving in the kitchen doesn’t need to be all about function.
- Use shelving to showcase some of your favorite decor items along with commonly used kitchen items like cookbooks and cake stands to produce some instant eye appeal:
(10)
In the Bathroom:
Bathrooms are notorious spaces to be short on storage.
- Added shelving in otherwise wasted space near a toilet is a perfect option to stow towels, toiletry gear plus a few decorative items:
(11)
- There is often ample space above a toilet perfect for open shelving to house cosmetics and/or hair products.
(12)
- Over-the-door shelving is a perfect solution to house overstock products.
(13)
In the Laundry Room:
(14)
(15)
(16)
(17)
(18)
Need a hand in bringing more organization to your small space?
Image Sources:
(1) BHG.com (2) House and Home (3) Mini Manor via Remodelaholic.com (4) IHeart Organizing (5) ~from Domino magazine (discontinued), via Shelter (6) Flickr: ‘Marie’s Shots‘ (7 & 8) BHG.com (9) Molly Frey Design via Bella Vita (10) A Place For Us (11) The Order Obsessed (12) Small Moments (13) MarthaStewart.com (14) The Mongrel.com (15) HouseandHome.com (16&17) The Farm Chicks (18) Secrets of Getting Organized : {BHG special interest publication}
by Heidi | May 1, 2012 | Uncategorized
* This is the first of a series of articles dedicated to organizing solutions for small spaces *
Note from Heidi:
The following article was submitted by a guest blogger
Author’s Bio:
Living in a home that’s limited in size certainly creates unique organizational challenges. Rooms in a small living space can easily become cluttered if you’re not particularly careful about it. The key to avoiding clutter in a small home is to create as much usable space for your belongings as possible. Here are a few practical ways to make that happen:
Make Purging a Habit
The hard reality is, the less space you have at home, the fewerthings you’re able to keep & store.
Anytime you bring something new into your home, make efforts to get rid of something old. A helpful guide might be considering items that you haven’t used in the past four months and items you have no intention of using in the next four months.
Consider Furniture Size
Take a good look at all the furniture you have in your home. Could you replace your large sofa with a loveseat or switch out the queen bed in the guest room with a twin? The smaller your furniture is, the more space you’ll have to store other household items in an organized manner.
Look for Shelving Opportunities
Shelves are a great place to store photos, books, DVDs, and decorations. As an added bonus, shelves don’t use up any of your valuable floor space, as a cabinet would.
Assess Your Electronics
A flat screen TV that you mount to your living room wall takes up a lot less space than a TV that rests on a large entertainment center. Additionally, a laptop takes up a lot less room than a personal computer that must be stored on an immovable desk or workspace. So, when it’s time for an upgrade, make intentional space-saving purchases.
Putting forth some intentional effort to create more space in a small living area will go a long way to enable you to enjoy and appreciate your cozy home.
Have you successfully created an organized space with limited square footage?
Submit a few photos operationorganizationmn@gmail.com with a short explanation to be considered for a feature in an upcoming article!
Need some help strategically creating more space in your home?
by Heidi | Mar 29, 2012 | Uncategorized
The best way to tackle any seemingly HUGE project {like planning a party or special event} is to make attempts at breaking it down into smaller easy to manage individual tasks.
Begin with the end result in mind, then start listing tasks you’ll need to do in order to achieve that end goal.
Once you’ve listed each task, you can then begin prioritizing what needs to be done first, next, etc.
You can then create a timeline checklist to complete each task on it’s own thereby hopefully avoiding feeling overwhelmed by the over-all goal in the process. Instead, you’ll feel peace by being prepared and mostly likely won’t feel completely frazzled by the time the actual event finally takes place.
I designed a fun timeline checklist to utilize when planning annual parties for my two boys who both have May birthdays:
Happy Planning!
Perhaps you’re currently feeling completely overwhelmed by your clutter & mounting personal organizing goals?? Or, maybe there is a space or two in your home that simply needs a fresh set of objective eyes to to bring to its fullest organized potential?
Maybe having an organizing buddy, cheerleader and coach that could encourage you one-on-one would be just the solution you need to achieve the success you need and deserve – to allow you to live a more peaceful life you LOVE with more time and energy to fully and freely participate in activities and hobbies you enjoy!
Would you like to work with a Professional home organizer based near Atlanta, Georgia?
We currently serve clients in the surrounding metro area as well as Marietta, Kennesaw, Acworth, Peachtree City, Fayetteville, Newnan and expanding!
Contact Heidi to learn more about how to get organized with our professional organizer services. Operation Organization by Heidi provides customized organizing solutions to ‘cure’ your unique clutter challenge / condition.
Call: 770-847-0329 or Email: OperationOrganizationByHeidi@gmail.com to learn more.
