Welcome, it is Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK and although the rain held off the weather has been pretty miserable so it could be the perfect time to carry out some of those oft put off tidying chores around the house.  So carrying on from my storage theme from last week when I blogged about home storage in the form of larger furniture pieces I thought I would tackle the matter of storage for all those smaller items around the home that somehow manage to mount up and can make our houses look cluttered and impractical   – keys and phones are just examples of items that could get misplaced under those piles of paperwork  adding to the daily stress of modern life.

I believe we need our storage to work doubly hard for us – to be pretty and stylish whilst still being practical.   For example in my house I use some clear glass vases to store my tea lights and a cut glass bowl houses some cutlery.  Here are a few examples:

 

Sometimes it can seem like an overwhelming task when we are busy but my best advice would be to break the tidying and storage down into small achievable chunks tackling a room at a time.  It’s amazing how many piles you can get through in the half hour whilst you are waiting for the dinner to cook!   I always feel such a sense of satisfaction once I have my possessions neat and tidy with everything in its place it is like a weight lifted from my shoulders – I guess I could be described as a tad obsessive about this but for me the adage of tidy space, tidy mind definitely applies and I feel much calmer and lighter.

If you are looking for some inspiration for attractive and practical storage I have added some samples below:

All images above from The Holding Company

Images above from Marks and Spencer

Images above from Next

The above examples can be filled with all manner of items and then stored in cupboards or on shelving and when interspersed with other ornaments, vases or photographs etc can make for an eye catching and pleasing display that will make for a harmonious living environment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The key to a well organized and efficient home has to be good storage.  This can encompass all manner of storage from defined wardrobe space through to a well placed trinket pot on the hall table to keep keys at hand.

A place for everything and everything in its place so the mantra goes x

We all know that modern life tends to be lived in a whirlwind breakneck pace with many different activities pulling us in all directions particularly if we have children.  But we can save precious moments throughout the day if our homes are well organized.  This has the added benefits of reducing the stress from hunting for those car keys to the de-cluttering of old items no longer used or broken.

What do we mean by good storage?  Well, we like our furniture to look good, be well made and functional and at a good price and we want it to work hard for us.  Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint the exact piece for a room and if this is the case it can be a good idea to have a carpenter make a bespoke piece for your room  This need not be as expensive as you may think.  In our lounge we had a cabinet and shelves fitted into an alcove beside the fireplace.  Some years later we called the carpenter back to make us a TV cabinet for the other side as we just could not find an off the shelf piece that we liked and it was no more expensive.

Let us work around the house starting with the hallway – this is often a problem area with a lot of through traffic, coats, shoes, wet dogs etc. It is a great idea to have a unit with some baskets that can contain anything from shoes, gloves, hats etc – if possible one for each member of the family so items don’t get mixed up.  Somewhere to hang coats whether it be a coat stand  or cupboard is essential to save for them all being piled over the banisters.  An excellent idea is to have drawers carved into the underneath of the stairs to take the strain.

I touched on the lounge above, they do have to be flexible spaces being the place where family go to relax, watch TV, maybe do homework, hobbies, play computer games etc.

Choose pieces that provide that storage but also where you can display a pleasing array of artifacts that you have collected together with photographs etc to make the space personal to you and your family.

Kitchens are notoriously hard to get right in terms of storage – the hardest working room in the house with a plethora of appliances and gadgets – not to mention space for food storage – it really deserves a blog post all of its own – but I think continual de-cluttering is key here particularly with out of date food stuffs that somehow get pushed to the back of the cupboards.  A mix of cupboards and shelves look modern; every day items such as plates and cups can be kept at hand and provide visual interest.  I would suggest that appliances for occasional use get placed in those high hard to reach cupboards if space allows or store in a understairs cupboard or garage.

 

Turning to the upstairs and with the bedroom in mind if you have the budget it is an opportunity to have some bespoke units which will fit into those awkward nooks and crannies. Alternatively chose a bedroom suite that can be flexible with a mix of plenty of hanging and drawer space and a dressing table area to display lotions and potions.  With this kind of furniture you can always add attractive storage boxes to sit on top of the wardrobes.

 

Bathrooms – storage in bathrooms can be flexible – re-purpose old shelves and cupboards to sit comfortably in the space to hold all manner of toiletries – again the humble wicker basket (my favourite kind of storage) will work wonders in this room.

Children’s bedrooms and playrooms are another area where toys and paraphernalia can run out of control.  There are a multitude of systems on the market but a cohesive collection of labelled  baskets/buckets or drawers is a good place to start.  Include some shelving so that they can display their favourite toys or works of art.  Encouraging children to be tidy and organized and setting a good example is a good way forward.

 

One area of a house that often gets overlooked is the garage – quite often the dumping ground for items broken or no longer wanted it can be a dark place.  The image below shows that with some organization it can be a space to be proud of with everything in place!

Of course as well as being practical storage needs to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye –

use a mix of textures – wicker is my favourite – but for storing smaller items a mix of bowls, vases, trays etc can be used.  One on-line store I have used is The Holding Company The holding company  who sell very versatile lines for everything from magazine to shoe storage.  Really though this is a sub-section of the above which I will come back to another time, but for now I hope that you have enjoyed my foray into storage around the home and hopefully have picked up a few tips!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week is the first in a mini-series I shall scatter throughout the next few months taken from one of the assignments for my course all about architecture throughout the last 5 centuries.  I am starting off with my favourite type of architecture from the Georgian period.

18TH CENTURY HOUSE

This large 18th Century town house is to be found on Queen Street in Whitehaven and is typical of houses in rows of terraces that were springing up all over the country during the 18th century.

By the early 18th century Europe was enjoying a period of relative peace and economic prosperity.  Manufacturing output fuelled by technological innovation made Britain the world’s first urbanised and industrialised society.  It was under this wealth of  circumstances that groups of houses aligned side by side in rows first emerged.  Later called terraces their appearance became synonymous with the four successive King Georges throughout the 18th Century.

However the architecture took influences from the late 17th century and spurred on by Inigo Jones and Palladianism, and the various European architectural books that were published the Georgian architects were producing buildings that followed these clean lines and symmetrically proportioned facades.  It was also the first time that properties were built ‘double pile‘ which instead of arranging rooms side by side around a courtyard, rooms were built one behind one another, two deep, with access via an internal corridor,  under a single roof.  These homes were more compact, allowing for more to be built in the upcoming urbanized cities. This also reduced the amount of walls and roofing and therefore the roofs were designed in a ‘hipped’ style; the four sides slope to the exterior walls of the building rather than creating gables at either end as a pitched roof does and was essential in spanning the deeper double-pile layout.  The neat rows of sash windows and regimented chimney stacks point towards a greater formality in outward appearance.

The windows were divided by thin, delicate wooden glazing bars.  The windows of a Georgian property were always symmetrical and a dominant, elegant feature, but there was a fine balance between ‘a house of glass and a heap of brick’.  The upper windows on many Georgian houses are smaller having only 6 panes as opposed to 12 on the lower floors. This was partly because these were usually only servants rooms, partially housed in the roof but also, from the street level, it has the perspective of actually making the building look taller. Front doors were usually solid and painted in dark colours.  Most usually they were paneled (imitating panelling that was often found internally on walls) with brass wear centrally placed.  Rows of terraces were mostly built of brick and were often rendered and had painted exteriors in an array of colours.  Some terraces, in Brighton for instance, were stuccoed with a white facade, whilst others in East London for example, showed the original brick facade.  However the infamous  Royal Crescent in Bath was built in stone.

This house has a large central classical style doorway. It was quite usual to see steps leading up to the front door with a pedimented porch which would be composed of supporting turned posts or columns which support the architrave; the beam that rests horizontally across the top of the posts or columns.  It could be said that Form not Function was the chief concern of the 18th Century architects and the Georgian period is said to have produced Classical architecture.

Servants rooms were often found in the attic or otherwise sharing the basement but these were often dark, damp places usually noted for storing food and cooking.  In an effort to allow natural light into the lower levels of the building the terrace was set back from the street set back behind neat rows of iron railings.  Access to the ground floor was by a series of steps. It stems from Palladianism that the most beautiful features of a building should be placed most in view; and those of a plainer kind should be concealed from sight as much as possible.

This house has proportion and scale in varying degrees.  The pitch of the roof is small in relation to the height of the building.  The top windows are again small in scale to the other windows which are all of equal size.  Due to the number of windows this is where the emphasis of this property lies and gives it rhythm and repetition and a harmonious feel.  The front door stands out with its large columns particularly with the door being painted in a contrasting colour.  For me this is my favourite period of architecture which I find very pleasing to the eye.

I have added below lots of lovely pictures from the era, including exterior and interior shots:

Images via Google Images