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!