Ok, time for a few more tips for getting your clutter under control.  There’s just no way around it – you can’t make it pretty if you can’t get ahold of the clutter.   So, pretty containers help!  HomeGoods carries pretty fabric-covered containers that match many decor styles.

Have a cubby or basket assigned to each of your children (and/or your husband!).  Throw anything lying around into the right cubby and, when it’s full, require the owner to clean it out.  This may not be easy to enforce at first, but it may help to assign a certain time of day to put things away – like before dinner or television time.

Keep a donation hamper in your closet or laundry room.  Whenever you go to try something on that doesn’t fit right, toss it in the hamper.  Once a week, look through your hangers and see if there’s something you haven’t worn this season.  Keep adding items until the hamper is full – then take it to Goodwill or some other charity.

Buy storage bins and baskets in mass from the Dollar Tree.  Make sure they are the sizes you need, and buy them in the same colors to match your decor.  Label them and store them in a bookcase or on shelves to keep things organized and easy-to-find.

I always have a pretty journal nearby or in my purse.  I use it to jot down notes, lists, etc.  Every week or so, I rip out the pages I don’t need anymore (like grocery lists I’ve already used).  When the journal is full, I transfer any information I need to keep and start with a fresh, new journal.

Your nightstand should be a clutter-free zone.  I keep a few things in a small drawer – my glasses, chap stick, a nail file, television remote, and antacids.  My tabletop holds only a pretty stack of books under a lamp and a coaster for a glass of water.  I keep a pretty basket underneath for books and magazines – and maybe a pair of socks.

Streamline your cleaning products to the basics:  window cleaner, all-purpose cleaner with bleach, wood polish, abrasive cleaner, and floor cleaner.  Keep them in a clear tub under the kitchen or bathroom sink along with a dust mitt or lint-free cloth, an abrasive brush, and a roll of paper towels.   You’ll know exactly where to find cleaning supplies, and you can simply carry the tub around the house while doing chores.

Photo Credits:  India Rose, Woman’s Day, Land of Nod, Good Housekeeping, Quilting Gallery, Decor8, Kristie Barnett.

Good Monday to you!  Are you ready to see some stylish storage?  Get ready to be inspired to organize!  How do you like this fancy little cabinet?  It’s a simple generic set of drawers that’s been dressed up with a fancy stencil.  Very clever.

This is a little vintage side table that’s been painted cream and outfitted as a hanging file folder on rolling casters.

Paint a wooden shutter a happy color and mount it to a wall as a mail sorter.

Saucers and teacups make lovely containers for jewelry.  If you are like me,  it is much easier to keep things organized when they look pretty!

Create a his-and-hers office by pushing 2 identical desks together in the middle of a room.  Have a piece of tinted plexiglass cut and slide between the two desks to create a message board.

Simple wooden boxes or old dresser drawers can slide easily under your bed for storage with the addition of casters.

I love this inventive recipe box.  Cigar boxes have such interesting graphics – just add an interesting drawer pull and stack a few on a shelf in the kitchen for easy access.

Save your old paint cans – a little wallpaper or scrapbook paper adds personality and pizazz to storage of pencils, markers, and other office supplies.

Install a peg board and slap some chalkboard paint on the inside of a kitchen cabinet to make a message center that closes to reduce visual clutter.

Need more room in your closet?  Try hanging pegboards on the wall.  Add a few hooks where you can hang belts, purses, scarves, etc.  Squeeze as much storage out of a small space as you can.

Create mudroom storage with a simple bench, a few mounted knobs and hooks, and a shelf.  A galvanized tray holds shoes beneath the bench, while a galvanized pail holds shoes and boots.

Photo credits:  Martha Stewart , Blueprint, and BHG

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Create an office space by plopping a desk right in front of a bookcase.  Keeping colors consistent keeps visual clutter to a minimum.

I remember first seeing this picture a few years ago.  This is genius – two bookcases hinged and set in an l-shape.  Instant office or craft station that folds up to cover the clutter when not in use.  But frankly, why would you close something this pretty?

This media cabinet was created with a bunch of modular cubes.  Simply stack and create a shape that suits your needs, screw together, add some feet.  Oh, and paint to coordinate with your decor.

An old step ladder is outfitted with old iron grates to create a lovely handmade bookcase.

Need to store some ugliness in your bookcase?  Why not put some canvas shades over the messy areas?  Cut canvas to fit, leaving enough room to hem three edges and leave a 1-inch rod pocket.  Thread rod pocket with short tension rod and insert.  Messy covered!

Use lots of pretty colored boxes.  Stack them up, use them as bookends, use their color to create a pleasing scheme.  Make sure you label them so that you can quickly find what you’ve stored in them.

Stay tuned for more pretty ways to keep your spaces organized!

 Photo Credits:  BHG (1st, 2nd, and 5th), Martha Stewart (3rd and 4th),  James Baigrie (6th),  Real Simple (7th).

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Just to give you a bit of a preview, I plan to talk a lot about organizing and editing our possessions in January.   This blog is a little over 5 months old now, and I am still learning how to make it both fun and educational for all of you.  I covet your feedback – please let me know what kind of articles you enjoy most and which Categories appeal to you, as well as what I might do differently or include in this blog.   Would you like more photos, how-to information, before and afters, ideas for entertaining, home tours, decor resources?  I really want to know what you think!

You gotta live in your WHOLE house.  There’s nothing sadder than a lonely room.  Spending time in each room in your house on a regular basis can generate a more balanced life.  I find many people spend most their time in one or two rooms of their house.  Most people use their dining rooms a few times a year, at best.  If you have the rooms, it’s such a shame for them to go to waste!

Please excuse me, but I can’t completely separate myself from my past as a psychologist:   Each room should serve a practical AND emotional function.  It will serve you well to heal those disconnects, establish new practices, create new routines, and benefit from the proper utilization of your space.  The effort creates a more balanced, satisfying life.  Doesn’t it kinda make you feel guilty not to use that one (or more) certain room(s) in your home?  Start tonight and actually serve dinner in your dining room.   

Rethink every space.  By rethinking how you use each space in your home, you can create a house that functions better – it is more efficient, more beautiful and more spacious – and yet is often surprisingly smaller than you thought you needed.

Rather than moving or adding on, you can redistribute furnishings and functions to make the same amount of space accommodate many more activities. The trick is to forget everything you think you know about how each space in the house is supposed to be.  Why not put a small sofa or comfy armchair in the kitchen?   Now maybe your husband will hang out and talk with you as you make dinner! 

We can make each space take on more functions and actually work better in the process by listing the activities, furniture, or articles to be accommodated and tailoring the available space to those particular needs.  It’s been popular trend to build or add on a new room for every new activity, like media room or exercise room.  A house will feel more integrated and hospitable to its residents if there’s more interaction between activity areas.

Don’t use the dining room much?  Make it do double duty as a library or office.  Has the rec room turned into just a wreck?  Clear it out and create “stations” for your family -  a table and chairs for a homework area, a game table with a bookcase behind it full of games,  a tv and bean bags just for video gaming (and don’t let video games in other rooms of the house!). 

Have a guest room and never have guests?  Shove the bed against the wall, create a daybed for seating, and make it into an “away room” for reading, sewing, or  working on hobbies.   Do you really need a “formal”  living room?  Do you spend any time in there at all?  Then make it into something that works for you – maybe a music room where all your musical instruments have a true home?  Below is an example of a “before and after” where I did just that:

Before:

After:

Clear it out.  There’s still time for a yard sale before winter rolls around.  Or just call one of the many good charities that would be happy to pick up your stuff – Goodwill, Salvation Army, AmVets, etc.  Once you get rid of the things that are weighing you down, it’s time to clean it up.  Keep it clean – come up with a plan that includes all family members taking responsibility of the house.   If a room is messy, you will simply avoid it.  I never want to hang out or use any room that is overcome with clutter or feels dirty, do you?  

Make organization part of your lifestyle.  You can create the lifestyle you want with the way you live in your home.  Just because you have children, does not mean you can’t have a “designed” home – in fact, having children necessitates some design or else your house will quickly turn into a messy, disorganized toy depository.  “A place for everything and everything in its place” is a great mantra.  Determine a home base for all belongings and add storage containers wherever clutter gathers.  Everything needs a home, even if the home is in the trash!

Teach your children how to clean their rooms and be responsible for their own things.  We have a basket at the bottom of our stairs.  Our kids know that when we ask them to clean up, anything that belongs to them goes in that basket.  Then hopefully, the next time they go up the stairs it goes up to their rooms with them.  We’ve taught them where to put away everything and make sure those places of storage are accessible to them.  I recently had my husband drop the closet bar in my younger child’s closet so that she can independently hang up and get down her own clothes – no more excuses that she’s too short!

Set Boundaries.  Because boundaries involve making rules, many have as hard a time setting them in rooms as they do setting them in relationships.  Harmony and balance require parameters and to be maintained, just as keeping your home life supportive and stress-free doesn’t happen magically. Moms – if you don’t teach your kids that their rights are limited when it comes to your or anyone’s personal space, property, or rights, then you are creating little bullies.  You deserve sanctuary in your home even if you have children.  Don’t be afraid of making rules that insure that. 

Here are some examples:  no toys or playing in parents’ bedroom, no jumping on the living room couch, don’t play in daddy’s office, do not open the bathroom door without knocking, etc.  Children need boundaries as much as parents do!  Playing with your kids is important, but there’s a time and there’s a place – not all the time and not in every space.    You have a responsibility to yourself as well as to them to teach them how to understand and respect these boundaries.

In these trying times, it’s wise to spend some time and effort in making our homes more functional, peaceful, and just well-used.  Today’s the first day of the rest of your homelife, so get to it!

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