The first step in any home organizing project is to declutter. Don’t spend time and money arranging and storing items you neither need nor want. The next step is to find a place to store the things you’re keeping. Here are three of the best home organization ideas that work for almost everyone.
Multi-Functional Furniture
One of the best home organization ideas is to invest in multi-functional furniture. The days of grandma’s heavy, ugly, uncomfortable sofa bed are long gone. Today’s furniture is stylish and comfortable, with ample storage space. For example, ottomans can do triple duty as storage, coffee/side table and footrest. You can hide paperwork inside sleek, contemporary end tables and nightstands that double as filing cabinets.
Go Vertical
Living in a smaller home can make you feel constantly cluttered, so vertical storage is one of our best home organization ideas. Shelving units are a great way to maximize vertical storage space. I highly recommend IKEA’s IVAR shelving. It is completely customizable. You can buy whatever pieces you need (shelves, drawers, cupboards) and easily re-arrange the unit if you move it to a new room. They even have a planning tool to create your design online. Then it will add everything you need to your IKEA shopping cart. Because IVAR is made from solid wood, you can paint or stain it to suit any décor.
Use wall space to your advantage. Slatwall systems like Walltek are an excellent choice for storing items in garages, basements, and other storage areas in your home. Some people use slatwalls in entryways because their hooks are strong enough to hold backpacks, bicycles, and other sporting equipment. You can also add baskets to organize mittens, shoes, and other paraphernalia at the front door.
Other vertical organizers include pegboards. Most people think that pegboards belong in a tool shed or basement, but you can paint them and use them to organize utensils in a kitchen or toys in a playroom. For inspiration, check out IKEA’s Skådis “pegboard of your dreams” display that features a “smoothie station” organizer in a kitchen.
Compartmentalize
We need to create compartments to have a place for everything and put everything in its place. That means we need to divide a space to designate a specific spot for our items. We can use drawer separators to create sections for different cooking utensils. Sort and arrange office supplies, hardware, and other odds and ends in boxes with built-in dividers.
You don’t necessarily need boxes or bins to compartmentalize. For instance, partition a room by strategically placing furniture. Then designate one portion of the room as a toy-free area. In the kitchen, fill one set of cupboards with baking supplies or define one counter for breakfast preparation.
The important point is that by creating defined “compartments” for items, the members of your household will be able to return them to where they belong. This will make it fast and easy for you to find what you need when you need it – especially when you use labels!
Organizing your home can be fun if you use your imagination and a little creativity. But you are welcome to contact the Out of Chaos team if you want some hands-on help to implement our best home organization ideas. We look forward to working with you.
