Storage Solutions
I would hazard to guess that we all have a lack of proper storage either everywhere in our homes, or just in some rooms. And likely, our kitchen is the main stressor. We use our kitchens everyday and not being able to find what we need can be frustrating and a waste of time. I’ve experienced this, have you?
After 20 years of helping my clients with decorating and designing their homes with a wide range of design dilemmas, storage has always been an issue to address. In kitchen cabinets, foyer closets, bedroom closets, incorporating storage into living rooms and other areas.
And in many cases, we might have the space to put our stuff, but is it organized and easy to access what we’re looking for at any given time?
Likely not.
Organizing interiors of cabinets can happen in two ways: Custom or Do-It-Yourself
Kitchen cabinets in particular can have interior organizing accessories installed at the factory when they’re manufactured, such as: corner swing-out shelves and double interior drawers. They’re impossible to install when the cabinets are already in your home. This would be a feature that you’d request when getting a custom-made kitchen.
CUSTOM:
A fly-moon corner pull-out shelf - LOVE! The height of the two shelves are adjustable and can each support a 20kg load.
Image courtesy of: @marathonhardware
I just moved from a house to a condo…boy did I get rid of a lot of stuff! And I’m still not finished. The first place to start with creating an organized storage solution is to determine…
WHAT YOU DON’T NEED ANYMORE
Pick one space, whether it’s a cupboard, a closet or in your vanity. Only tackle one space at a time and make it manageable. Ask yourself how much time do I realistically have to start and finish this space to make it organized? This is an important step because you want to feel success during the process. The best way to achieve this is to create realistic expectations for yourself. It can be overwhelming otherwise and based on my own experience, you might feel like it’ll never get completed if it’s too large of a task.
First determine, what items in the space you’ve selected have you not used in either six months, or a year? It’s up to you what length of time will be the basis on which to remove them from your space - either way, you can:
Recycle
> put in the Blue Recycling bin, or
>recycle by donating items to a charity or a second-hand store
>give away to another family or friends
Dispose
>some items might have run their course and it’s time to dispose them in the garbage
ORGANIZATION
Unless you have a custom-designed kitchen with interior cabinet accessories that organizes all your kitchen tools, lids, pots, etc...you’ll need alternative ways to organize things and that is Do-It-Yourself. here are some ideas:
STORAGE CONTAINER LIDS
We all have these plastic lids which seem to have a mind of their own when they’re not contained! They fall everywhere, get scattered in a cabinet and take up a lot of space. SOLUTION…
Buy a food container lid organizer…which is on my to-do list. They’re a lot of styles available, so first determine how many lids you have and what sizes. And don’t forget to measure the interior dimensions of your cabinet, Width x Depth x Height (W x D x H)
ORGANIZING RACK FOR PANS
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
DOUBLE THE SPACE
Shelves like these will double your storage space in an instant for a few dollars.
UNDER THE KITCHEN SINK
This space has got to be the smallest available storage space in the kitchen. There’s nev er enough for everything such as all that’s shown in this photo and a organics bin and a garbage and a blue recycling bin. In this case, two pull-out two-tiered racks were installed by screwing the organizers into the cabinet. What a difference it makes to be able to see what you have and to easily access everything.
More storage ideas will be added to our blog in the coming weeks…Next, closets…
