29 September, 2010

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Managing Laundry in a Small Space

Do you have the tiniest laundry room you could imagine? Many homes are built with no laundry room, a tiny laundry area in the hallway behind accordion doors, or they simply have a washer and dryer hook-up in the garage. They really aren’t concerned with giving you much to work with, are they? Well, it is what it is, so you might as well learn to make the most of it. Here we’ve compiled some tips for giving your laundry area a makeover that will help you to stay organized and efficient.

1) Most laundry rooms have either nothing on the wall above the washer and dryer or one long skinny shelf. That shelf is only good for storing your iron and laundry detergent. It doesn’t help you with much else! If you think about it, there is actually a good amount of square footage on that wall. Making better use of the space should be your first priority. You can purchase cabinets at a hardware or home improvement store for very little money. Or, consider getting used cabinets and refinish them yourself. If you buy new, going for unfinished can save you money. Paint, stain, and varnish the cabinets yourself. Don’t forget about the side walls of the laundry area. Don’t limit yourself to the back wall! Put the cabinets up high to make more space beneath them. You can usually slide a little step ladder to the side of the washer or dryer if you need to get up there.

2) One of the most popular laundry room additions is that little rolling cart that fits neatly between your washer and dryer. These slim carts are great for holding your detergents, fabric softeners, stain removers, and ironing supplies. They are close at hand, easy to access, and free up storage space in your cabinets above. Another option is to build a wood platform around 12” high for your washer and dryer. Cover the platform with industrial rubber foam to quiet your washer and dryer. You can build drawers to go inside the platform, providing you with extra storage beneath.

3) Think about what you don’t like about your current laundry room. Do you have somewhere to toss lint? Do you have somewhere for change and other items found in pockets to go? Hang a little shelf or place a container in the cabinet for these things. You don’t want them to end up sitting on top of the dryer, creating more work for you later. Another great thing to do is to install an ironing board on the wall. It stays completely out of the way and is right there when you need it. Some people even keep a long board beside the washer and pull it out when they’re ready to fold clothes.

4) Another really helpful thing to have is a hanging bar. Hang a long one underneath your cabinets. Use special space saving hangers, like velvet hangers, to give yourself plenty of room to hang clothes for drying or storing until you can get them put away. Finger clips and cascading hooks make it easy to make room and transport clothes to their respective closets when you’re done.

About the Author: Rick Miller is on the staff of Only Slimline Hangers, a leading online resource for velvet hangers which are space saving hangers, non slip hangers and slim line hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyslimlinehangers.com.

20 September, 2010

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Apartment Closet Solutions

One of the biggest complaints we hear about apartments is concerning the lack of closet space available. You’re probably already living in a space that is too small for what you own, so a tiny closet can be very frustrating to the apartment dweller. If you’re feeling like your closet is more closely related to a middle school locker than a real closet, use these tips to make the most of a tiny space and get your life organized.

Tiny closets call for great efficiency. It can get out of hand in a hurry if you don’t have extra room. Start organizing from the bottom up. Consider a short dresser or an individual drawer. The type that is designed to go underneath a bed is extra wide and deep. These can be used on the floor for shoes, sheets, shirts, socks and underwear, whatever you need to keep down there.

You can place a shelf on top of this shallow drawer and use it like your new closet floor. Here you can put your shoes, laundry basket, sports equipment, whatever you can’t hang. You can also put a couple of shelves here and use cubby style containers to hold and organize all sorts of things. Baskets are great for organizing jewelry, socks, belts, underwear, and even things like your video camera, DVDs, video games and more. Keep things separated in different containers so that it’s easy to stay organized.

Now we move on to your hanging clothes. Don’t think that you have to keep your hanging bar exactly where it is. Many times, you can move it up a little and create more usable space down below. Look up towards the ceiling and see just how much space is actually wasted. Don’t worry about that top shelf being moved up high, you are only going to use it for storing things long-term. Here you can keep your out of season clothes, luggage, blankets, and other items that you don’t need very often.

When the shelf is up high, see if you have empty space extending from the shelf to the front wall of the closet. You can install a small shelf here, extending the top shelf all the way around, even in a tiny closet. You may even be able to continue placing shelves down those front corners of the closet, making space for folded shirts, shorts and jeans.

Now, it’s time to hang your clothes. You may have more clothes than you think could ever possibly fit into your small closet. However, you may not have thought about how space saving hangers work. They are standard sized hangers, but they slope more at the shoulder so that you don’t pucker your clothes. These hangers fit closely together, but the body is wide enough that they don’t get tangled. The best space saving hangers on the market are velvet hangers. They have removable clips that allow you to hang tops and bottoms on one hanger. Better yet, they have cascading hooks, so you can coordinate outfits or hang more than one outfit in one space. These hangers are really versatile and can double or triple the amount of clothing that you can hang in your closet.

8 September, 2010

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Making Room for Your Winter Wardrobe

Don’t you just hate it when you get your closet perfectly organized in the summer only to find out that your winter clothes don’t fit so well? It’s a mistake that many people make. They’ll get an expensive closet system or spend a lot of time making their closet perfect, forgetting that the next season of clothing also needs to fit. Winter clothes bring with them bulky coats, boots, and also a lot of little things, like gloves, scarves and hats. Use these tips so that you don’t have to start from scratch. Making room in your existing closet for your winter wardrobe may be a lot easier than you ever expected!’

1) Get out the summer clothes and store them away for next year. Go ahead and toss things that you didn’t wear or that didn’t fit right into a bag or box to give away to charity. This could also be the perfect time to clear out the clutter and have a yard sale to make a little money that can be put towards perfecting your closet for winter.

2) It’s important to clean your closet now that it is empty. Most people don’t take the time to dust shelves, baseboards and light fixtures when there are clothes in the closet. Vacuum the floor, dust and wipe down everything so that you don’t end up with dust balls or microscopic insect eggs on your winter clothing. This could be a good time for a fresh coat of paint or you may even want to go ahead and install that cedar closet liner that you’ve been dreaming of.

3) Now you can determine what kind of space you’ll need for you winter clothes. You’ll definitely need some hanging space for coats and some shelf or drawer space for heavy sweaters. You can make space by moving your top shelf up closer to the ceiling and adding an extra hanging bar down below. You can use the higher shelf for storing your summer clothes, luggage, ski equipment, or other things that you won’t need every day.

4) Hang your pants on one bar and your tops on the other. You may want to put an extra bar on one side of your closet for hanging longer coats and dresses that you don’t want to wrinkle. Use pants hangers for your pants. Some have non-slip bars or non-creasing clamps. If you use clips, use ones that won’t rust, snag, or imprint your pants while they hang. Use coat hangers for your heavy coats. Make sure that these are curved to help your coats keep their shape. Wider shoulders that slope down won’t pucker shoulders or wrinkle sleeves. You can buy petite hangers or extra large hangers for clothes that don’t fit perfectly on regular clothes hangers. Use specialty hangers that hold scarves, hats, and gloves to perfectly store those small winter items without forcing you to install extra shelves or drawers.

5) For the rest of your clothes, you can use space saving hangers, like velvet hangers, to make the most of the space. Space saving hangers are designed to fit flat against one another, using as little space as wire hangers. However, these hangers won’t cross up on the bar, rust, snag clothing, or bend, causing your clothes to end up on the floor. These have a non-slip velvet coating to hold clothes securely in place. The bottom bar is perfect for hanging pants or attaching movable clips for securing straps. You can coordinate outfits by hanging pants and shirts on the same hanger, or even add a hook to hang multiple items in the space of one hanger. Tricks like this can help you to double or even triple the space in your closet, making room for those winter clothes after all.

30 August, 2010

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Saving Space by Simply Changing Hangers

Innovating designs, scientific breakthroughs, and years of perfecting the hanger design has led us to this point. We now can easily double or triple the space in our closets, simply by switching out those old plastic and wire hangers for the new space saving designs that are offered today.

Not only to the new space saving hangers save space, but they also prevent slippage. Are you tired of your delicate and slinky fabrics ending up on the floor? The new designs have a velvet surface that grips clothing without damaging it. No more junky metal clips that snag, imprint, and tear clothing. The clips that go with these velvet hangers are also covered in velvet. They offer a firm grip that is gentle on even the most delicate of fabrics.

So, you’re probably wondering how a hanger can double or triple the space in your closet. The first way that they save space is by design. The design is flat so that each one can tightly fit next to the other, without that annoying overlap at the hook. They may be slim, but the curves and construction keep this one stronger than ever. They’re virtually indestructible and can last you for many, many years.

The next way that they save space is by offering multiple ways to hang clothing. The clips are removable, so you can add them or leave them off whenever you want. You can coordinate outfits by hanging the pants or skirt on the same hanger as the shirt and jacket. The curved shoulders will keep from stretching the necks of your shirts while supporting the shoulders of your coats and jackets. The designers thought of everything here, including enough of a curve to prevent puckering and stretching at the shoulder, unlike most hangers on the market.

The last way that these space saving hangers help you to save room in your closet is by cascading. You can add very inexpensive cascading hooks to your order and turn your closet into a dream. You can hang shirts, pants, skirts, jackets and more, from multiple velvet hangers, simply by adding a hook around the neck. You can even hang multiple hangers from one or more hooks to take advantage of the vertical space in your closet that often goes unused.

You’ll love the space that you save, as well as the multitude of colors and designs that you have to choose from when you stock your closet.

18 August, 2010

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How to Clutter Proof your Closet

Clutter can quickly become a problem. It tends to grow, even in areas where there wasn’t space for it to begin with. The worst place for clutter in general, is your closet. Most people end up using their closet as a “catch-all” for things that don’t have a place to go. It’s easy to do a quick clean of your home or apartment and stash things out of sight in the closet. Unfortunately, this is just a temporary fix.

We need our closets to keep our clothing free from damage. We need to stay at least a little organized, or we’ll never make it through our day. The closet is often the first thing that you deal with in the morning when you get up. You’re just trying to get to work on time and you need to be able to quickly and easily find what you need. If the closet is cramped and cluttered, it can put you in a bad mood for the entire day.

You may think that your closet is too small, but even in a small closet, improvements can be made. Most people don’t realize that it’s not the small closet that is the problem, but the lack of efficiency that is to blame. Use these tips to make sure you’re using the space that you have wisely.

Take everything out and start to inventory what you have. You may have a lot of things crammed in there that you don’t really need anymore. Maybe some things can be given away to charity. Get rid of shoes that don’t fit right, are damaged, or have gone out of style. If you haven’t worn something in a year, get it out of there. Thin out what you own and then you can start to thin out what you allow to go into your closet.

The first rule of organizing is to categorize. If something doesn’t have a category, then you need to find one for it. Don’t allow yourself to keep a “miscellaneous” pile, box, or drawer in your home. That is pretty much the definition of clutter. Try hard to categorize so that you can easily keep things where they go.

After getting everything separated, you can assess the space situation. There is often wasted space in the front corners of the closet and at the top of the closet. Don’t be afraid to store long-term things up near the ceiling. Is there room for shelves on either side of the closet? You can put more in there than you think. If a good organizer still doesn’t give you enough room, consider space saving hangers, like velvet hangers, to get the job done. These can cascade from each other and hold specialty clothing so that you can save up to three times the space in your closet.

6 August, 2010

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Essential Apartment Organization Tips

Living in a small place has its advantages, but it does take a certain level of manageability to make it work. Keeping organized can be challenging for anyone. If you live in a small apartment, it is essential. Use these tips to find ways to keep your apartment organized so that you can enjoy the benefits of a small space without feeling like the walls are closing in.

First, find the clutter. Even if you’re surrounded by it, chances are there are some areas that are harder to control than others. Most people end up creating clutter by putting their things down when they come in the door. If you don’t have a good plan, your keys, wallet, cell phone, laptop, backpack, mail, and other daily use items can end up in a heap.

Digging through heaps of things is not the way to start out your day. The stress that comes from living in clutter can be a very real health hazard. Starting off your organization process with the front area of your apartment will get you off on the right foot. Use an end table, a trunk, a locker style organization shelf, or whatever you can think of to hold your daily use items. Use hooks for bags, cubbies for shoes, a wall mount hanging bar for coats, and a small table for charging phones while organizing wallets and keys. Make sure that you make a place for other things that commonly pile up, like mail.

If you’re lucky, you have a coat closet in your apartment. This can be a great place, not only to hang coats and stow shoes, but also to hold shelves, bins, buckets, and other small items. Things like scarves, hats and gloves can get scattered if they have nowhere to go. Use door organizers to keep these things organized and out of sight.

Now that the living area is organized, spend some time on your bedroom. The bedroom closet can be extremely useful, even if it leaves something to be desired. Creating space for bulky storage items may seem like an impossibility. However, you can make the most of the space that you have by using space saving hangers, like velvet hangers.

Velvet hangers are flat and hang close together, much like wire hangers. But, they are much sturdier and won’t bend under the weight of the clothes. The velvet coating keeps clothes from slipping off while the curvature of the hanger is perfectly shaped for specific sizes and types of clothing. Cascading hooks and specialty styles can help you keep your closet organized while revealing more space than you may have imagined.

26 July, 2010

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Organization Ideas for Small Spaces

It’s hard to keep a small room or small apartment organized. Things can get piled up and it gets hard to find what you need when you need it. Use these tips to help keep a small space organized. You’ll have a clean space that will help your small place seem bigger and more orderly.

1) First determine what you need to clean. There are usually “hot spots” around small homes that collect junk. Tackle one area at a time. Use the counters, beds, dressers, or coffee table to start organizing. Take everything from the pile and divide it into categories.

2) Create a pile for each category so that you can get an idea of what types of organizational products you might need. You don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money to get organized. For storage, you can use old shoe boxes, plastic zipper bags, things of that nature. Avoid making a miscellaneous pile. This is what generally gets us into clutter mode to begin with. Make sure that similar items are kept together so that you can find what you need when you need it.

3) You may want to install some shelves in a closet or in the corner of the room. Shelves give you a space to put boxes, bins and other containers that are storing your belongings. Label boxes so that you can easily locate things when you need them. As a general rule, store things that you don’t need very often up higher or down lower than everything else. Place things that you use more often at about eye level so that you can have quick and easy access to them.

4) Get creative with storage space. There are lots of furniture pieces on the market that are designed to save space in small apartments or homes. Couches have armrests that open up to reveal cup holders, storage for remote controls, magazines, and more. Coffee tables have tops that open up to reveal storage. Even ottomans can open up and provide storage for blankets or anything else that you need them to. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, check thrift stores and used furniture places for trunks and other things that can serve as storage or tables.

5) You can make more space in your closets than you realize by utilizing space saving hangers, like velvet hangers. These hangers are all the rage because they allow you to double or even triple the space in your closet. The slim design helps clothes to fit closely together. The finger clips and cascading hooks allow you to coordinate outfits. The possibilities are endless. You just have to use your imagination.

20 July, 2010

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Five Tips for Saving Closet Space

Everyone’s closet becomes cluttered sooner or later. New things come in and we seldom take the time to get rid of our old belongings. Your closet can be one of your home’s greatest assets if you are able to manage the space well. Creating functional space isn’t really all that difficult, but it does take a certain amount of creativity and a determined mindset to make it happen. Use these tips to help you turn even the smallest of closets into one of your greatest and most useful areas.

1) Clear out as much of your old stuff as possible. If something doesn’t fit quite right, get rid of it. If you have shoes that hurt, are scuffed, or simply don’t match anything that you have, give them away. Making charitable donations is a great way to help your community and get some extra deductions on your taxes. If possible, have a yard sale or list your better items on an auction site. Use the extra money to upgrade your closet so that it can stay more organized in the future.

2) Come up with a wardrobe rotation system. If you have a closet that is on the smaller side, you may not be able to store your summer and winter clothing in there. Try to find space under the bed, in an armoire, or in the garage for clothing that you don’t use year-round. Be sure to use cedar accessories in your storage bins to avoid musty odors and to repel pests. If you prefer to keep your clothing hanging, invest a little in a rolling garment rack with a zip-up cover to keep your hanging clothes nice and neat while they’re in storage.

3) Space is at a premium, so use it wisely. If t-shirts take up more space hanging than they do stacked on a shelf, use the shelf. If pants stay better organized on pants hangers than stuffed in a drawer, designate one area just for pants. Designate areas, bins, containers, drawers or shelves for pajamas, socks, swimwear, and other small items that you may not want to hang. A simple cubby system down one side of your closet may be enough. Or, consider putting one on each side of the closet, leaving the hanging space in the center free for hanging clothes.

4) Find storage space wherever you can. Is the area on the back of the closet door being used? What about above the closet door? Near the ceiling? There is often space in the closet that we haven’t considered using before that is perfect for storing things that we don’t use every day. Consider placing some small shelves and racks around those spaces for things like hats and luggage that don’t get used very often.

5) Choosing the right clothes hangers can make a huge difference in the space that you use and how organized you are able to keep the closet. Space saving hangers, like velvet hangers, prevent clothes from slipping, puckering at the shoulders, or becoming tangled up on the bar. They are slim enough to fit closely together. You can also get cascading hangers that allow you to hang multiple pairs of pants on one hanger or coordinate outfits to save time and space.

10 July, 2010

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Affordable Space Saving for the Bedroom

Your bedroom is the most likely place in your home to become cluttered. It generally stays out of sight, so you’re most likely to save it for last when you clean. Plus, you do a lot of your living in there. You don’t just sleep, but you put away laundry, accumulate dirty clothes, and store things that you don’t want in the way. Most people have to store bulk storage items, like their out-of-season clothing, in along with other miscellaneous things from around the house. When it’s all said and done, we keep a lot more junk in our bedrooms than any other room in the house.

Make sure that your furniture is functional as storage areas. Furniture in the bedroom can make it look nice and finished out. However, if it doesn’t work for you, it can end up being a place to stack things. You can raise your bed with risers to create more storage underneath. Use a dust ruffle to cover what you have stored under there. Drawers on casters, flat plastic containers, and even shoe organizers are great things to put underneath the bed.

Your dressers may have plenty of drawers to store some of your extra items. However, if you keep all of your clothes in them, then they may not be serving you as well as they could. Arranging your closet so that it can accommodate your clothes will allow you to clear out most of your dresser drawers for storage. Now, you may be wondering why you should swap out using your dressers for clothes and your closet for storage, so I’ll tell you why.

Dresser drawers can be useful for storing clothes, but generally only for a couple of layers. You can’t see what you have when you get to those deeper drawers, so you end up unfolding the stack or not finding what you’re looking for. Drawers, especially deeper ones, can be great places to store items that you don’t have to get to very often.

If you use your closet for clothes, then you can more easily see what you have. You can use clear bins for smaller things and hang your everyday clothes. Using space saving hangers, like velvet hangers, will allow you to fit your clothing closely together without wrinkling them or having them slip off onto the floor.

Using closet and hanger accessories that are made to save space in your closet can help you to maximize the space, even if you don’t think you have enough room. Cascading hooks, specialty hangers, and hanging shelves are all very inexpensive ways of doubling or tripling the space in your closet. Using velvet hangers will help you ensure that your closet will look stylish and your clothes will be protected from damage.

29 June, 2010

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Small Living Spaces

There are many advantages and disadvantages to living in a small apartment, dorm room, or even a small house. Learning how to manage the space that you have can give you the tools to be happy no matter where you live. These lessons often come through trial and error. However, by using the ideas and revelations of the ones who have successfully lived in places as small as yours, you can reap the benefits of the lesson without having to learn the hard way.

1) Your attitude matters more than you think. If you’re totally stressed and sad that you have to live in a place so small, then you won’t get much done for a while. A negative attitude can cloud your judgment and keep you from using your creativity to make the space work. You need to adopt a minimalist attitude. You don’t need a million possessions to be happy. Possessions don’t make you who you are. Society dictates that we consume more and more each day. However, you have the power to rise above and live your life more efficiently.

2) Now that you’ve adopted your “can do” attitude, it’s time to get to work. You are probably surrounded by boxes and furniture. Go through and categorize everything. Rate your belongings on a scale of 1-10. If you really need it to live and eat, rate it as number one. These things will be the highest priority. Scale everything down to ten. Now, decide how much room you have by putting away everything rated as number one, then two, three, and so forth. When you run out of room, everything else should go.

3) Be picky about what you keep. You don’t want piles of junk all around you or you’ll always feel cramped and stressed. Try to get a few functional pieces of furniture that have storage inside. Install shelving above your doors, in the corners, and under the windows. Invest a little in closet organizers and a pantry organizer. Put large drawers under your bed and couch. Create storage wherever you can if you need to store more than your small living space will allow.

4) Bulky furniture is often unnecessary. You can make room for a large capacity armoire by getting rid of a dresser. Dressers are very inefficient. Clothes are stacked inside where you can’t see them or get them out without unfolding half of the stack. We end up hiding miscellaneous items in the drawers and soon they become crowded with junk. Using an armoire for blankets and other bulky household items saves you closet space. With some space saving hangers, like velvet hangers, some baskets, shelves, and storage bins, you can put every piece of clothing you own inside of the closet. When you store something, ask yourself if this is the most efficient way to store before you decide that the item is in its permanent spot.

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