Better Organization and Storage for Each Room in Your House

Unless you can do the job yourself, custom-made built-in storage for organization is very expensive. If you own your own home or apartment, it may be worth it. However, there are so many ready made, wall systems, shelves, chests, stackable units that can be installed to look built-in that it hardly seems worth it to spend the extra money. And the advantage to ready made is that you can take it with you, should you move.

• To free bedroom floor, use headboard storage instead of nightstands.

• A desk with a mirror hung behind it doubles as a dressing table.

• Make use of awkward spaces with built-in wall drawer and cupboard units. In the bedroom these can be especially designed for specific items-shirts, sweaters, lingerie, gloves, scarves etcetera.

• Use open shelves in bedroom for convenient storage of jewelry, hats, sweaters, shirts-things you use everyday. However, this is good only if you are naturally tidy.

• If you can afford it, replace bulky bedroom chests with a continuous row of built-in drawers or a series of small chests.

• A vanity can be built with a tilt-top surface (with mirrors under it) instead of a cosmetic counter.

• If you're short on closet space, consider an old-fashioned armoire. You may want to remodel it yourself, to suit your storage needs.

• Consider using the space under your bed for a sliding storage chest.

Did you ever stop to take inventory of all the items that belong in or near the bathroom? Perhaps more than in any other room bathroom storage requires the most thought. Listed below are some creative ways to add more storage space to your bathroom.

• Tear out a small medicine cabinet and install a larger surface-mounted one.

• Stack several plastic vegetable bins in bathroom. They'll hold soap, sponges and so forth.

• Back-of-the-door shelves are good space organizers. A spice rack hung on the bathroom or linen closet door can hold shampoos and toiletries.

• Under-sink cabinet in the bathroom can house pull-out built-in bins on casters for laundry, wastebasket, toilet tissue, cleaning supplies. You'll find it makes the floor easier to clean too.

• To keep medicine bottles and other small articles from slipping off the glass shelves in the medicine cabinet, place half-inch adhesive tape along the front edge of each shelf.

• Install a cabinet with a mirror in the bathroom for the children's use. Place it about three feet from the floor. The children can store their personal toilet articles in the cabinet, and the mirror will help them do a better job of brushing their teeth and combing their hair.

Attics and basements are more or less storage rooms in themselves and yet are often the most disorganized. We are more apt to let clutter accumulate when there is lots of room, than when we are limited in space.

It is important to;

• Protect certain stored items from heat in the attic (such as old furniture which could dry out) by proper insulation.

• Protect all items from dampness in the basement, through insulation, waterproof sealers, or by installing a dehumidifier.

• Make some attempt at the most minimum of organization with shelves, cupboards, etcetera.

• Shelves along all walls for storing flat items.

• Rods or clothes racks for storing garment bags.

• Cardboard wardrobes such as movers use.

• Use nails and hooks everywhere.

• Label all boxes and keep a running inventory of what's in the attic.

• Use free-standing steel shelves.

• Build or use free standing shelves under the stairs.

• Nail wide boards to bottom of joists.

• Drop shelves from ceiling.

• Cover wall areas with pegboard, especially in the workshop.

CAUTION: Keep things up from the floor unless you have installed a protective coating and cover everything you can with plastic sheeting.

• Make a coat and hat rack by investing in a two-by-four at a local lumberyard; paint it and screw in some colorful hooks. Hang it near the entrance door.

• Hinge the top of the bottom stair, if you have a staircase. This makes an excellent place to stow away such items as boots, sporting equipment, etcetera.

• Put a few clip clothespins on a wire hanger and hang on a nail in a convenient place, preferably near an outside door where the children come in from play. When they come in with wet caps and gloves, they can clip them conveniently onto the hanger.

If you do use your garage for storage, here are some ideas:

• Secure a strap to the garage wall, or wherever, to prop up bicycles.

• Suspend shelves from ceiling over the cars.

• Line walls with perforated hardboard for hanging garden tools, bicycles, outdoor equipment of all kinds.

• Assign sections of the garage (or wherever you can find the space) to various family members for their own storage areas.

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