Inspiration and strategies for organising your home, room by room – with plenty of links to useful resources.
Organising your home doesn’t need to be a constant struggle. By implementing a few systems and routines, and getting buy-in from everyone, including the kids, you can maintain a warm, welcoming and uncluttered living environment.
Not everyone has all the possible room types. For relevant organisational tips and tricks, you can navigate directly to the rooms of interest using these links:
Make for the living room
The living room is the heart of the home. It’s where we watch TV, play games, entertain friends and chill out. It’s a versatile space, which is bound to become cluttered with all sorts of superfluous stuff.
Here are a few tips on how to transform a lived-in living room into a comfy and organised accommodation for the whole family and the dog.
The key is to make the best possible use of the space:
- investing in multi-purpose furniture (a storage kist as a coffee table)
- create a game zone in a corner of the room
- use a decorative item, like a tray, to house the remote control
- install floating shelves to exploit vertical space
- clear surfaces of photo frames and create a wall collage.
You can find a host of other smart ideas in these living room organisation guides:
- Organise the Living Room in 30 Minutes
- 16 Living Room Organisation Tips We Swear By
- 23 New Ideas to Better Organise Your Small Living Room.
Move onto the kitchen
A well-organised kitchen can make food preparation a pleasure rather than a chore. The kitchen is where meals are prepared and pots, pans, cutlery and crockery are washed.
A methodically arranged kitchen improves efficiency and ensures appliances and utensils are at hand.
Our 9 Space-Saving Tips for organising small kitchen appliances, 12 Ways to Declutter Your Kitchen Counters and Cupboards and 25 Quick and Easy Tips for Organising Your Entire Kitchen are must-read references for an optimised kitchen.
A quick look at the dining room
In most homes, the dining room is only occasionally used. By default, it’s often the most organised room in the house. However, some families use the dining table as a repository for all sorts of items or as an office space.
If your dining room needs a hand, take a look at How to Organise Dining Rooms for a few practical hints.
Take a break in the bathroom
Space is usually at a premium in the bathroom. It’s vitally important to use every available surface, both vertical and horizontal.
Options for increasing space include:
- installing shelving over the bathroom door or around the toilet
- placing a vanity, or chest of drawers, under the basin
- buying a shower caddy and vertical towel racks.
Check out these handy guides for more ideas:
- 9 Simple Ways to Declutter Your Bathroom
- 8 Clever Bathroom Storage Tricks
- 25 Best Bathroom Organisation Ideas to Make Mornings Less Hectic.
Time to tidy the home office
A study or home office is the centre of productivity in the house. Ideally, its layout should maximise efficiencies and work flows.
Creating a paperless work area is one way to boost outcomes and free up space. Another is to embrace the cloud and other digital technologies.
6 Steps For Organising Your Home Office, 24 Easy Desk Organisation Ideas and 10 Ways to Organise Your Home Office by Monday are full of inspiring tips and tricks.
Sneak peek into the bedroom
A minimalistic approach to décor and design is usually the best strategy for a calm, serene and organised bedroom. See our article on how to declutter and simplify your bedroom for inspiration.
Less is definitely more, especially when it comes to bedroom furniture – so cut back on pillows and throws, and find a new home for that wicker chair.
The kids’ bedrooms are more of a challenge, but finding a home for all their gear is essential. If your children are budding Van Goghs, here are a few innovative ways of storing their art.
Alternatively, take a look at 11 Ideas for Organising Kids Bedrooms and 32 Genius Toy Storage Ideas for Your Kids Rooms for inspiration.
Exit through the garage
The garage can easily become a dumping ground for unwanted junk, which often gets overlooked. It’s not unusual for there to be no space for cars because of the “junk”.
Freeing up space in the garage simply requires a bit of DIY and the will to do it. Here are a few practical tips to get you started:
- hang tools, small garden appliances and bikes on hooks on the wall or from the ceiling
- store nails, screws and small items in used spice bottles
- invest in a workbench with drawers
- install a magnetic catchall for smaller, metallic items.
If you’re still struggling to find parking space, look at these comprehensive garage organisation guides:
- How to Organise Your Garage Before Winter
- 7 Ways to Organise Your Garage
- 55 Easy Garage Storage Ideas for Instant Organisation
- How to Organise Tools with a Garage Pegboard.
If all else fails, you can always consider converting or remodelling the garage into that extra special room you always wanted, but couldn’t afford.
Self-storage with XtraSpace
At XtraSpace, we offer clean, secure self-storage units. They’re ideal for storing furniture and other items, whether you’re organising your home, moving, travelling or just need to clear some space.
Contact us for more information or browse to find a branch near you.