Home Organisation

As you may remember we had a big clear out and autumn clean just recently in our home. Not only did this throw up a list of small DIY jobs for me to tackle over the winter, it also alerted me to the fact that we have quite a lot of “stuff”. What do you do with an item that works perfectly and you may well need in the future, but haven’t needed so far?

Many would say give it away or sell it, but I just don’t always buy into that. There is nothing more frustrating than needing something you no longer own and having to go out and acquire another. I think organisation is the key. If you can keep your “stuff” neatly stored so it it not bothering anyone then you can keep as much as you want! Right?

My solution in the garage was a very simple one – stacking storage containers.

These are sturdy, waterproof and stack neatly together one on top of the other. The garage now has one corner dedicated to storage containers. I even labelled the boxes so I can see at a glance what is contained within each one. The house is a trickier matter however. While I like things that are practical but my wife likes things that are beautiful so any storage idea we come up with for the house has to be a combination of these two factors. Makes it harder but I love a challenge. The bathroom was one area in disarray.

Multiple girls in the home equates to a large number of bathroom products. We were overflowing with bath products, makeup and hair dryers apparently (why a household needs more than one hair dryer is beyond me.) So anyway, I came up with a novel idea that I saw on Pinterest – large baskets hung from the wall. All I needed to make this happen was a selection of wicker baskets, some rails and a few hooks. Twenty minutes with my electric drill and suddenly the bathroom is tidy and ordered. Each member of the family has their own basket so nothing gets mixed up – order is restored. We also invested in a few jars so that things like cotton wool, ear buds and hair clips could all be stored neatly in the baskets.

The absolute piece de resistance however of this whole experience has got to be our new bookcase / storage unit. It is fantastically rustic, cost absolutely nothing and looks beautiful. One of the things we had lying around in the garage was a number of wooden crates. I can’t recall where they came from but I think it was to do with fruit picking. Anyway, I gathered them up and positioned them on top of each other with the bottoms against the wall. I secured in place with screws. Practical and beautiful. We’ve put it in the family room and it now used to store remote controls, magazines, books, ornaments and general clutter that never seems to have a home. Here’s a photo taken from Pinterest of something similar, although ours is a bit more rough and ready due to the age of the crates.

I love coming up with novel storage solutions. Do any of you have any ideas for practical yet beautiful storage solutions?