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Design Ideas

Storage Solutions to Prevent Clutter

Before entertaining, get organized and find a place for all of your stuff. No one wants to entertain with clutter everywhere. Not only does clutter look messy and unappealing but it also takes away valuable space. Today there are many options that come in a variety of colors and styles.

Consider the areas of your home that need the most help with storage issues and also those that are the most visible when entertaining. Certain rooms should stand out immediately in your mind. Highly visible rooms usually seen or used for entertaining purposes include the kitchen, family/living rooms, bathroom and dining room. Some houses have a laundry or mud room located near the kitchen, so this might need to be addressed. Also, look at your foyer and the closet space available for guests’ coats.

Starting with the kitchen, evaluate how much clutter can be eliminated by clever storage designs. Do all of your appliances sit out and take up counter space? Do food items take up cabinet space? Does everyone in the house use the kitchen as a convenient place to throw personal belongings? Maybe a storage rack can provide the perfect space to put appliances that aren’t being used or extra food. A wooden rack could be painted or stained to match your color scheme. A rolling cart with shelves or drawers offers family members space to stash personal items. These often can be found in basic, neutral colors that will blend nicely.

Thinking of the family/living rooms can provoke anxiety for many people. With all of the entertainment technology available, people tend to fill these rooms with VCR’s, televisions, stereos, speakers and all of the forms of media to go with each: videotapes, CD’s, cassettes, etc. Fortunately, the need to organize all of this has been recognized and there are a wide variety of options available to consumers. Attractive cabinets of all shapes and colors are available to conceal your electronics.

Since entertaining guests can include listening to music or watching videos, having your CD’s and videos organized will help you significantly when the time comes. There are hundreds of options for storing these popular forms of media. CD towers, shelves, drawers all serve the purpose and come in varying styles.

Whichever bathroom is accessible for guests is the one that will need the most help. A person’s bathroom tells you a lot about them. Besides having it clean, it should be neat and orderly. Since bathrooms are typically very small rooms, the slightest disorganization can clutter it. Shelves and cabinets make this task easy. Towels, soaps, toiletries and even decorations can be placed on shelves and make the bathroom appealing to all.

For more formal occasions, people like to use their dining room. Beautiful corner cabinets provide excellent storage and display for fine china and fragile items. There shouldn’t be too much clutter in this room. If there is, it should be cleared out and stored elsewhere. Buying ordinary storage containers for this room will take away from the formality and ruin the atmosphere.

If a laundry room isn’t closed off from any of these areas or is located in or around any of these rooms, look at it with a critical eye. Chances are it will look unattractive and messy. Storage bins that come in fun colors can be stacked to hold just about everything. This is also a good place to put some extra bins for children’s toys. Before guests arrive, toys can be stashed away out of sight with minimal effort. Add a coat rack or hooks for extra jackets that may be strewn throughout the house.

After putting everything in a proper place in attractive containers, your main rooms for entertaining should look terrific and much improved. Guests will appreciate visiting your well kept home and perhaps you’ll inspire them to do the same!