27 Nov 15

How to sort your storage

Probably the biggest impact you can make to your interior design scheme is to sort out your storage! There’s absolutely no point spending effort and spondoolies on creating a jaw-droppingly awesome scheme if you’re then going to kill it off with loads of clutter. Your home will appear more spacious, more serene and generally a more glamorous space if tat is tidied away and out of sight. It may be that your hoarding and holding on to too much and not all the storage in the world can help you- especially if you are challenged by living in a small space- but that’s a separate post peeps!

Here are my 10 top tips to help get things under control

1. In my opinion the more storage the merrier. As a rule of thumb if you are undergoing a new refurb, plan to have around 30% more storage than you currently need- thereby you’ll have space to grow into.

2. Regularly recycle. Its a really good habit to get into- if there are items you no longer, use, wear, read, then pass them on. You can use online auctions, freecycle, Gumtree not to mention the local charity shop to pass your unused things onto a more appreciative home.

3. For the things you need ready access to- plan shallow shelves and cupboards. This means things can’t get stuffed at the back of cupboards and ‘forgotten’.

4. Drawers are way more space efficient than cupboards. This is worth bearing in mine when planning kitchen and bedroom storage but can also work for DVD collections too.

5. There’s always stuff we need to keep but we only use once in a blue moon. Plan loft or garage space for these items. I’m obsessed with clear stackable lidded tubs for this purpose. My favourite is the Really Useful Box, bit more expensive than others on the market but worth the investment as they are super sturdy. We use them to keep all our camping gear in, and then they store away nicely by stacking on top of each other in a neat tower. I also have a load in different sizes for my sons toys and even more for my styling and craft kit. OK, bit obsessed. It’s like giant tupperware, anyone fancy a party?!

6. With storage boxes in mind- I don’t mean to teach your grandmother to suck eggs, but smaller items go in small boxes and larger items in large boxes. If you stuff a large box with small things- its a real faff to get them out again. It’s for this reason I totally hate kids toy trunks. All the small toys fall to the bottom never to be seen again.

7. Open shelves should only be reserved for things that are deserving of being displayed- everything else should be stashed in drawers and cupboards. And that goes for the DVD collection! I know I sound bossy about this one, but its a stylists number one rule!

8. Ever heard of a Kindle? Time to let those tatty paper book backs go!

9. Utilise dead space for storage.  That might be under the bed, above the wardrobe or in the alcoves. Either way invest in the right solution so things don’t just get stuffed in there and you use every inch! For this purpose fitted storage is more effective than freestanding.

10. If you want to ultimately stream line your home and levitate up to Storage Nirvana the one to worship has to be  Marie Kondo. Her best selling book ‘ The Life changing magic of tidying up‘ has changed how many people view their clutter filled homes . I’m way too terrified to take it on personally (I’m a closet hoarder) but you have to read the very funny post by Sarah Akwisombe who road tested the book. Check out her blog post here.