Whip Your Place into Shape with these great tips

The season is changing.  Summer is shuffling out, and autumn is blowing in with a cascade of tumbling coloured leaves, fuzzy sweaters, and the scent of pumpkin pie.  Your kids are finally going back to school, and you feel invigorated, inspired, and determined that now is the time to get organized.  Yes!  By the time the holidays hit, you will have arrived at destination organization! 

monochromatic

But, where to begin?  Because we love you, we have scoured the internet for some of the most divinely DiaNoche organizational ideas, from small to oh so grand.

 

As the cooler weather comes ever closer, there are some home basics that all home owners should schedule in, pronto, as they will pay off in real dollars. 

  • Schedule maintenance of your furnace or heat pump
  • Get your chimney cleaned
  • Ensure you have adequate weather stripping around drafty doors
  • Caulk around windows and window sills where cold air is sneaking in
Not a ton of fun to deal with, but so worth it.  If you’re a renter, you are officially off the hook and can dive into some of the really cool ideas that we have discovered.  Giddy up!

One of the easiest and coolest things you can do to organize your home is with color.  Organize with color?  Absolutely! 

Keeping a single base hue color and varying the shade and hue is extremely pleasing the eye and creates a tranquil, organized look.  It’s called keeping the look monochromatic.  Uniformity in size and display truly finishes the look.  So if you’re choosing storage baskets on a shelf, buy multiples of the same basket for a clean, finished look. 

You can also vary the hue or size to create some visual interest while preserving the uniform, organized feel.  Pretty gorgeous, don’t you think? 

 

Keeping with the uniformity theme, old Mason jars have countless uses for helping you get organized.  Store your baking supplies in them with labels, and boom, no more half-filled bags of sugar, baking powder, or flour falling out of the cupboard.  Or store your herbs in the window to keep them fresh and ensure they are not forgotten in the bottom drawer of your fridge.  Fill with water and pop them in! 

 

Mason jars are perfect for open shelving.  They have a gorgeous vintage look, and their uniformity adds a touch of elegance.  If you want to sexy up the vintage feel, try painting them with chalk paint – amazing!  Pinterest can be your best friend to get the how to instructions. We found ours here:

Let’s move room to room, for some quick organizational tips:

 

BEDROOM:

  • Use bed risers and store items in flat, plastic bins under your bed
  • Store shoes in an over-the-door shoe organizer – keeps your shoes together and easily accessible
  • Use an over-the-door retractable clothes hook for extra clothing storage
  • In clothing dressers, use these super duper spring loaded drawer dividers (particularly useful in your sock and undies drawer!
  • Buy a haul of identical white socks so you never have to worry about pairing up socks out of the dryer.

    KITCHEN

    • Try open shelving to increase your storage capabilities.  This can even be done in front of windows to make the most of a previous unusable space, with minimal obstruction of light!

     

    • Make an under the counter paper towel holder cubby.  Pull out a drawer and install a spring loaded paper towel holder in its place.  Checkout www.southernliving.com for this clever as heck idea!

     

    • Under the cabinet drawers.  This brilliant idea that we found on www.familyhandyman.com definitely needs a handy member of the family as it does require some minor building skills.  But check out the results!  You’ll be organizing and storing cookie sheets, muffin tins, saran wrap… like a boss.

     

    • Buy an upright pantry.  If you are short of cupboards, and have the space, buy an inexpensive upright pantry-style cupboard for your canned and dried goods.  There are no deep back corners for your stored goods to hide, so you don’t end up with multiple jars of water chestnuts or chickpeas.  You know you’ve done it!

BATHROOM

Personally, my biggest Achilles heel is my flat iron… where to store it?  So it sits on my bathroom cupboard, day after day.  But check out this cool caddy for your flat iron and so much more!

 

Other quick tips:

  • Use that empty space over the toilet with over the toilet bath furniture or install open shelving to hold towels, extra TP, etc.
  • For extra towel storage, hang a duo or trio of towel bars on the back of the bathroom door.  Much better than a hook which never lets your towels dry.
  • Wall mount your hair dryer for great storage and easy access

 

Don’t forget to give you newly organized bathroom a pop of color with one of our amazing shower curtains.  Check them out here!

 

LIVINGROOM/OFFICE:

  • Use a decorative wooden ladder to hang magazines or your cuddly throws
  • Use slip on shelf dividers to keep books, blankets, towels, or whatever upright and organized (www.containerstore.com)
  • Buy an ottoman or coffee table that provides you with extra storage.
  • Put your used gift bags, tissue paper, and unused bows and ribbons in a plastic bin (an under the bed flat bin is perfect!).  That way when you have to wrap a last minute present or gift a bottle of wine, you are always prepared!

Full adhesive Post-it notes are now available.  ‘Nuff said.  Brilliant.

 

YOUR WELL DESERVED WINTER VACATION:

Finally, to help you on your next trip, whether a weekend away or a full on tour around Europe or the Land Down Under, check out this little gem from www.shelvestogo.net.    Pop in your packables, and it folds right down flat in your carry on or suitcase.  When you get to your destination, just pick up and hang up.

 

Embrace the change of season, dig out your boots and gloves, and get organized!  We would love to hear your favorite go to ideas for keeping your home and family on track.

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