the year of decluttering and organizing at home

You’d think that after having moved more than 30 times in my life I would have very little stuff and clutter. That probably was the case before the kids era, but somehow with five in the house things just keep accumulating – and I keep trying to find ways to de-clutter and organize them: there is nothing worse that knowing that you need something and that you have it, but you just can’t find it when you urgently need it!

I’ve been looking into organizing and interior trends for this year, and lots of them really are about decluttering, organizing and making the space flow and work for your needs. They are about accommodating family needs (such as trading the dining room for a play area or media room) and making life easier to manage.

At the same time these are timeless trends, and been ongoing for a few years ago, and many of the things I’ve been trying to achieve in my house this past year. This is what I find to be the best and most useful advice on getting a house to become a functional home:

1. Getting pretty yet functional storage furniture

A big trend for 2014 is to add some pretty, yet functional storage furniture in the house. I’ve categorically added storage to every room in our house. I like console tables, and I love this contemporary, bold-coloured console table, which at the same time prevents that typical little clutter build-up: there is space for hair brushes and accessories, sunglasses, keys, maps… you name it. All those little essentials you like you grab on the way out but don’t want to look at all the time.

For small spaces great multi-functional storage ideas include storage benches and poufs, under the bed storage and over the door hanging storage.

2. Thinking storage in terms of vertical layers

Layers can be a life-saver especially if you are lacking space. Our youngest daughter wanted a bunk-bed but I was a bit worried about the height, so we agreed on a mid-sleeper which has plenty of storage and a cave-like space for playing underneath it. Needless to say that Miss C. absolutely loves playing in that hidden area.

Additionally her room was the smallest bedroom in the house and had to closet for clothes, so I designed a multi-functional storage-bench until for her, with some additional shelf space above the seating area for her toys. This was a custom-made job. I was going to resort to Ikea first, but I couldn’t find anything suitable and sturdy enough so I turned into a local carpenter. This is obviously not as cheap as Ikea, but nor was it hideously expensive – and we got exactly what we wanted. Using a carpenter is definitely something one should considered – you’ll get unique, perfectly fitting pieces made of good-quality materials.

3. Be creative with odd spaces & create space for hobbies

Do you have any odd-shaped areas in the house? If you live in an old house or just about in any English house are you are likely to have odd nooks, corners and low-hanging areas. Think how you could utilise them. We had a hallway, that was wider than a normal one, but not quite wide enough to make it a reading area with a sofa or something, so we decided to create an art/computer area.

This was simply created with custom worktop from Ikea and standard kitchen drawer units, which have already been filled with art and crafts supplies. On a rainy day you are likely to find 3-4 members of the family hanging around here.

4. Hiding those cables and wall-mounting your media

Cited as one of the hot-ticket items for this year is tiding the cables away and we have happily joined in with the trend: wall-mounting the TV will avoid some dust piles on the console table/tv stand, but also frees up space. And if you have little kids they are less likely to tip over the telly, or whack it with a bat like happened in our house last year. We still got some cables, but at least they are all now hiding behind the red storage units: out of sight, out of might works well here…

And let’s touch another home design trend here also: open spaces and combined kitchen and living room area: finally someone has realised that no-ones uses the stuffy dining room (we use it as a play room) and that most people like to (or have to) hang out a lot in the kitchen, and the experience is finally becoming more social by combining it with a dining area, a living room – or in our case both. Just make sure that you have a good extractor fan if you opt out for the open living plan option…

5. Hiding appliances with roll top cabinets in kitchen (and elsewhere)

My kitchen is way big, but the designer didn’t do such a great job with the layout, so I am trying to improve a bit. The central island aside I actually had very little countertop space, and once I had set my toaster, coffee grinder, tea kettle and few other items on it there was no space for cooking, drying dishes or any other task left.

My solution? remove the cute glass-fronted cabinet and replace it with a roll top one, where all the appliances I use often are housed. I also added two double-sockets here, so I don’t need to move the appliances elsewhere when I want to use them. This is proven to be one hit solution of the season also. And the same principle applies for a little home-office that you want to hide most of the time too.

Metallic roll top cabinet also gives a more modern and contemporary look for the room if you looking to change it. To start with my kitchen had a bit more of a countryside feel with its hand-painted cream cabinets, so adding a coat of bold paint and changing the glass cabinet to modern roll top one changed the mood of the room a lot.

6. Filling those odd spaces with concealed storage

 The space under the stairs – not too many uses for such a shallow space – but for storage it’s perfect: hidden, yet so accessible. I have one shelf unit for shoes, hats and other accessories, a larger open area for sports equipments and more shelves on the other side of the stairs next to the main entrance door. Works well with kids especially!

7. Adding open shoe storage by the entrance

I have now shoe storage built under the stairs but I still like to use this old French wooden crate for quick shoe storage by the door. Mainly its for larger shoes such as winter boots and wellies – but also all wet and very dirty shoes go here before I clean or dry them elsewhere. As I find this crate so cute to look at I don’t mind having it out there in the open.

8. Creating a home calendar that everyone notices and keeping it up to date

Get a large family chalk board calendar in the kitchen. We use a different colourful chalk pen for each child so hobbies etc can be marked easily. I add pretty much everything to the calendar from doctor’s appointments to recycling dates – and I use the memo area for shopping lists and to-do items. This is a wall decal from Etsy, and therefore it’s rather easy to put on, and take off too.

9. Displaying the latest kids art gallery style (as the fridge just isn’t big enough for it all)

I love these art frames – they have an open slot on the side so it’s quick to change the items on display. We have an art corner in the entrance hall where we change weekly the art on display as the kids keep creating a lot. After a week the old ones gets stored away or hung in kids own rooms.

10. Adding little memo boards for the kids rooms for those must-keep items

My kids drive me crazy sometimes with their little notes, invites, thank you cards, ticket stubs and what nots they want to keep. I have tried offering a box to store them and few other options, but somehow they were still always laying on tables or getting lost. So everyone has gotten their own little pin boards where to place their treasures. And once it’s full, it’s probably time to get some stuff go in order to make space for new ones.

I love this idea for a couple of reasons: it teaches them to decide what to keep and what to bin instead of just hoarding everything. it also helps to shift the blame away from for chucking their treasures away when they were lying all over the place: I’ve promised not to touch anything on their boards. Learning responsibility and order, what a lovely combination!

While we are taking about responsibility the children are also asked to make sure that they bring book bags to school. I’ve added a little peg next to the front door where we always hang the bag – an hopefully remember to grab them to school. Doesn’t always happen: last week we arrived at school with the twins holding a toy and no book bag. An apology to teacher and the lessons was learned – at least for a while….

Now I’d love to hear about your top tips for de-cluttering and keeping the household running. What is the next project you are going to tackle? Mine is the garage: I have just ordered some extra-sturdy and wide shelving units, and I plan to revisit and label all my clear plastic storage crates so that the rest of the family can also find things and don’t have to rely on my memory only…

MY TOP TIP for organizing: Get enough crates and boxes in different sizes so that you can sort and categorize your things. Mark all the boxes clearly, maybe even number them and write the key contents down – this will save you time when you need look for a particular item, and possibly money too: it’s easy to forget what you own with items that are not needed often (but still seasonally needed) or just go and buy a new one when one gets frustrated and gives up the search of that particular thing…