Monthly Archives: September 2010

Managing Laundry in a Small Space

Do you have the tiniest laundry room you could imagine? Many homes are built with no laundry room, a tiny laundry area in the hallway behind accordion doors, or they simply have a washer and dryer hook-up in the garage. They really aren’t concerned with giving you much to work with, are they? Well, it is what it is, so you might as well learn to make the most of it. Here we’ve compiled some tips for giving your laundry area a makeover that will help you to stay organized and efficient.

1) Most laundry rooms have either nothing on the wall above the washer and dryer or one long skinny shelf. That shelf is only good for storing your iron and laundry detergent. It doesn’t help you with much else! If you think about it, there is actually a good amount of square footage on that wall. Making better use of the space should be your first priority. You can purchase cabinets at a hardware or home improvement store for very little money. Or, consider getting used cabinets and refinish them yourself. If you buy new, going for unfinished can save you money. Paint, stain, and varnish the cabinets yourself. Don’t forget about the side walls of the laundry area. Don’t limit yourself to the back wall! Put the cabinets up high to make more space beneath them. You can usually slide a little step ladder to the side of the washer or dryer if you need to get up there.

2) One of the most popular laundry room additions is that little rolling cart that fits neatly between your washer and dryer. These slim carts are great for holding your detergents, fabric softeners, stain removers, and ironing supplies. They are close at hand, easy to access, and free up storage space in your cabinets above. Another option is to build a wood platform around 12” high for your washer and dryer. Cover the platform with industrial rubber foam to quiet your washer and dryer. You can build drawers to go inside the platform, providing you with extra storage beneath.

3) Think about what you don’t like about your current laundry room. Do you have somewhere to toss lint? Do you have somewhere for change and other items found in pockets to go? Hang a little shelf or place a container in the cabinet for these things. You don’t want them to end up sitting on top of the dryer, creating more work for you later. Another great thing to do is to install an ironing board on the wall. It stays completely out of the way and is right there when you need it. Some people even keep a long board beside the washer and pull it out when they’re ready to fold clothes.

4) Another really helpful thing to have is a hanging bar. Hang a long one underneath your cabinets. Use special space saving hangers, like velvet hangers, to give yourself plenty of room to hang clothes for drying or storing until you can get them put away. Finger clips and cascading hooks make it easy to make room and transport clothes to their respective closets when you’re done.

About the Author: Rick Miller is on the staff of Only Slimline Hangers, a leading online resource for velvet hangers which are space saving hangers, non slip hangers and slim line hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyslimlinehangers.com.

Apartment Closet Solutions

One of the biggest complaints we hear about apartments is concerning the lack of closet space available. You’re probably already living in a space that is too small for what you own, so a tiny closet can be very frustrating to the apartment dweller. If you’re feeling like your closet is more closely related to a middle school locker than a real closet, use these tips to make the most of a tiny space and get your life organized.

Tiny closets call for great efficiency. It can get out of hand in a hurry if you don’t have extra room. Start organizing from the bottom up. Consider a short dresser or an individual drawer. The type that is designed to go underneath a bed is extra wide and deep. These can be used on the floor for shoes, sheets, shirts, socks and underwear, whatever you need to keep down there.

You can place a shelf on top of this shallow drawer and use it like your new closet floor. Here you can put your shoes, laundry basket, sports equipment, whatever you can’t hang. You can also put a couple of shelves here and use cubby style containers to hold and organize all sorts of things. Baskets are great for organizing jewelry, socks, belts, underwear, and even things like your video camera, DVDs, video games and more. Keep things separated in different containers so that it’s easy to stay organized.

Now we move on to your hanging clothes. Don’t think that you have to keep your hanging bar exactly where it is. Many times, you can move it up a little and create more usable space down below. Look up towards the ceiling and see just how much space is actually wasted. Don’t worry about that top shelf being moved up high, you are only going to use it for storing things long-term. Here you can keep your out of season clothes, luggage, blankets, and other items that you don’t need very often.

When the shelf is up high, see if you have empty space extending from the shelf to the front wall of the closet. You can install a small shelf here, extending the top shelf all the way around, even in a tiny closet. You may even be able to continue placing shelves down those front corners of the closet, making space for folded shirts, shorts and jeans.

Now, it’s time to hang your clothes. You may have more clothes than you think could ever possibly fit into your small closet. However, you may not have thought about how space saving hangers work. They are standard sized hangers, but they slope more at the shoulder so that you don’t pucker your clothes. These hangers fit closely together, but the body is wide enough that they don’t get tangled. The best space saving hangers on the market are velvet hangers. They have removable clips that allow you to hang tops and bottoms on one hanger. Better yet, they have cascading hooks, so you can coordinate outfits or hang more than one outfit in one space. These hangers are really versatile and can double or triple the amount of clothing that you can hang in your closet.

Making Room for Your Winter Wardrobe

Don’t you just hate it when you get your closet perfectly organized in the summer only to find out that your winter clothes don’t fit so well? It’s a mistake that many people make. They’ll get an expensive closet system or spend a lot of time making their closet perfect, forgetting that the next season of clothing also needs to fit. Winter clothes bring with them bulky coats, boots, and also a lot of little things, like gloves, scarves and hats. Use these tips so that you don’t have to start from scratch. Making room in your existing closet for your winter wardrobe may be a lot easier than you ever expected!’

1) Get out the summer clothes and store them away for next year. Go ahead and toss things that you didn’t wear or that didn’t fit right into a bag or box to give away to charity. This could also be the perfect time to clear out the clutter and have a yard sale to make a little money that can be put towards perfecting your closet for winter.

2) It’s important to clean your closet now that it is empty. Most people don’t take the time to dust shelves, baseboards and light fixtures when there are clothes in the closet. Vacuum the floor, dust and wipe down everything so that you don’t end up with dust balls or microscopic insect eggs on your winter clothing. This could be a good time for a fresh coat of paint or you may even want to go ahead and install that cedar closet liner that you’ve been dreaming of.

3) Now you can determine what kind of space you’ll need for you winter clothes. You’ll definitely need some hanging space for coats and some shelf or drawer space for heavy sweaters. You can make space by moving your top shelf up closer to the ceiling and adding an extra hanging bar down below. You can use the higher shelf for storing your summer clothes, luggage, ski equipment, or other things that you won’t need every day.

4) Hang your pants on one bar and your tops on the other. You may want to put an extra bar on one side of your closet for hanging longer coats and dresses that you don’t want to wrinkle. Use pants hangers for your pants. Some have non-slip bars or non-creasing clamps. If you use clips, use ones that won’t rust, snag, or imprint your pants while they hang. Use coat hangers for your heavy coats. Make sure that these are curved to help your coats keep their shape. Wider shoulders that slope down won’t pucker shoulders or wrinkle sleeves. You can buy petite hangers or extra large hangers for clothes that don’t fit perfectly on regular clothes hangers. Use specialty hangers that hold scarves, hats, and gloves to perfectly store those small winter items without forcing you to install extra shelves or drawers.

5) For the rest of your clothes, you can use space saving hangers, like velvet hangers, to make the most of the space. Space saving hangers are designed to fit flat against one another, using as little space as wire hangers. However, these hangers won’t cross up on the bar, rust, snag clothing, or bend, causing your clothes to end up on the floor. These have a non-slip velvet coating to hold clothes securely in place. The bottom bar is perfect for hanging pants or attaching movable clips for securing straps. You can coordinate outfits by hanging pants and shirts on the same hanger, or even add a hook to hang multiple items in the space of one hanger. Tricks like this can help you to double or even triple the space in your closet, making room for those winter clothes after all.

About the Author: Rick Miller is on the staff of Only Slimline Hangers, a leading online resource for velvet hangers which are space saving hangers, non slip hangers and slim line hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlyslimlinehangers.com.