Organizing, Redesign & Staging

Monday, September 1, 2008

Organizing the Bedroom

Many organization principles can apply to the majority of the rooms of your home. While each room has its special challenges or characteristics, there are some general tips that can serve you everywhere. I try to include ideas and concepts that you can use throughout your house or in life. Sometimes, I focus on one area or room -- today it is the bedroom.


HGTV had a list of 5 storage tricks you can try to organize a bedroom. The crux of the online article is to do the following: Stick it under the bed; Maximize your closet; Make it kid-friendly; Think vertically; and Create access. To get the full article, click here. If you are a wannabe Martha Stewart or are just curious as to her ideas, see this list of a variety of organizing tips for the boudoir.

The bedroom is supposed to be a place of calm and relaxation, but often (because we feel like no one sees it but us), we stow lots of stuff and have clutter there. If every flat surface in your bedroom, including the floor, is covered, then serenity goes out the window. To maximize the amount of space you have in the bedroom, you often need to get creative. You could get headboards with shelves, use storage boxes under bed, or buy an armoire to give more room to store things. Mount lamps to wall instead of bedside lamps. Replace bedside tables with small chests of drawers for more storage space.

We wear 20 percent of the clothes we own 80 per cent of the time. The rest hangs there, just in case. You have to go through any closet before you organize to toss or donate anything you don’t wear on a regular basis. Sometimes just doing that will reduce the clutter and make your closet more manageable.

You can purchase a closet system or parts of a closet system to add more organization. Then you can utilize wire-basket drawers, hanging rods, numerous shelves, tie and belt racks, and plastic or decorative boxes to the space. To make better use of the closet you have, put the back of the closet door to work, add shelves above your clothes racks, install 2 rows of rods, use shoe racks, keep like things together, and find another spot to stow your sports gear and luggage.