Even for someone who has always been organized, if you don’t have the tools to create order, it’s difficult. If your space is too small or your collection too large, think about how you can scale down what you have. Turn the page for inspiring ideas for organizing.
From a Designer’s Eye
“Decide what’s important in your life,” says Linda Kushner, 45, principal of Linda Jo Foreman Interior Design, who recently remodeled and added onto her home to fit the way her family lives. Her husband Jeff, 49, daughter Sara, 14, and son Zach, 12, had certain requests, but when it came to the kitchen, it was all Linda. See how the Kushners organized their collections and how you can, too.
What’s Important: Working with Architect Steve O’Neill of O’Neill & Associates Architects and Chip Russell and Charles Senfit of Mastercraft Design and Build Inc., Linda designed a kitchen for functionality, family cooking, and lasting memories. “It is the social center of our home,” she says. Also, Linda wanted a library to organize her collection of cookbooks – being a serious cook, she has plenty.
Organization Tools: Be ready to let go of “stuff” and prioritize. Use proper storage supplies, such as shelving, open and closed cabinets, bins, baskets, and closets. Keep what’s needed everyday close at hand.
Finished Product: Linda likes that guests compliment the home’s warmth and creativity. She says, “As an interior designer, one of my goals is to help people create the environment that reflects the individuals who live there and create their comfort zones.”
From a Musician’s Eye
What’s Important: Jeff, a musician and owner of Plants Alive!, wanted to make the turntable and the McIntosh amp and preamp, which belonged to his father, the focus in his new music room. He needed a stable environment for the equipment to reduce vibration as well as to find a way to conceal the inevitable wires associated with audio-video equipment.
Organization Tools: Linda designed several options for built-ins in this space. Jeff selected the one they both felt maximized the space visually and acoustically. The object was to build in shelving so the thickness of the walls would add stability as well as create space within the walls to hide a series of conduit. Better acoustics is a bonus of the wall system.
Finished Product: The walls of built-ins give Jeff plenty of room to keep expanding his CD collection and place them in alphabetical order. Albums are organized on the opposite wall. Jeff says, “The system sounds phenomenal and looks good, too.”
