LiveIn|LiveOut

Organize your home

Organizing your home doesn’t have to take long… it’s more of a strategic placing of objects to make them look tidy and together. Your home starts to look untidy when different objects are muddled in with each other and not grouped. Magazines have always been a problem in everyone’s home, they seem to ‘breed’ and the piles get higher and higher, making it yet another area for you to dust, trip over, kick and once again stack up. Organizing your magazines will not only help you to clear space in your home but it will also allow you to see more clearly what you have. There is nothing more irritating than trying to squeeze out a magazine that is about twenty down from the top! All of a sudden you need 3 pairs of hands to juggle the enormous pile that has expanded over the last few years. When magazines are organized it is easier to clear out what you may not want to read or have read. We all have a habit of collecting magazines because there is one page that you are keeping it for. Whilst we are on this note, start a scrap book for these pieces and it will help to get rid of some of the bulk. When you feel like having some chill out time on your sofa with a nice cool glass of wine there couldn’t be anything less stressful than to reach up to a well organized magazine rack and simply select your chosen fashion flick or yachting monthly to indulge yourself in.

For those who take magazines to the loo!

Now, I don’t know if I’m altogether comfortable about the whole ‘taking a magazine to the loo’ concept. But I suppose I do know that it happens …..a lot, and it usually is the male that chooses to follow out this kind of behavior! I always argue that there is never enough time to read anything…. but I am willing to accept that I could be in the minority, and there is some sort of creative space surrounding the hole in the floor and I suppose everyone has an area to reflect in!

A bathroom magazine rack is a fantastic idea, if you are in the clientele of the above paragraph. There are so many novelty racks that you can buy and it will help to organize what little space there usually is in a bathroom. Really you will want one that has ideally a few uses, so that you can save space and either attach it to the side of a unit or something that may clip to the loo roll holder. I have seen racks for sale like this and they seem to be really useful and easy to reach. The magazine rack that fits to the loo roll slides behind the roll of paper so, even though you can only store one or maybe two magazines at one time, it is easily accessible. There is also another design that does seem to be more sturdy and you may want to check out if this is what you are after – organizeit.com has a Stainless Magazine and Toilet Paper Holder that is both useful and stylish too.

If you are looking for a freestanding unit so that you are able to store more than one magazine or book then there are plenty to choose from. These come in traditional finishes as well as stainless basket type racks and will fit snuggly into any corner without any trouble.

Designer magazine racks

For those of you who are looking for something a little more sleek and sophisticated and on the edge of design then be sure to check out Paolo Design. Paolo design is based in France and have an extraordinary selection of different bits and pieces of household accessories.  These guys do some really awesome designs. There are magazine racks that are shaped like cats and dogs and come in an array of finishes and colors. These are sure to bring not only personality and fun into your home, but also organization with flare. The dog design even holds your magazine in its mouth as if it has just picked it up off of the doormat…it’s great!

Make your clutter into art

Recyclart have a really interesting take on the magazine rack. This design made from corrugated carton is great for the environment and looks awesome. Its design spirals like a staircase and holds 20 to 30 magazines. This design was made by a student at a Mexican design university – CEDIM. The rack also doubles up in to a rather handy tabletop too! Student’s are a great source of inspiration when it comes to finding different solutions to tired designs.

Another idea is to free up some space and wall hang your ‘art’ rack to display it as a wall mounted magazine rack. A wall magazine rack should always at the forefront of your display at home. This is where art generally is displayed so it needs to look sleek and interesting – a talking point for your guests. There are some really interesting ideas out there on the market from wavy shaped ones that create movement to more rustic designs from rusticwildlifedecor.com. These are really lovely and bring more of a crafty feel to this type of accessory. Check out the Wall Mount Magazine Rack – Bear Design in this range.

A shoe storage cabinet is one of the best pieces of furniture that you can buy for your home, not only do they look great they also help to keep shoes out of the way and more importantly easy to find. There are plenty of websites showing you shoe storage cabinets for sale, but it seems that there are very few showing you information on how to choose the best shoe storage cabinet for your needs… queue the LiveIn|LiveOut team. Here we have produces a definitive guide to choosing the best shoe storage that you can afford.

How many shoes do you need to store?

This is the first question that you really do need to ask yourself? There is no point to buying a shoe storage cabinet that can’t even store the amount of shoes that you own. When buying a shoe cabinet you want to be able to store ALL of the shoes that you own and also have a few space spare just in case you see that must have pair of shoes. Many manufacturers will state the capacity of their cabinets but what you really need to check is the small print as more often than not they will estimate the number of shoes that a cabinet can hold based on an average shoe size. If you happen have bigger than average feet than you can except the shoe cabinet to hold less shoes than the manufacturer states.

How much and what type of space do you have for a shoe storage cabinet?

There is always a trade off between what size shoe storage you need and the space that you have available to actually put a cabinet. Although shoes storage cabinets are generally rather slim (less than 12”) some people simply do not have the room. If you find yourself in this situation then you may need to opt for a different solution such as a shoe rack that could fit in that space at the bottom of your wardrobe. The great thing about many shoe storage solutions is that they have a very small footprint (if you’ll excuse the pun) but they can be quite tall so they can store a large number of shoes.

Type of Opening

There tends to be two main types of shoe storage cabinet available on the market in terms of how you actually get in to it. The most popular type is the ‘drawer’ that is hinged at the bottom so when you pull the handle it pivots toward you and you are presented with the heels of the shoes. The second type of access comes in the form of a regular cupboard or wardrobe door which is hinged at the side. For many people the hinged at the bottom option for access is a far better solution because it requires far less space to actually open the door to get access to your shoes. Having a large side hinged door will require quite a large hallway for you to have to door open and be able to squeeze past. If you don’t have the luxury of a grand entrance hall this can get quite frustrating particularly when you have guests over or there are a number of you in the hall way.

Multifunctional Shoe Storage Cabinets

There are some shoe cabinets on the market which are multi functional, for example they have shoe storage cabinet at the bottom with a sliding door top component which you can keep other bits and bobs in like dog leads or general outdoor accessories such as scarves and hats. If you have the luxury of space and do not have many pairs of shoes then these are great pieces of furniture.

A shoe cabinet that is only 4’ tall you will find ends up becoming multifunctional on it’s own accord. The top surface of the shoe cabinet is at a great height for you to keep keys, the house phone or even a nice welcoming bunch of flowers. Being at the entrance way to your home it is sure to get a lot of use so make sure that the top surface is made from a durable material, A beech finish shoe storage cabinet is more than likely going to be constructed from a laminate and this is a great material for household functional furniture to be made from,

Floor or Wall?

A large proportion of shoe cabinets will be placed on the floor, but they should all however be secured to the wall to prevent them toppling over. There are few storage solutions that do fit to the wall at a height that will suit your needs. If you think that this might be the option you are looking for then I would suggest a white shoe storage cabinet to be fixed to the wall as it is less visually imposing than a darker colored version.

If you’ve managed to get this far down the article then you are all ready to go an buy yourself a great shoe storage cabinet – go shop!

Getting organized needs forethought and preparation otherwise you’ll just end up with a mass of storage solutions looking as bad as the original mess you wanted to clear! You may have a hectic family life and want to start organizing children’s toys or shoes or even create somewhere to organize your life admin.

The first step to a neater more organized life is to start by having a good look around your home. By determining what needs organizing and where the organization can go will help you ascertain what type of storage and what size of storage you should opt for. To help you with this we have listed for you a few ideas in various rooms of your house that may need a little bit of TLC in order to put ‘everything in its place’. Do you remember being told by your mother that ‘a place for everything and everything in its place?’….well it has, so now is the time to take some advice!

Why is it important to store things?

Organized chaos? Why does this lend itself to an easier life? It clearly doesn’t and why should we all be fooled into using this excuse for living in a pigs sty? There are so many benefits to getting yourself organized:

• It keeps things in one place so you know where to easily find them next time you are looking.
• (The above) Gives you more time for other things, rather than searching for items.
• Helps keep toys and papers in good condition.
• Helps to keep your house not only tidy but clean by only having one surface to dust on housework days.
• (The above) Gives you more time for other things like relaxing on housework days!
• Storing things frees up space in your room and allows you to see the carpet or tabletops again!
• All in all it’s a good idea.

Where you may need to use storage solutions.

In the bedroom

Ever thought about utilizing your space more efficiently by using the space under your bed? You can purchase plastic bins for storage so that you can safely and cleanly store any clothing that you may have dependant on the time of year. Think winter coats can be scurried away when the sun is out allowing you more space in your wardrobe for another shopping trip perhaps! The same would apply to shoes. Shoes take up an awful lot of space and by putting them into plastic storage bins, you can not only see what’s in them but hide them from view if you don’t need access to them regularly.

In the study

The study is usually a hive of activity with all the post lying around ready to be filed, bills that need to be paid, letters that need to be written, magazines that you don’t have the heart to throw away, pens, paper, rulers and rubbers that all need a home! This is on top of all the bits and bobs that don’t seem to want to find a home anywhere else in the house – Christmas decorations and books old toys and sewing machines! Try grouping the items together and then by buying yourself some stackable plastic storage bins you can start to organize your space. You can buy some smaller storage units to place pens (which always seem to multiply) and general stationary into and get yourself some larger ones for the bigger items like the Christmas decorations and old books. If you do need to access these things on a regular basis, then we would recommend getting yourself some clear plastic storage bins so that you can easily see through the material what is inside without having to unstack and stack up the boxes over and over again.

In the children’s rooms

Toys, toys everywhere! So many toys that have been given to little Jonny by various Aunts and Uncles are strewn across the floor! Organize. Split the toys up into various groups; Lego can all go into one box and the toy cars and the plastic road mat can go into another. By organizing toys it will give you a less stressful life. No more tears at bedtime because the small plastic frog that happens to be Jonny’s favourite toy, is buried under a land fill site of toys. By simply putting things in their place, everyone will learn to keep things tidy. If Jonny wants to take his car mat and cars downstairs for the afternoon, all you have to do is carry the box down and make sure the cars go back into it at the end of the day!

In the hallway

Shoes always seem to gather in the hallway and they usually end up in a disorganized pile where one seems to pair off with another or the other one gets carried off by the dog…By creating a shoe storage system it will easier to find which ones you are looking for. In this case, we would suggest you look at a plastic storage bin with drawers so that it will be easy to place the pairs neatly into their allotted sections.

Just remember that tidiness is a way of life and by making things more organized will help you and your family free up time for other activities. Organization doesn’t take long to maintain either, if you make an effort each time you place something away then it will save you time and effort in the future.