Renovation Resolutions - Don’t just dream of updating and organizing your home - make it happen!

A fresh start to the new year has everyone thinking about improving: Improving our health, our habits, our everything. As home remodelers we get a lot of calls this time of year from people who are ready to improve their homes, both in the way they look, and in the way they function. While home organization and home renovation are two entirely different goals, they definitely go hand in hand. Whatever your home renovation resolutions may be, we have a few ideas to help you go from just dreaming about improving your spaces to making it happen.

Entryway Organization

It starts the minute you walk in the door. What are the entryway challenges you would like to overcome? Where do you drop your keys and the mail? Where do you kick off your shoes? Is there a place for book bags and gym bags? If this area of the home doesn’t work, the clutter and chaos just seep into other areas of the home. We have designed countless custom mudrooms and entryways. We start with our design team interviewing clients on the very specific details of how this space needs to function for them and we create beautiful and functional solutions from there. 

Even without a major mudroom renovation, here are a few tips for making your entryways work a little smarter for you. Shoe racks come in every shape and size you can tuck them in coat closets, under benches or in cabinets. Unless you have a place for every pair of shoes they will just end up in the way making a mess. Add a pretty console table to your front or back hall for a key bowl and mail basket along with storage baskets underneath. Add a charging station inside a drawer to eliminate clutter. Don’t forget to add a pretty wall calendar or chalk board to keep the family on track 

The garage can double as a mud room if designed properly. You can add custom storage cubbies, shoe racks, and wall hooks for bags and coats right inside the garage door. We recommend building a platform in this area to keep the water and slush from the cars away from the garage entryway. A bench for getting shoes on and off along with cozy rugs and mats to manage the moisture are a necessity. Some decorative board and batten on the walls painted to create more of an interior room vibe can really expand your home organization footprint.

Northeast Ohio winters make this a little more challenging, however, a small, but powerful garage heater can make the space more usable year round.

Basement, Garage, and Attic Storage

Sometimes the more storage room you have, the more disorganized you become. Just because you have the space don’t be tempted to fill it up. Think about creating storage zones.

For instance, keep all of your holiday decor in one spot. Build or buy shelving and containers specifically for each zone and each purpose. This makes decorating and cleaning up after the holidays so much easier. There are so many ornament containers and boxes for all of your holiday  decorating and wrapping needs. It is such a satisfying way to start the new year by organizing and putting away the decor.

Additionally, think about often you need access to certain items and what time of year you will need to access them. You don’t want to have to climb into an unconditioned attic in the winter to get your holiday items. And if you need to access something frequently, it’s smart to keep it in a place that is easily accessible.

Custom Closets

Together with our partner, Seme Interiors, we have designed some show stopping custom closets. Our designers are not professional organizers, but they design closets with the goal of creating a beautiful space, that is functional, and works to keep clients organized. It’s so important to think through how you want the closet to function. What do you access every day? What can be stored away for a special occasion?

We think about hanging clothes vs folded clothes. Do you want a jewelry drawer or case? Shoes and purses displayed or tucked away? Mirrors, lighting, and materials can all dramatically affect the aesthetic of the space. Having a thoughtful plan and the right options in place can make this a favorite space in the home.

Kitchen and Pantry Organization

The kitchen is one place that really could use a New Year’s refresh after all the holiday entertaining, cooking, and baking. You get a sense of what you would like to change after you have put your kitchen through it during the holidays. Whether the flow wasn’t working for you and your guests, or you could never find what you needed, or maybe you just need more storage space for platters and everything else necessary to entertain a crowd. This is a great time of year to put your kitchen wish list to paper and talk to a professional designer about how to reach your dream kitchen goals.

For smaller organization projects you can tackle on your own here are a few tips. Add dividers to your drawers. Keeping utensils organized saves time. For deep drawers the dividers will let you see your serving dishes and not waste space stacking platters and larger cooking dishes.

Check out the Container Store or Amazon for pantry organization products. We love the mini lazy susans for the pantry and the fridge. These spinning trays make it so much easer to access items, and nothing gets hidden in the back of the shelf. There are a million great ideas out there to help you tackle your pantry, fridge and cabinet clutter. We recommend storing like items with like items. For instance create a baking section in your pantry with your mixer and all your baking supplies. Keep pastas with pasta sauces. This really lets you meal plan and see what you need to stock up on.

If you need more inspiration we always recommend taking a look at the Hurst Portfolio pages, HOUZZ, The Home Edit, or Instagram for some design ideas and motivation to get organized.

For those who dream all year about how you would like to update your home, now is the time. Don’t let another year go by without making your home as beautiful and organized as possible.