Category Archives: Mudroom

Fall Home Organizing: 17 Smart Tips You Can’t Go Wrong With

After the more laid back approach to life most of us take during the summer, readjusting to the hustle and bustle of the autumn and early winter seasons can be tricky.

With fall just around the corner, hopefully you’ve managed to keep up with the busier pace of everyday life.

Your family will be spending a lot more time indoors now that the cool weather has arrived and the more frigid weather looms just a few weeks away.

fall home organizing coloured leaves on tree

Photo by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash

17 fall home organizing tips for a tidier house and condo

Considering how much more time we’ll be staying inside, it makes good sense to focus on getting your home clean and organized in the next few weeks.

A major deep cleaning and decluttering of your home doesn’t have to wait until the new year or next spring. By then, there’ll be more work for you to do.

And who wants to spend the first few days of January worrying about a big cleaning project when many of us are feeling drained after the hectic holiday season?

Before the year gets much older, get your house or condo autumn and winter-ready with these 17 fall home organizing tips.

1. Create an organization checklist and use a schedule

Having goals and a well-thought-out game plan for getting your home organized will increase the odds of success with your organization project.

Set up an organization checklist with key tasks you want to complete around the home. Don’t hesitate to throw in a couple of easy and quick organization jobs, either! Seeing things checked off a to-do list provides great motivation to keep moving forward.

To stay better organized, ensure you’re using a schedule to keep track of all events everyone in the house has coming up.

Medical appointments, sports practices and games, school events, and social gatherings should all be shown on a schedule so no one is caught off guard at the last moment.

Use a calendar in the kitchen that allows for lots of writing space for each day of the month. There’s no shortage of mobile calendar and scheduling apps available that will sync between everyone’s phones to keep all of your family’s upcoming events documented and organized.

2. Focus on one task at a time

Don’t take on too much and try to get your whole home in tip-top shape in just one weekend. No one needs that pressure or frustration.

A lot of home cleanup efforts fail because we attempt to do too much, can’t meet our goals, get frustrated, and walk away from the work.

Pace yourself and set realistic goals with a flexible timeline.

If necessary, just concentrate on one or two rooms to work on and get in peak form. After all, even one is better than none!

3. Make closet space for seasonally-appropriate clothes

Any change in seasons (especially in the spring and winter) should involve a thorough swap out of your wardrobe.

Ensuring that only seasonally-appropriate clothing is taking up your main wardrobe storage spaces will make getting dressed easier. You’ll have fewer things to navigate through and choose from, which will save you time.

Your spring and summer attire from your bedroom and front entryway closets could be hung in a spare bedroom closet, kept in labelled storage bins, or in the storage spaces of your built-in bedroom cabinetry.

Don’t forget about the linen closet, either. Switch out those lighter linens with your heavier bedding, linens, and blankets.

4. Edit your wardrobe

A seasonal clothing changeover also gives you a good opportunity to edit your wardrobe and get rid of the pieces you never wear.

As Marie Kondo preaches, only keep clothing items that truly spark joy. If you haven’t worn something in a couple of years, it’s probably time to add it to your pile of clothes to donate.

A seasonal wardrobe curation will minimize the chance of wasting money on a duplicate purchase of something you already own and just couldn’t find (which only makes a closet more congested).

If you’re struggling to keep your home’s closet spaces tidy, contact Organized Interiors. Our custom closets are designed to make managing your storage spaces easy and more efficient.

5. Organize your digital world

Because we use our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers so much nowadays, digital clutter is something that needs occasional tending to.

Americans check their smartphones an average of 52 times per day, according to one study. The most recent data we could find on cell phone usage for Canadians was from a 2014 CIBC poll. It reported that we check our phones a lot more – an average of six times per hour.

Most of us have more apps than we use, so get rid of the ones on all of your electronics that do nothing but add to your digital clutter. Group your mobile apps by category into folders so you don’t have four or five pages to swipe through just to find one.

Clean up that neglected email in-box and get those computers tidied up by reducing the number of files and icons on your desktop.

6. Rein in the holiday shopping

All of these fall home organizing tips involve taking action on different things except for this one. No, this tip involves doing, well, nothing.

A good deal of the clutter that sits in homes comes from impulse and sale purchases of things you didn’t need, but believe you might need someday.

There will be no shortage of tempting sales over the next few months with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Boxing Day vying for our attention and spending money.

Resist the lure of those rock bottom sale prices to prevent the accumulation of more home clutter unless they’re things you really need and will use.

7. Declutter your food storage spaces

The kitchen is one of your home’s hardest working rooms, meaning your food storage spaces should be getting decluttered regularly.

It tends to get used even more during the last few months of the year for baking and cooking dishes to bring to social functions or for home entertaining.

Empty the contents of your pantry, freezer, and fridge to see what’s fresh and what isn’t. Give these storage areas a good cleaning before refilling them.

Set aside food purchases that are still good to eat, but will likely never get used. Food banks will appreciate your donation during this time of the year.

8. Help your kids get more organized

You can help your kids get more organized to make both their life (and yours) a little easier.

Work with them in their closets and drawers to reduce the number of outgrown or damaged clothing items that could be removed. This can create more storage space for those recent back-to-school wardrobe purchases.

Because kids grow so quickly, their closets should actually be getting the curation treatment even more regularly than your bedroom closet does.

To help with their academic tasks, consider setting up a home study space that’s tidy, designed to cater to their studying needs, and distraction-free.

A study space can be incorporated into a home office design to create a multi-functional room for the whole family.

9. Deal with those junk drawers

One of our previous fall home organizing tips involved adding smaller decluttering jobs to your cleanup to-do list. Tidying up your home’s junk drawers falls into that category.

Dump your junk drawers separately out onto a large surface like the dining room table and start going through everything.

Have a garbage bin and paper recycling bin beside you and you’ll probably find there’s not much left to go back in the drawers once the job is done.

If the drawers don’t have dividers, add some to keep things more organized.

Photo by Pina Messina on Unsplash

10. Make your bed every morning

Many of us were taught to make our beds every morning. We lead busy lives, however, and making the bed is rarely the first thing on our minds when we wake up.

Sometimes finding even that one or two minutes for this task during a hectic morning isn’t easy, but here’s why you should try it.

Gretchen Rubin is an author and former Navy SEAL commander. She writes in a LinkedIn article that the simple act of making your bed every morning is a positive way to start the day.

It ties into that strategy of sprinkling in a bunch of fast, easy-to-accomplish chores on your organization to-do list to fuel your motivation.

With your bed in mind, remember to flip and rotate your mattress anywhere from once every three months to once a year, depending on what the mattress maker recommends. That will ensure one side doesn’t wear out too fast.

11. Delegate home chores

A lot of these fall home organizing tasks will require a bit of time, which is even more reason to delegate duties among family members.

Everybody contributes to creating household clutter, so everyone who’s old enough to help clean and declutter should be pitching in, too.

Splitting up your household chores will ensure mom or dad don’t get burnt out or frustrated taking on too much work.

Another good reason to delegate when it comes to cleaning work is that it tends to make kids feel more accountable and responsible for how they function within the home.

They’ll be less likely to leave a mess if it’s them that has to eventually tidy it up!

12. Be prepared for the unexpected

There’s nothing worse than being unprepared when an emergency occurs or anything else unexpected happens.

Maybe it’s a December ice storm that knocks out your home’s power for hours or perhaps it’s having to deal with a cooking fire.

As part of your fall home organizing checklist, spend the time to take proactive measures to guarantee you’re as ready as possible for any unexpected and challenging household occurrences.

October is fire safety awareness month, which means it’s time to check the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and test the units.

Every home should have a fire extinguisher located in or near the kitchen. Check that its expiry date is still good. If the extinguisher has a pressure gauge, make sure it’s maintaining pressure.

Test your flashlights to see if they need fresh batteries and know where to find your candles and matches.

13. Make sure your guest room is ready to go

Having a guest room always at the ready for overnight visitors is a wonderful thing, whether it’s during the holiday season or any other time of the year.

It’s great having a dedicated hosting space that doesn’t require you to scramble around searching for bedding and sleeping accommodations for guests.

A Murphy wall bed is perfect for guest rooms. Here’s why:

they’re super-comfortable to sleep on
less floor space is taken up with their pulldown design
extra storage space can be incorporated into the bed’s design
they can be customized to complement your décor

14. Create storage homes for as many things as possible

Creating homes for 100% of everything in your home is a lot to ask, but with a little time and focus, it’s possible to establish homes for most of the things you own.

Dedicated homes reduces the amount of time wasted looking for misplaced items (as long as you take that all-important step to actually put it back in its home, mind you).

15. Fall home organizing tips for outside

We aren’t just focussing on the inside with these fall home organizing tips – your home’s exterior needs a little attention in the autumn as well.

In addition to the standard outdoor home maintenance tasks you’ll be doing this fall like cleaning the eavestroughs and raking leaves, spend some time organizing now so you’ll make life easier for yourself come springtime.

Pick up any toys, sports gear, yard tools, and gardening tools sitting outside.

Drain your garden hoses, faucets, and sprinkler system to prevent damage from ice and hang the hoses neatly in the garage or a shed. Consider adding insulating covers to your outside faucets.

Wash off your patio furniture before putting it away until the spring. Store it in a shed or an out-of-the-way spot in the garage. If it’s staying outside, cover everything with properly fitting covers to prevent rust.

16. Get your garage organized and winter-ready

Because the garage gets so much use during the spring and summer, it tends to be one of the more demanding fall home organizing projects to deal with.

Just as you edited your closet’s belongings, do the same with the contents of your garage. Throw out old or broken tools that aren’t useful.

Look for floor clutter that can be discarded to make more space for garage parking when the weather gets worse.

If floor clutter is a problem, the solution is to make better use of your wall and overhead space.

Slatwall storage panels and overhead racking will create an ample amount of storage room for things like:

yard tools
sports equipment (including bikes)
ladders
holiday decorations
bulky seasonal items such as patio furniture

Contact Garage Living to get more information about how they can make your garage more visually appealing and organized.

17. Upgrade or add a mudroom

Having a transitional home space between the indoors and outside like a mudroom is particularly helpful at this time of year.

A mudroom can help to contain the messes that occur with tracked-in mud or snow from boots, as well as jackets and apparel that are soaked from the rain or snow.

In addition to your family’s fall and winter outdoor gear, all of those other items that regularly go in and out of the house like dog leashes, car keys, and backpacks can be kept organized in a mudroom and won’t get lost or misplaced as often.

Start your fall home organizing now

If you’ve been thinking about devoting time to some of these fall home organizing projects, let us know how we can help.

Organized Interiors has storage and organization solutions that every room in your home can benefit from.

Get a free quote by requesting a free in-home design consultation with us today.

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Top 9 Mudroom Ideas for Keeping Your Entryway Clean and Tidy

When is a room not always a room?

A home’s mudroom might involve a separate smaller room near an entrance or be combined into a laundry room. Then again, it may also just be a space in the hall of a home’s entryway.

However it’s being defined or used, all mudrooms have a common purpose – to act as a functional transition space between your home’s inside and the outdoors.

There are lots of useful features a mudroom’s design can incorporate. So what mudroom ideas work best? Let’s look at nine of the most popular features available for mudrooms.

1. Mudroom ideas that keep your floor clean

Tracked-in mud and dirt can wreak havoc on your rugs, carpets, tiles, or hardwood at any time of the year.

Add slush, snow, and salt during the winter and spring into the mix of potential messes your house has to contend with and the benefits of a mudroom become even more obvious.

The “mudroom” name itself declares one of its main purposes – to keep mud and other cleanups-waiting-to-happen contained and isolated.

Some of the following mudroom ideas can save the flooring throughout the rest of your house:

use area rugs or mats that are stain-resistant and resilient to water
add a stylish waterproof umbrella holder/stand by the doorway
ensure boot trays are used during the winter and rainy seasons to contain water
use easy to clean and durable flooring, such as porcelain or vinyl tile, or Garage Living’s PVC tiles (which are more suited to a dedicated mudroom or mudroom/laundry room)

2. Keep your footwear organized

Along with using boot trays during certain times of the year, additional shoe storage solutions help keep footwear organized in your mudroom.

Shoe racks make it easier to manage footwear storage and save you from wasting time looking for a misplaced boot, running shoe, or heel.

Another of the mudroom ideas you can use to keep your mudroom tidy is by storing footwear in cubby dividers. Just remember to let your shoes and boots properly dry out before storing them there.

You’ll also want to make sure you’re only keeping footwear in your mudroom that’s relevant to the current season. This minimizes clutter and makes it easier to maintain the space.

Removing a closet‘s doors and adding a bench adds multi-purpose, open concept storage to a mudroom.

3. Get creative with your entryway closet space

Does the entryway you’re planning to use for your mudroom have a closet? If so, Organized Interiors can refresh its look and functionality by completely transforming the closet space.

We can accomplish this by removing the closet doors, adding a built-in bench with storage space, and adding hooks, cubbies, and shelving. An open concept closet makes access to your belongings that much easier and convenient.

Mudrooms are typically known to be unflashy, hard-working areas of the home, so this is one of the mudroom ideas you can use to inject a stylish touch to your space.

4. Dual-purpose mudroom ideas for comfort and storage

Even if you don’t have an entryway closet to convert, a dual-purpose bench can be added to your mudroom. In fact, most mudroom owners would say they’re almost essential. There’s a reason benches have been one of most popular mudroom ideas and features for many years!

A mudroom bench provides a convenient sitting area for putting on and taking off your footwear. It also saves your walls from the scuffs and wear that come from using walls as support when putting on shoes and boots.

The bench can also be designed with three types of storage space to help keep your mudroom organized:

concealed storage that’s accessed by lifting the bench seat
drawer storage below the bench seat
open storage within cubbies underneath the bench’s sitting area

5. Storage space for jackets, coats, and more

Along with footwear, jackets and coats will be the other main occupants in your mudroom’s storage space.

You can store them on hooks or a coat rack, depending on what your space allows and your personal preference is. Be mindful of where you’re storing wet items and give them space to dry out.

Even more so than footwear, you’ll make life easier for yourself by only storing coats and jackets in your mudroom that are seasonally relevant.

Winter jackets, in particular, are longer and bulkier. They serve no purpose taking up space in a mudroom during the middle of summer.

6. Add custom cabinetry to give you more storage room

Perhaps you have a room in your home that you’re considering for a mudroom. The only problem is that it may be more space than you require for the specific “comings and goings” and outerwear storage purposes that mudrooms primarily fulfill.

Utilize that room’s extra space by adding high quality custom cabinetry to it. You’ll gain lots of valuable extra storage room for everything from cleaning supplies, to out-of-season clothing, to pet supplies, to anything else you need storage room for.

7. Mudroom ideas that accessorize and stylize

There are so many other smart mudroom ideas you can add to your space to get even more functionality out of it:

hooks can be added virtually anywhere for hanging hats, coats, purses, backpacks, and more (Organized Interiors has a huge selection of stylish decorative hardware to choose from)
a small table provides a handy spot to temporarily place items like mail – just be sure to declutter the top of it regularly
wall-mounted key hooks eliminate tabletop clutter and reduce the likelihood of misplacing keys
a full-length mirror in a mudroom’s corner or smaller wall-mounted mirror provide a handy method for a final appearance check before exiting your home
a few baskets and small containers help contain small items like gloves, toques, and earmuffs
add a stylish touch with photos or artwork

Browse through the hundreds of hooks and other types of decorative hardware available in our showroom.

8. Mudroom ideas that keep your walls in mind

A high traffic area located right at a doorway is going to get dirty, no matter what. By choosing sensible mudroom ideas that anticipate problems (like messy floors), you’ll minimize future headaches.

This includes choosing the right type of paint to use on your mudroom’s walls. Pick a low-maintenance wall paint that wipes down easily without rubbing away the finish. A satin, eggshell, or semi-gloss paint are generally recommended for mudroom walls.

Another option to minimize mudroom wall maintenance is to install wainscotting or beadboard. It’s also very easy to clean and the wood appearance can add a warmer, rustic look to your mudroom.

9. Use mudroom ideas that encourage your kids to stay organized

Choose mudroom ideas that both make it easy for your kids and encourage them to keep this area of your home organized.

Have personalized hooks, cubbies, or other storage spaces for each child to store their jackets, shoes, baseball caps, and other clothing items.

Backpacks and sports equipment like soccer cleats and balls, basketballs, baseball gloves, and skateboards can all have their own homes as well.

Personalized storage spaces will hopefully foster an ownership mentality and good organization habits within your children towards the space their belongings occupy in the mudroom.

Smart mudroom ideas to make your space more than just “drop zone”

A mudroom can be much more than an just an easy “drop zone” spot where items are dumped as soon as someone enters your home.

Smart design choices will transcend your mudroom beyond the “clutter magnet” space that these areas can turn into without the proper care or forethought. And your mudroom’s design can also complement your home’s décor in the process.

Discover how these mudroom ideas can improve your home by booking a free in-home design consultation with us today!

5 Makeover Tips For Your Mudroom

The mudroom is a hard-working transition space in our homes that takes us from the outdoors to indoors and vice versa.

It’s time to tune up the space that weathers all the storms.

Is there room for all your coats, outerwear, or jackets?

If you’re running out of hanging hooks in your mudroom it may be time to cull the herd of off-season coats. Before you do, check the pockets and look for signs of damage or wear.

Take the coats to the cleaners for cleaning and repairs before storing (elsewhere) until needed when the seasons change.

Give the boot to older, out of season footwear

In every family for every pair of feet there is at least one pair of shoes. Clean and store out of season footwear until the cold weather returns. Empty paper towel rolls inserted into boots help them retain their shape.

A bin with a lid may be helpful if they are stored in a dusty environment, otherwise keep the bin open and store in cool dry place.

What about what’s under the footwear?

From salt to mud to water and sand, whatever your footwear goes through so does your floor. That hard-working floor mat you’ve used all winter needs a shake out and placed into storage or discarded.

Think about replacing it with a colourful floor mat designed for indoor and outdoor use. There are great styles and sizes to choose from. It’s a great way to inexpensively dress the space.

Hats, gloves and scarves take up space

If you don’t need it, clean it and store it somewhere else. Keep your open storage available for this season’s use. In fact, think about what you really need close at hand.

Umbrellas should be stored standing in a waterproof container, handles up; hats can be stored on open shelves or on hooks, but try to edit the selection to only what you wear daily.

Use bins and baskets to keep everything neatly contained.

Are your walls taking a beating?

With all the activities and abuse a mudroom sustains you may want to bring in some reinforcements. Consider having your mudroom outfitted with a professional touch.

Organized Interiors specializes in finishes that are low maintenance, custom-sized to your space and for your families’ needs.

Contact one of the design consultants at Organized Interiors to find out how you can transform the entryway to your home.

Organization Tips for Front Door Closets

Front door closets can be tricky to organize – especially when you have large coats, shoes, sports equipment and more household items that need to be stored.

If you’re having a hard time keeping your closet tidy (and resorting to stuffing everything into one chaotic pile), try out some of these handy organization tips.

Combine your hanging rod with shelving to accommodate for more than just coats.
Instead of throwing all of your shoes on the closet floor, keep them tidy with a shoe organizer. There are various kinds of shoe organizers you can choose from, including hanging organizers and shoe racks. This will make it easier for everyone in the family to find their shoes in the morning.
Storage boxes are an easy way to prevent your closet from looking cluttered and allow you to sort and categorize items to keep everything organized.
In the winter, why hang your spring and fall coats in the entryway closet? If you have space somewhere else (such as the basement or attic), store items and seasonal clothes you don’t need elsewhere to keep your closet tidy and functional. Ask about garment racks available at Organized Interiors.
Invest in a custom mudroom closet to keep your entryway always organized. The experts at Organized Interiors are skilled in transforming closet spaces to match your needs and space. With a custom solution, you can have your closet doors removed, add a built-in bench and turn an ordinary closet into a stylish storage area.

If a custom solution sounds like the right plan for your entryway, request a free in-home design consultation with Organized Interiors.

Mudroom Storage Ideas to Reduce Clutter This Fall

Today’s urban mudroom is typically a transition space between the outdoors and in. Even with a proper closet with doors to hide the clutter, this whole “landing space” takes the brunt of a family’s lifestyle, especially as seasons change.

In a typical Canadian autumn, we can experience everything from summer heat to winter cold in the same week! So sweaters and jackets seem to multiply on top of summer sports gear, outerwear, and footwear.

In fact, you can judge a person’s level of denial that summer ended by simply looking at this transitional space.

The good news is summer will return. The bad news? It’s time to put your toys away.

Containing the clutter isn’t the problem. There are as many different types of containers as there are things to put in them, but they may not be helping you stay organized.

If you can’t see inside the storage container, it isn’t helping

Baskets, solid coloured plastic bins, or windowless containers with lids that are sitting on an overhead shelf aren’t helpful.

If you’re hunting for just a pair of gloves, you may have to rifle through several containers before you find the right one.

Storage containers are great for the things you put away each season in the garage, attic, or basement. Labelled boxes and containers make it easy to find items you’ve put away for long periods of time.

For everyday use, use open storage containers that will help you save time.

Raised, individualized cubbies that hold one pair of shoes or boots, gloves, or mittens within easy reach will help reduce clutter but remain accessible.

School lockers work for a reason

Compartmentalizing and personalizing each space invites kids to participate in the daily rituals of keeping their clutter under control.

Customize your mudroom storage solutions to work for your family. Keep in mind height considerations. Small children can’t easily reach to hang up jackets or coats on a standard clothing rod in a closet.

Put up sturdy hooks within reach for each child. Add a cubby above for hats and mitts and a shelf below for shoes and boots.

Sports equipment

This one is complicated. There isn’t one solution for all sports equipment, but if your main entry is your main “landing space”, try to keep the stuff that smells as far away as possible. The last thing you want is a mudroom that smells like a hockey dressing room.

Tall objects like hockey sticks can go in tall, sturdy containers or simply place them in a closet. Don’t leave them in the hallway where the sticks can mark up your walls and fall over.

Non-bulky gear like baseball gloves, tennis rackets, footballs, and basketballs can be stored in the cubbies or packed away in the garage until spring.

The finish line

Think about wet coats and wet boots. Along with a functional space, make sure the finishes in your mudroom can withstand heat, cold, and moisture.

Customized solutions allow air-drying and water-resistant, washable finishes. Keep the mud away and enjoy the season in a clutter-free, organized home.

Organized Interiors specializes in designing high-functioning mudrooms that will help keep your home cleaner and tidier. Schedule a free in-home design consultation with us to plan your one-of-a-kind mudroom makeover.