We all know that condo living has its advantages and disadvantages and one of the latter can be having enough space.
Organized Interiors has been dealing with getting the most out of small and unusual spaces for more than 40 years now. Our custom design expertise really got a workout on this condo remodel in Toronto.
The project involved redesigning a few areas in this small condo space.
This closet makeover in a Toronto condo adds built-in drawer and shelving storage and attractive sliding glass doors.
4 condo remodel ideas we used for this project
The following condo remodel ideas were used for this project:
a custom built-in wardrobe was added
a small home office space was created
sliding doors were installed in multiple closets
three bedroom closets were given makeovers
Let’s walk through each step that was taken for the condo remodel and explain how we dealt with some of the design challenges that were encountered.
Custom condo wardrobe
A built-in custom wardrobe and home office space were part of this condo remodel project.
Because closet space is often at a premium in condos, adding a wardrobe is a smart way to increase your clothes storage space.
A new wardrobe closet was needed for the condo’s entrance area. The tall cabinet section in the photo above shows the wardrobe that we built, complete with lower drawers.
You can see that the wardrobe drawers and doors have no pulls visible, so you may be wondering how they are opened. Touch-latch hardware was used. By avoiding installing handles or knobs on the wardrobe’s front, the clean lines of the design are preserved. The doors and drawers simply need to be pressed lightly and they pop open.
We used LED strip lighting across the wardrobe top (facing the ceiling) to provide some ambient lighting for that corner, as the condo’s overhead light fixture in that area is a little further away.
On the immediate left of the wardrobe is the original entrance closet, which had sliding glass doors added. That closet is half-occupied by a stacked washer and dryer, with the remaining half being used for storing cleaning products and linens.
Home office space
Having a home office was useful even before the pandemic. Now a home office has become even more of an asset as working from home becomes the norm for many of us.
Along the adjacent wall to the wardrobe, we built a home office space. It includes a desk with upper drawers and larger file drawers down below, which both use the easy-open touch-latch hardware. An overhead cabinet with lift-up doors provides additional storage space.
As you can see, creating a useful office workspace at home doesn’t require much room. Having a dedicated part of the home you can use for work and studying helps you be more productive and avoid having to use areas like the dining room table to get work done.
The home office is situated between the condo’s entrance and an open kitchen. We used high-gloss white laminate for the custom cabinetry exteriors (including the wardrobe) to match the finish of the kitchen cabinets.
Sliding closet doors
The existing builder-grade sliding mirrored closet doors were replaced with our glass sliding doors. The left closet has a drawer tower and a short hanging rod and the right closet is designed for hanging wardrobe storage.
There were two narrow master bedroom closets on either side of the entrance to the en suite bathroom. All the condo closet doors were builder-grade sliding mirrored doors, which were replaced with our aluminum-framed white laminated glass sliding closet doors.
The challenge with adding doors to these two closets was that we wanted to increase the access to the closet interiors, without affecting access to the bathroom in between.
The solution: our top-hung bypass doors. Using the same door profiles and glass as our regular sliding doors, we used top-hung hardware to create a single large panel for each closet. Each door slides completely to the side in front of the bathroom door, to reveal the entire left or right closet.
The top-hang feature means that there is no floor track in front of the entrance to the bathroom, so you don’t have to step over it each time you enter and exit. If anyone is in the bathroom and someone else uses a closet and forgets to close its door, the doors have the same grip on the front and back so they can be opened and closed from either side.
Sliding doors aren’t just meant for closets in a condo. Using sliding doors as a room partition is ideal for enjoying an open space, while also giving you more privacy when needed.
Deep drawers, easy-to-access shelving, and two hanging rods maximize this small closet’s storage space.
There was another small reach-in closet in the second bedroom. Once again, we added our sliding closet doors, this time with a standard bottom track.
For the interior, we used the same type of design that the left-hand closet in the double master closet has. To maximize the small closet’s storage space and functionality, the drawers are built extra-deep. The shelves above them are shallower to make them more useful higher up. Short upper and lower hanging rods were added as well.
In both closets, the drawers are designed with scooped fronts to once again avoid handles. In this case, it was to ensure any handles did not interfere with the sliding doors.
Talk to us about your house or condo remodel needs
If you’re planning a house or condo remodel, talk to Organized Interiors about what we can do to transform your living space.
Whether it’s giving one of your closets a makeover or you’re considering a bigger scale project like this that involves multiple upgrades for your home, we can help.
When the calendar flips over to January, about 60% of us make New Year’s resolutions.
Some of the most common New Year’s resolutions are to get in shape, eat healthier, and learn a new skill. Right up there with them is the desire to organize your home.
The concept of home comfort has taken on a new level of importance in our lives over this past challenging year. Spending so much time indoors has made us rethink how we use our living spaces.
Many of us have become more mindful of how our homes look and function. Are they contributing to our quality of life or adding more stress to it?
Organize your home by fixing once space at a time
Almost every home has at least one area that needs some TLC. If your home has a few areas in need of some upgrades, don’t take on too much at once. That often leads to a less than satisfying outcome.
Pace yourself and have a smart plan you can stick to. When you set out to organize your home, commit to improving one space at a time. Then you won’t need to go back and tweak or improve your home upgrades, which isn’t productive.
Organization expert Christina Scalise once said that organization isn’t about perfection. Organization is about:
better home efficiency
reducing clutter and stress
saving time and money
improving your overall quality of life
How will you organize your home this new year?
Right now is a great time to upgrade and organize your home. Interest rates are low. You may qualify for a home renovation rebate or a work from home tax deduction as well. These can help offset some of your home remodelling costs.
And most importantly, you’ll boost your home comfort level by upgrading your organization systems and refreshing your décor.
But nothing happens without taking that first step.
So where will your efforts to organize your home this year start? Here are 20 areas in your house or condo that are worth upgrading.
Home office
The most popular home design trends of 2020 have been the addition of exercise spaces and home offices. The latter is one trend that will have staying power.
Even after the pandemic ends, remote work will remain the way many of us will earn our living. Forbes.com reports that homebuilders have seen more demand for residences with extra space that can be used as a home office.
Using a proper workspace is better than a makeshift setup of working or studying at the dining room table or on the couch. You can set it up in a part of the home that gives you more privacy.
Talk to us about personalizing your home workspace and designing it to accommodate your work needs. This will provide you with a more comfortable work environment that leads to better productivity.
Reach-in closet
Is keeping your closets organized a constant battle you can never win? If so, look at some solutions that will make it easier to maintain tidier reach-in closet spaces.
Our closet organizer systems will maximize your wardrobe storage space. We have customization options that range from simple to extravagant closet designs.
Do you need a tower of shelves and drawers in the closet’s centre? How about extra hanging rods? Are your closets in need of some sprucing up? Decorative touches like new baseboards, crown moulding, and stylish hardware will help in the latter area.
Just ask us and we’ll work our magic to create a reach-in closet space you’ll love.
Walk-in closet
You’ve been eyeing that spare room and hoping to eventually transform it into the dream walk-in closet you’ve always wanted. Make this the year you finally take action.
A traditional reach-in closet space can’t always meet your storage needs. A walk-in closet provides valuable extra storage space for all of your clothes. It eliminates the headaches that come with managing a large wardrobe collection.
Customize your walk-in with a variety of features for better functionality and stylish appeal. Create a private, personalized space for getting dressed and more efficient wardrobe storage with:
wall-to-wall cabinetry
a makeup area with a vanity
handy closet accessories like a jewellery drawer and pullout ironing board
an island with extra storage space
a full-length mirror
Entertainment centre
Our home entertainment rooms got a real workout in 2020 as hours upon hours of TV, movies, and streaming content were watched. Could your home’s main entertainment space be improved?
A small, simple TV stand with a few drawers or shelves may not be enough to meet your needs. A home entertainment setup must accommodate the wide array of audio and video equipment and accessories we use every day.
A custom home entertainment centre keeps all of your devices and cables organized. Physical media can also be stored on open shelves or hidden behind cabinet doors.
You can even add an electric fireplace to your entertainment centre! There are plenty of custom options available to create a home showpiece that becomes the focal point of your living room or home theatre.
Kids were certainly impacted by the shift to remote learning in 2020. They’ll benefit from having a private, more comfortable area to study in with fewer distractions.
We can transform a spare room or even a small area of your house or condo into a productive home study space. If space is an issue, a study area could also be combined with a home office as part of a multi-purpose room design.
Find out more here about creating a learning-friendly study space in your home.
Sliding closet doors
Sliding closet doors have multiple types of applications. They can be used as sliding doors for a traditional reach-in closet. We can also install custom-built gables and sliding doors that add instant closet storage anywhere in your home.
Sliding closet doors are ideal for using as room dividers, too. This lets you partition off an area of your living space for more privacy when needed. With families quarantining together, interior designers have seen an increase in demand for sliding doors being used for this purpose.
Have your sliding doors custom-made so you have a large selection of design options to choose from. Organized Interiors has a wide range of custom options for door frames and glass, mirror, or melamine inserts.
Guest room with a Murphy wall bed
Another spare room idea worth considering is turning it into a useful guest room. Including a Murphy wall bed in the room’s design is a great idea, too.
A Murphy wall bed’s biggest benefit is that it takes up very little space. Until they’re needed, the bed stays folded up and out of the way. You can surround the bed within beautiful custom cabinetry that provides storage space for your guests’ linens and pillows.
Having a guest room always-at-the-ready is a wonderful thing to have, not just for unexpected overnight guests, but any time. Your guests will appreciate sleeping on a comfortable mattress that’s a lot friendlier to their backs than an air mattress or lumpy couch.
Wardrobe closet
Your main bedroom closet has gotten the makeover treatment and you’re still not satisfied with how much storage room is available for all of your clothes. What can you do?
Let a wardrobe closet be your clothes storage saviour! Custom wardrobes can be built to the size you need to fix the problems caused by an overstuffed bedroom closet.
Whether it’s for extra shoe storage, more hanging space, or extra accessories, wardrobes are ideal as a supplementary bedroom storage solution. They can be designed as a built-in or standalone furniture piece.
And if that shared closet space with your partner just isn’t working out, eliminate the frustration you’re both feeling by getting a wardrobe that one of you can use.
Laundry room
Laundry tasks can be a whole lot more miserable to tackle when the room you’re working in feels like a dungeon.
An increasingly popular way to organize your home and improve one of its hardest working rooms is to update the laundry room’s appearance and functionality.
There are numerous ways to upgrade your laundry room:
max out the room’s storage with custom cabinetry
update the décor of the room
add more usable countertop space
upgrade the room’s lighting
add convenient helpers like laundry hampers and extra hanging accessories
Wine room
Is your wine collection in need of more storage space? Perhaps your wine collection has never had a proper home and is being stored on wine racks in your basement or living room.
The perfect solution is to turn your spare room into a walk-in wine cellar or a wine room that’s stylish enough to use as an entertainment space.
For smaller spaces or more modestly-sized wine collections, a reach-in wine closet is another option to keep your bottles organized and in ideal storage conditions.
Wet bar
With a little imagination, inspiration, and customization, you can set up a wet bar in almost any room in your home.
Custom bar cabinetry is a great way to keep your liquor organized. It also adds an aesthetically pleasing touch of class to any room.
Entertain in style with one of our custom-designed cabinetry units, island-style bars, or mini-bars.
Linen closet
The linen closet doesn’t get a lot of home improvement attention. It’s often overlooked because it’s a utilitarian storage space that’s typically small and has a fairly straightforward layout.
That’s exactly why you should think about a linen closet makeover, however. There’s plenty of room for improvement in most reach-in linen closets, which do their fair share in helping to organize your home.
You can have the closet redesigned to freshen up its appearance, maximize its storage space, and keep up with the daily use it gets storing the many linens in your home.
For a stylish solution to a good night’s sleep, look no further than built-in bedroom cabinetry that is custom-designed for your space, creating a seamless blend with your bedroom’s decor.
Our bedroom cabinetry combines your bed with surrounding built-in storage below, above, and around your sleeping space in a smartly designed integrated furniture piece.
Makeup table
With makeup application being such a staple of the daily routine for so many women, it makes a lot of sense to have a makeup table in order to streamline the process.
A posh makeup area where your beauty routine occurs almost every day is certainly practical, as it helps you to stay organized. It’s also nice to have a personalized space to complete your beauty ritual more comfortably.
Learn more here about why a bespoke makeup table could make a great addition to your walk-in closet, dressing room, master bedroom, or bathroom.
Mudroom
Mudrooms are rather under-appreciated, but they’re quite valuable when it comes to helping organize your home.
The National Association of Realtors believes that the mudroom may even become known as the “disinfection room” in an era of a pandemic. As they wrote in a recent blog post, “The mudroom is gaining prominence as a spot to sanitize before heading further inside.”
A mudroom can come in variety of forms. It might be a small room near an entrance or combined with your laundry room. Even a dedicated space in the hall of your home’s entryway can be considered a mudroom.
Organized Interiors can help keep this transitional space in your home more orderly. We can design a mudroom that creates a proper home for all of your shoes, umbrellas, jackets, and other outwear using hooks, custom cabinetry, shoe racks, and other solutions.
Basement
Basements provide ample room for home storage, but they’re rarely given much consideration to keep the things you’re storing organized and easy to find.
Adding better storage systems like custom cabinetry to maintain order and to eliminate visual clutter will help make the basement look more presentable.
An unfinished basement leaves a lot to be desired in the looks department. Make the space cozier by:
finishing the walls and ceiling and upgrading the basement’s insulation
adding a raised “floating floor” that is more comfortable (temperature-wise) to walk on
replacing old carpeting with new carpeting, carpet tiles, or interlocking floor tiles
reducing the chill in the basement with an energy-efficient electric fireplace
Library/reading room
If you’re an avid reader and have a large book collection, dedicating a spare room or smaller part of a room for storing books on custom cabinetry shelves keeps things looking tidy and easier to organize.
Make a few more practical additions to the room by complementing your books stored within stylish furniture with some of these ideas:
a comfortable accent chair
a high-quality reading light
an ottoman
a side table for beverages
Now you have the ideal personalized space where you can indulge your passion for reading in privacy and blissful comfort!
Craft room
2020 was the perfect year to learn a new hobby. 2021 can be the year you dedicate more time to a new creative pursuit or one of the hobbies you’ve been enjoying for years in the comfort of your own craft room.
A craft room is another great way to use a spare room more effectively. If you or anyone in your family is the creative type, a craft room provides you with a space that is dedicated to your creative passions. You can use it as a room for:
sewing
scrapbooking
playing music
drawing or painting
Closet accessories and decorative hardware
To get even more out of your closet spaces, take advantage of the many helpful closet accessories Organized Interiors carries.
Accessories like extra hanging rods, valet rods, pullout shoe racks, and racks for ties, scarves, and belts elevate a closet space’s functionality to the next level.
Decorative hardware that accentuates the custom cabinetry and complements your décor is also an important consideration when having your storage systems designed.
The garage
Plans to organize your home in 2021 might include getting your garage in order. If your garage clutter has left your vehicles parked in the driveway every day, talk to Garage Living.
They specialize in transforming disorganized, visually unappealing garages into highly efficient storage spaces that look as stunning as a luxury car showroom.
Let us help you organize your home this year
It can be difficult to decide where to start with your New Year’s home organization project.
For some homeowners, it may also be a bit overwhelming trying to decide what storage solutions and design changes are most practical for their living space.
Rely on a pro like Organized Interiors to help you organize your home this new year. Our storage solutions and expertise are abundant and available!
The modern-day laundry process has come a long way from the days when hand scrubbing and using washboards and clothes wringers made it much more of a time-consuming, physically demanding task.
But let’s face it, even with the conveniences of today’s smart, high-tech appliances and more efficient laundry cleaning products, doing the laundry is still one of our least favourite home chores.
It doesn’t help when common laundry mistakes cause problems that can damage your clothing, add extra time to the laundry process, and even make your home less safe.
Avoid these common laundry mistakes
The average time to wash and dry a load of clothes is about 90-100 minutes (using normal wash and dry cycles).
That doesn’t even include the time it takes to collect and sort dirty clothes, nor the time required to re-sort, iron, fold, and put away your laundered clothing. The average family does approximately seven loads of laundry per week, which works out to over 400 laundry loads annually.
It’s no wonder that doing the laundry is the most time-consuming household task after cooking!
So how can you streamline the process and avoid making the types of laundry mistakes that can waste your time and shorten the life of both your clothing and laundry appliances?
We’ve chosen some of the most common bad laundry habits and explain how to go about doing your laundry the right way.
1. Using too much detergent
Photo by Rodnae Productions from Pexels
Overusing detergent is one of the most common laundry mistakes. Doing so doesn’t get your clothes any cleaner, however – it only creates problems.
Adding too much detergent to a washer load (whether it’s with a liquid detergent dispenser or using pods) generates more suds than you need.
That makes your clothes harder to rinse and can leave detergent residue or excess dirt and bacteria on them. A washer that can’t drain as efficiently because it has too many suds also has to work harder and can harbour more bacteria.
Using a regular laundry detergent in a high-efficiency washer that should be using a high-efficiency detergent (which you use less of compared to traditional detergents) will generate too many suds as well.
The washer manufacturer’s recommendation for how much detergent to use shouldn’t necessarily be taken as gospel, either.
Try cutting back your liquid detergent use per washer load to three-quarters of what is recommended and see if you’re satisfied with how your clothes are coming out at the end of the wash cycle.
2. Not regularly cleaning the dryer lint trap and vent
Dryer fires caused by lint buildup cause hundreds of fires across Canada every year. Consumer Reports says that dryer fires are much more likely to be caused by lint buildup that is ignored than electrical malfunctions.
Another reason to avoid having significant lint buildup in the dryer and its ductwork and vents is that it extends your drying times. That uses up more energy because the appliance can’t run as efficiently as it should, makes doing the laundry take longer, and shortens the life of a dryer.
To correct one of the most common laundry mistakes and avoid any lint-related issues, be proactive and follow these guidelines:
clean your lint trap after every load
check your exterior dryer vent for lint buildup a couple of times per year
occasionally check behind and underneath your dryer for loose lint
disconnect your dryer vent hose and vacuum inside of it twice a year
have your dryer ductwork cleaned every couple of years by a professional
3. Having a laundry room that lacks functionality
Remodel your laundry room for an optimal level of functionality by adding custom cabinetry with pullouts.
Considering how much time you spend doing laundry every year, it’s a wise investment to upgrade your laundry room to improve its functionality.
There’s a lot you can do with the room to give it more usefulness, which helps to streamline the laundry process. Here are a few laundry room upgrade ideas:
maximize the room’s storage space with custom cabinetry that holds all of your laundry supplies
add built-in laundry hampers to keep the room more organized and cut down on the time it takes to sort dirty clothes
create more usable workspace for folding and sorting laundry with new countertops
install convenient laundry helpers like a pullout ironing board, pullout drying drawers, and retractable valet rods
add or upgrade your laundry sink and faucet
if your laundry room has the space, install an island that provides an extra work surface and additional storage room
4. Treating stains incorrectly
Stained clothing needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later in order to avoid having a stain set in to the point where eliminating it becomes unnecessarily difficult.
To treat clothing stains effectively, first check the clothing’s label for any guidelines for dealing with stains. There are a few variables involved with treating stains, including what type of clothing you’re dealing with and the liquid or item that caused the stain itself.
If a stain removal product isn’t readily available, try submerging the stained part of the clothing in cold water or gently blot the stain with water to keep it from drying before you can deal with it further.
Another tip is to gently dab the stain and avoid scrubbing it too vigorously, which can cause the stain to spread and wear down the fabric.
5. Doing partial laundry loads or loads that are too big
It’s not energy-efficient to only do partial loads of laundry, even with a washing machine that has a setting that lets you adjust the washer’s water level.
Washing machines account for approximately a fifth of the water usage in the average home. A partial washer load with a lower water level will use up almost as much electricity as a full load, too.
Another of the laundry mistakes we make is overstuffing the washer and dryer. Hey, we’ve all had items overflowing from the top of a washer or had to use a little extra muscle to shut that dryer door because the drum was so full.
Here’s exactly why shouldn’t overload your laundry appliances:
a beyond-capacity load of clothes in a washer will be packed too tightly together and won’t get evenly cleaned
an overloaded dryer won’t dry all of your things as efficiently
laundry appliances have weight capacities and you can wear them out prematurely with excessively heavy loads
6. Using dryer sheets instead of dryer balls
Dryer sheets will get your clothes smelling more fragrant, but that highlights one of their negatives – they’re loaded with toxic chemicals that produce that pleasant smell and help them do their other jobs of softening clothes and reducing static.
In addition to the fact that they’re not exactly great for your health, dryer sheets are also less eco-friendly compared to dryer balls.
Most types of dryer sheets are used once and thrown away, their chemicals get released into the atmosphere via your dryer vent, and they don’t separate your clothes as well as dryer balls, which extends drying times.
Dryer balls are a little more cost-effective since they’re reusable and contain little or no chemicals. Another of the advantages dryer balls have over dryer sheets is that they produce less lint that sticks to clothes and ends up in the dryer’s lint screen. Over time, the dryer sheets’ coating tends to leave a thin residue that builds up on the lint trap as well.
7. Not delegating laundry duties
Running a household is hard work and every contribution to keep the home functioning smoothly helps. Therefore, don’t hesitate to delegate laundry duties to (literally) lighten your load.
If your kids are old enough to handle using a washer and dryer, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be helping out once in awhile with the home’s laundry tasks.
Getting them involved in weekly laundry duties teaches kids how to be more responsible. And their dirty clothes are contributing to the workload, so it makes even more sense for them to bear some of the work burden.
Even young kids who aren’t old enough to use laundry appliances yet are capable of putting their clean clothes away in their room when given the proper directions.
8. Using the wrong washer and dryer settings
Take the time to full understand which appliance settings will work most efficiently. (Photo by Rodnae Productions from Pexels)
Perhaps you have recently bought a new washer and/or dryer. If you used the same laundry appliances for years, it’s easy to just apply the same methodology you’re familiar with to your new machines. This is one of the types of laundry mistakes that is easy to avoid.
Chances are, you’ll need to make some sort of adjustment with the new appliances. Modern washers and dryers offer more settings and washing options than older models.
If you’re the type who never looks at the instruction manual of the products you buy, you’ll want to take a few minutes to read the user guides for your new washer and dryer.
There is sure to be at least one piece of useful information in them you’ll find useful, whether it’s something related to their maintenance or a simple operating tip you’ve been ignoring.
One more tip is to use less hot water for your wash cycles unless you’re cleaning items that typically harbour more bacteria like bath, hand, and dish towels, underwear, and sweaty clothing.
Cold water will do the job fine in most cases and is easier on your fabrics. It’s cheaper to use as well, since heating the water accounts for as much as 90% of a washer’s energy consumption.
9. Using outdated laundry appliances
Using laundry appliances you bought 20+ years ago will naturally consume more electricity compared to a newer washer or dryer model that is designated with the familiar Energy Star logo.
Newer washers will also use less water than old washers and front-loading washers operate more efficiently than top-loading washers. High-efficiency washers that are very energy-efficient and use less detergent are becoming more popular with homeowners.
One of the most attractive reasons to upgrade your laundry appliances is the wide variety of convenient features they offer, especially smart washers and dryers.
Higher-end modern laundry appliances include helpful features like:
moisture sensors to prevent overdrying
AI technology to determine the best settings for washing or drying clothes
load capacity sensors
notifications that can be sent to your smartphone to alert you when a wash or dry cycle is done
a powerful steam cycle to eliminate common household allergens
10. Leaving buttons buttoned and zippers unzipped
One of the more common laundry mistakes that can damage your shirts is to leave them buttoned up when they’re being washed or dried.
If shirts are left buttoned up, all of that tumbling around inside the appliances puts stress on the buttons and buttonholes that can cause threads to loosen and buttons to fall off.
Leaving the zippers on pants or other types of clothing unzipped is another mistake to avoid. The metal teeth of a zipper can easily catch on another piece of clothing and cause damage, particularly with delicate fabrics.
11. Ignoring the decor of your laundry room
A few hundred hours can be spent in the laundry room over the course of a year. Why not make it look nicer?
We’ve covered the benefits of improving your laundry room’s functionality. Why not pay some attention to upgrading the room’s appearance, too?
“Stylish décor” isn’t something many of us associate with a laundry room – but why not? There’s no reason to pay any less attention to a laundry room’s look than you would to any other room in your home.
When you consider just how much time you’ll spend in the laundry room over the course of a year, that should be even more incentive to make it look and feel more inviting.
To freshen up the room’s décor, give the walls and ceiling a fresh coat of paint or add wallpaper with a high humidity tolerance. Brighter lighting, new flooring, a rug, some wall art, and some plants (if the room gets enough sunlight) will get you that much closer to creating a comfortable laundry space.
High-quality custom cabinetry will allow you to choose stylish decorative hardware and appealing finishes that complete your décor upgrade.
12. Not cleaning your washing machine
It might not seem like it needs it, but that appliance that gets your clothes clean occasionally needs to be cleaned itself. Not all of the bacteria from the loads of dirty clothes and linens that you wash just disappears with the drained laundry water.
If you have an old washing machine or wash in cold water 100% of the time, your appliance will likely be even more susceptible to bacteria buildup. A telltale sign that your washer needs a cleaning is that it will have an unpleasant odour that is being caused by a buildup of mould and mildew.
To eliminate washing machine bacteria (as well as the buildup from dirt and detergent), it’s a good idea to run a cleaning cycle with no clothes in the machine using hot water and bleach (or a bleach alternative) on a monthly basis.
Samsung recommends keeping a washing machine’s door and detergent drawer open after using it to prevent mould and mildew from forming.
13. Washing jeans the wrong way
Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
Denim may be one of the most rugged types of fabrics we wear, but washing and drying jeans the wrong way is one of the laundry mistakes that can cause your favourite pair of pants to fall apart prematurely.
People commonly wash their jeans using their washer’s heavy-duty setting because they think denim requires it. Unless the care label on the jeans says so, however, this is unnecessary and only putting more stress on the pants. Jeans don’t require anything higher than a medium or low setting for the dryer, either.
How often you wash your jeans is a personal choice. As long as a pair of jeans smells fine and looks presentable, that’s good enough for a lot of people. If you prefer to be a little more proactive with keeping your jeans clean, Good Housekeeping magazine’s product testers recommend washing jeans every three or four wears.
A jean washing tip you might not know is that they should always be turned inside out when being washed and dried. It’s gentler on the outer fibres of the pants and slows down the fading process.
Transform your laundry room
These best practices can correct some of the most common laundry mistakes we make and help to save you some time and frustration when doing your laundry.
If it’s time for your outdated laundry room to get some special attention to make it more functional and modern-looking, Organized Interiors is the design professional to trust.
Why are you better off buying a custom built-in wall unit instead of freestanding cabinetry that you assemble yourself?
Well for starters, you won’t need to contend with the aggravating “assemble it yourself” part.
There’s also no comparison between the two in terms of how they look and can be tailored for both your living space and functional needs.
One project we worked on involved designing a multi-purpose built-in wall unit that includes several wardrobe closets, a laundry hamper, a built-in fireplace, and an entertainment centre.
Storage, a laundry helper, a mood setter, and home entertainment all brought together in one beautiful solution – what’s not to love?
This built-in wall unit is perfect for this bedroom space
Let’s face it, not all of the features in this wall unit are things you would exactly associate with one another. The TV and fireplace together make a lot of sense. For many people, however, perhaps including either the laundry hamper or closet spaces wouldn’t work for their needs.
That’s the beauty of custom cabinetry. It allows you to break free from the limitations of what stock, one-size-fits-all furniture that is designed to appeal to the most number of consumers offers.
For this client’s specific needs, the all-in-one wall unit is perfect. They don’t have to buy several furniture pieces that may be difficult to stylistically match with each other, nor do they need to worry about how well everything will fit within their living space.
Improve the shape and function of your rooms
One of the many benefits of a built-in wall unit is that it takes up a smaller footprint in a room than freestanding furniture.
This custom cabinetry piece integrates seamlessly with the rest of the room. With its complementary décor and wise use of the space, it truly looks like a part of the room’s original design.
Details like that matter. As an architect wrote in a Houzz article titled The Hidden Benefits of Built-In Storage, “thoughtfully designed storage can improve the shape and function of our interior spaces”.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the design features that went into this one-of-a-kind built-in wall unit.
Built-in wardrobes
Ample shelving and drawer wardrobe storage space can be used as a bedroom’s primary closet space or supplement a traditional closet.
Four separate full-height closets on each end of the built-in wall unit provide plenty of wardrobe storage space in this master bedroom.
These closets are designed with adjustable shelves and lower drawers, but you’re not limited to this type of setup. We can design built-in wardrobes to include hanging rods and various closet accessories, too. This wall unit could also have been designed with one larger wardrobe on each side instead of two.
Because the drawer boxes are concealed behind the doors in this wall unit, they have simplified fronts. We’ve employed “scoop” handles, which allows us to make the drawers full-depth without compromising the depth with protruding handles or knobs.
A built-in entertainment centre
Since the wall unit was being installed in the master bedroom, a built-in entertainment centre with room for a television and additional media accessories was required.
As you can see, the built-in TV above the fireplace is mounted relatively high. That location makes it ideal for watching the TV while in bed. The wall unit’s design allows wires and cables to be discreetly kept hidden.
Above the television are a couple of open spaces where a soundbar, streaming device, cable receiver, or PVR can go. Taller open shelving display spaces could also be used for placing books or personal effects like photos or knick-knacks.
The layout can be configured for your needs. The open sections up top could instead be included at the bottom of the unit in place of the two banks of drawers (one of which is actually a well-disguised laundry hamper, as we’ll explain shortly). This would make adding something like a Blu-ray player more practical.
Electric fireplace
An electric fireplace and TV boosts the room’s comfort level.
Along with the TV, an embedded electric fireplace forms the centrepiece of this highly functional wall unit.
Electric fireplaces are great for several reasons:
they can be used year-round to boost a room’s ambiance and comfort level
some electric fireplace models can provide ambiance and function as a supplemental heating source
they’re energy-efficient
compared to using a traditional wood fireplace, they’re much safer and involve virtually no maintenance or extra work like cutting or hauling firewood
they’re super-easy to use and have options that allow you to change the display colour to match your mood or complement your décor
A laundry hamper and matching drawers
A cleverly disguised tilt-out laundry hamper sits beside a bank of real drawers.
When is a bank of drawers not a bank of drawers? When it’s the front face for a tilt-out laundry hamper!
To keep the overall structure symmetrical, we matched the adjacent three drawers with a false front composed of three faces pieced together. Locating the hamper right below the fireplace simply made the most sense, as you wouldn’t want it positioned too high.
Since the wall unit functions as the bedroom’s master wardrobe, having an integrated space to put dirty clothes makes a great deal of sense.
The hamper’s cloth bag is designed to be easily removed when it’s time to do the laundry and can be cleaned when required.
Additional design features of this built-in wall unit
This custom wall unit is constructed using one of our most popular finishes, a colour called Antique White. It’s a fairly universal colour, in that it is readily available in the various types of laminates that we use in our custom cabinetry construction.
Flat components, in this case comprising the structural parts like the cabinet’s sides and shelves, are achieved using melamine on board.
Pieces that have some shape to them (the baseboard, crown moulding, and door and drawer fronts) are shaped in MDF with thermoplastic (sometimes called thermofoil) laminate. Thermoplastic is more flexible than melamine and wraps in and out of the curves and around the edges.
Finishing touches include adding decorative pulls and over cabinet lighting for additional visual appeal.
Customize your built-in wall unit
This creative blend of home storage and décor solutions is just one example of what’s possible when you customize your cabinetry instead of buying a mass-produced wall unit.
Yes, a custom built-in wall unit does cost more. However, you can rest assured that it will fit your space perfectly, have a high-end look that complements your room’s style, and be tailored specifically for your storage needs.
Murphy wall beds are well-known for their space-saving benefits, practicality, and comfort.
But did you know this age-old sleeping solution extends to more than just a traditional bed that folds down from a wall?
The Murphy bed sofa takes this clever furniture concept and does it one better by adding a comfortable sofa to the mix.
Why a Murphy bed sofa is so practical
One of the main reasons to install a Murphy bed sofa (also known as a MurphySofa or a Murphy bed with a couch) is to allow a room to serve other purposes aside from being used only as sleeping quarters.
We often see them used in home offices and family rooms, especially with the rising popularity of smaller condo units in Toronto. Even a larger room in your home may need to serve multiple purposes, which the bed/sofa combination is ideal for.
The project highlighted here is a great example of how combining a Murphy bed with a stylish sofa can change how you use your space for the better.
In this project, the room will mostly be used as a work area and occasionally for entertaining. With the simple addition of a custom sofa with an integrated Murphy bed behind it, the room becomes more versatile.
The sofa is located close to the window, providing a comfortable seating area with a nice view. The Murphy wall bed is stored behind it.
The Murphy bed sofa is well-positioned facing the built-in wall unit on the opposite wall that was also installed.
Guest rooms are another ideal spot for a Murphy bed sofa. Having overnight visitors is not a weekly or monthly occurrence, so you may not wish to dedicate an entire room for this purpose.
A wall bed/sofa allows the room to always be at-the-ready to accommodate guests. One of the hallmarks of a genuine Murphy bed is that they include a real mattress (spring or coil and up to 10″ thick) that doesn’t fold in the middle. This allows your guests to get a better night’s sleep than they would on a flimsy, uncomfortable sleeper sofa mattress.
When visitors aren’t staying over, the room can be used for something else, such as a home office, craft room, exercise space, or reading room.
How a Murphy bed sofa works
Let’s explain how a Murphy bed sofa works. The idea is that moving an entire couch in order to fold down a wall bed located behind it isn’t practical.
That’s too much work and besides, if you have a Murphy bed in the first place then space is likely at a premium in the room.
To make things easier, we incorporate the sofa into the bed. To access the bed, simply remove the back and bottom cushions and lower the bed over the sofa frame, as shown below.
Folding the bed down or raising it back up is smooth and easy. Organized Interiors uses genuine Murphy bed hardware for its superior quality, ease of use, and its outstanding 25-year warranty.
The Murphy wall bed folds back up into a storage space that is hidden with attractive faux cabinet doors (they’re actually the underside of the bed and also function as the couch’s backrest).
The entire design is customized to complement the existing décor of your room.
Customize your furniture and let a pro install it
As always, Organized Interiors designs all of our projects with you and your space in mind.
That’s the biggest advantage of choosing us for your project instead of buying your Murphy bed and sofa online and trying to install it yourself.
Customized design
We work with you to create a design that is customized to complement your home’s décor. Many finish and panel options are available, as well as a wealth of hardware styles and upgrade options. You can specify what type and colour of fabric you want for the sofa, the type of legs it has, and even customize the arm design.
The project shown here features a queen-size bed, but we can also do this furniture combination with single and double-size mattresses. Organized Interiors can design a sofa with a side-tilt (horizontal) Murphy bed, too (this configuration is available in double and queen sizes only).
Professional installation
Assembling and installing a Murphy bed sofa in your home isn’t a job for the average homeowner with basic handyman skills.
We save you the headache of tackling this tricky installation by installing everything efficiently and correctly. Our professional installers will ensure that your bed and sofa unit fit perfectly.
Experience the benefits of a Murphy bed sofa
Upgrade the functionality in one of your home’s rooms by adding a multipurpose Murphy bed sofa to it.
Schedule a free consultation with us to start collaborating on a bed and sofa design that works for your living space.
Dryer sheets will get your clothes smelling more fragrant, but that highlights one of their negatives – they’re loaded with toxic chemicals that produce that pleasant smell and help them do their other jobs of softening clothes and reducing static.
