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copyright ©1999-2002
DigsMagazine.com.
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fight
the
chaos
organizing your living space
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continued from page 2
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2
Use those under-spaces
Under the bed, under the sofas, under the endtables, night-tables,
coffee tables – all offer prime stash-it potential that frequently go
unused. And the behind-spaces – behind the dresser, behind the
bookshelf – are great places to stash those extra moving boxes
(flattened, of course. When short on space, ALWAYS flatten any cardboard
boxes you’re hanging onto; they take up far less space).
3 Force
your furniture to multi-task
Think outside the box a little: a table doesn’t have to be a slab of
wood with four legs holding it up by the corners. Choose furniture that
also doubles as storage space. Need an office desk? Buy a solid wooden
door at Home Depot, paint it in whatever color makes you happy, then
throw it on a couple of file cabinets – instant desk with plenty of
room to store all your papers. Instead of a traditional coffee table,
use a low bookshelf (put it on casters for mobility), or a trunk (yard
sales and estate sales are great places to score some nice vintage
trunks).
4 Shelving
is your friend
You can never have enough
bookcases and/or wall-mounted shelving. Take a good look around your pad
and you’re sure to find plenty of unused wall space that’s just
crying out for a shelf -- above windows and doors, next to an entryway,
above the kitchen countertops, above the toilet in the bathroom, above
your dresser, desk, sofa, etc. If you actually have somewhere to store
the washed dishes, clean clothing, laundered towels, you have one less
excuse to leave it all lying around causing clutter. And making your own
bookcases is the best way to ensure that you’ve got the right height
shelves to house your particular book collection – and bonus: it’s a
lot cheaper than buying ready-made. Speaking of books ...
5
Stack books on their backs as well as their spines
"Blasphemy!" you
book-lovers out there may be shouting right now – how can you pull
your Dostoevsky off the shelf to read if it’s pinned beneath a dozen
other books? But hear me out. Stacking books on top of each other is far
and away the most efficient use of the vertical space between shelves.
Obviously, any books to which you require ready and instant access
should be stored standing upright. But let’s face it, there’s
probably a good portion of your collection that’s been sitting there
on your shelves, collecting dust, for years and years now. These are the
books that can be stacked on top of one another. Organize these books
into piles according to size/dimension (pocket-size paperbacks, trade
paperbacks, hardcover novels, college textbooks – each will go in a
separate pile). Then slide your stacks onto your bookshelves. Alternate
a horizontal stack with a series of vertically-standing books for visual
interest.
don't
stop: still more!
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