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Thanks for visiting my blog. Hope you find some helpful hints for organizing your time and space. My passions are to help you make home a refuge instead of a crisis center, and to help you function in peace rather than chaos - at home or at work. I have switched my main blog to 1-2-3 ... Get Organized on WordPress, so please visit me there.



Friday, September 17, 2010

Memories, Small Spaces and Double-Duty Storage

  
This past spring I helped organize a client who lives in a very small space. She is very sentimental, so she needed a way to keep her sentimental things around her while using her space well.

One item she found while shopping is a picture frame that doubles as jewelry storage. If you look carefully at the picture, you can see that the picture frame swings out. Behind the frame are hooks for necklaces, and storage for earrings and rings. This particular frame comes from J C Penney.


My client has numerous grandchildren and is continually collecting little gifts for them. A trunk that has been handed down in the family now stores those gifts, making them accessible, but hidden. As a result, pleasant memories are associated with this trunk in a couple of ways.

A wall-hung coat rack which belonged to her dad now serves as their entry way coat closet, since their house does not have one. An ottoman in the living room opens up to reveal extra storage.

Thankfully, my client's house has a large attached garage. Those things which are used occasionally can be stored there, and don't need to take up real estate in the house.



More on storage:
 Color-Coding Your Storage

Containerizing Your Kitchen

Don't Make the #1 Organizing Mistake

Three Steps to Decluttering