Even though January is over it’s never too late to create a New Year resolution. With the big spring clean upon us it’s the perfect chance to sit down and organise your home to help it run at maximum efficiency. A clean and orderly household will evoke positivity and create headspace giving you calmer outlook.
Recently we sat down with our talented stylist Sarah Harris to talk home organisation and clutter. Forget crammed wardrobes full of clothes, draws overflowing with paperwork and shelves full of stuff you simply don’t require. We have all the tips and tricks to get your house into shape this year.
Sarah’s top three tips on staying organised
1. To Do Lists – Make them achievable and tick off as you tackle and organise each area of your home/life.
2. Banish ever increasing tottering piles of paperwork, bills etc on surfaces and file away or discard. This frees up both your home and your mind.
3. Declutter and reselect items to put on display, restricting them to things you love to look at and that mean something to you and your family. A good clear out makes the mind feel more organised and less stressed. Seeing beautiful personal pieces on display reinforces a feeling of wellbeing and calm.
Top Space Saving Techniques In The Living Room.
The living room is one of the most used spaces in the home, a place to relax after work, socialise with family and friends and to just simply have quiet time away from the world. By decluttering and rethinking an area at a time you can create a clean slate to work with and enjoy. Not only will it improve your mood it will also make cleaning your home a quick and easy task. We spoke to Sarah to see what advice she had on tackling this popular room.
- Keep floor areas clear of clutter free to give a spacious flow around the room. For example, instead of magazine racks and piles of books on the floor, create wall shelving or fitted furniture storage to file these away neatly.
- Think about clever furniture. A coffee table that has concealed storage beneath is a wonderful practical space saving solution, as are side tables whose base can slot beneath the arms of the sofa taking up less floor space.
- Integrate as many stand alone furniture pieces that take up minimum floor space within your fitted furniture. A classic example is a secret study with desk, chair and filing hidden away behind cupboard doors.
- We all hate organising media in our lounges, hide away unsightly technology and wiring behind cupboard doors to keep a seamless sleek space.
- Use as much of the available wall space for your fitted furniture as possible. NJ Furniture can be installed around tricky architectural features like beams and sloping rooflines. I especially love the display/storage shelving that continues and runs over a doorway or entrance to another room (see the Barnet room above) as this is often a neglected opportunity to create usable space.
- The spaces to each side of a chimney breast are also perfect places to accommodate fitted furniture with cupboards storage below and a pleasing balance of display treasures on shelving above.
Minimalist or Maximalist
With the rise of maximalism in our home interiors this year we thought we’d ask Sarah whether she is minimalist or maximalist.
“Definitely more of a Maximalist at home as I am an avid collector and have a very eclectic taste. But I can appreciate the beauty of Minimalism and try to apply it to certain work projects. I guess I struggle with the extreme examples of both and try to get a more harmonious balance of the two in my home and styling work.
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