Entries Tagged 'Shelf Organization' ↓

Under just about any circumstance, giving someone a shelving unit as a gift can typically be a dicey decision. While many do like to get practical gifts, most of us are just looking to get some cool new toys for the home. Closet shelving as a gift is usually met with general disappointment.

Even I, as a person that is considered to be a dedicated connoisseur of the art of home storage, rarely if ever would place a wall-mounted floating shelf anywhere near the top of my Wish List. However, I have decided that there is one particular home-storage and organization related item that makes for an excellent gift.

Maybe you are like me and have a large walk-in closet but are unable to find an efficient, cost-effective way to make the most of the space. Well, adding a closet shelving system can make an incredible difference. Though closet storage systems do not make the most exciting present, they are the perfect choice for providing your home with a sense of greater organization.

While the walk-in closet in my bedroom is very spacious, it is lacking in useful shelving for storing all of our clothing. As of right now, our closet looks like a disaster area, with clothes stacked on top of each other, shoes all over the floor and accessories scattered around – basically a huge mess. Adding a modular closet shelving system is the perfect solution for getting the closet organized. What is great about this modular system is I can pick and choose the pieces I want, ensuring I don’t waste money on storage pieces I have no need for.

For our closet, the perfect accessories were:

1.)    The Standard System, which included

1. Three 12″ x 24″ shelves
2. Three 12″ x 72″ shelves
3. Five Wardrobe Bars
4. 9 Bar Spacers
5. 4 Angle Brackets

2.)    A wall-mounted shelf tower, perfect for putting our folded clothes

3.)    An under-mount tie and belt rack for organizing all of our accessories

4.)    A deep wire basket for catch-all storage

5.)   And lastly, a few additional shelves for the shelf tower

The last four years or so have been pretty tough economical times for Americans.  However, one positive that can be taken away from this difficult time is many people have learned to simplify their lives and live within their means. Even as we slowly but surely pull out of the recession and folks find themselves with a little bit of extra spending money compared to the last few years, sustaining these new-found principles is a very healthy thing.

One of the easiest ways to simplify your life is to have a renewed focus on preparing meals at home. There are several great reasons to make a point of eating at home instead of out at a restaurant:

1. It saves money. The dollar menu at your fast-food joint may seem like it is a good deal on paper, but comparing it the amount of money you spend per-person, per-meal when you cook at home shows just how wasteful it can be
2. It is often very difficult to register just what kind of nutritional value meals at restaurants contain. While many large chains are now required to label meals with their caloric count, one-off restaurants and fancier restaurants do not. When you cook at home you know exactly what is going into your meal, and how much of it.

The problem many people face when it comes to cooking food in the kitchen is that there simply is not enough space to cook a proper meal. Often this comes down to a lack of counter space – I know I struggle with it often in my one-bedroom apartment.

One great way to clear up counter space (and pantry space) is to install a slide-out storage tower in the kitchen. This unique shelf is able to fit into areas of the kitchen you never imagined could be used for storage! With a pull-out design you can store spices, canned food and other items that normally would take up valuable counter space in the kitchen.

This week and next I will explore a variety of ways that shelves (yes, shelves and yes, there are a variety of ways) can increase the storage space in your kitchen, making it easier to cook meals for yourself.

Now that the weather is starting to cooperate a little bit more, I have been able to resume my gardening hobby, planting new flowers and ground-cover around the house. For the last few months it has just been way too cold to go out and do any gardening, plus the frigid overnight temperatures would definitely have knocked those plants out cold (pun intended).

One thing that I like to get out of the way before the gardening season commences is to pull out my old folding metal shelves so I have a convenient place to store my fertilizer, gardening tools, pots and any other equipment I need for the season. For a long time I would just use my existing garage shelves to store these things, but ran into trouble in the winter. Because I am unable to garden during the cold winter months, I would have to put all of my equipment and gardening supplies on the shelves long-term. The issue with this is that I need those shelves to be open so I can store my everyday winter items like firewood.

After my first winter of searching for storage space because everything was full of gardening supplies, I took a different approach. Once winter set in, I put all of the gardening equipment away deep in the attic, where it wouldn’t take up valuable space. In the spring, summer and autumn when I am still able to garden, I bring out the aforementioned folding shelves, which for the last few months have been sitting in a corner, flattened out and taking up very little space.

When I was searching for the perfect folding shelf, I came across some great shelves before settling on what was the perfect choice for my situation, the General Purpose Origami Folding Shelves. Some of the great features of this shelf that helped sway me were the durable metal construction, open wire shelving that is easy to clean up, and it is set on casters so it is easy to move out of the garage even when full of supplies.

Here are a few other shelves that might be more ideal for your gardening / shelving situation:

Made from Cedar Wood, this 5 shelf red cedar unit is perfect for outdoor use, as the construction materials are very resistant to the harsh elements of the outdoors.

For those that are storing very heavy-duty equipment, something like the 5 Shelf Heavy Duty Steel Storage Rack is a great option. This shelving unit is great because it can hold up to 750 pounds, more than most garage shelving units.

I am a total music geek; I cannot get enough new bands or artists and am constantly purchasing new music to discover. My favorite format for listening to music is hands-down a vinyl record played on an old-school record player. The sounds are so warm yet crisp, making you feel as if you are in the recording room with the band as they are playing.

Unfortunately, I am not made of money (and what money I do have goes to records!) so I live in a pretty cramped one bedroom apartment. The biggest downside for records (and partially the reason for their fade from prominence for a few years) is that they are big, bulky, hard to store and you cannot listen to them in the car or on the go. This issue is magnified by my small home, to the point which I had cardboard box upon cardboard box full of records and stack up on each other.

One of the best ways to create an organized space for storing your records is using a folding shelf. What is great about this type of shelf is that not only does it provide exceptional and secure storage for your vinyl; it also can be folded down for easy transport. This makes it perfect for the transient record-collectors among us.

I would recommend using a soft wood shelf to store your records over a sturdier metal shelf, for a variety of reasons. First off, one thing every record collector has to understand is the damaging effects extreme temperatures can have on vinyl – metal has this annoying tendency to absorb the extreme heat or cold, transferring that to your records and potentially damaging them. The other reason is that metal can be very sharp or have very hard angles, which can damage the gatefold of your records.

By using a wood shelf to store my records I have been able to secure a lot more space in my living room and get my records organized so it is easy to find them right away.

Earlier this week we looked into one way to get the garage organized for the New Year because one of the most common resolutions is to “finally get organized”. This time we will look into another way to get your life in order in a unique location using a one-of-a-kind shelving unit set.

One place that is often under-utilized in homes is the attic space. Many homes, new and old, include an over-head space that usually is just home to all the ducts and insulation that keeps your home livable. Most people do not realize that this area also makes an excellent place for additional storage in the home.

Growing up, my dad was able to make that area a great storage area for all of our older stuff that we just could not bear to part with. It also ended up being a great place for post-holiday storage. Of course, my dad was a regular Bob Villa, constantly upgrading and improving our old house. He built a series of platforms and shelves throughout the rafters which created the perfect storage space.

Of course, not everyone is as handy around the house or as ingenious with planks of wood as my dad is.  For those of us that do not know our way around the jigsaw, there is an excellent option for activating your rafter space for additional storage.

Available from Attic Maxx is a set of Attic Truss Shelves, which are specifically designed to fit within the rafters to create a stable and spacious storage space. These shelves are made from wood and the brackets are made from a rust-resistant metal and both are chosen for their ability to stand up to the hot and cold extremes of the attic.

Speaking of temperature extremes, they are something you need to be cautious about when using rafter storage. Often your attic space has the exact temperature of the outdoors, and other times it can actually amplify the heat or cold due to the insulation and lack of sunshine. You must be sure to not store items that can be damaged in either condition. So you should probably leave those vinyl records and oil paintings out of the attic.

Last month I was able to achieve one of my biggest goals in life – I finally joined the ranks of so many proud Americans and became a homeowner. It took a long time to save enough money to be able to responsibly afford a nice home here in Southern California (definitely did not want to end up like so many of my fellow citizens and go underwater on my mortgage), but now that I finally was able to pull the trigger on my home I could not be more excited.

One reason I had grown tired of bouncing from apartment to apartment was simply that – I was tired of gathering all of my stuff up and piling it into a moving van year after year. The life of an apartment dweller can be pretty exhausting, especially dealing with rent increases. Another reason I am really glad to not have to answer to a management company, which almost always has ulterior motives and is just looking to get as much money out of me as possible. Similar to being your own boss, I can finally say that I am my own landlord.

But despite these nice conveniences of being a homeowner, the biggest reason I wanted to buy my own home is that I am a bit of a fixer-upper nut. I love being out in the yard or on the roof fixing up my home or giving it an added modification. With an apartment, if you so much as paint some trim or baseboards, you undoubtedly are headed down the road towards a vanished security deposit.

One of the first improvements I made to my home was increasing the storage and display space around the home. As a first-time home buyer I went the fixer-upper route and saved myself some money. Unfortunately this means the house is also as bare bones as it gets. Adding wall shelves to my home was the first step I took to add storage and display space to the walls. With a variety of materials and sizes available, I really went to town throughout the house.

My next few posts will deal specifically with the new improvements I made on my fixer-upper home and maybe you can learn a thing or two from my experience!

When it comes to thinking about gifts for the holidays, there are many things that instantly come to mind. Train sets, bicycles, puppies, even fruit cake might come to mind as a typical holiday gift. However there is one type of item that you’d never think would make an excellent gift. This item is great because it combines function with style, and can be used in any room.

What I am talking about are wood wall shelf units, designed to have unique shapes and angles and are as much décor pieces as they are shelving. There are a wide variety of these shelving units, from the more contemporary units to elegant and sophisticated traditional style shelf units.

The deluxe four-level wall shelf has a simple design with storage on a variety of levels. With levels at different heights, it draws the eye in to the items that are stored on the shelves, whether they are pictures, artwork, trophies, portraits or any other item!

For those with more simple tastes, the 12″ x 24″ Wall Display Shelf is a great choice. This wall mounted wood shelf also has four levels for storage, but also vertical bars that separate the shelves, adding a little bit of visual interest. This shelf is a safe choice because its transitional style looks good in both modern and traditional décor styles.

For those with more daring tastes, the Trio Shelf is a great gift. This wall shelf features a contemporary style that adds modern flare to the home, plus adds display space. Three “branches” provide the perfect place to keep items.

While it might not be the most eye-grabbing or sophisticated gift there is, giving someone a wall shelf is a great, usable gift. I would especially recommend them to friends that might be moving into a new space, or perhaps those that have children and are starting to take more family portraits or have their children’s artwork displayed.

When looking for a Christmas gift for my best friend this season, I found myself searching for a unique but functional present. We have been very good friends for quite a few years now after meeting together in college while we studied writing. Unfortunately I am not able to see my friend all that often anymore as he is constantly traveling due to his employment situation. It is hard to get a feel for what someone is into and wants as a gift when you only see them once a year or so.

About two years ago he was hired on as a contract screenwriter and now he is constantly moving from city to city, spending about six months in each location before moving on to the next project and city. You may or may not know that contract screenwriters do not make a ton of money, and have to live in fairly tight quarters, often in very expensive cities in which the films are produced.

With that living situation in mind and the knowledge that my friend is one of the most avid comic book collectors I have ever met, I knew what the perfect gift would be for my friend. Whenever he moves, all of the comic books, graphic novels and collectibles come with him, which can be quite a hassle when you are trying to move as quickly as possible.

The perfect gift for my friend and his comic collection is a folding bookcase. What makes this unique type of bookcase perfect for my friend is that is provides enough storage for all of his books when he is settled in the apartment, but when it is time to move the bookcase folds down compact for easy packing. Three tiers provide plenty of storage for the comic book collection, and a solid wood construction means that it has a long-lasting quality.

Whether it is for a gift of just for you, a folding shelf is a great choice for the home. In fact, I liked the shelf I got my friend so much, I bought one for my own home!

During the excitement and the rush of activity that marks every holiday season, it is very easy to forget one simple fact of life: You are going to have more STUFF after the holidays than you did before. And unless you are lucky and a home-expansion was your gift this year, it is going to be a tough predicament to store all of those holiday decorations, presents and more. One way to maximize your holiday storage accessories is overhead storage shelves. What is great about this style of shelving is that it takes up absolutely no floor space and can be installed anywhere, whether it is the attic, closet, basement or in the garage!

This storage shelf has a capacity of 250 pounds, and uses a unique hoist system to make it easy to lift that weight.

Just in case you have more this season than you ever expected, this ceiling shelf can be adjusted to accommodate more items.

For the most heavy-duty of storage, this MonsterRAX system has an extreme storage area of 64 cubic feet!

Did you get a brand new bicycle this year? Make sure it stays in prime condition by giving it a safe storage place!

Or make it easy on yourself with this automatically lifting platform shelf!

Overhead storage shelves are the perfect way to ease the heavy-duty post-holiday clean-up.  Every single one of these large overhead units has free shipping until Dec. 30, 2012 and many are discounted, up to $40 off!

Shop these items and more:

• Heavy Lift Storage Hoist
• Telescoping Ceiling Storage
• MonsterRAX 4′ x 8′ Overhead Garage Storage Rack
• Hoist Monster Bicycle Rack
• Garage Gator Motorized Storage System

Today we have a guest blog from one of my good friends, who I have known since middle school and has a home-storage dilemma on his hands:

Unfortunately for me and my ever-fading sanity, I have been living in a tiny studio apartment for the last 3 years. I would love to make an upgrade to a one-bedroom but unfortunately that is a little bit out of my price range for the time being. What makes living in a cramped studio apartment so frustrating for me is that I barely have enough space for all of my belongings, which I have been lugging around with me for the last five years or so.

Because the apartment I live in is just so small and I am so lacking in appropriate closet space, in order to keep my things from piling up on the floors around me, I have to use wall shelves for storage.  The problem with this solution is that now that I have been using this method for a couple of months, I have run out of space along my walls for more shelves. There are shelves on literally lining the entire perimeter of my studio apartment. I spent the last weekend finding some solutions for how to add even more storage and display space to the apartment.

I am sure you are thinking the answer is obvious – “Just get a shelving unit, man!” But what you may not realize is that there is just no more floor space left in my 300 square foot for a bulky shelving unit.

After hours of scouring home-improvement sites and clutter-reducing blogs, I finally came across the perfect solution to adding more storage to my tiny studio apartment without: adding wall mounted corner shelves to the room! These shelves are perfect because they utilize the only space along my walls that has not yet been filled with wall storage shelves. Now I am able to store all of my belongings along wall shelves.

The solution to all of your home-storage problems??