Archive for the ‘Home & Storage’ Category

We have always had a soft spot for novelty items. Dedicated shops, often for some reason at the seaside, abound with peculiar merchandise that fulfils an “obvious” practical purpose but one that had never occurred to anybody before.

The whistling key ring was a classic of its kind. The solution to the perennial problem caused by the act of putting down our keys and then forgetting, within a matter of seconds, where they lay was resolved by the invention of a key ring that whistled back when given the signal, thereby instantly revealing its location.

Backscratchers in new and novel shapes that neatly sidestepped the “occupational hazard” of slipped and dislocated joints whenever the object was applied for its intended purpose were especially popular amongst the unsupple.

X-Ray spectacles that claimed to enable one to see through clothing were an ever-present in the ads columns of American superhero comics, but sadly never lived up to expectations.

Some common sense ideas for conserving space

Of course some “novelty” items are not novelties at all, but just plain common sense. One of the most commonsense of all is the flat folding colander. Anyone who uses a colander in the kitchen will know just how much space it occupies, on the wall or in the washing up bowl. It just doesn’t quite seem to fit into anything, or anything into it. The colander that folds flat is the ultimate new concept in kitchen storage.

Anything that combines two or more functions into one piece of apparatus or furniture is similarly helpful in the home in which available space is finite. A typical example is this wall mounted mirror coat rack, by J-me, combining a functional storage item with a useful household wall mirror.

The rationale behind such items of course is to save valuable space, and when one lives in a modestly sized home, or in the company of several family members, space can be very much at a premium. But the bonus really is that these cleverly designed items are also aesthetically pleasing and tasteful, creating a visual enhancement as well as a welcome space saver.

Some people are fortunate enough to live in a mansion. Indeed there are those, as we have been reminded over the last few days, who dwell in a castle.

In such a situation the question of storage space for one’s household belongings and personal effects may not always be uppermost in one’s mind.

For the rest of us, though, there is a need to consider just where everything we feel we need is going to be stored within the confines of a finite space.

It is not just a question of putting something onto a shelf or stuffing it into a box. Storage is more than simply a momentary solution to an immediate problem of where to put a thing in order that it may be out of sight and thus, for the time being at least, out of mind. Instead it is the almost scientific utilisation of every piece of space to its maximum potential.

So much open space

No matter how cluttered your room may appear the majority of it will still be open space. Therefore we need to take a step back and consider how best to use that space to store our household items to best effect, thereby allowing us to enjoy what is left of it.

Sometimes it boils down to no more than logical appraisal. A box or a basket that is unfilled wastes so much precious room. A bare wall overlooking coats or clothing strewn across furniture or on the floor is a terribly waste of resource, not to mention an inexcusable lack of imagination.

Many people would be surprised by what one can simply hang on a wall. Take a look at this Cubby Natural Wall Organiser by Umbra, for instance, where one place paperwork, letters and even small objects as well as coats and clothing.

For those who like to keep fit and protect the planet but who live in a flat or a place with limited external storage this Gravity Bike Stand by Racor Prostore is a truly neat space saving idea.

Lastly, never forget that hooks and things can be placed over doors for the convenient storage of coats, and items of clothing that remain “on the go” between wash cycles.

When we speak of “child storage” a mildly disturbing picture comes to mind of an unwitting and unfortunate five year old being scooped up and bundled away into a basket, then stored in the corner of a room to await the coming of the next play session whereupon the mayhem that he has invoked will once again be resumed.

If only things were that simple.

What actually happens when play breaks out is that the contents of however many boxes or crates we have provided for storage become merged upon the carpet in the form of an amorphous and undefined heap.

The child by definition lacks the concept of order, not to mention tidiness. In our adult lives we all become filing clerks of a fashion, placing different genres of paperwork into different files so as to enable us to access them with the minimum of fuss when we are required to do so.

No such calling is placed upon the child. It is a rare kid indeed who will conclude a play session by painstakingly restoring teletubbies to one basket, Doctor Who figurines to another and toy cars to a dedicated parking bay in the corner. Instead the sundry used and abused items will, if the parents are lucky, be unceremoniously retired to a box or basket in no particular order.

The key to storage success is to make the tidying process part of the play

So if we want our children to store their toys away after use it is sadly incumbent upon us to provide the means for this to be achieved with relative ease. This means dedicated child storage systems through which clothes can be hung up at height, and items of play can be placed into boxes that fit neatly into a recess or a corner of the room and which actually create a veneer of order and organisation.

Time was when we depended upon the supermarket box for this purpose. Having served its original purpose of transporting home the weekly shop on a Friday night the supermarket box would become an item of furniture in the child’s bedroom as the tidying process got underway.

Now though we tend to take a longer term view of these matters, and boxes for the specific purpose of consigning play items to a pre-allocated corner of the room are deliberately and sometimes quite cleverly designed specifically for the purpose.

Take a look at some of these Lego shaped boxes, the purpose of which, aside from their aesthetic appeal, is to try to make tidying away fun, indeed to market it to our children as an integral part of the process of play.

A tidy room begins as a state of mind, a concept that needs to be passported into an achievable reality. Through the introduction of boxes, buckets and hooks and things that fire our children’s imaginations we give ourselves half a chance.