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Photography by Susan Jackson
Styling by Nicole Benoist Edgerton
The Kitchen
When it comes to cooking, half the battle is organization. Assess your kitchen’s mess and your family’s needs, so maybe—just maybe—you can discover that elusive joy of cooking.
“In the kitchen, if you don’t use something, recycle it,” says Kelly Schellert of Sedoria. “You could gift it to a deserving friend or swap items. There are actually kitchen gizmo swap-parties that you can host for rarely used items in good condition. It’s also a great excuse to get your girlfriends together.”
Organizing: “When designing a kitchen, we always follow the ‘point-of-use’ rule,” offers Chris Berry of brooksBerry Kitchens & Baths. “Which is to say, everything should be stored near where you will likely use it first. Store the spices near the cooktop, knives near a prep area, vertical tray storage near the ovens and so on.”
Special Storage: Thanks to storage innovations like adjustable pullout shelves hidden behind the decorative fillers in your cabinetry, form and function can now work as one in your kitchen. Some nifty designer favorites include sink-front tip-out trays for your sponges, a mixer-lift that hides a bulky KitchenAid mixer in a base cabinet but lifts up for easy use, Rev-A-Shelf pullout pantries that extend and fold out of cabinets and pullout recycling centers that make coping with our inconvenient truth slightly more convenient.
Plates & Flatware: End the tiptoe-and-stretch routine it takes to reach your plates, and consider storing your dishes in drawer inserts fashioned with pegs that can be adjusted to custom-fit your dishware. Designers are also reinventing the way we store flatware. Pullout silverware bins turn flatware upside down and hold it vertically—preventing the annoying clanking common with standard horizontal dividers.
Cost: Kristine Fields, of Callier & Thompson Kitchens & Baths, estimates that “a few roll-out trays will cost about $300, but to fully customize a kitchen with built-in storage solutions you can reach anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000.” Jenny Rausch, CKD, of Karr Bick Kitchen + Bath, believes that as much as 5 percent of a kitchen budget can be spent on clever storage solutions. “An individual roll-out is anywhere from $80 to $400,” she offers, “while spice inserts and trash can cabinets are about $350 to $400. There are many different price points based on quality, finish and complexity.”
The Pantry
“A pantry is a very personalized thing,” says Chris Berry of brooksBerry.
“You have to assess your needs. What is the function of the pantry? Is it strictly for dry foods? Bulk items? It should all be adjustable . . . Needs will change over time.”
Shelving: Two common pantry faux pas are shelves that are so deep you can’t see all your stuff and shelves that aren’t adjustable. “It’s a waste of space to have a foot-and-a-half-deep shelf that holds canned goods,” Ms. Berry points out. A mixture of shelf depths creates maximum functionality, so you can store your cereal boxes, bags of chips and small appliances all in the vertical space of your pantry.
Organizing: “A pantry is a multipurpose, catchall sort of room, but organization is possible, if not essential,” Ms. Williams says. “I’ve got a pretty well-organized pantry.” She recommends dating the lids of condiments, vinegars and other staples with the purchase dates so you know when it’s time to start pitching.
Cost: According to Ms. Rausch, of Karr Bick, “You could spend $2,000 to $10,000 if you’re outfitting an existing pantry with a good system.” At The Container Store, you could spend $35 for a simple door-mounted rack to upwards of $800 for a walk-in pantry with adjustable shelves. Ms. Williams says, “A good budget range for a pantry would be $375 for basic adjustable shelves to $1,200 for corner shelves, pullout spice and wine racks, vertical tray slots and lots of shelving.”
The Laundry Room
Brighten up the toil of laundry with a brightly lit and well-organized space
“Few homes have laundry rooms equipped for efficiently completing the tasks of doing laundry from start to finish,” says Ms. Williams of Saint Louis Closet Co. “Without adequate space for sorting and folding in the laundry room, those jobs end up being done in other rooms, putting laundry all over the house and making the tasks less efficient.”
Storage: The simplest laundry “rooms” often contain cabinet space near the washer and dryer, but large, elaborate rooms can handle lots of cabinets for other household storage. According to Closet Factory owner Carl Alsbach, “Laundry rooms also commonly double as mudrooms. Lockers with bases for sitting and tops with shelves and hooks
are popular.”
Fold It: Many laundry room designers can install ergonomic pullout or folding counters and pullout baskets to fold clean clothes and to sort the dirty ones.
Iron It: Wall- or closet-mounted ironing boards, like the Iron-A-Way and Beyond Storage’s Closet Ironing Center, fold up and away to make board storage hassle-free.
Cost: Cost depends on room size and features. The majority of Beyond Storage’s laundry rooms run from $600 to $5,000 (for a combination laundry, locker and mudroom). Closet Factory’s laundry rooms range from $500 to $3,000, but extra-fancy rooms can run as much as $10,000. At Saint Louis Closet Co., the cost of laundry rooms ranges from $450 to $4,500.
How Long it Takes: Consultations with Beyond Storage, Closet Factory and Saint Louis Closet Co. take 30 minutes. The time between consultation and installation often takes one to four weeks. Each of the designers takes a day or less to install, with some of the more elaborate projects taking up to three days.
The Home Office
Home offices are often relegated to small spaces, even banished to spare closets or stray nooks. So when it comes to making your home office work for you, keeping order is paramount.
“An office set up with little thought can be a frustrating place to work,” says Sue Collins of NewSpace. “Plan an uncluttered work surface. Files should be under the countertop, printers and other equipment in cabinets, office supplies in drawers or easy-to-reach upper cabinets.”
Papers: Expedite your work flow with a formal filing system that classifies your paper traffic. This should be individualized to your needs, but experts suggest that you start with an in-box you can use to separate things into a need-to-read file, a need-to-file file and a must-deal-with file within arm’s reach of your chair.
How Long It Takes: After your design is complete and plans are approved, installation takes four to six weeks for NewSpace’s laminate products or up to three months if you choose wood. The experts at The Container Store can plan, customize and send you on your way with your new home office the day of your first visit. Their adjustable elfa systems are so straightforward that hammer-and-nail neophytes can do their own installation over the weekend.
Books: The books you use most frequently should be given priority shelving, while any books you don’t reference on a weekly basis can be stored away from your immediate work space. Maximize your vertical space and install adjustable shelves, like The Container Store’s elfa Office Shelving, on the wall directly in front of your workstation.
Cost: Built-in custom offices by NewSpace start around $3,000. Its average home office project, built along two walls with lower and upper cabinets, built-in organization, fabric boards, lights and other homeowner requests, often falls around $5,000 to $7,000.
On the other hand, depending upon your room dimensions, an elfa system can cost roughly $400 to upwards of $1,000.
Computer: Updating your office’s technology can be a space-saving step toward a tidy work surface. Go as wireless as possible, and consider trading in your individual printer, copier and fax machine for a less cumbersome all-in-one unit. Consolidating cord chaos will lead to a more functional, less frustrating work space.
Mudrooms and Locker Systems
Despite its name, your mudroom can be grand.
“Life is less stressful when there is a place for everything and you know just where to find those specific items when you need them,” says Marge Newsom, of NewSpace.
Organizing: When you set out to make a mudroom, think about all the things you need handy when you’re walking (or rushing) out the door. Byron Watts, with Closet & Storage Concepts, stresses the importance of an “individual space designated for each member of the family.”
Lockers: Ms. Newsom says NewSpace has “designed everything from white laminate lockers with open shelves, baskets and hooks to those made with fine wood doors.” Once they manufactured lockers out of glazed bead board with doors partially covered by a blackboard. “Each locker had a name painted on the door, and the blackboard was used to write each person’s schedule for the week.”
Cost: A NewSpace mudroom with simple shelving and cabinets or a few lockers can cost about $800 to $1,000; a combo of lockers, cabinets and shelving: $2,000 to $3,000; large mudrooms with storage cabinets, lockers with doors, gift-wrap centers, sink cabinets and more: $4,000 to $8,000. Closet & Storage Concepts’ locker system or mudroom varies from $1,200 to $3,000, depending on the design, color and accessories picked.
Coats and Bags: Organizing veterans recommend installing two levels of hooks for kids and adults, but make sure they’re adjustable to accommodate growing children and changing needs. If you have room, two hooks per family member are ideal.
Shoes: To avoid a mess of shoes and boots gathering in your entryway, allocate an out-of-the-way space for each family member. The norm is a space on the floor beneath each person’s hooks, or you could install something akin to those floor-to-ceiling pullout kitchen pantries that would tuck shoes out of the way.
How Long It Takes: If using laminates, New-Space requires four to six weeks after your plan is approved or up to three months if you choose wood. Installation should only take a day. At Closet & Storage Concepts, the initial planning runs one to two weeks, then a two- to three-week wait for installation. The actual install often takes one to two days depending on the size of the unit. After the in-home consultation, Beyond Storage will measure and then need three business days to draw a computerized design. Lead time runs two to four weeks for installation.
The Garage
Some say it’s a Taj Mahal for grease monkeys, others say it’s an extension of the living space. Organized garages are big these days, providing a place for everything. After it’s all over, you’ll even be able to park your SUV.
“People are tired of scraping the ice off the windshield of their cars because they can’t get it into the garage,” says Steve Bisch, owner of PremierGarage. “When I show up at a house, typically homeowners are overwhelmed. Most people want access from one point to another without tripping and killing themselves.”
Get Organized: Before installation of hooks and crannies in any garage, sift through “stuff” and dispose of that doggone dehumidifier you shoved in the garage two years ago. HouseWall Garage System provides a storage unit to allow you to store what you want while they redo the garage. They’ll even haul off your discards before installation—or during it.
The Workshop: Work surfaces on wheels do the trick for portability, and cabinets create clean storage, but hanging wall grids puts everything in plain sight.
Find New Floor Space: All cabinets, regardless of size, are mounted off the floor by PremierGarage, prohibiting dust, dirt and mice that may be lurking. Off-the-floor storage also makes it easier to blow dirt out from underneath the cabinets. Cabinet arrangements are offered in thousands of combinations.
Customize It: HouseWall Garage System has an exclusive perimeter wall system that teams with Wilsonart and Formica. Whether you want to match your storage with your yellow SUV or your violet VW, a customer can select from hundreds of finishes to match garage cabinets. Most organizers offer a variety of color choices.
After The Holidays: Hide holiday decorations in 24-inch-deep cabinets, big enough for those containers. Depending on the height of the garage, pull-down ceiling cabinets are great for stashing artificial trees.
The Cost: A three-car garage, with full cabinetry and flooring, costs about $4,000 through PremierGarage. HouseWall Garage Systems’ perimeter wall system: $1,800.
Hang It Up: The grown-ups’ bikes can be hung from the ceiling, leaving room on the floor so kids can roll their own trikes or bikes in and out. Sophisticated hoists are available to lift the heavier equipment, but the bottom line is to create space in the garage that allows more space for the mower, snow blower and more.
The Closet
Americans have too much stuff and too little space to keep it in, says Ms. Williams, of Saint Louis Closet Co. Her words of advice:
“Remember, less is more, and that an organized closet will save you 15 to 10 minutes a day.”
Structural Integrity: Metal rods are stronger and more durable than wood. The best choices are chrome oval rods specifically designed for custom closet applications.
Perfect Closets Are Ergonomic: Place hanging rods at hip height, and put shoes at eye level on shelves above the rod for easy accessibility. Place a shoe ledge on the front to stop shoes from falling, says David Gast, owner of St. Louis’ Beyond Storage.
Cost: Do-it-yourselfers can create an organized closet for about $250. If you’re after the full Monty, you’ll pay $3,000 to $4,000 or $75 per foot at Beyond Storage. At brooksBerry, high-end wardrobes with leather-inlaid cabinet doors and special lighting beef up the price to $50,000 plus.
Color Coordinate and Keep It Neat: In the immortal words of Joan Crawford, “No more wire hangers.” That’s the first and easiest tip from custom closet organizers: Use all the same hangers, get stuff off the floor, hang similar items together and donate clothes you haven’t worn in two years.
Before Buying: Ms. Williams suggests asking yourself, “What do I expect out of a custom closet system, what is the difference between wall-hung and floor-based closet systems, and what types of hanging rods are best for my closet?”
How Long Does It Take: Melissa Archer, a design specialist with Beyond Storage, says 95 percent of their full closet installations—including larger closets with a lot of bells and whistles—are finished within one day. Overall, customers should allow two weeks for the complete process—the consultation, custom building process and installation.
Keep It Safe: Velvet-covered jewelry trays and jewelry vaults of 10-gauge steel can be mounted in the wall like a medicine chest between the studs. When shut, there’s a digital combination lock. When opened, there’s a light inside, Mr. Gast says. Safes can also be hidden in the backs of drawers or behind wainscoting.
Dump Your Dresser: Decorative armoires, double hanging rods and closet seating areas allow you to dump your dresser, Mr. Gast says. Ms. Berry of brooksBerry says in upscale closets it’s not unusual to find center islands with drawers on two sides and a niche capped with quartz, marble or laminate.
Don’t Expect Miracles, But Every Closet Can Be Improved: “Closets have become quasi-dressing areas, with subdivided drawers on high-end runners and tri-fold mirrors,” says Mr. Gast of Beyond Storage. “Amenities must have viable space, but you can take an 8-foot reach-in closet and improve its organization. Wire baskets are cheaper, but can still handle the task.”
By Erin Callier, Dayna Crozier and Mary Ann O’Toole Holley
