In the turf battle between people and their stuff, people are losing.
You’re not alone if your closets, basement, garage and pantry are overflowing. If spaces that seemed to be merely crowded before the holidays feel as if they’re ready to explode now, you’re probably thinking about finding something–anything–that can make your life and home a little more organized.
“There are two rules of houses,” said Bob Pietrick, co-owner of the Closet and Office Factory in Parma, Ohio. “The kitchen is never right, and there’s never enough storage.”
Since there’s no easy way to add storage space without enlarging your home, the obvious answer is to make better use of the space you have. An entire segment of the home improvement industry has grown up to cater to storage needs, giving consumers more ways than ever to organize their closets, basements, garages, pantries and home offices.
If you’re ready to declare war on the growing pile of stuff that’s taking over your home, you have several options. Your first decision should be, do you want to handle the job yourself, or hire a professional?
Do-it-yourselfers can start by asking for help from someone such as Janet Babinec, manager of the floor and wall department at the Home Depot store in Montrose, Ohio.
“Most of the people I see are interested in making better use of the space in their closets,” said Babinec. She said the products available to do-it-yourselfers have improved greatly in the last few years. The biggest trend she sees is a proliferation of products for people who are, shall we say, insecure about their carpentry skills.
“Installing a closet organizer is a very easy job. Anybody can do it,” she said.
Apparently, a lot of customers aren’t as confident as Babinec, because manufacturers are packaging shelving and hardware in kits that include everything needed to outfit a closet as narrow as 5 feet or as wide as 8 feet.
The products are adjustable, eliminating the possibility that a homeowner will have to make a second trip to the store. These kits range in price from $20 to $40.
Folks who are a little more comfortable with screwdrivers and measuring tapes will want to take the more conventional route, where you measure the dimensions of your closet (or garage, or pantry, or basement) and decide what combination of shelves, drawers and other organizers you’d like to have.
Babinec noted that most manufacturers make this task easy by providing little work sheets that include grid paper where you can sketch your closet, and product lists showing the size and variety of materials available.
Several manufacturers do even more. For example, Closetmaid of Ocala, Fla., invites customers to draw sketches of their closets and answer a few simple questions about their space needs, such as for shoe storage or for stackable items. If you mail this off to the company, the people there will send you a custom-designed layout along with a complete list of parts you’ll need to install it.
Folks with computer skills can get even more help. If you go to www.closetmaid.com on the Internet, you can use a free online design selector that will take your information and immediately give you a layout and parts list you can print out.
Several other manufacturers offer identical services. You can find a selection of them at www.theremodelinggal.com by clicking on the Closets link. These manufacturers will usually accept orders online and ship everything you need.
Babinec recommends that homeowners interested in hanging more than a simple shelf or two should take the time to sketch their layout first. She said the exercise makes it clearer how the space can be best used.
It also helps to look at the product choices you’ve made.
For example, there’s a wide range of wire mesh shoe racks available, but if you’re one of those folks who prefers to keep shoes sealed up in plastic boxes, you’ll want to opt for something such as the shelves sold by Rubbermaid, which feature bins that are exactly the right size to accept the company’s line of storage boxes.
Babinec argues that all this support is more than most homeowners need. “Most people can install a basic closet organizer in one day for $40 to $50,” she said. It’s not even necessary to know how to use a stud sensor to anchor the shelves. “It’s best if you can attach them to the studs, but we sell a type of anchor that doesn’t need to go into the studs,” she said.
Folks who get nervous around hand tools–or who want something a little more elaborate–should probably consider consulting a professional.
“I think the main reason people come to someone like us is that they want to work with a good, professional designer who’ll provide exactly what they need,” said Kathryn LaBarbera, vice president of the Closet Factory, which is based in Los Angeles and has 116 franchises, including the one Pietrick runs in Parma, Ohio.
LaBarbera noted that in 1900, the typical closet was only 3 to 4 feet wide. Storage needs have expanded as Americans have acquired more clothing, sporting goods, housewares and other items. “Today, most new homes offer closets that are almost the size of bedrooms,” she said.
The types of jobs handled by LaBarbera’s designers have a wide range. A homeowner interested in organizing an ordinary reach-in closet with conventional materials might pay as little as $350. In January, however, a homeowner in Washington, D.C., paid the company $128,000 to outfit a multiroom closet.
“When you consult a professional, you get a custom-designed product that is just what you need. If you’ve got a closet that needs an 18-inch drawer for the layout you want, we give you an 18-inch drawer,” LaBarbera said.
Customized closets are also an easy answer to creating adequate storage in odd-shaped spaces, such as those infuriating closets nestled up against a sloping roof line.
LaBarbera said her designers can measure the space and create a customized stack of drawers that are progressively deeper from top to bottom. She noted that it’s a lot harder to pull off a trick like that with off-the-shelf shelving.
Pietrick said he believes most of his customers don’t have the time or skill to organize their homes themselves. “Going to the home center may sound good, but it can be fairly challenging, and it can take more time than you have available,” Pietrick said.
The biggest trend Pietrick has seen recently is the proliferation of storage projects that don’t involve closets.
“You’ve got pantries, basements, laundry rooms, home offices, you name it. And there’s the whole garage thing going on,” he said, noting that garages are much larger and have much more elaborate storage units than just a few years ago.
“All these different areas of the home have storage needs,” he said. “It’s too much for most people to handle on their own.”
When asked how much an average customer spends with his company, Pietrick said the figure works out to around $2,000. That may be misleading, however, because few customers hire the company to tackle only one project, he said. “Usually we’ll come in to do a couple of closets and a pantry, or a home office and a laundry room.”
A huge factor in the cost equation is the choice of materials. “It depends on what the homeowner wants. If they want cheap and cheerful, we can do that. If they have some very specific needs, we can do that, too,” he said.
The most common materials available are wire mesh shelving–inexpensive, easy to clean and see-through–and pressed-wood boards finished with a hard plastic, wipe-clean melamine finish. Pietrick said that customers seeking something a bit more refined go for wooden cabinetry reminiscent of kitchen storage. Lucite and glass fronts are chosen for a more lavish approach to transparency.
Again, professional designers can find unusual ways to cope with odd-shaped storage spaces. Pietrick said his installers have easy access to products such as long, skinny sliding vertical shelves used to hold belts or ties. The increased options make it easier to find more creative ways to divide up an oddly shaped space.
There’s one other side to the organization problem, and it’s a little more discouraging than the question of doing it yourself versus hiring a professional.
The fact is, you can buy plenty of organizers, but you can’t buy organization. No matter how many shelves you install, they’ll eventually overflow with stuff if you don’t keep them organized.
Books have been written on the subject of organizing your life. According to the online retailer Amazon.com, one of the better-selling books on the topic is “Stephanie Winston’s Best Organizing Tips,” a 222-page paperback that lists for $12 but sells for $9.60 through Amazon. Winston’s book covers a wide range of topics on organizing your life at home and at work, but it devotes a lot of attention to reducing clutter.
You’ll discover that Winston and other organization experts tend to offer similar advice for coping with clutter. They suggest you go through your home one room (or closet) at a time and separate your possessions into piles: one that you keep, one that you throw away, one you donate to charity, and one you move into long-term storage.
Brian Kincaid, product manager at Rubbermaid in Wooster, Ohio, says he advises customers who buy Rubbermaid’s home-organization products to take the time to teach children how to organize.
“Get into your children’s closets and roll up your sleeves,” Kincaid said. “It’s the perfect time to teach your children to do something generous outside your home by donating items you no longer use to your favorite charity.”
Kincaid suggests turning closet organization into a fun activity by playing your kids’ favorite music, or by turning it into a game in which you see who can come up with the most creative way to organize in the shortest time. Pack clothes that no longer fit and give them to the Salvation Army or another charity, and challenge your kids to decide what toys, games or other things they are ready to donate.
Finally, look at the war against disorganization as a succession of manageable chores. You might become overwhelmed if you think about all the clutter in your home. Think instead of specific projects–such as cleaning the garage, the attic or the basement–and tackle one at a time.
STORAGE SHELVING BASICS
Installing storage shelving is the easiest job around.
All you need to do a first-class job are screwdrivers, a drill, a level, a tape measure or yardstick and a stud sensor.
The key to a sturdy installation is attaching the wall mounts to the studs behind the drywall. For less than $10, you can buy a stud sensor such as the iSensor from Zircon Corp. Simply press the sensor flat against the drywall, sweep it from side to side while depressing the on button, and the light will come on each time you reach the edge of a stud.
You don’t need a fancy electric drill. Most home centers sell hand drills for less than $15, and these are perfectly adequate for 90 percent of household jobs. Mark where you want to anchor your wall mounts, then drill pilot holes through the drywall.
It may seem obvious, but it’s crucial that the wall mounts are attached at the same height so the shelves will be level. Use a level to make sure you line up the bracket holes properly.
About the only problem you might encounter is if you live in an older home with lath and plaster construction instead of drywall. If this is the case, and you can’t find the studs, you may be forced to use anchor bolts specially designed for this situation. The only drawback is that your shelves won’t support quite as much weight, but they’ll be fine for storing shoes, sweaters and just about anything lighter than, say, bricks.
