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The holidays may have us thinking “peace on earth.” But if that’s not achievable right now, maybe we can at least have “peace and calm” on the home front.
Increased cooking and baking, entertaining, gift-wrapping, and hosting overnight guests puts extra stress on our homes. And if we’re not organized and prepared, we feel that stress.
Amy Bernard, senior design consultant for California Closets-Kansas City, practices what she preaches—organization and the best use of space. “Although clothing storage is about 70 percent of our focus, we organize storage for any space in your home or business,” she says. “Reimagining the space you have—that has been my career for 20 years,” she adds. “Everything has a place. When you can open your entry closet and not have things fall out,” she says with a laugh, “you can be proud of your home. You feel like you’ve got it together.”
And the good news is you can start small, with one project at a time.
Bernard has recently made her small Prairie Village home live large with clever storage and great space-saving ideas. “We live in every ounce of our house,” she says.
Here’s how she does it. You can, too.
Instant Guest Room
A guest room might not get a lot of use, but a den or home office that can turn into a guest room does double duty. “I have one here at my house,” Bernard says. She installed a queen-size wall bed (also known as a Murphy bed) from California Closets in the den. “Our guests love to sleep there.” And, of course, all the office paraphernalia can be hidden away with great storage. Clients use California Closets’ valet rod that can be pulled out to make an instant place to hang an overnight guest’s dress or suit.
Gift-Wrapping and Craft Center
“A hall or guest bedroom closet can make a great gift-wrapping or craft center,” she says. “You want to be excited to wrap a gift or create something wonderful. You want to make yourself happy while you’re trying to make everyone else happy.” California Closets’ vertical storage for rolls of gift wrap or wallpaper, drawers for small items, and shelves for clear plastic storage bins (labeled with their contents) make creative time a pleasure. “Wrapping a gift is like cooking a meal. If everything is visible, you can see it and use it. You won’t be out buying and re-buying things you already have,” says Bernard.
An Organized Pantry
The same, goes of course, for getting organized to cook or bake. If your spices are organized, you will know you need more cinnamon or ground ginger. You can see if you need another 16-ounce can of pumpkin puree or more gourmet crackers if they are visible on a shelf. All those large, rarely used bottles of olive oils can be stored on shelves, freeing up space in your kitchen cabinets.
Dinner Party Closet
An underused pantry or a closet near the kitchen can transform into a Dinner Party or Entertaining Closet. “We get a lot of requests for these from people who live in condos and love to entertain,” she says. Platters/charcuterie boards go in upright, wine bottles in a rack, tablecloths on rods, and napkins and napkin rings in drawers, stacked plates on shelves, wine glasses situated for easy retrieval. California Closets storage can be designed to fit the space and the need.
Holiday Storage
And then there is all the accumulated holiday decorations to put up and take down. Clear plastic containers, labeled with their contents, can let you know in a glance where the cornucopia is without rifling through it all. Bernard recommends big tubs and small drawers to keep everything in a holiday storage system: large tubs for bulky decorations and small tubs for odds and ends, so you’re not sifting through a huge tub for a specific place card holder.
“You’ll be excited to get everything out again if the storage is well marked,” she says. “And when the holidays are over, you’ll also be happy to put it away and out of sight until next year.”