Christmas list includes gifts to help organize
The organizational opportunities that Christmas offers set my heart aflutter.
Ever since I was a kid, I have stolen away by myself after the gift giving and family time have subsided to incorporate my new items into my old.
These days, that often means culling out my closet or drawers, organizing my jewelry or the displayed portion of my rock collection, or restyling our mantel stilllifes to integrate a pretty gift from my young daughter.
After reading the recently published “Remodelista: The Organized Home,” I have also decided to add some organizational items to my Christmas wish list.
Despite my role as the books editor and the home editor for The Dispatch, I’m skeptical of home books. The advice or looks they offer often seem impractical for a family with two parents who work long hours and an 8-year-old who’s a fast-and-furious
creator of art projects and messes.
We need our home to do more than look good — although we surely appreciate it when it does.
“Remodelista” has a bit of the kind of advice that I consider impractical, such as decanting all food into pretty, matching jars and adding electrical outlets inside drawers. That's not happening in my 1925 house without a major renovation.
To my pleasant surprise, though, many of the other suggestions from authors Julie Carlson and Margot Guralnick had me ooh-ing. Some of my favorites:
■ Attach magazine file racks to the inside of doors to pantries or cabinets to create perfect-sized storage for plastic wrap, parchment paper and aluminum foil. (That would work for boxes of envelopes, too.) Similarly, they recommend adding towel rods to kitchen cabinet doors to hold pot lids.
■ In the laundry room, hang drying racks from the ceiling. The example in the book shows a fancy system that raises and lowers, but I can see a far simpler set of wooden slats working well, too.
■ In the kitchen, stretch an Ikea Dignitet curtain rod wire from one wall to another to provide a hanging rail for items such as towels, scissors and brushes. I can also see this working well in a kid's room (with clothespins holding artwork) or a mudroom.
■ Use a pegboard in a closet to hold ties — something I would use for scarves and chunky necklaces.
This is a beautiful book that shows how attractive a beautifully organized home can look. I enjoyed it and especially appreciated the lists detailing where everything shown can be purchased.
“Remodelista” also inspired me to create a plan for our 5-by8-foot back porch, which functions as our entryway, to add cubbies, a counterstyle top and a peg rail (for coats and my daughter’s various backpacks).
I plan to ask my handy husband to install it for me for Christmas.