Just because you’re in college doesn’t mean you have to feel like you are living in a dorm room, even if you really are. Stop resting things on the floor next to your bed and check out the Urban Shelf – a versatile go anywhere bed side table. It’s the perfect spot for your phone, remote control, book, drink, jewelry, bedside accoutrement or even a picture of your long distance love. The best part is it folds up when you don’t need it, and among other things it can even function as an iPad stand!
Lil Davinci is a simple way to display and store your child’s treasured pieces of art. Each frame can store up to 50 masterpieces, helping you keep these special memories safe while eliminating clutter from your kitchen refrigerator. These easy to update frames make the idea of framing every piece of your child’s art a breeze and makes it easy to show them just how proud of them you really are! This fantastic idea isn’t only for your child’s artwork either; Dynamic Frames also makes other great solutions such as the Pinster shadow box frame for displaying memorabilia and gallery frames, which can store as many as 288 photos!
If you’re an active, outdoor person, here is a great way to keep your key safe and out of the way while you are biking, rollerblading or running. Made of silicone rubber, gokey safely holds your key and allows you to wear it on your wrist as a bracelet while you are working out. Available in three different sizes, gokey is comfortable to wear and gives you an extra piece of mind so you don’t have to worry about loosing your key during your morning jog.
Check out the new Opencase wall storage system by Henrybuilt – it is gorgeous! This brings versatile, exposed storage to a whole new level. I love its warm, organic look & vast flexibility. While open storage can be difficult to keep looking neat, a system like this certainly helps make it a bit easier. How do you feel about open storage?
Playtime clean up has never been easier than with the Lay-N-Go. An activity mat with a built-in drawstring, the Lay-N-Go makes it easy for kids to spread out over a 5 foot area to play with their favorite toys. When they are done playing, all you need to do is pull the drawstring tight to close the storage sack. Once closed, the Lay-N-Go is completely sealed and won’t let any pieces slip out. Sound too good to be true? Watch it in action – here is a short video the Fazackerleys (creators of Lay-N-Go) made to show you how quick and easy playtime clean-up can be!
No matter how hard I try to prevent scuffs from appearing on my walls, they always seem to pop up… maybe it was the dog, maybe it was my partner, maybe the chair hit the wall when I put on my shoes, or maybe it was the grotesque stain left behind after my cat like reflexes helped me finally catch that house fly. Whatever the reason may be, scuffs, marks and dings are not welcome on the walls or in my home!
Although I keep a small container of paint semi-handy, I always wish there was an easier and quicker way to touch up spots on my colored walls, and handle the areas that my trusty friend Mr. Clean just can’t seem to help with. Well, my wish was granted recently when I stumbled upon the Slobproof paint pen! This problem solving product took an item many women commonly use and gave it an ingenious new use – very simply, it is paint in a lip gloss pen. Ladies, just like with your lipgloss, the paint chamber stays airtight ensuring that the paint won’t dry out and that the pen will be ready to use for years to come. Store it in your toolbox, your office, or in your (organized) junk drawer. Touch ups have never been easier.
It’s one of those days where my desk is overwhelmed by papers, tools and electronics, so I thought it would be the perfect time to share a great solution that I recently discovered (and am considering purchasing for myself – after all, no one loves a tidy desk as much as I do).
Like all great inventions, the Desk Rail was designed out of a need that many of us encounter almost every day – a desk covered with items ranging from eyeglasses to notebooks, and the constant desire and need to wrangle that cluttery chaos in order to stay focused. Whether you work as a design professional (as the creators of the Desk Rail do at the firm Push Start Creative) or an accountant, the Desk Rail can help tidy-up your desk and lend a helping hand by holding important items (e.g. flash drives, keys, access cards, etc), acting as a charging station for your many electronic devices and gadgets, being a secretary (e.g. holding up documents, notebooks and tablets)… the list goes on and on for the various ways you can use this amazing and simple solution at work, or even at home. Check out this little video to the Desk Rail in action.
You walk in the door and almost always look for a place to set your keys, wallet, phone, sunglasses, and whatever other miscellaneous bits you have hiding in your jacket pockets. Maybe you have a small table in your entryway to catch these items and perhaps you even have a nice bowl or tray to hold everything so it stays neat. However, what if you don’t have space for that table? Or, what if you are sick and tired of seeing that bowl filled with all this stuff and you just want the space to look clean?
Well, the HookNook by flip & tumble is your solution. This handy hook – perfect for jackets, scarves, purses, sweaters, etc – also has a handy nook for you to store those necessary items that you take with you when you leave the house. Available in several colors, the HookNook works great for adults and kids alike and is the perfect solution for holding any frequently used small items in your home office, craft room, garage – even the bathroom!
Several weeks ago I received a call that actually made me jump out of my seat – an opportunity to be a part of Katie Couric’s daytime talk show! When the discussions began, I had no idea that I was going to have the honor to work with Katie herself and makeover her very own home office. Needless to say, as more details came in about the project I got more and more excited. The planning for the project was fast and the turnaround time for the installation and the shoot were even faster yet. Six hours to do a total declutter makeover?! That’s unheard of! However, by combining my team with hers it was a task we were all ready to roll up our sleeves and take on.
The entire project was an incredible experience and I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. Katie’s team truly helped to make the experience a memorable one. I am not only grateful for having had this opportunity, but I am deeply indebted to Katie and everyone who was involved.
It has been 20 days since we began this journey and today I am super excited for America to finally see the product of many hours of hard work. I hope that everyone finds our tips to be easy and helpful. Since not everything could make it into the show, below are some additional thoughts and tips that I thought I’d share from the transformation. Enjoy!
Wires – Messy cords are probably the number one kind of visual clutter that stirs up my anxiety like none other. I see it and feel almost instantly compelled to unplug everything and start fresh with wrapping and bundling. Cords and wires are a notorious culprit of visual clutter for many people and are actually a very easy thing to neaten up. With Katie’s cords, all it took were some zip ties (also known as cable ties), a couple 3M Command Cord Clips, a BlueLounge Cable Box (one of my favorite items, which I wrote about back in 2010) and a little patience. In about 20 minutes we had all the wires rerouted, wrapped up and looking neat.
Multi-functional furniture – As I mentioned during the makeover segment, multi-functional furniture should almost always be considered for a room. Finding the right 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 piece of furniture that matches your taste in design can feel like you’ve struck gold. Pieces like the Safavieh ottomans we found on Overstock.com are great for adding additional storage, an extra seat or a place to put your feet up. Using two smaller ottomans like we did also allows for more flexibility within the room. If you have children and want to open up the floor for play time or are entertaining a lot of mingling guests, these are easy to move out of the way to create a bit more space.
Mailboxes – If you are like most of us in America, then you will agree that mail is a huge source of clutter in our homes and offices. Personally, I have made it my mission to remove myself from as many mailing lists as I can by making phone calls to the various credit card and catalog companies and using services like catalogchoice.org. While that process does take time, there are more immediate methods to help manage mail such as the sorting system we created for Katie using the Kvarnvik linen boxes from Ikea to help her separate her personal mail from her work mail. This quick, macro-level sorting allows her to manage her mail more efficiently and avoid feeling too overwhelmed by having it as one large bundle.
Frames – A large part of Katie’s home office makeover was her photo collection. There were framed photos on the wall and on the shelves, as well as several unframed photos in various drawers and piles around the room. Katie was definitely on the right path with her photo gallery wall by using uniform frames to create a visual story; however, it was upstaged by too many differently framed photos on the dresser in front of it and the two large lamps. Photo gallery walls are tricky because too many frames on a wall and in one place will start feeling cluttered and can make it harder to enjoy the special memories each picture holds. In Katie’s case, our solution was to simply move the photo gallery wall from the space above the dresser where it was harder to see to a space above the sofa where it became more of a focal point in the room. The wall above the sofa provides more breathing room for the photos and are now the first thing her eyes see as she walks in. We kept continuity throughout the visual story by using frames that had a similar color tone, like she had initially done, however we used frames with a darker wood to create a softer contrast with the red wall. By mixing the espresso multi-mat frames from Pottery Barn with some non-matted espresso toned frames from Hobby Lobby we were able to add some variation while maintaining a unified look.
Desktop – One of the initial things I noticed when walking into Katie’s office was the size of her desk. The antique desk is beautiful, but it is very small and had a limited amount of work-space due to the papers, notes, random items and more photos that were covering the surface. Since we didn’t want to replace the desk, I wanted to open up the surface space and allow her to view her photos and other special items at the same time. To do this, we had a piece of quarter inch glass cut to fit the top of her desk exactly. Then, since I also wanted to lighten up the space and bring some texture and dimension to the desktop, we cut a piece of linen to place between the desk and the glass. We cleared off the top of the desk, laid the down the linen, neatly placed our special photos and notes on top of the linen and gently set the glass on top. This simple update opened up the desk’s work surface, updated the look of the desk, lightened up the area, and was completed for less than $150. Katie loved it!
A Little Pop – There is something about a little pop of color or special design detail that can sometimes bring a smile to a person’s face. It’s a treat that brightens the day and in some cases, even helps to incentivize organization. If fighting clutter is not something that comes naturally for you, try adding some flair and style to the area to keep it neat and tidy. You’ll visually appreciate the styled space more and have more of that incentive to keep it put together. We used this technique in Katie’s desk drawers by lining them with a fun, bold-printed wrapping paper which we found at Paper Source. Once we cut and laid the paper in the drawer, we then outfitted them with clear drawer dividers that we found at the Container Store. We chose clear dividers so that the bold colors from the paper could shine through. Now, not only are Katie’s supplies organized, the extra pop of color helps to make it worthwhile to stay organized.
With the Oscars this Sunday, many people are gearing up for a festive evening with friends. From parties with themes based on the movie nominees to parties with competitive voting contests, for some it is a night bigger than the Super Bowl.
Unfortunately, at the end of the night whether Best Picture goes to Argo or Lincoln, the task of getting the award for “Best Cleanup” still remains for the gracious host or hostess. To make cleaning up from this “star studded” evening a little easier, pickup a couple Clean Cubes. A recent discovery at the New York International Gift Fair, Clean Cubes take away the mess and frustration of taking out the trash or recycling. This fully biodegradable product is leak resistant and a great solution for when you need an additional receptacle for your disposables or recyclables. Plus, it’s sturdy construction means there’s no worry about bags tearing or breaking on the way out the door.
Great for any type of party, or even every day, Clean Cubes are currently available on Amazon.com, or in the New York City area at select Duane Reade locations.
