While a clean home is a New Year’s tradition, a clear home, like a clear day or guilt-free conscience, also makes for a great fresh start.
Cluttered spaces and surfaces produce “visual noise” that interrupts and disrupts our thoughts and moods, according to Kamuela Potter, owner of Inspired Closets Hawaii in Waipio Gentry.
“An organized home brings peace and quiet to your life,” said Potter, who will present home organization strategies in booth 618 at the Hawaii Home Building & Remodeling Show, which opens at 5 p.m. Friday and runs through Jan. 28 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall.
To get started, Potter suggested three simple tips:
1. Do a clean sweep. Take those stacks of bills, files and kids’ homework off table and desk tops and get that positive feeling of entering a clean hotel room for a getaway.
2. Save time in meal prep by reordering your kitchen pantry.
“Keep things you use every day on shelves between eye and waist level. Put heavier bulk items and cases of drinks on the floor, and paper goods and baking ingredients, things you don’t use every day, overhead.”
Potter’s team can customize and maximize your space with adjustable shelves and pull-out trays to sort canned goods and small appliances, and dividers to let baking sheets and platters rest on their sides.
3. In a bedroom closet, a good rule of thumb is that if you can see space on a wall, you’re wasting space.
Instead of a single rod, hang several at varying heights and add shelves in half the vertical space, as well as above and below the hanging clothes. Instead of mesh shoe bags, which don’t fit all types of shoes, Potter recommends open flat shelves with a clearance of about 7 inches in between.
In children’s closets, drawers, baskets and shelves increase storage and give them more play space on the floor of their rooms. Use clear bins so kids can see what goes inside. Keep them small; bigger bins become dumping grounds.
For more info, visit biahawaii.org/the-big-show or inspiredclosets.com/locations/hawaii.