Homefulness' Best Home Organising Projects of 2022
Another year has flown by for us here at Homefulness, with 2022 being our busiest and best year yet! We’ve grown as a team and had the pleasure of organising many beautiful homes in and around London and the South East.
Whilst so many of our home organisation projects are enjoyable and satisfying, below are some of our favourites from the past year.
Project # 1: Home Move
One of our largest and most enjoyable organising projects of this year! From coordinating the move across London through to setting up and organising every little detail of the home, the whole process was such a pleasure.
Stage I: Packing Up
The first stage of the project involved us packing up the client’s current home. One of the many benefits of using a professional organiser to pack up your space is to ensure that everything goes into boxes in an organised fashion so everything comes out that way at the other end! We sorted like with like and labelled up each box appropriately.
Stage II: Unpacking
Before unpacking everything into the new apartment, we had a thorough consultation there to make a plan for all of their inventory and measure up for any necessary organising products.
Then whilst the client was out of town, the entire team spent three days unpacking every box, putting all their belongings away and setting up furniture in each room.
Stage III: Organising the House
In the master wardrobe we grouped and organised all clothing by category and either hung items in wardrobes or file-folded them away inside drawers. As the client had a fairly large collection of clothing accessories (ties, cufflinks, pocket squares etc.), we created an accessories drawer.
We used dividers to form defined categories within the drawer to ensure the client would be able to easily see all accessories and easily maintain the system of organisation.
In the living room we had fun figuring out the best layout for the furniture pieces to make the most of the large south facing windows, a real focal point of the room. In addition we styled the shelves either side of the fireplace and set up the armoire bar.
In the laundry room we were working with open shelves rather than the typical cupboard set up you might be used to in such a room. As a result, we selected aesthetically pleasing bamboo boxes for the shelves in which we stored, by category all of the cleaning products and supplies.
In the kitchen, after placing pots, pans, crockery, and utensils, our main focus was the pantry. As the client was a keen cook, we wanted to make the pantry both practical and a pleasure to look at. We utilised glass jars to decent dried foods and miniature glass jars to decant the spice collection.
Additionally, we used clear plastic bins to group other pantry items by category e.g. sweet spread, savoury spreads, ensuring that every pantry item had a dedicated home. The result was gorgeous and the client was happy to come back to a fully organised new home!
Project # 2: Pantry Installation
This project was particularly enjoyable because it involved the planning and creation of a walk- in pantry in a newly refurbished home. Through discussions with the client we were able to figure out the best shelving set up for her and her family in this purpose built pantry room off the main kitchen.
We chose to use an Elfa shelving system to fit out the room as the system allowed us to customise height and length of the shelves to ensure the optimal use of the space. Plus, having used Elfa shelving on numerous other projects, we knew them to be sleek, strong and reliable!
As the client was particularly eco conscious, we selected organising products from the Idesign EcoWood range. Not only do these bins, boxes and turntables look great, they are made from sustainable sourced wood that is recyclable.
The range is perfect for pantries with versatile options such as turntables (which are perfect to use in hard to reach corners), open fronted bins (great for larger bottles), and rectangular and square boxes to utilise every inch of shelf space.
Within the boxes and turntables, we created categories of foods (snacks, baking, condiments etc.) to make every item super easy to find for the client and her family. We were really pleased with the finished result of this pantry organisation project!
Project # 3: Primary Wardrobe
This master wardrobe was a real dream to organise. The purpose built walk-in wardrobe had been really well planned out with plenty of storage space; it just needed the touch of a professional organiser to get it looking perfect!
In the hanging zone we separated items out by type; jeans, trousers, jackets, tops. Apart from the heavy coats and jackets which required strong wooden hangers, we then changed everything over to slimline velvet hangers.
Not only are these hangers more gentle on clothing, they also save space, ensuring you can fit the maximum amount of clothes in your hanging space without items becoming squashed together and wrinkled.
On the shoe wall, we stored pairs by type and colour, utilising the higher shelves to store boxes containing larger boots.
The client was keen to make a focal point of her handbag collection so chose to arrange them inside the glass cabinets, meaning that they were both on display but protected from dust and moisture.
In drawers we file-folded underwear, socks and t-shirts and organised by colour, using drawer dividers to maintain the rows.
The finished result; the wardrobe of our dreams!
Project # 4: Apartment Transformation
This client called us as they were struggling to cope with clutter and create order in their small apartment. Having made some attempts at organisation, they had hit a roadblock and needed an extra pair of hands to help declutter and get proper systems of organisation in place that could be easily maintained.
At the consultation we discussed with the client about how adding bins to the wardrobe shelves would allow us to fully utilise the depth of the cupboards (the cupboards were deep and items were getting pushed to the back and forgotten about) as well as make it easier to access items on the higher shelves.
In the bathroom cupboards, although not cluttered, the products required some containment to keep the cupboards neat and tidy.
On the day of the organising session, we began by pulling everything out of the wardrobe and categorising items. We then assigned each category to a bin and file-folded items into the bins.
On the higher shelves we placed the categories used less often (as this organising project was in the Spring we placed the more wintery items on the higher shelves), and on the more accessible shelves we placed items used on a daily basis e.g. underwear, socks, pyjamas, t-shirts.
After placing the bins onto the shelves, we added labels so that the client could quickly and easily identify what was contained within each bin.
In the bathroom, we grouped products by category and then placed them inside clear containers on the shelves, grouping similar categories near to each other.
Additionally we placed labels onto the shelves as a reminder of where each category belongs in the event that all items are removed at one time e.g. for a holiday - the labels will help the clients know where each category needs to be returned to, thus ensuring the system is maintained.
We are looking forward to an upcoming organising project in the new year helping this client move into their new home!
Project # 5: Staircase Library
Books are one of our favourite things to organise at Homefulness, so creating some order and aesthetic pleasure on this staircase library brought us real joy!
Due to the prominent location of these bookshelves, adjacent to the staircase in the main hallway of the home, it was vital to bring some order to the mix of books located here.
Rather than grouping the books by genre or height as we might normally do in a less visible location, here we decided that colour coordination was the best option to create something that was both calming and visually appealing.
A simple project where no organising products were required, just good old sorting and categorisation, but satisfying nonetheless!
Project # 6: Teen Bedroom
This teen bedroom was a really rewarding one to bring some order to and fingers crossed it has stayed this way!
There were three main areas that required organisation; the desk area, the make-up station and the wardrobes.
For the desk area we started by decluttering. There were many items here that simply didn’t belong on the desk. The items we removed and placed in their correct locations.
As the storage space in this desk was limited, we added matching storage bins to the shelves to contain the larger items that were too big to fit in the drawers and added labels. Inside the desk drawers we used small plastic inserts to micro organise stationary.
As a result we managed to free up most of the surface space on the desk making it usable again.
The makeup station was another challenge. Cluttered and completely jumbled up, it was difficult for the client’s daughter to find a specific item amongst the chaos!
To create some order, we added clear bins to each shelf of the trolley. Within each clear bin we placed different categories of items and added labels to allow the clients’ daughter to easily find what she was looking for.
In the wardrobes, as the client’s daughter had a large hoodie collection, we implemented a folding system on the shelves, and categorised the hoodies by colour, making the whole collection visible at a glance and simple to select one to wear.
There was limited hanging space which we chose to prioritise for coats and jackets and used the drawers to store file folded jeans and t-shirts.
Project # 7: Interior Design Studio
Our first interior design studio organisation, this project was a highlight of the year for us!
The busy client got in touch as they were struggling to keep on top of endless samples, were finding it difficult to keep track of important documents and were feeling stressed and overwhelmed by the clutter on a daily basis.
We won’t lie; there was a great deal to organise in this interior design studio and the project took our team a week to complete, but the results were fantastic!
We created a wall of large fabric and wallpaper sample booklets, categorised by brand to make it simple for the client to find exactly what they were looking for. For the carpet and flooring samples we categorised by brand and then colour within each brand.
We did the same for tiles too. Each sample type was allocated its own zone in the design studio; all carpet samples in one zone, all wallpaper samples in another zone etc.
Once we had categorised everything, what was most important in this project was labelling. We added labels everywhere!
Not only were the labels important to allow the client and her colleagues to identify where to find specific items they were looking for, they were also important to ensure the maintenance of the organisation of the studio going forward, making it quick and simple to incorporate new samples into the inventory.
Project # 8: Laundry Room
This laundry room was another simple, yet satisfying project. After redecorating, this client wanted to declutter their laundry room of old and duplicate products and have a system of organisation implemented for cleaning supplies and laundry products that would be easy for her housekeeper to maintain.
We began by sorting through the current inventory, discarding empty cleaning product bottles, dried up cleaning wipes, excess old rags and any duplicate items that were deemed unnecessary. Having slimmed down the cleaning inventory we were ready to start implementing some organisation!
The client already had some organising products which we were able to reuse to create the new organising system. In the cupboard closest to the washing machine we placed all laundry items on the lowest most accessible shelf.
We placed smaller cleaning products and cloths and wipes on the shelf above this, whilst larger cleaning items such as large bottles and mop buckets were placed in the large cupboard under the sink.
In the lower down cupboard, we placed the hoover bags and accessories as well as the iron. We placed the iron inside a basket to make for easy manoeuvring in and out of the cupboard. Finishing off with labels gave this laundry room a fresh, new look and a system that was easy to stick to.
Is it your turn to get your home organised in 2023?
We hope you enjoyed our review of our favourite organising project of the past year! We are so grateful to our community and clients for your support and trusting us to organise all the little details in your lives.
Is 2023 the year you get your home organised?
Don’t hesitate to get in touch; Homefulness is here to help you start the year off right!
