Lifestyle Improvement
Design for the way we liveArchive for Closets
Please check your bag
Over the course of my career, I have had the privilege of traveling all over the world. The frequency has been irregular, however it is part of the equation. Luggage has improved significantly over the years and when it comes time to purchase another one, I find further refinements and improvements. We all do a good job matching a product to our needs, but there are other considerations.
Too many times I have witnessed people heading down the aisle with luggage never designed for the overhead. This may seem logical to some, but one thing we are all guilty of is the consideration of where to stow these pieces in our home. With everything to consider in the process of design, this is often overlooked.
Walk-in closet design provides an opportunity to place these items in a very logical place. For those of us who travel often – this is a significant time saver in not just packing, but allowing an inventory of supplies to be better managed. Lifestyle Improvement can incorporate these items into any design while providing smoother transitions between periods of travel.
please visit my website www.architechstyles.com.
Honey, where’s the hammer?
Like most families, we had a junk drawer in the kitchen full of stuff: night light bulbs, pliers, tape measure, screw driver, leveling casters, etc. To complicate matters, household tools were also found in the basement, the garage, and upstairs in a closet. There always seemed to be an ongoing fix-it project – so the accompanying tools were left near the unfinished project – so every time it came to return to work on a project, search and destroy of required tools takes longer than the project.
To eliminate this, we found it helpful to have a work bench near the garage and/or utility room. We designed and built a 6′ wide work bench out of a closet organization system that serves a variety of task: repair on a variety of household items, folding table for clothing, a battery and light bulb station and a place for extension cords during seasonal display requirements. Additionally the work bench is adjacent to the laundry tub – so it provides a drip place for clothing and washed items, like paint brushes, grill brushes, and stained clothing staged for cleaning – drying is an additional bonus!
The key to success is a location based on family use and the discipline to keep it organized. Utilizing a prime location, we found that not only did these projects get done, but it ended the wasted time of search and destroy.
For more information please visit my website www.architechstyles.com
Search and Destroy
This is a term I assigned to my wife while witnessing her morning ritual of getting ready for work.
In our first home together, she had her wardrobe scattered between three closets, several pieces of furniture, and other tucked away places, like shoes in tubs slid under the bed. After many discussions, when it came time for us to build our first home, we figured out a way to eliminate this game.
A well designed walk in closet! Closet systems today have come along way from a simple wooden pole. Most are modular in design and can be custom designed around individual use – but here are some things we found that saved us time and money:
- Clothing placed in furniture is difficult because you can’t see what is inside. Drawers, doors and the structural components necessary for them take up space in a bedroom. This is a duplication of design and one that a closet can do much more efficiently.
- When my wife gave up her dresser, it did three things:
- #1 everything in the dresser fit into the master closet in a smaller square foot area;
- #2 the mirror on the dresser only allowed her to see herself from the waist up, so we mounted a floor to ceiling mirror the same size turned 90 degrees that allows her to see her head down to her toes and in better light;
- #3 where the dresser once stood, we were able to place an entertainment center with perfect viewing for each of us.
Now all of her clothing resides in one place, plus the addition of the entertainment system for the same cost as a new dresser, makes the bedroom seem more like a master suite.
