Lifestyle Improvement
Design for the way we liveArchive for Where does it all go ?
Trips to the big box.
Every week it seems as though it is impossible to get by without a visit to the big box for more supplies. Groceries, cleaning supplies, home maintenance, up keep supplies, etc. The SUV gets filled every week and it becomes a constant negotiation to find a place for it once I arrive home.
Over the years, the trick has been to figure out how to reduce trips and time spent putting it away and then getting it out as it becomes needed. While pantry’s, storage shelves in the garage and basement are obvious choices, consider their proximity to the trunk of your car and dispersion into your home.
Design oftentimes becomes very easy because it is just simple logistics at work. Garages with close adjacency to kitchen pantry’s, utility room and perhaps a set of basement stairs save people time. A central location as much as possible to a distribution point works best for the storage necessities of our homes.
Think of it in terms of corporate sales. Companies have learned that a central warehouse to all of their stores allows them to speed up delivery, control inventory, and manage the general operation of their stores. With our lives so focused on the many purchases required for daily life, it only makes sense to incorporate an extension to the distribution chain so that our lifestyle runs as efficiently as a business.
For more information please visit my website www.architechstyles.com
Yard Darts
When I was a kid, one of my favorite games was yard darts. Two plastic hoops positioned several feet from one another and two people take turns throwing them and scoring points based on accuracy toward a central point in the circle. OK – yes I know they don’t sell them anymore, but where I am going with this is during the summer months, they remained outside, but where do they reside during inclement weather and winter ? Now throw in lawn mowers, gardening tools, trash and recycling bins, toys, seasonal yard supplies, the list goes on.
The problem is, in a typical 2-car garage, one car often finds itself sitting outside the driveway. To make matters even worse, governing authorities are regulating if not eliminating the ability to place a storage shed on your lot. Design should incorporate a place for all of these items. One should also allow for proportion considerations for lot size, family members, and at times hobbies, skills and lifestyles that add even more items.
For more information please visit my website www.architechstyles.com
Mom, where’s my glove ?
I can’t even begin to count how many times my kids misplaced something and automatically it became my wife’s job to know the location of everything. While her skills as an expert tracker are refined – much of the blame resided with us. Between bedrooms, basements, back yards and the great room, my son’s baseball glove was always on the move.
As we learned and my architectural training kicked in (thankfully before my temper kicked in), placing a sports equipment storage system in the garage next to the door in the utility room, combined with an initial bit of discipline by us, soon eliminated the need for an expert tracker.
Make sure you consider all such negotiations and diplomatic conversations, for many times a simple design solution can be found to eliminate the outbreak of war and produce a shared lifestyle improvement.
For more information please visit my website www.architechstyles.com
