Tired of all of the clutter taking up useful space inside of your home? Or perhaps you are sick of never having enough storage space in your office area. Many individuals consider implementing storage shelves and racks when considering ways to organize their living/office space, yet they often overlook the many uses of wall coat hooks in attempting to organize these spaces. These hooks do not necessarily have to be used for their general purpose, as they are extremely versatile, easy to find, and budget-friendly.

Wall coat hooks can be found in a variety of locations, including general mass retailers, flea markets, and home decor stores. Oftentimes, some of the most unique and cheap hangers can be found at yard sales and antique stores. In addition, there are also many colors, styles, and sizes of coat hangers available. If you want a look to match rustic furniture, older styles of larger versions may be desirable. Yet, if you want a more modern look, typical silver or solid colors may do the trick. Many of these hangers have the ability to be re-finished, so individuals may purchase a general hanger and re-purpose it to fit their particular needs and color scheme.

Generally, the possibilities for what wall coat hooks can be used for are endless. If one uses them in the traditional manner, they can useful in organizing clothing or may simply provide a decorative rack on which to keep coats/hats. However, they can also be used with office settings, as well. These wall hooks can be attached to desks in order to provide organization for keys, purses, and office supplies. In addition, decorative hangers can be used as paperweights for personal use or gifts. Simply apply finish or paint the hook as desired, attach felt to the bottom of the hook, and it is ready to be used as a desk organizational tool.

Not only can these hooks be used in offices, but they can also aide in home organization efforts as well. A few wall coat hooks can be attached to a board and decorated in order to provide storage for belts, handbags, or backpacks in one’s home. Also, these hooks can be used in home garages to hold extension cords, power tools, and items such as bikes and lawn chairs. One advantage to using these hangers for storage is the small amount of space they occupy and the ability to move them around as one pleases.

Cooler temperatures put our bodies on notice that we need to keep warm. While a sweater may be all we wear to stay comfortable in the fall, a goose down coat may be the prescription for the winter. It is the insulating value of the goose down that keeps us snug. Insulation in a home serves a very similar function in maintaining warmth. Our comfort and expense is significantly affected by the type and amount of insulation we choose, as well as its installation locations and processes.

Insulation’s function is to create resistance to heat transfer. In the summer, heat wants to enter your home; in the winter, heat wants to escape. It is the job of insulation to slow that exchange of temperature. That resistance is measured in R-value.

Surrounding the conditioned space on all sides with insulation is how we most effectively keep our homes comfortable. The unique aspects of its different locations are worth examining in detail.

First-level floor

Most homes insulate the first story with material placed on the bottom side of the floor. Building code requires a minimum R-19, and this is most often accomplished with the placement of batts (rolled out lengths of fiberglass insulation) placed between the floor joists.

For older homes that lack any floor insulation, having this installed will greatly increase comfort as well as reduce energy consumption. I typically see homes that contain floor insulation in disrepair. Re-insulating areas where batts have fallen down or have been removed because of re-wiring, re-plumbing or a lack of support rods to hold them in place is a good idea. Keep in mind that the material should have contact with the bottom of the flooring but should not be compressed, as this will make it less effective. “Sealing” or “closing” a crawlspace is also an excellent way to insulate. The process yields exceptional results by improving moisture control and air quality and saving energy.

Exterior walls

Being encapsulated on all sides makes this the least accessible place to inspect and repair insulation. Most homes built within the past 40 years have insulation in the exterior walls. Homes without this insulation have wall cavities with temperatures that can be very similar to the outside. There are effective methods to insulate these homes, most often by blowing insulation into the wall cavities. I recommend consulting a qualified professional about options and costs.

There are several effective choices when insulating walls in a new home. Traditional batts are a good choice when properly installed. Be aware that hand-cut batts can create undesirable gaps and that the material should always have full contact with the interior drywall.

There are many blown and sprayed wall insulation options, and their attributes, applications and costs vary. What they all have in common is that they minimize the human error attributed to installation and give an even, consistent application that conforms nicely to the wall cavities, eliminating gaps and voids.

Attic

Warm air rises. In the winter, your home’s conditioned air pushes against the ceiling, or the underside of the attic, and heat transfer can be significant there. A visual inspection of the attic insulation is worth the effort. Some issues can be detected easily. For instance, if you can see the tops of your ceiling joists, you probably have inadequate coverage.

As a rule of thumb, to achieve building code compliance of R-38, an attic should have approximately 15 inches of loose fill fiberglass or 11 inches of loose fill cellulose. Batts also are a common form of attic insulation. My experience has been that this application often contains numerous voids around electrical boxes and ducting, as well as beside each ceiling joist. Blown insulation can be applied to increase almost any attic’s existing insulation, regardless of what has been previously installed. A relatively new process of applying spray foam insulation in the rafter system has proven to be very effective. One of its benefits, as many homes have their duct system in the attic, is that by insulating the rafters, the ducts then become located inside the insulated envelope. This keeps the attic temperature milder and provides minimal heat transfer with the duct work.

We all have clothes and bits and bobs that we just won’t throw out. There are heels we still can’t tolerate, but that cost too much of a fortune to part with. The special top that can’t be worn until it goes to the dry-cleaners. Cotton socks mixed up with the wool. And, as always the shirts with missing buttons that we keep meaning to sew back on.

What we need is a “method to our madness.” It is unreasonable to say we will not shop much next year because there is always some excuse (erm, sales!). However, organisation does not need to be a perpetual painstaking process of sorting clothes into appropriately labelled drawers. A well thought out storage system or even an entirely bespoke wardrobe made to your specifications, will easily solve the problem.

Consider the simplest classification possible: classification by purpose. Sorting clothes in the same cabinet in such a way will never succeed; you will eventually dump your business jacket with the sports shirts in the hurry of picking up your child from school. Instead, have small cabinets and shelves built to hold each category separately, so that the occasional misfits are easily visible.

Well, how does one go about with this gigantic de-cluttering task? Here’s a simple mantra:

Quantity, Quality, Purpose and an Eye For the Future!

How many dresses, shoes, ties, jeans, shorts, skirts, coats, scarves, shirts and miscellanea do you possess? How many of the same will you buy this year, the next, the one after that? Having an idea of this will tell you how much space you want free and made available for a tidier wardrobe this year and the years to come.

How many of your clothes do you wear only at home, with close friends, on formal and business dinners, at parties? Separate the more delicate and prized possessions from the everyday ones in different sections of your wardrobe.

Maybe keep your clothing sorted by purpose and quality. This way, you’ll not put on a coffee-stained shirt under your jacket in a hurry; you will be able to pick out your outfit easily for wherever you are heading!

Remember the future. You might have a couple of months traveling planned. Maybe you are planning a pregnancy… devote the space for all these immediate possibilities, so that the money you spend now will take care of that added pressure that piles up any change in one’s life.

To get the most out of your storage and organisation requirements, a bit of time and forethought are paramount to a continued easier life!

As a result, choosing the right professionals to design, build and install your fitted furniture is essential. For a selection of stylish real-life results, take a look at the Inhouse Interiors website, a London-based bespoke fitted furniture company that can create your ideal fitted wardrobe that changes the face of your bedroom.