Monthly Musings | February | Organising your Home
This time of year, when plans tend to be at a minimum and we are spending more of our time at home, is an ideal time to get round to some organisational jobs that will make things run smoother around the house in the months to come. New year intentions aside, sorting out your storage and having a good old tidy of your house is a great job for a cold, miserable weekend when you don't want to head outdoors. I also find that I am more motivated to get stuck into tedious tasks and feel really inspired to organise myself during the first few months of the year.
This month's Musings is dedicated to storage and organisation around the home - plus a bonus section for travel organisation, for those of you who are planning your 2024 travels. I'll be focusing on three areas of the home that are often neglected and tend to get messy very quickly: the pantry (and kitchen storage), the linen closet and the boot room.
Kitchen & Pantry
I find that my kitchen and pantry need regular upkeep to stay organised and reduce food waste. I aim to sort through all the cupboards and shelves twice a year, clearing things out and checking expiration dates. Key touchpoints, such as the kitchen counter and the drawers or cupboards that you use most often may need more regular organising.
Add interest and texture by using rattan storage solutions, such as rattan cutlery trays inside drawers to help keep cutlery organised and rattan condiment carriers for storing unopened jars and bottles of condiments and jams. On shelves, in cupboards and in the pantry, glass jars can be used to store items such as herbs, spices and dried pulses, or you could hide packaged items away on lower shelves behind a cafe curtain.
You can read more storage tips for the pantry here, as well as Maison Haven's advice for a Pinterest-worthy pantry.
Beyond the obvious, here are three suggestions for keeping your kitchen and pantry organised:
If your kitchen, like mine, is the heart of your home where you spend a lot of your time, it tends to become a 'life admin' area where clutter gathers. If items such as pens and paper tend to find their home in your kitchen, keep a small pen pot and a letter organiser on the counter or island. I use my pen pot for everything from lip balms to nail oils, as well as pens and pencils. Store invitations, note cards, stamps and mail that you need to action in an organiser, to keep everything in one place and close to hand.This set by Il Papiro Firenze is both beautifully designed and practical.
Our rattan storage baskets are designed to be used for a variety of purposes within your home, but are the ideal size and shape for keeping pantry shelves and kitchen cupboards organised. How you organise your groceries will be to personal taste, but I tend to group items by categories with one basket filled with baking paraphenalia, another with nuts and seeds, one for snacks and crackers, etc.
For organising the fridge, I like to use iDesign's plastic containers to categorise similar items and reduce waste. I have one for cheeses, another for sauces, one for fresh ingredients such as chillis, garlic, etc. There's something so satisfiying about an organised fridge, and it helps to prevent more than one of each item being opened at once.
Linen cupboard
After the chaos of Christmas, the first few months of the year are an excellent time to take everything out of your linen cupboard for an airing. You can then organise your linens as you put them back in, storing anything you won't need for a while towards the back and keeping any spring or classic linens within easy reach.
Here are three suggestions for tidying up your linen cupboard:
Keep hold of your dust bags - they are ideal for storing sets of napkins together to keep them dust-free and to keep sets together so they're easy to reach for without messing up a pile. Keep a label on the outside of the dust bag so you can find what you're looking for easily. Avoid storing linens in plastic - they discolour linen, as it needs to breathe.
Tablecloths are best stored on hangers, if you have the space. Not only does this help to minimise creases, but it helps you to be able to see your collection at a glance. These hangers are ideal.
Keep napkin rings or any other smaller items of tableware in sets, stored in bags or containers. Again, neatly label what is inside each container to make everything easy to find.
The Boot Room
Whether you have a dedicated boot room, a coat cupboard or use your hallway to store coats, shoes and other bits to grab on your way out of the door, this is an area of the home that quickly becomes messy and disorganised. If you have a dedicated boot room, utilise the space that you have to create effective storage: add hooks onto the walls, use shoe racks below benches and use the entire height of your walls.
Our rattan baskets are brilliant for storing hats, scarves and gloves. They are available in different sizes, so you can keep them on shelves or tuck them below a bench or console table. Have a storage box per person, so you're not always searching for things like hats and gloves on the way out of the house.
If you're designing a boot room from scratch, custom-made cabinetry is the best idea to maximise space in a small area. Be clever with multi-functional spaces, such as shelves that could house rattan storage baskets or shoes. And go all the way up to the ceiling with your storage - you can keep out-of-season items tucked away on the highest shelves.
Here some helpful ways to add style through storage and ways to maximise space that aren’t always clear:
This Jim Lawrence umbrella and hat stand is great for free-standing storage to add character to the room.
I love this vintage French bamboo coat and hat rack for adding texture to a room that often has a lot of hard surfaces. I often see antique dealers selling similar racks, and they are relatively easy to find.
This Alfred Newall tiered side table is brilliant for hat and scarf storage, and is very handy to have near the front door. There are often vintage and antique examples available in similar sizes. I designed our rattan storage baskets to fit the shelves of this style of table.
This French antique wall hung shelf would be both beautiful and practical hung in a boot room for maximising storage on the walls.
Travel
Whether you're away often for work or planning your holidays, keeping your belongings organised when travelling can be tricky. I spend a lot of time travelling for work, particularly at the beginning of the year during trade show season, so have been thinking a lot about travel organisation recently.
Here are a few suggestions for travel organisation to make your life easier:
Where feasible, keep travel-sized duplicates of your usual skincare and make-up products stored in a bag that you can reach for when packing. You may need to add some items, such as mascara, but most of the bag is ready to go. These Beauty Pie PVC bags are perfect for hand luggage.
Equally, keep a zipped bag filled with all the chargers and adapters that you need for travelling, plus a portable charger.
This Anya Hindmarch top-zip wallet is great for travelling through airports, as it slips into your bag easily and is transparent so you can keep your boarding pass face up and don't even need to remove it from the wallet. There are many similar styles on the market for lower price points.
Away's Everywhere Bag is a game changer for short trips. It's the perfect size for work trips or long weekends, with plenty of clever interior pockets and compartments to help keep you organised.