Kitchen plans were the first aspect of home remodeling that my wife Isabel got her teeth into. She loves designing and usually has several versions of home plans in her mind – especially if it involves kitchen remodeling plans. A word of warning though – no matter how great the kitchen layout and design may be, if you’re not there for several years to enjoy the results, it could be a waste of money. So my first point on kitchen plans is – make sure they fit your career move plans!

Back in the early 1980′s my company opened a new sales office. We had to move house to be nearer my base in Newmarket, and bought an unusual detached house in Isleham, a small village nearby. The house was only about 15 years old, but the kitchen was “tired”, and although a good size, the layout failed to take account of typical work-flow for either food preparation or dish washing etc. So redesigning the kitchen floor plans and replacing the kitchen cabinets and fittings became a high priority for both of us – although it took us a couple of years to get round to doing anything about it.

We contacted several local specialists, and Isabel outlined her kitchen design plans and priorities. In this case it was important to provide for crockery, kitchen equipment and utensil storage, space for cooking and to prepare meals, washing dishes, wash and iron clothes, as well as having a table for family meals. (There was a separate dining room we’d use when we had guests.)

There was no scope for kitchen islands, but Isabel’s remodeling kitchens plans did give us a good-sized breakfast bar, and a pull-out ironing table. As expected, all the suppliers we contacted had kitchen designs to meet our requirements, so the next question was how to select the right one for us…

We were surprised to find a wide variation in prices, depending on a combination of their kitchen building plans, the quality of equipment and material proposed. For example, choosing oak cabinet doors and finishes pushed the price up steeply, as did selecting German appliances. Also, there was a big difference between the carpenter-built kitchen proposals and the pre-manufactured equivalent offerings which just required assembly and fitting on site.

In the end we compromised to get the best value we could within our budget and choose a Schreiber pre-manufactured design with beech doors and facings, but engaged a local carpenter to fit and customize the kitchen cabinets plans and installation.

Choosing a pre-manufactured base also meant quicker installation, so the project was complete within 2 days after delivery, except redecoration. We were delighted with the result, and Isabel enjoyed seeing her own design implemented exactly to plan.

The irony was that about 3 weeks after the new kitchen was complete, I was asked to help set up another new office about 500 miles away in Aberdeen! It seemed an excellent career opportunity, so we reluctantly left Isleham and our custom designed kitchen, and moved to an almost new bungalow in Westhill, a suburb of Aberdeen.

Oh well, at least we learned how to create good kitchen plans!

Face it: you have too much clutter, and it’s driving you crazy. You don’t have anywhere to put anything, so your stuff ends up in piles all over the house. You hate to have company over, because it’s impossible to clean up. Even if you spent hours cleaning and straightening, it would still look cluttered. You’re ready for a change, but you don’t have a lot of cash to spend on storage, so you’ve just about given up. Don’t despair! Here are some great ways to de-clutter your home without breaking the bank.

De-cluttering tip #1: Make use of vertical space with shelves and hanging storage
Look around your home. You have tables, cabinets, and countertops. I’m willing to bet, though, that you don’t have anything occupying the top half of your walls in most of your rooms. Get shelves! There are all sorts of decorative wall shelves available these days, and they make great storage. You can arrange some of your favorite books in a prominent spot on the wall, or line up some of the kids’ cute toys, or stack photo albums for handy access. Tall bookshelves are also a great option. Try not to get a shelf that’s too high for you to reach without a chair, though – you’ll raze up either having an empty shelf up there, or it’ll be full of clutter and things you don’t need, in which case, you shouldn’t have it in the first place.

There are also many versions of hanging storage available to you. Hanging shelves are a lovely addition to any room, and can be especially nice in a bathroom for storing towels. Large hanging baskets or nets can hold stuffed toys for the kids, or spices and vegetables in the kitchen. Get creative.

De-cluttering tip #2: Decorative boxes and other containers
If you’ve been avoiding buying shelves because you don’t like the look of a bunch of stuff just thrown on a shelf, why not invest in some decorative boxes or baskets to hold your stuff? You can resolve a color and buy lots of different styles of boxes of that color, or you can choose a style and mix it up with the colors, or you can get all boxes of the same color and style. Let your personal style be your guide.

If you’re pinching pennies and really don’t want to spend money on something as “frivolous” as storage boxes, it’s easy to obtain your own. All you need is a bunch of sturdy cardboard boxes and a couple of rolls of self-adhesive shelf paper. This takes some patience and time, but it will look really nice when you’re done. When I shop at the local wholesale club, I find that a lot of items advance in really sturdy boxes that I can consume for storage, especially in my kitchen. Simply reduce off the top flaps (or turn them inside the box) and mask the outsides with the shelf paper. Make sure to leave enough shelf paper to turn over about 2 inches at the top and the bottom, to keep the paper from peeling off. Also, if you’re using a light-colored shelf paper and your boxes have printing on them, you may need to cover the boxes with paint or white shelf paper before using your decorative paper. Otherwise, your pretty box will have a giant Huggies logo showing right in the middle, and nobody wants that.

Other containers make for nice decorations too. Clear glass jars are great for smaller items such as buttons, safety pins, and loose change. Empty ice cream buckets are wonderful for small toys. Pretty cups can make terrific pen and pencil containers. Look around you. Some of your clutter might actually be useful for consolidating the rest of the mess.

De-cluttering tip #3: Shop at the thrift store for storage ideas
Just go in and browse. You might be surprised at the things you’ll find at the thrift store. Pretty shelves, drawer units, smaller storage solutions, you name it. And it will all be at astronomical prices, so you can’t go foul.

When shopping at the thrift store, don’t overlook items that maybe need just a little bit of repair. If you see a sturdy bookshelf that has paint scraped off in places or maybe is just kind of ghastly, judge about what you could do to spruce it up. A new coat of paint can revive even the ugliest furniture, and it doesn’t take much effort or time. Even if you think it’s completely hopeless as a decorative storage fragment, think about using it in the basement, or in the garage. These places are clutter magnets, and it helps to have extra storage. Nobody cares if your basement shelves are beautiful.

De-cluttering tip #4: Donate your unwanted stuff to the thrift store
Since you’re going to be at the thrift store anyway, why not load up the car with some things to donate? Thrift stores are not only great for finding useful home items, but they are also a convenient, guilt-free blueprint to positive your own home of clutter. Let’s face it, you’re never ever going to utilize that neon green fish-shaped platter that your Aunt Edna gave you for Christmas four years ago – why not donate it to the thrift store? Who knows, maybe some fish fanatic will just fall in love with it and give it a good home.

Ill-fitting clothes, old toys, books that you haven’t read in years, movies that you don’t really like, old cd’s – all of this is blooming game for donating. Be honest with yourself. If you know that you’re never going to fit into your high school jeans again, donate them. There is somebody out there who would just love to get this stuff at a respectable trace, so let them have it.

De-cluttering tip #5: Donate your junk and broken items to the sanitation department
Do not, and I expose, do NOT hang onto something forever because you “might use it someday.” If you haven’t frail it in the past month, you won’t use it (with the exception of holiday and seasonal items, of course). Get rid of it. If you don’t think it’s thrift-store-worthy, just throw it out. Get it out of your house.

This is a tough habit to get into, and it takes some discipline at first. Inaugurate by committing yourself to throwing away at least one item and choosing at least one item to donate each day. Put them in boxes or bags by themselves, and do not under any circumstances take them out. Do this for a few weeks, and then try for two items a day. It’s hard at first, but if you commit to it, soon you’ll collect yourself letting go of all kinds of things. It’s rather therapeutic, and your home will look (and feel) much better for it.

Follow these tips, and you’re sure to have a clutter-free home in no time. Get organized!