Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
ooh, i like the idea of a household journal.  i will try this.
  

    
yes, obi, they *are* fun to leaf thru--esp. the menus: ah, the beef
stroganoff years.
  

    
how did you decide whose name went first on the cover?
  

    
Randall's name is first because it's a book about organizing from an
interior designer's point of view and he be the interior designer.
He offered to have it alphabetical--which was gracious, but would not
have been indicative of who contributed the vast majority of the ideas.
  

    
ah, come on, we flipped for it.
  

    
it's like watching two people stand before a doorway for days saying 
"after you!" "no, after YOU!" 

hey, inkwell readers, avail yourselves of the opportunity to get more free 
organized home advice! 

i must say i laffed out loud at a detail in the section on guest 
bathrooms. can i just say that the double-guest-towel descrption (fancy 
overstarche hand towels that do not absorb anything PLUS a stack of paper 
towels) indicates that you have been spies in my mother-in-law's house? is 
this little mishegas a generational thing? a midwestern thing? a class 
thing? until i read the book, i thought it was just HER thing! 
  

    
I think it's generational--my mother has the same set-up--but then my
mother had a laundress.
I must admit that I've been known to hang some towels in my powder
room that were more pretty than practical--only to have my spouse come
in from gardening and crumple them into rags after washing his hands.
  

    
And I pop paper guest towels out moments before my guests arrive. Yet,
many still use the cloth ones hanging up - even though I put a little
"starter" paper towel in the trash basket under the sink.

I think people look at cloth guest towels as a decorative element.
Then they get all upset when people actually use them!

For some clients, we have a long tray sitting in the guest bathroom 
(on a table or the vanity) with individual white terry washcloths
rolled into little bundles and then piled up on the tray. But people
still use the single decorative towel hanging on the bar. Go figure.
  

    
I love the book, and reading all these tips makes me want to pore over
it again right now! But first, a question. One of the cluttery places
that makes our living room all jangly is the fireplace mantle. We have
lots of family pictures that we love, and those must be displayed. We
also have an old ship's clock mounted on a hand-carved wooden wave that
was made for/given to Sudsy's dad. Much sentimental value there,
obviously. But we've gone overboard on the memento stuff and it just
ends up being a jumble where everything loses its meaning. I know we
need to weed it out some and organize it, but where to start and how to
go about it? Should we get all matching frames for the pictures?
Here's what it looks like now:

http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b3774db28417

Thank you for doing this wonderful, non-snooty, truly helpful book.
  

    
i have a long, narrow basket (18" by 3"?) and i fold the white washclothes
in that and set it on the towel rack (with no towel).  it works nicely.
  

    
The thing I want in a household journal is the type of lightbulb that
all the fixtures take.
  

    
OK, kind of a boring question, but:

My biggest prob now, aside from too many books, is way too many
clothes.  Instead of closets, i have this giant armoire, maybe 10 feet
wide and 7 feet tall, with drawers all along the bottom.  The middle
section is narrow and i thought i'd just install all shelves there. 
The wider sections on left and right can be used either to hang stuff
on a long rod (with shelf above) or fitted with only shelves.  I'm
thinking i should only use one side for hanging and the other side
install all shelves.  Only prob is they're kind of deep, so access cd
be problematic.  I've never used shelves much for storing clothes
before (shelves for clothes seem to be popular in Germany, because you
can fit more in that way).   I'm wondering how hard it would be to keep
the stacks neat and to access everything.

My question: would it make more sense to have two generous spaces for
hanging stuff, and then maybe add a tall chest of drawers for overflow
sweaters, etc.?  Or have more shelves in the armoire as i could store
more clothes in less space that way (it's not that big a room so less
furniture wd be better).  Soon,  I will also have cellar space, for
storing out-of-season stuff.   Thanks!
  

    
I've had a household blog for a while,  I suppose someone could
find it, it is online but at a dynamic IP address, no host name.
I use blossom, so new entries can be filed in an arbitary
hierarchy.  If I felt I had some dirty secrets there I suppose
I could lock it down somehow.  So for now it is just security
by obscurity.  I just need to use it more, sometimes a long time
elapses between entries.
  

    
my question above boils down to:  is it generally better to maximize
hanging space for storing clothes, when poss, or to use more horizontal
storage, and how practical is shelving for clothes?
  

    
When I had a walk in closet with shelves, I got baskets that fit the
shelves.
  

    
<nan>! That's not bad! (post 159) 

If you want to keep the pictures on the mantle, maybe place them on
rectangular trays (same with the other little things) so there is some
visual organization. You may also want to hang the pictures on the
walls on either side of the fireplace. I like the variety of frames,
but one style frame would unify the look too. I'd consider grouping the
collections that are meaningful to you and displaying them on the
bookshelves (pictures could go there too, if the shelves are adjustable
and removable). You'd have to move the cds and stuff, but wouldn't you
rather look at things that had meaning?

<nettie>  (post 164) 

I have an armoire too, and I had shelves made for it, which really
maximized the space. But I know keeping stacks clothes neat is a
problem (those poor kids at the Gap!) One solution would be shallow
cloth covered baskets (I think the Container Store has these.) They can
be filled with clothes and can be pulled out like drawers. You can
also use vintage hat boxes, or even boxy Plexiglas trays to keep piles
together.

I'm off to meet a client this morning. I'll check in this afternoon.
Keep the questions coming!
  

    
The Journal is the biggest thing I've taken from The Organized Home.
I bought a nice journal. I use it for everything now. I have it
organized by rooms, and then have general dividers. Under living rooms,
I have paint chips, samples of the upholstery, pictures of my
furniture,  lamps, carpet. Just yesterday we were shopping for fabric
for a chair in the living room and I took my Journal. The designer was
impressed. I plugged the book shamelessly! I have become obsessed. I
also organized every appliance, electronic device, have name, serial
number, warranty info etc. on several pages that I did in word and then
pasted to the page. This came in handy just this week when I ordered
new knobs for my range. I also have a section called WANT THIS where I
paste pictures of ideas. I may expand that into it's own journal.
Thanks guys for this best idea in the book! It's a huge help! I have
also paint formulas in the sections just in case I lose the chips.
  

    
I am taking the plunge and I have three boxes designated for the
charity  book give away. I've got sweaty palms and the shakes. This is
like giving my least favorite children away. I can do this. I can do
this.
  

    
you can do this! you can do this! 
  

    
ok. pant.
I have three boxes and waiting by the door. It wasn't too bad.
Actually I was able to do it without too much trouble. When you read as
many books on as many subjects as I do, I was suprised at the number I
could part with. 

I buy used books a lot, and I think I'd better narrow my focus down
from now on into buying only hardcover books I absolutely LOVE. Buying
fiction in paperback would work. I despise paperback books and would
have NO problem getting rid of them. Maybe I'd BETTER check out the
library.

When we build a new garage, I get a room on top totally dedicated to
being my library/private cave. I can then collect books. For now, this
was liberating.  You all should try it. Now I have room for some of my 
expensive boxed sets that are all packed up in the storage building.
  

    
In the last couple of years I've sold more than 200 books on half.com, have
120-odd more listed for sale, have probably given more than 100 to thrift
stores.  It's good to cull.  But of course this is a very small fraction of
the books I still have.

It would be great to have the space to have a dedicated library room, but
this is San Francisco and I'm not a millionaire.
  

    
randall, thanks for the ideas! you're right about the CDs -- those are
overflows from our CD rack and we really need a permanent place for
them. and that would give us a lot more room. (and I'm glad I don't
need to go buy all new picture frames!)
  

    
ok, so once nan has moved her cds and done some grouping on her mantel and 
kevin has done a book purge but BEFORE we win the lottery and build extra 
rooms or buy mansions in SF, how do we take these little triumphs and make 
them lasting? in other words, once you've done a big purge-n-organize, 
what can you do to increase your chances of *staying* organized? what if 
others in your home SUBVERT you? (another little snippet i liked: 
"Scoop abandoned clothing into a basket. If feeling merciful, take the 
basket to the laundry room, where the owners can reclaim them. If feeling 
annoyed by having picked up the same dirty sweatshirt or gym shoes too 
many times, hide the basket and make the guilty parties beg.")
  

    
This book sounds like it's destined to be a classic.

Thanks, Randall and Sharon, for the ideas.  I've already looked into
having shelves made as it wd be way cheaper than ordering the ones that
go with.   Love the idea of slideoutable baskets or boxes.  I'm
thinking a rattan tray with 4" sides that i have might work for a start
and wishing we had a Hold Everything here.  It would be great to have
a few narrowly placed shelves--just enough height for socks or
something, with boxes or deep-sided trays for easy access.  
  

    

I am shocked there's not a store similar to Hold Everything on every
street corner in Germany. nettie, you should open one and make a fortune!