How To Declutter When Downsizing
Moving to a smaller home can be a great opportunity to take stock of what you have and start fresh in your new space
When it comes to downsizing space, moving may not be as simple as just packing everything in boxes and unpacking them at your new home. Moving in any situation can be overwhelming. But if the new space is smaller or the room configurations aren’t the same as in your current home, it will take some planning and thought on where you should place and store your belongings.
Moving may feel intimidating, but it’s also a great time to take stock of what you own and to start fresh with your new home layout. Here are a few key considerations to think about before and after your move.
Declutter Before Downsizing
There are so many details to manage and tasks to complete during a move. It may be tempting to quickly pack everything in boxes and deal with decisions on what to keep and toss later on, after the move when you’re not on a deadline. In reality, I’ve found that post-move decluttering takes enormous discipline and motivation and rarely gets completed. Therefore, if your moving timeline allows, I recommend putting in the hard work before the move to review your belongings and decide if they belong in your new home and your life.
Keep Your New Home in Mind
Potential Lifestyle Changes
If downsizing reflects a lifestyle change for you, such as moving to a retirement community or splitting households due to divorce, your new home will serve you differently. Social gatherings may take place in restaurants, so it didn’t make sense to keep home entertaining items such as punch bowls and large platters, or multiple sets of dinnerware and glassware if you don’t have the space.
Multifunctional Spaces
If your new home is much smaller or if you’re losing rooms, the new spaces may need to do double duty and cover multiple activities. For example, will your dining table also serve as your work desk? Will your bedroom also include an exercise spot? If so, consider if there are any duplicate items you may be able to eliminate.
Home-Specific Decor
Sometimes decor and holiday items can be very home-specific. What worked in your old home may not work in your new one. If you have much less wall space, your artwork and wall decor may not all fit. If you’re losing any outdoor space, you can perhaps pass along your outdoor decorations to a neighbor who will appreciate them. If you have beloved framed photos that you don’t want to dispose of but don’t have the space to display, consider saving the photos only and donating the frames.
Remove Unwanted Items Before Moving
I recommend removing all items marked for donation, recycling or trash promptly and before moving day. This will eliminate any confusion about what you’re keeping and minimize the risk of accidentally moving unwanted items to your new home. It may also be helpful to schedule several donation pickups so you can remove items in stages.
If your timeline is short, consider donating to one organization that will take a variety of items instead of splitting up donations to several specialized organizations that take limited items. Return all items that belong to others.
Consider Outsourcing Tasks if Necessary
Downsizing and moving requires a lot of energy. If it’s beyond what you can manage and if you have the budget, it may be worth outsourcing these tasks.
Professional organizers can guide you through the decluttering process, pack for moving, unpack and organize your new home, space-plan for efficiency, create a functional storage system and arrange for disposals.
Movers and freelance labor can provide the muscle to move your items quickly so you can spend your time and energy setting up your new home.
Incorporate Storage Units When Necessary
Keeping long-term storage units for housing items that need to be reviewed is not ideal. Many “I’ll-look-at-them-later” boxes kept in storage units contain items that are ultimately unwanted. Consider the cost you may be paying to store potentially unwanted items. Of course, there may be situations where renting a storage unit temporarily is the best option, when you’re unable to review and edit your belongings at the time.
Longer-term storage units may be necessary, in cases such as temporary downsizing due to home construction or remodeling or when the storage unit is used as an addition to a small home with inadequate storage. If the latter scenario describes your situation, consider organizing your storage unit so it’s truly a working, active extension of your home. Shelving units that allow easy access to boxes — as opposed to stacking boxes — make retrieving and putting things away relatively easy.
If your storage needs are potentially long-term, investing in shelving units may save you time and energy. If your items are organized and easy to locate, it may even save you money: You won’t repurchase items you can’t find buried in a chaotic storage unit.
Occasional Use
If space is limited in your home, review which items are truly used daily and which don’t need to occupy prime space. For example, items used solely for planned entertaining, such as tablecloths, napkins, serving bowls and platters, can perhaps be packed in storage, along with extra dinnerware and flatware. Likewise, suitcases and travel accessories can take up valuable space and may be better kept in storage if you don’t travel often. Keep these types of items within easy access in the storage unit for when you need them.
Annual Items
Holiday decorations, seasonal clothing, sports equipment and other items that will be used for only a small portion of the year can be stored away and taken out as needed to free up space in your home. Think beyond the obvious holiday items and consider how often you need to use other household things — guest bedding, camping equipment, portable heaters or fans, vacation-only items — and whether it may make sense to keep some of these in storage.
Deep Storage
You may have some items, such as sentimental T-shirts, childhood and school mementos, photos, wedding keepsakes, archived files and documents you don’t plan on using any time soon but are too sentimental or important to part with. Categorize these items as deep storage and place them in less accessible parts of the storage unit, saving the easier-to-access spots for actively used items. Other items that you might use only once every few years or less can also fall into this category, such as baby clothes and equipment reserved for another child.
Be sure your items are packed properly before storing, using the appropriate containers or boxes that will protect any valuable contents from moisture, pests, temperature extremes, acid and light. Remember that you’re paying to store your belongings, so assess whether the items are worth storing. Where possible, and if it makes sense for how you plan to use your storage unit, place boxes on shelves around the perimeter to allow for easy retrieval.
If you have a lot to store, you can maximize your space by using deeper shelves, which can accommodate two or more layers of boxes. The deep-storage items can be stored in the back, keeping more frequently used items in the front. Keeping the layout efficient and convenient will allow your storage unit to serve as a truly functional addition to your home.
Organize Your Downsized Space
One of the keys to staying organized, regardless of the size of your space, is to have a system where every item has a home and items go back to its home after use. Spend some time evaluating how you use your space and your belongings, and keep these guidelines in mind when deciding where to place things.
Keep categories together. Organizing your items in categories makes sense and may make locating what you need easier. However, be sure you’re categorizing correctly. Think more about how you use your belongings and less about what the actual item is. You may want to store all your drinking glasses together in your kitchen cabinets. But if you have 20 glasses and regularly use no more than eight, perhaps 12 of those glasses can be stored with your entertaining supplies, freeing up space in your main cabinets.
Store Frequently Used Items Within Easy Access
Prioritize what you use most frequently and be sure to reserve easy-to-access space for these items. Your daily dinnerware and drinkware deserve prime space. But perhaps your coffee bean grinder that you use every day can also take a spot conveniently in the front, whereas your less-used water pitcher can take a back seat.
The priority list will differ for everyone, so decide what yours is. You can also switch out what occupies your prime space seasonally if that makes sense for you.
Make It Easy To Put Things Away
A system only works if it’s actually being used. In the case of keeping organized, success occurs when you’re able to maintain your space by putting things back where they belong.
When thinking about storage, consider what it will take to create an easy return system. This may include using open baskets, where you can simply toss things inside, or making sure you don’t store an often-used kitchen appliance in the back of a crowded corner cabinet.
For some, seeing empty space feels like an invitation to fill it. I recommend leaving some literal wiggle room and not packing your spaces, if possible. It’s much harder and more discouraging to put things away when you have to squeeze them in.
Create a Flow
Finally, try to create a flow when deciding where to situate your belongings. This goes beyond keeping categories together and means thinking more about the big picture. I don’t keep my sunglasses and knit hat with my accessories and I don’t keep my wrist weights with my workout equipment. Instead, I put these items in my entryway cabinet as I always use them on my walks, and the cabinet nicely corrals them for me to grab on my way out.
How To Arrange Your Furniture
Like a blank page or canvas, an empty room can be either an opportunity or a challenge. With so many ways to fill it, how do you know where to start? Here are some basic rules of furniture arrangement. They’ll help you work with your own design or with your interior designer to determine where to put things, where not to put things and how to prioritize the choices you make.
Think About How the Room Will Function
Consider how the room is used and how many people will use it. That will dictate the type of furnishings you’ll need and the amount of seating required.
Decide on a Focal Point
Identify the room’s focal point — a fireplace, view, television — and orient the furniture accordingly. If you plan to watch television in the room, the ideal distance between the set and the seating is three times the size of the screen (measured diagonally). Therefore, if you’ve got a 40-inch set, your chair should be 120 inches away.
Start With Priority Pieces
Place the largest pieces of furniture first, such as the sofa in the living room or the bed in the bedroom. In most cases this piece should face the room’s focal point. Chairs should be no more than 8 feet apart to facilitate conversation. Unless your room is especially small, avoid pushing all the furniture against the walls.
Consider Symmetry
Symmetrical arrangements work best for formal rooms. Asymmetrical arrangements make a room feel more casual.
Create a Traffic Flow
Think about the flow of traffic through the room — generally the path between doorways. Don’t block that path with any large pieces of furniture if you can avoid it. Allow 30 to 48 inches of width for major traffic routes and a minimum of 24 inches of width for minor ones.
Try to direct traffic around a seating group, not through the middle of it. If traffic cuts through the middle of the room, consider creating two small seating areas instead of one large one.
Aim for Variety
Vary the size of furniture pieces throughout the room, so your eyes move up and down as you scan the space. Balance a large or tall item by placing another piece of similar height across the room from it or use art to replicate the scale. Avoid putting two tall pieces next to each other.
Build in Contrast
Combine straight and curved lines for contrast. If the furniture is modern and linear, throw in a round table for contrast. If the furniture is curvy, mix in an angular piece. Similarly, pair solids with voids: Combine a leggy chair with a solid side table, and a solid chair with a leggy table.
Design for Ease of Use
Place a table within easy reach of every seat, being sure to combine pieces of similar scale, and make sure every reading chair has an accompanying lamp. Coffee tables should be located 14 to 18 inches from a sofa to provide sufficient legroom.
Allow for Circulation
In a dining room, make sure there’s at least 48 inches between each edge of the table and the nearest wall or piece of furniture. If traffic doesn’t pass behind the chairs on one side of the table, 36 inches should suffice.
In bedrooms, allow at least 24 inches between the side of the bed and a wall, and at least 36 inches between the bed and a swinging door.
Do Your Planning
Give your back a break. Before you move any furniture, test your design on paper. Measure the room’s dimensions, noting the location of windows, doors, heat registers and electrical outlets, then draw up a floor plan on graph paper using cutouts to represent the furnishings. Or, better yet, use a digital room planner to draw the space and test various furniture configurations. It’s less work and a lot more fun.
Tips For Designing Your Bedroom
Have you ever been in a room that just feels right? Nine times out of 10, it’s because it has a simple design that functions well. But creating a simple design is harder than it looks — particularly in bedrooms.
Why? Because every bedroom absolutely has to have a bed in it. And beds are big and dictate the placement of every other object in the room. But if you’re lucky enough to be planning a bedroom from scratch or remodeling an existing bedroom, you can control the other elements and create a space that’s both practical and pretty.
Even if you don’t have a great view, access to the outdoors or plenty of space to work with, the principles and the simplicity can inspire your own bedroom design project.
Because the bedroom is one of the simplest rooms in the house, it’s often overlooked. One of the first steps to a great bedroom design is having an efficient and well-designed floor plan that gives you everything you want — no matter how much space you start with.
Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your bedroom.
Plan for Simple Circulation
Try to keep your circulation on one side of the room. Hotels do a great job of this. There’s a reason 90 percent of hotels have the same floor plan: because it’s simple and it works.
Circulation plans become a little more challenging with en suite rooms — bedrooms with bathrooms attached — or bedrooms that have doors to the outside. To save on space, pay attention to where you locate the bathroom and closet in your bedroom. Rooms that have bathroom or closet access before the sleeping area, require a longer hall.
If you organize the circulation so the bathroom and closet are accessed through the sleeping area, you don’t need a separate hall, and you can add the circulation space into the room to make it feel larger too.
Focus on the View
A bedroom always feels nicer when the first thing you experience is a pleasant view out the window — as opposed to a view looking straight at the bed. If you’re designing a new bedroom or reworking an old one, try to come up with a layout that focuses on the vista — whether it’s something as stunning as a lake or as simple as your backyard.
Keep Privacy in Mind
It’s always nice when you can leave the bedroom door open without forgoing all of your privacy. Try to avoid designing a layout in which you look directly into the bedroom from a more public space, like a great room, kitchen or family room.
Connect With the Outdoors
While this might not be feasible in all climates, connecting a room with the outdoors is a great way to make the space feel larger and admit more natural light. If your bedroom is on the ground floor (or is on the second story and has an adjacent terrace), adding a set of French doors can instantly increase visual space.
Consider the Furniture Layout
Your bedroom’s architecture should take your furniture into account. Bedroom floor plans usually have a bed wall — but what about dressers, nightstands, TVs, chairs and a desk? Work with your architect or designer to make sure there is enough space beside the bed for nightstands and ample circulation so you can access three sides of the mattress.
Increase Light and Ventilation
Locating your bedroom at the corner of your home can give you windows on two or more adjacent walls. This gives you the added benefit of cross ventilation and a softer natural light.
Take Your Time
Great design takes a while and usually requires refining before you come up with the perfect plan for your lifestyle. Don’t rush through the design — it’s worth taking a little extra time up front to make sure you have a more efficient and functional plan in the end.
The truth is, great design doesn’t necessarily mean a space that’s overly complex and expensive to build. A space that functions better, costs less to build, is more efficient to run and is easier to maintain can be an outstanding example of great design.
Remembrance Day
Rememberance Day: the 11th month on the 11th day at the 11th hour is when the Armistice was signed and World War 1 was officially over.
It was the war to end all wars, but that didn't happen. Now is a time to reflect on the Covid-19 pandemic and realize that this isn't the first of its kind. The "Spanish Flu" that started to circulate at the end of World War 1, killed millions in a worldwide pandemic. It spread more slowly, killed more and affected every nation on this planet.
Whether you agree with or disagree with vaccinations, you need to remember that the men and women of our previous generations died, so that we in Canada could have freedom of speech and of dissent. Remember that these people put their lives on the line to protect us. Should we not do the same for each other?
They gave us the opportunities we have today. You may not think we have moved forward, but we have. We still have a way to go, but we need to continue the fight for freedom, safety and equality for all. As we have seen in the last year, Covid -19 doesn't descriminate: white, black, native, hispanic, gay, straight, male. female, transgender, old or young, Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu it affects everyone. So maybe it's time we learned this one positive lesson:
"We Are All The Same!"
Let's stop fighting and trying to differentiate ourselves from each other and instead come together, respect one another and solve the pressing problems of our world like Climate Change, Food Shortages and Poverty.
Lest We Forget!