Help me setup my new house for success! Small home dilemma

amother

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 8:50 am

B”H we are moving out of our tiny flat into a decent sized (UK standards.) 4 bed. It’s a rental so we can’t do any built-ins.
I’m in the UK so space is very limited.

Please help me figure out-
1. Entryway solution: there is a tiny cloakroom which is hard to access (under the stairs). What happens is that my kids either dump their coats in the closet or throw them all over the house. I’d like to setup a very tiny mud room area at the entrance of the home with enough space for the things we need almost daily which they will hopefully learn to put away as soon as we come in (wishful thinking?). I have only 3 kids but they own lots of bags (briefcases, book bags, PE kits, extra curricular kits- swimming, football, art ect) plus a coat and raincoat each and wellies. Baby has a nappy bag, my bag and an umbrella. I can’t seem to find a cubby like system which will give me the most storage. A row of hooks will look messy me thinks. I don’t mind adding a few buckets for the extra circular bags. Any ideas?
Opposite that I will have a small entryway table with a bowl for keys and sunglasses.
The rest of the coats and off season items will be stored in the cloak room.

2- playroom: I’d love to finally have a playroom! I can dedicate the smallest bedroom for that purpose (single room). There is no storage. I’d like a simple but neat storage solution and a small sofa/couch that can fit a child guest when they come over. Any ideas? What’s worked for you?

3- homework: It’s takes over my kitchen. Where can I store in a place that I can remember to do it (like now we do a few lines at breakfast) but that’s it’s not all over my kitchen…

4- laundry: the machines will be in my kitchen. I never had that. Help. Where do you dry them? (Not in the kitchen please.) where do you sort them?

Thanks so much! I’m sure I’ll think of more problems soon…

amother

Brickred

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 9:38 am

Rule one is to take your time working out what you need so you get the right thing. We've been living in our current home for a couple of years and we're still not there with all our storage.

1. I've been looking at different options for coats and bags for us and it's a hard one. I don't know how much space you have by your door, but one option is cube storage for all the bags etc. You can get a 4/6 cube or whatever size you need/can fit. Each cube could either be for a specific person, all their things go in one place, or to sort the items-all swimming bags in one cube etc.
Another option is a small closet. Ikea make narrow cupboards, so you can get whatever size fits your space. This is great as things can be stuffed out of sight. You can fit hooks, shelves or whatever works for you.
You can also get standalone hooks and shelves, but depends if you like the look. Like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Innot.....r=8-7

2. Playroom-how much space do you have? What have you been using for storage until now? Again an ikea closet is great. The trofast is really good for easy access and storage, but not so great if your kids like emptying out lots of toys.

3. Homework-variations on small sets of drawers, such as this one https://www.argos.co.uk/produc.....247:1
are really good. You can get small ones to sit on a counter or have one like this on wheels. Each child can have their own drawers, and you can keep pens and other supplies in the drawers as well.

4. Laundry in the kitchen. You get used to it. I sort the laundry upstairs and bring down the baskets as I go along. I have several dryer baskets for the clean clothes and then bring them up to sort out. Some people like using their dining room table to sort. I have an airer that I hang stuff that doesn't go in the dryer. I keep that in the living room which is next to the kitchen, so it's not too far to go.

Hatzlacha with your move and much mazal!

amother

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 10:27 am

amother Brickred wrote:

Thanks so much for your detailed post!

1. Do you have a link to the cubes you mentioned?
2. Our toys are stored on the floor of the childrens wardrobe in containers. What type of ikea closet? Do they have closets with just shelves? I like the trogast look but I’m sure my kids will make a mess.
3. You gave me a great idea. File folder for the kitchen counter
4. Where do you hang your wet clothes to dry? Upstairs as well?

amother

Brickred

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 2:41 pm

amother OP wrote:

1. Ikea kallax, there are different sizes depending on what you want. They also have inserts which I would recommend getting-example of the 4 cube- https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/k.....75814
2. I love the ikea pax system as it's so versatile. Choose the height, width, doors, whether you want shelves or pull out drawers. I like the pull out drawers for larger items as they require very large bulky boxes otherwise.
4. Depends. Sometimes on the front of the wardrobes. I also have an airer which lives in my living room (next to the kitchen), so I sort out, what goes in the dryer and the rest gets put over the airer.

amother

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 3:00 pm

amother Brickred wrote:

Thanks! I was thinking of doing the kallax- 4 in row and lay it in the floor as a bench- I’ll add a pillow- but I would still need to add hooks above it.
I’m going to looking to the pax!

I like your idea about waiting until I see what I really need. I am totally jumping the gun.

amother

Papayawhip

Mon, Nov 07 2022, 3:56 pm

I’m with brickred above, Pax is super versatile if you want your hooks hidden. We have the shallower pax behind our front door with hooks all around the inside, a basket at the bottom for all the bags and shelves above the hooks for scarves etc.

Google ikea pax mudroom and you’ll see lots of ideas but obviously your measurements will make a difference.

Another idea is a Hemnes shoe cabinet instead of a hallway table which gives you a small drawer for keys/sunglasses etc and space for shoes or even for the extra curricular stuff. Try to squeeze as much storage into your furniture as possible (eg, if you go for a hallway table opposite mudroom, get something you can put some nice baskets underneath)

Re toys, again the pax is the most versatile as brickred mentioned. Things like trofast or kallax are cute but limit you a bit.

Homework: Don’t know how to link but I use the Acrimet Triple File Folder from Amazon in my kitchen (along with a whole paper system including homework that I teach for free, let me know if you’re interested and I’ll send you the link)

I have to say laundry in the kitchen is the one thing I haven’t figured out a system for yet, and that’s with home organising being my job! While I’m all for making things as easy as possible, if you want to hang things out of sight I can’t think of a solution short of running up and down the stairs. Always keen to hear more ideas, sorry I’m not much help with this one.

If you get stuck on any particular space, I do virtual customised organising plans in the UK. Let me know if you’d like the link, (anon so I’m not identified on here but I’ll check the thread).

amother

Tue, Nov 08 2022, 2:09 am

amother Papayawhip wrote:

Thanks so much! I love the pax mudroom ideas. I’d love a link to see what you do!