Hasta La Ideas

Reader Howard submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

Do you have any tips for remodeling or building a house that would help prevent clutter or reduce cleaning maintenance in the design of the space?

This is a really fun question, Howard, and I’m so glad you asked it. You have a terrific opportunity in front of you to build a space that can help you achieve and maintain an uncluttered lifestyle.

First things first, thoroughly unclutter your existing possessions so your new space is free of things you don’t want in it. Check out “Start a full-room organizing project with a blank canvas” for tips on uncluttering in this style, but apply it to your entire home.

Now that the obvious is out of the way, I highly recommend designing the space with ample storage that can easily be reconfigured. Use elfa shelving (or the competing product from Rubbermaid) in closets and pantries so shelf heights can be adjusted or clothing rods installed or drawers can be added as necessary. Your needs for storage change over time, and your storage solutions should be able to adapt. If they can’t adapt, at some point they will cease to be helpful.

Also, when it comes to storage, think outside the closet. Have drawers set into the risers of your stairs, recess shelving between the studs of your walls, have window seats double as storage cubes, furnish with ottomans that have interior storage, or whatever fits your design style. The idea here is be creative with the elements you use in the space to improve storage instead of hinder it.

Beyond having ample, reconfigurable and creative storage, there are numerous cosmetic things you can do to help with cleaning and preventing clutter. None of these is a perfect solution, but they’re certainly things I do in my homes when I’m not renting:

Paint the walls with washable flat latex interior paint that contains ceramic microspheres. (You can find these in the washable paint section at most home improvement stores. Check the ingredients on the paint cans. The ceramic microspheres are usually in the higher-end washable paints.) Even if you don’t have pets or young children, it’s still very easy to get marks on your walls. With washable paint that has ceramic microspheres mixed into it, these stray marks come off like you’re washing tile instead of your painted walls.

Lay hardwood floors and use throw rugs instead of wall-to-wall carpeting, especially if you have pets. Cleaning and maintaining hardwood floors is exponentially easier, and it’s much less expensive to replace a throw rug than an entire room of carpeting.

If money is no object, install smart glass windows. You’ll never have to clean blinds again. (But, I guess if you can afford smart glass windows, you could probably also afford a cleaning crew to wash you blinds …)

Finally, I’ve never had one, but I’ve always thought a central home vacuum system would speed up cleaning time. Some of the systems have horizontal intakes (I think they’re technically called “sweep inlets”) so in addition to using the vacuum hose, you can also sweep directly into the suction area and not have to use a dustpan.

Thank you, Howard, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. And, like I mentioned earlier, be sure to check the comments for suggestions from our readers on designing spaces to prevent clutter and reduce cleaning time.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

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A Cool Hunting, Architizer and Dwell collaboration celebrating the newest in architectural design

For this year’s Noho Design District, part of New York’s Design Week, we’ve teamed up with our friends at Architizer and Dwell to present SCALE, a collection of objects and prototypes that explore the relationship of furniture and architecture.

Architects have been known to use furniture as a prototyping method for their creations and with this as our starting point we’ve collected works from architects and designers—some at the top of their game, others just starting out—including Snarkitecture, Bec Brittain, Katie Stout, Seth Keller, Studio DROR, Kiel Mead, Thaddeus Wolfe and more. From Jason Payne’s “Disco Ball” for Hirsuta to the process-driven “Sprue” candelabras by Fort Standard, we think the final collection captures some of the most interesting intersections of architecture and design today.

SCALE
Friday 18 – Sunday 21 May 2012
12 Noon to 7:00 p.m. daily
The Standard East Village

And don’t forget to stop by the accompanying Sonos Listening Library while you’re there.

In stripping the stair of its more cultural meaning, and allowing the essential structure of the stair become both the practical and the aesthetic val..

Designed by Dima Loginoff, sofa collections will be presented on Florence Design Week in Lungarno Collection by Salvatore Ferragamo.

Italian designer Simone Simonelli presented three little mobile storage units in Milan last month.

Called Maisonnette, the collection is intended for small homes and each piece has a dual function; the small table can be turned upside down and used as a tray, the trolley is also a side table and the tallest piece is a bookshelf-come-clothes rail.

Simonelli exhibited them as part of an exhibition called Uncovered 2012 – Qualities, curated by Michela Pelizzari and Federica Sala for art organisation Careof.

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile took place from 17 to 22 April. See all our stories about Milan 2012 here, plus photos on Facebook and Pinterest.

Here’s some more information from Simone Simonelli:

“Maisonnette” in French means small house. The aim here has been to propose a collection of furnitures that meets the contemporary need of sharing functions in the microliving spaces. It is a 3 piece set: a stand/miniwardrobe, a cart/table and a basket/tray.

Materials: solid alder wood treated with natural varnish and iron rod structure.

The contemporary art organization Careof, located in the Fabbrica del Vapore – on the occasion of the 51st
Salone Internazionale del Mobile, in the framework Posti di Vista RI-CREAZIONE – presents UNCOVERED 2012 – Qualities, a project curated by Michela Pelizzari and Federica Sala.

What are the characteristics that give an object “quality design” status”? Durability, accessibility, functions, evironmental impact, innovation, the capacity to arouse an emotional response? These are some of the questions behind the work of six designers presented at UNCOVERED 2012 – Qualities.

Simone Simonelli (1980) studied Industrial Design at Politecnico di Milano and Brunel University London. He is involved in design field since 2003. He worked for different design firms in Italy and abroad. He launched his own practice in 2009.