Hasta La Ideas

Our new house has a guest room, which is something completely alien to us. Not really knowing what to do with the space, my husband and I bought a bed and nightstand, hung some artwork, and then closed the door to keep out the cat. (The image at right is the catalog staging of the bed and nightstand we have. Obviously, if our guest room already looked this amazing, I wouldn’t be writing this post.)

Since we moved in March, the room has only been used by guests a few times. The Karen Bussen-inspired entertainer in me loves this idea of having a relaxing room just for guests — make the room like a $400 a night resort hotel room where visitors can truly feel as if they are on a rejuvenating vacation. Conversely, the practical part of me thinks the room should have more utility than a place for visitors to sleep once every couple months.

I’ve been spending a lot of time researching ways to satisfy both of my desires for the space. I’m looking for ways to make it a fabulous guest room and a practical hobby room in one. The solution will have to include storage for the hobby supplies that can be completely closed up when guests are present and using it for their retreat. And, I want it to be extremely practical as a hobby room when guests aren’t visiting.

Here are some of the images I’ve been using as inspiration for what to do with this room:

• Guest/play/craft room by House*Tweaking
• Guest and craft room from Riviera View
• Home office and guest room from the British site House to Home
• A home office and guest room from Lifehacker
• Nautical home office and guest room from Coastal Living on My Home Ideas
• Another home office and guest room from Country Living
• Ooh_food’s home office and guest room on Flickr
• And this cute little home office and guest room from the TV show Design on a Dime

Have you seen a beautiful guest room that serves more than one purpose? Share a link or describe a solution you’ve seen in the comments. How did someone create a space that effectively met both needs?

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Reader J submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

We just purchased our first home and we are in the process of organizing everything. One thing that I have no idea how to handle is my large collection of gift bags, gift boxes, ribbons, bows, etc. I had them shoved into plastic bins at the bottom of our guest room closet at the old house, but the bags stick out everywhere, and items jump out of the boxes every time I try to retrieve something, and generally make the entire process of gift wrapping a pain. I need to get to these bags a few times a year for birthdays and holidays.

One of the more creative solutions I’ve seen is a dedicated filing cabinet drawer for storing wrapping supplies. Gift bags were kept upright, like file folders, and so were the flat gift boxes. Spools of ribbon were threaded through a bar that had been cut out of a hanging file folder, and were suspended across the drawer. Bows were stored in a few hanging file pockets, organized by type. Finally, magnetic strips had been attached to the backs of a pair of scissors and a tape dispenser, and these items were suspended from the side of the file drawer. Until the drawer was opened, I had no idea what was contained inside of it.

There are also storage totes made especially for gift bags and boxes. Once you move the bags and boxes into their new storage solution, it might be easier to contain the remaining bows and ribbons in the bins you already have.

You could also hang all the gift bags by their handles from an open ended pants hanger. The bags would take up some space in a closet, but this solution would again free up room in your current storage bins so you could better organize the other items.

Thank you, J, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Definitely check the comments for additional ideas from our readers. My hope is that one of us will be able to find you a perfect solution.

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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Do you play the guitar, bass, or mandolin? Do you have old membership cards cluttering up your wallet? If so, the Pick Punch might be a useful tool for you:

I’ve always thought picks were ridiculously expensive for what they are. Additionally, I always seem to need one. Making your own picks from recycled membership cards just makes a lot of sense to me. If we would have had one of these when my husband and I first started playing picked instrument, we could easily have saved hundreds of dollars. A simple, high utility, uncluttered solution for people who play picked instruments.

Image via Pick Punch.

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Reader Star submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

My husband [and I] like to collect restaurant menus where we have had memorable meals. As you can imagine these are all shapes, sizes, colors and quality. Right now they are sitting in a plastic box awaiting some action from us. Can you please offer some suggestions as to how best to display/store/organize them?

What a fun collection! I’m going to give you just one suggestion, and it’s based on what we have done in our home with memorable concert posters. I hope our readers then provide you with even more suggestions in the comments. Among all our suggestions, hopefully you will find a solution that works best for you.

My recommendation is to find frames and hang them all as a collection. You can either do all of the frames in a matching style or find frames in all different styles. When you group them on the wall, it will be obvious they are a collection. And, in my opinion, a collection like this would be wonderful on a wall in a dining room or kitchen.

The reason I suggest hanging them up is so you can see them every day and be reminded of the happy memories each time you look at them. If they’re in a box, like they are now, you can’t regularly enjoy them.

Thank you, Star, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column. Now, go and check the comments for even more suggestions from our readers.

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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We’re pretty late to the game on this one, but on the slim chance you haven’t seen it — check out Atomic Tom performing their song “Take Me Out” on a New York Subway car:

The band’s “stolen instruments” claim is just a concept for the video — their instruments weren’t actually stolen. However, what they show is that a band can produce decent music simply using iPhone apps. (The video was even shot using three iPhone 4s.)

To create your own iPhone band, all you’ll need is $11, some practice, and the following apps:

• Tobias is playing Drum Meister ($1.99)
• Eric is using iShred Guitar for iPhone ($4.99)
• Philip is on Bassist by MooCowMusic ($2.99)
• Then, Luke starts off the video playing Virtuoso Piano Free (Free)
• Unfortunately, I can’t find any documentation or get a good enough look at the exact microphone app Luke used in the video, but Microphone Pro ($.99) or VonBruno Microphone ($.99) seem qualified to do the job.

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