Wednesday 22 August 2012

Colour Schemes For Sliding Wardrobes

Once you know the colour scheme that you are after, you can create your own storage solutions. I started looking at wardrobes and then realised in order to get that ‘perfect’ look, I needed to buy matching cabinets as the wardrobe looked lost on its own in the bedroom.

This is why I started looking at wardrobes in a different perspective and thought of the wardrobe as a main feature. The benefit of sliding wardrobes is that you can have made to measure units which will house all the clothes and add as a feature in any bedroom.  I still needed the samples though in order to get the right look. If you have a look at the different sliding doors available, there is the mirror option of clean mirror, grey mirror and even a bronze mirror.

There is also an option for coloured glass, which can come in a variety of colours which will suit any décor range with the benefit of this being 99% opaque.  If glass is not a preferred choice there is melamine panels which also come is different colours and can have a wood grain effect. 

This other most important part of Doors Direct sliding wardrobes is the frame colour. This is the reason to select a sample so you can view the colour in the room and not imagine it from the website colours. The general advice from Doors Direct, who are sliding wardrobe specialists, is to order a sample of both the frame and panel to compare colours and the contrasts.  

Monday 20 August 2012

Why Ordering Samples Is Important

One of the other key areas to storage solutions is choosing the correct colour scheme to match your home. Thankfully I have not had to rely on my memory and the fact that certain a colour “looks a bit like this”. Although I have used my decorating clothes as a personal colour chart before!! The benefit of ordering samples is great.

If you are ordering online, this becomes even more important, if not essential. The colour you see on the screen or a print out, is often not the same colour that will be delivered. If you have ordered several pots or paint or a pallet load of bathroom tiles and they do not match then costs really can mount up when it comes to sending them back, or trying to get a replacement. 

Paint Samples
Paint is one of the easiest samples to obtain as not only can you get a wide range of colours and brochures, you can also get samples which prove valuable. The key is to choose a sample and place this onto the walls if possible so you can see what the colour looks like. If this not possible (living rooms with blobs of paint can be off putting) try painting the colour onto a plain sheet of white paper and placing that on the wall. 

TOP TIP
Look at the room in different lights and different times of the day, depending on where the sun shines through. This can make a difference to the room and a wall that was once light, may look different when the sun goes down.

Furniture Samples
If you are making a purchase online of a wardrobe or any storage solution, be sure to check that the colours of both the exterior and interior match the existing colour schemes. These are bulky items and need to be right. Samples can be obtained from visiting the showroom or display area, or requesting some samples online. 

Carpet and Flooring Samples
This is definitely one to get right and order some samples. The range and design of tiles can be overwhelming and you do not know what will work in your home without visiting a showroom or ordering tiles and flooring online. A lot of online retailers understand the complexities of choosing flooring and will be able to send samples for a small charge. This can be recouped when purchasing a batch, but it is worth checking whether to visit a store or shop online.

Monday 6 August 2012

Different Wood For Different Homes


One of the key areas to any home is the ability to store items either out of reach or in a presentable and attractive way. The majority of storage solutions are in the form of bookcases, shelves and cupboards.  The shelving units can be made from plastic, glass or wood.

Different rooms obviously have different decors and a set of plastic shelves in a home office, will not look as stylish in a living room or bedroom. If you have the space, then wall-hung shelves can create a stylish and practical way to store books, ornaments or other living room items. These shelves can be fitted into alcoves, corners or on an entire length of wall.  

There are several materials used in shelving, so whatever your need, there will be a shelf to suit;
  • Solid wood - softwood usually contains knots, but some wood like Parana pine is generally knot-free, attractive in colouring and can be sought in wide boards. Hardwoods, such as oak, ash, beech can be purchased at timber yards but do the cost of hardwood their use is often for furniture or special features, rather than shelving.
  • Block Board is a relatively expensive stable man-made board that is constructed from stripes of softwood glued and then sandwiched between two layers of plywood-grade veneer.
  • Plywood is built from veneers. The grain alternates at right angles to provide strength and stability.
  • Chipboard -  This is the cheapest man-made board that is frequently used for the core of manufactured shelving planks. 
 These are just some of the popular choices in wood that can be found in the home.

Wednesday 18 July 2012

Is Your Wardrobe Full of Clothes You Don't Wear?


Have you had a wardrobe clearout recently as I’ve just read an article that says in Britain, people are wasting a total of £30billion by keeping clothes in their wardrobes that they are too big to wear. The report says that the average home has a stack of £4,000 worth of clothes and that over a third of these are never worn.

I’ve written before about having a clothes clearout and if this is anything to go by then people definitely need to be getting rid of more. There are all kinds of ways to get rid of old clothing such as donating to charity shops, selling on eBay or doing a car boot. Whilst it is good to keep one pair of favourite jeans that are currently too small but have the goal to slim into them, keeping loads that you’ll never wear again is a waste.

You can read the news article for yourself here on The Sun website.

Monday 16 July 2012

Next Summer Clothes Sale


It was the Next summer sale over the weekend and it is one of the biggest events on clothes shoppers calendars.  Next only ever have the big sale in the summer and in the New Year. It’s a 50% or more off sale as well so there are plenty of bargains to be had.

Saturday 14 July 2012

Funny 'Mans Wardrobe' Image

Whilst on Pinterest the other day I was working my way through various categories (usually the humour one) and found this brilliant image entitled 'The Stages of a Man's Wardrobe'.

Have a look, funny huh?


Other the coming weeks I might have a look at each stage and give you a personal account of what my wardrobe was like/could be like at different stages.

Thursday 12 July 2012

His and Her Wardrobe Space


If you live with your boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband then you most likely share a wardrobe space, unless of course your wife has a fancy walk in wardrobe all to herself. If a couple is sharing a wardrobe space then I wonder what the ratio of male space to female space is?

I’m betting that the female side is fuller with dresses, skirts, tops, jumpers, trousers, shorts, cardigans, sweaters etc. A male wardrobe usually contains t-shirts, jeans, suit, work clothes and a couple of jumpers.

So in an equal relationship, should each half of the couple have an equal space in the wardrobe? Or is it expected for the woman to have the majority of the space, say a 70 30 split?

What are your thoughts?

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Disney Wardrobe Facts

Did you know that Disney World has the largest wardrobe in the world? The park has many workers dressed as various Disney characters that walk around the park as well as performers in its street shows and the  various other parks. To celebrate this fact here are some facts, in image form.



For all those 2.5 million pieces of clothing I bet they’ll need a large sliding door from Doors Direct for their wardrobe!


Friday 6 July 2012

Funny lolz

When thinking whether you need a sliding door wardrobe or a simple standard wardrobe, you may want to bear in mind this image lol


Wednesday 4 July 2012

Storage for the Bedroom


Finding places to store everything in your bedroom can be such a pain. Clothes, accessories, deodorants, towels, bedding, sports gear, bags, shoes are all common things that need storing within the bedroom. The standard bedroom furniture includes a chest of drawers, wardrobe and bed but you can maximise space and storage with a large sliding door wardrobe, utilising the room under your bed or by adding shelves on the walls. Here are some useful bedroom storage items from various outlets.

Monday 2 July 2012

Great Storage Solution Tips

As you may have read my storage solutions have been solved but if you are finding yourself in a pickle with where to place things then maybe these helpful tips will come in handy. Some involve buying new items, some involve just be a bit more savvy with the space you have but all will help you in creating some storage space for all kinds of bits. While these are more tailored to the bedroom, they could be used in different rooms where you need more space.

Friday 29 June 2012

The Messy Wardrobe Collection

Now that I am the proud owner of a fully fitted, brand new sliding door wardrobe, I’ve been quite proud of my newly organised bedroom. To show that fact I've decided to show you some examples of really messy wardrobes that I found on the internet lol

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Installing a Sliding Door Wardrobe


Right then that’s it, my sliding wardrobe is now in place and I’ve finally got the storage system that I needed. With my new wardrobe in place I finally have somewhere to keep all my clothes and other bits. Not only are they now stored away and in place but I always have somewhere to hide all my clutter and other bits.

Thursday 21 June 2012

More Decorating and Storage Posts Incoming

Whilst looking at my most recent posts I realised my posts about actual decorating and storage solutions have taken a back seat as I've been looking at more humorous takes about my blog topic. Never fear though because I will be back to the DIY scene next week with an update on my new sliding door wardrobe.

That doesn't mean it's the end to features such as "What's in a Wardrobe?" though :-)

Monday 18 June 2012

Thursday 14 June 2012

What's in a Wardrobe?

In what might become a regular feature on my blog, it's time to throw open the wardrobe doors and have a peek at someone's belongings. This may be a real person I know, a celebrity or a fictional character, and it's within this realm of the fictional that we begin with a look inside what a certain famous plumbers wardrobe collection may look like.

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Room Dividers: Great for Kids Bedrooms


Whilst writing about children’s furniture yesterday it got me thinking about what you could do if you have two children that share a bedroom but have very different tastes. What if one likes robots and the other likes dinosaurs? Unless they both like Robo-Dinos then it might be quite hard to get a decorating scheme that both enjoy.

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Fun Kids Furniture

A friend of mine is currently redecorating his spare room to create the perfect bedroom for his 5 year old son. Being into home storage and decorating he has asked for my advice and help and I was more than willing to lend a hand so for the last few days I’ve been looking at different styles of kids furniture and thought I’d share my favourite here on the blog.

Monday 11 June 2012

Wheres the Summer Weather?


Well we’re well into June now but with the weather we are having its still not time to get the summer wardrobe ready yet. It’s actually quite depressing on how bad the weather is and I often find myself just closing the wardrobe doors as I don’t want to face having to get a pair of trousers and jumper out to wear. So if you’re feeling a little blue from the bad weather then have a look at these summer fashion disasters to raise a smile.

Sunday 10 June 2012

Another Funny Table

If you enjoy retro video games and in particular Nintendo consoles like I do then check out this cool old school NES pad.


 Might not look right in my living room but would definitely consider it for a study room :-)

Friday 8 June 2012

Man Men Inspired Wardrobe Items


Following on from the other days list of Top 10 Wardrobe Essentials for Men, I thought I’d share this article with you about The Bare Basics of a Minimalist Man’s Wardrobe.

Wednesday 6 June 2012

My Favourite Items of the House: Master and Guest Bedrooms


I've combined the final two rooms in my series on ‘My Favourite Items of the House’ into one because there was only one choice for best item and that would be sliding wardrobes from Doors Direct.


I love sliding wardrobes because they can store so much without looking ugly in any room. They are a great way to hide clothes, towels and other bedroom bits to keep a room looking neat and tidy.

Monday 4 June 2012

My Favourite Items of the House: Bathroom


A short post today because there isn’t really much, if any, furniture in the bathroom but I do like this white cabinet to keep your bits in. That is all.


Friday 1 June 2012

My Favourite Items of the House: Den

The den is a spare downstairs room that is used for relaxing. Apparently if it has one chair and more than three books its officially known as a library*, but in this post I’ll stick to calling it the den. The den is where you relax, chill out and do what you like doing. It may have a computer for working, a video game console, books and hopefully a big squishy bean bag chair to chill out on. Since I like video games I’m going to need somewhere to store my consoles and games so that’s why the most important item in the den is a decent entertainment unit.


This unit has plenty of room for the TV, consoles, controllers, games and accessories and still looks like a clasy item of furniture. Might try to find one with sliding doors on though to keep things dust-free.

*may not be totally true.

Wednesday 30 May 2012

My Favourite Items of the House: Kitchen

The kitchen contains the important items for cooking and food storage such as the oven and fridge but I don’t really class these as items of furniture per-se. Instead I’m going to go for the item that some people may have in their kitchen and others might have a whole separate room for it; the dining table.

Saturday 26 May 2012

My Favourite Items of the House: Living Room

The living room is where I spend a lot of time. Whether it’s chilling out on my own, watching TV whilst enjoying a take away pizza or socialising with friends its a room that gets a lot of time spent in it.

Because of this it needs to be comfy at all times no matter what I’m doing and that’s why my favourite item in the living room is a big comfy sofa.


Friday 25 May 2012

My Favourite Items of the House: Room by Room

Welcome to the start of my new blog post series going around the house and taking a look into each room and picking my favourite item of furniture within. Since you’re all here because of our shared passion for furniture I thought I’d go room by room and pick one item in each. It may be something I’ve got, something I am getting (such as my stylish sliding wardrobes in both the master and guest bedrooms) or a funny item that I wish I could have.

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Top 10 Wardrobe Essentials for Men


Belt
A belt does that all important job of helping to keep your trousers up but is also a fancy fashion accessory. Go for black or brown depending on your preference.

Jeans
A solid colour pair of jeans are a staple and can be worn on a variety of occasions.

Shoes
A pair of smart black shoes can be worn with your suit of jeans depending on what style you’re going for.

Trainers
Casual trainers and jeans is a cool look and if you get the right pair they can even pass as smart in a preppy kinda way.

Suit
All men should own at least one suit for job or social occasions. Grey is suave but a classic black suit is also fine.

Plain T-shirts
A range of plain coloured t-shirts give you many style options depending on how you’re feeling, where you’re going or what you’re doing.

Underwear
Make sure you’ve got enough pairs to last till you next do the washing.

Socks
As with underwear, ensure you have enough to last the week and go for simple socks such as black, navy and grey.

 Watch
A nice watch can really set an outfit off, especially when worn with a shirt. A statement watch is great for night’s out but may not be so good for day to day wear so think carefully on your choice.

White Shirt
A simple white button up shirt is a cool, relaxed look when worn with jeans and can be dressed up with your suit jacket.

So how many of these items have you got behind your wardrobe doors guys?

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Different Storage Solutions for the Bedroom

Whether you live on your own or share a bedroom with your partner, you will most likely have a lot of things to store in your bedroom. It’s not just room for all your clothes but you will probably use the room as an area to store other things as well. Here is a look at different storage options you can consider for your master or guest bedroom.

Monday 14 May 2012

Wardrobe Door Handles

If you have been following my blog then at the moment you may have released my focus has been on wardrobes. Because of this I present to you some fancy wardrobe door handles that have caught my eye over the weekend.

Friday 11 May 2012

Comedy Tables

I always like a little fun and these comedy tables made me chuckle so thought I'd share some with you. Check out my three favourite comedy tables that I found on the web.

Thursday 10 May 2012

Different Kinds of Wardrobe Interiors

I've been trying to decide what style of wardrobe interiors to go for once I get my new sliding wardrobe sorted. There are many different combinations that you can get to make sure that you have enough space to store everything that you need. One option is a 3 shelf, 3 hanging section solution. The shelves are located at the top of the unit and are more of for storing items then clothes. The hanging sections have a longer section on one side with the other split into 2 hanging sections. This is great for hanging your shirts on the top one and your trousers in half on coat hangers below. The larger hanging space can be for coats and suits.

Monday 7 May 2012

Another Use for Coat Hangers

As I've mentioned in a couple of my previous blogs I've been looking at getting a wardrobe with sliding doors for my bedroom. I haven't got enough room in my current wardrobe for all my clothes you see so I've just got a bag of coat hangers ready for when I get my new wardrobe fitted. Because of this I got thinking about other uses for coat hangers and found this...

Thursday 3 May 2012

The Hoarder Next Door

Starting on channel 4 tonight is a program called 'The Hoarder Next Door' and it looks good viewing as a psychotherapist tries to help some extreme hoarders to de-clutter their lives. We're not talking about people that have a few boxes of stuff they don't need around the house. This program is looking at people who's lives and relationships are being governed and sometimes even ruined by their hoarding habits.

Here's a clip of the show so be sure to check it out tonight on channel 4 at 9pm.

 

Looks like he's definitely in need of some good storage solutions from Doors Direct!

Come Chat With Me

Well the blogs set up and I've been busy setting up my social media sites in between getting my sliding wardrobes sorted. If you're on either so why not come and follow my tweets and pins over on Twitter and Pinterest:

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Sites I Like


I’ve been looking at a few sites over the last few days and thought I’d post some of the ones I’ve found most useful.

Monday 30 April 2012

Cool Living Room Storage Cube

Well the blogs set up now but I couldn't resist posting one more post...

A Bit About Me

So somehow you've ended up on my new blog so first of all I'd like to say thank you for coming. For anyone who wants to know what this blog is all about, let me tell you.

Welcome to the Home Storage Ideas Blog

Welcome to my new blog all about home storage.

Whether you have recently moved house and are looking for the best way to organise your belongings, maximise your existing space or are just in need of a good tidy up then hopefully this will be the blog for you.

There may be a few changes to the blog over the coming weeks as I get things sorted and set up so check back soon for the first proper blog post soon.