Organizing Your Home To Maximize Space And Simplify Life (NAPSA)—Almost every homeowner has called on a handyman to take care of the little irritants around the house—a squeaky door, a dripping faucet, replacing a nonfunctioning ceiling fan. While these jobs certainly improve quality of life for a time, there are a few things a competent home improvement contractor can do that will enhance your quality of life long term. “Organizing the home is an often overlooked home improvement project, because it doesn’t necessarily silence a squeak, halt a drip or light a room,” says Jim Rocchetta, vice president of marketing for nationwide home improvement contracting network Handyman Connection. “Still, the benefit of really taking a hard look around the house and getting things organized can be phenomenalandlasting;it’s essentially a matter of simplifying a homeowner’slife.” The subject of home organization frequently emerges when children enter the picture, says Rocchetta. For young families, adult-sized closets can offer a trove of storage options. Simple built-in wooden shelves offer an excellent hideaway for toys until children are old enough to hang their clothes. Cabinets, baskets or shelving built under beds or into corners can also help keep toys, books, shoes and other items off the floor and out of the way. Throughout the rest of the home, look for storage spaces that could benefit from a few design enhancements. Deep kitchen cabinets, for example, frequently become “black holes.” Installing a lazy Susan or slide-out shelving keeps everything at arm’s reach and lets homeowners reclaim lost space. Do you have a cabinet that’s unnecessarily tall? Adding a AW If yo you needit, you may as well not even haveit. Purpose-built storage options, such as shallow shelves for CDs and DVDs, can help simplify life and keep clutter at bay. shelf can double the amount of usable space. How about that Sunk drawer” just about every house has? Using well-designed dividers can separate the clutter and help you find what you need. Tired of tripping over tools and boxes in the garage? Installing Peg-Board with heavy-duty hooks can be the perfect option for garden hoses, shovels and rakes. Metal shelving, readily available at most home improvementstores, will get paint cans, household chemicals and smaller tools off the floor. Sturdy hooks hanging from the ceiling get bicycles and other large items outof the way. “Take a three-dimensional view of the home,” Rocchetta suggests. “Don’t just look at floors, closets and shelves as they currently exist. Instead, look at the whole space, floor to ceiling; wasted space is everywhere and a clever home improvement contractor can help you makethe mostofit.” For more information, call (800) 88-HANDY or visit Handyman Connection online at www.handymanconnection.com.
