HKpowerStudio

Creatively Organized Spaces

  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • ORGANIZING & APPRAISAL SERVICES
    • ART ORGANIZING & DESIGN SERVICES
    • VIRTUAL SERVICES
    • Home Inventory without Heartache
    • Projects
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Closets & Clothing
    • Vision Board Workshops
  • Media
  • Connect

Cultivating a Green Thumb

March 29, 2018 by Heather Filed Under: Organize, Organizing Projects, Systems & Techniques Leave a Comment

Are you cultivating a green thumb and want a potting area for all your gardening supplies? Or maybe you feel you have tried and failed because you just didn’t have the right tools and knowledge in place? If you are ready to whip your garden area and tools into shape for the most beautiful and successful spring garden, read on!

Your gardening supplies and growing area can be indoor or out. Thank about your garage, a greenhouse, shed or a sunny spot in the house. For loads of inspiration, head over to my Garden, Storage and Organizing boards on Pinterest.

Cultivate a green thumb

To begin, determine the area where you can conveniently store gardening supplies. Whether your in a condo or small space and plan to learn to better care for your indoor or patio garden or you are a master gardener planning to start seeds and do extensive gardening, some common sense storage tips and best practices for maintain tools will go a long way towards cultivating a green thumb!

Once you have determined where you can set up your gardening space, start by clearing out the area of anything that doesn’t belong or assigning zones for the space to keep like items together. If the space is shared, how else do you use it?

In this initial planning and research phase, wait to make those purchases until you have sorted, purged and determined your layout and needs.

Will you be starting seeds and need shelves, lighting and seed storage? Take a quick inventory of what you have and what you need while determining where you will do these activities or store the supplies and tools, either permanently or seasonally. List categories and quickly sketch “Zones” including measurements to determine what will fit before making larger purchases such as shelving, lighting, pegboards or other necessary supplies.  Don’t overlook functionality (power access, mobility), lighting (windows, existing fixtures) and frequency of use (for each category). Try to keep systems modular if possible so they can be re-configured as needed.

  • Gather your supplies; gloves, bags and boxes (for giveaway and trash/recycling), sticky notes, permanent markers, label maker/labels, a variety of storage bins, various hooks (command and lg ‘ladder’ hooks) and any shelves or other items you need to install.  Start with what you have and make a list of smaller storage and organizing tools you will need as you go.
  • Sort; I suggest working clockwise in the space (just easier to remember and follow this path with all organizing projects). Work your way around the room or space one wall at a time around sorting items into keep, donate and toss.
  • Repair & Clean the space as you go and make basic repairs/maintenance updates and taking note of damaged items and things that need to be cleaned. If you have time to do garden tool maintenance now, great! Garden tools should be cleaned, sharpened and oiled on a regular basis. This site has everything you need to know about maintaining your gardening tools!
  • Group items by category into bins or zones, and if you don’t have an immediate way to store/re-install an item make a note and set the item in the general zone where it needs to be stored and come back to it. If you are able to move everything out to a holding area (the lawn, a patio, middle of the garage etc) then keep things grouped by categories (potting tools, garden equipment, seed starting, hand tools etc) in bins to be returned when ready.
  • Install hooks, shelves, containers etc.  This can be done one wall or zone at a time or with the whole space if it’s been cleared.
  • Return items to their new homes, this might require grouping and labeling items into bins, installing pegboards or slat walls with hooks, simple hooks or nails, shelving, bins/baskets etc.
  • Maintain, the most often overlooked step in all organizing projects! This will not put themselves back so you will have to do this, as well as clean, repair and replace plants and garden tools as needed.

Storage Tips: Go vertical and don’t forget overhead storage space! Make sure these systems are well secured!! Give them a good tug to make sure things don’t come tumbling down when you or the kids go to grab something.

Keep heavy and more frequently used items lower to the ground (but make sure they are water proof if necessary) and lighter and less frequently used or more dangerous tools mounted up high for safety.

Keep it practical! Your garden work space doesn’t have to look like a magazine shoot, it just has to be tidy, easy to use and functional!

Cultivate a Green thumbI hope these tips will help you to cultivate a green thumb for all your planting projects this spring! Get out in your garden! What are you planting this Spring? Please share in the comments below!

Caring for our Lovely Linens

March 27, 2018 by Heather Filed Under: Closets, Organize, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources, Wellness & Mindset Leave a Comment

I was inspired to write this post after finding sadly rumpled fitted sheets and other linens jumbled into closets and baskets time and again. Our lovely linens are slept on every night, they dry us off daily after we shower or wash our hands, we count on them to keep crumbs and stains off our tabletop and other surfaces. I love linens, old and new…I adore their function and beauty so lets give our linens some love and learn to care for them to help them last.

Think about all the linens you use in your daily life, how and where you use them, store them, fold them and treat them. Though I don’t necessarily fold everything as Marie Kondo does, I do take the time to thoughtfully fold or hang each linen, giving them adequate storage to keep things neat and tidy and allow for easy access.

Keeping Linens Clean

Because I have a degree in fibers, people often pick my brain about cleaning their linens, especially vintage and antiques. Though I won’t go into great detail about vintage linens in this post, I will offer some suggestions for cleaning which will help prevent damage to your linen collection, no matter the age. The most important thing to know is what fiber your linens are made of and feel them to determine if they are brittle and dry, if so they may not be strong enough to clean. Most vintage and antique linens are likely made of cotton, linen or a blend. Special linens like blankets and some towels may also contain other natural fibers like silk or wool. Cotton and linen are fibers made from plants, wool and silk are made from animals, therefore each type of fiber will need to be cleaned differently. If your not sure, check out this post for more helpful info. Generally speaking, treat your linens in a more delicate manner than you might some other household laundry. According to Victoria & Albert Museum (and other textile conservationists),

“If you wish to preserve your textiles, you need to avoid or minimise the need to clean them. It is important to prevent dirt accumulating rather than causing unnecessary damage by repeated cleaning treatments. Not all textiles were originally intended to be washable.”

If you get a stain on linens, pre-treat as soon as possible. Lots of people like to use products like oxy clean, which are safe and effective in a general sense. If you are stain prone and want more specific stain pre treatments, check out these specialized products formulated for specific stains. Use color safe (non-chlorine bleach) on colors, and chlorine bleach on whites as needed (use caution, this can degrade fibers over time). Add vinegar to substitute half or so of the detergent which will help remove extra detergent residue.

Sort linens by color and type of fiber, washing according to labels (if you can find them). Wash towels using cool or warm water (unless you feel the need to sanitize, if someone has been sick for example), without fabric softener which can prevent towels from absorbing water and doing their jobs:). Shake towels when removing from the wash to fluff them up before drying. I recommend cleaning delicate items separately, using delicate laundry bags for smaller items and hang them to dry. Hang dry as many items as possible which can help prevent wear and damage.

Dry cleaning may not be necessary if the linen is made of cotton, linen, acrylic (blends), nylon or polyester. When a label says “Dry Clean”, it is recommended but when the label says “Dry Clean Only”, that’s what is highly recommended to prevent damaging the item. The site “Tip Nut” offers some great recipes for cleaning vintage linens. If you are a linen lover like I am, see this excellent video to learn more about specific vintage linen cleaning products and techniques.

Linen Storage

Where you store each type of linen, will of course depend on your home’s storage spaces. You may have room to store your extra towels in the bathroom, extra sheets in a closet or cabinet etc. Many homes have a “linen closet” in a hallway, outside the bedrooms. These widely vary in size and function. Take a quick evaluation of where you currently keep where. Furniture can also function as a great place to store linens, especially place mats, fabric napkins, table runners and other kitchen/dining room linens.

Overflow and extra storage can be placed in plastic bins if needed. Store less used items with cedar chip sachet’s (I can’t stand Moth Balls-who can!?) to protect them from moth damage. Always, always store linens clean. Body oil and food residue will attract moths and cause long term damage. Prevent linens from directly coming into contact with wood, some plastics and cardboard, which are not archival or acid free. We often find yellow stains on older linens that were stored improperly. If you have vintage or antique linens, invest in archival storage to preserve your treasures.

Kitchen & Dining Room Linens

Since these are often both functional and decorative, there are no “rules” to how many you might have. Some people collect liens, other use paper towels for everything, not sure why when there are so many fun kitchen linens! When it comes to purging kitchen linens, let them go when they are badly stained, miss matched, have holes or are “out of style” or you’ve changed your decor.

The kitchen is the obvious spot to keep towels, rags and aprons as well as frequently used place mats and napkins. If you have a spare drawer or two you can store these items directly in your cabinets. You can also keep some linens in baskets, neatly tucked into your pantry or other convenient spots. Keeping like with like w

ill minimize rummaging through and leaving linens in a jumble.  I prefer to hang long table cloth’s and runners, ironed and folded. If you dry clean your larger table cloths, remove the plastic and leave linens hanging. I recommend storing seasonal linens with other seasonal decorations, with the exception of table cloths, which should be hung or folded neatly.

  • Hand Towels
  • Dish Towels-some people differentiate -for example using flower sack cloths for drying dishes
  • Aprons
  • Place mats
  • Table cloth’s
  • Fabric Napkins
  • Cocktail Napkins
  • Table Runners

Bedroom Linens

As a rule, keep 2 sets of sheets for each bed in the household, that way you are only storing one set of extra. Reuse, donate or recycle old sheets if they are badly stained, torn or very worn. If you have extra closet space in the bedrooms, you might be able to store bedroom linens in each bedroom closet. This can help to identify what sheets go on what bed!

Keep like size sheet sets together, folded neatly (see how to fold a fitted sheet here) and either on a shelf or in a basket, labeled (with the roo

m/size). Like kitchen linens, bedroom linens can be seasonal and may contain body oils that should be cleaned before storing linens for the season.

  • Sheets-flat and fitted in various sizes
  • Blankets
  • Duvet’s
  • Duvet Covers
  • Coverlets and quilts
  • Pillows

Bathroom Linens

Fluffy towels, who doesn’t love them!? Some people use a different towel every day, which honestly seems excessive to me, especially since we use our towels to dry off our Clean bodies! I recommend changing towels ever few days to week, depending on your personal preference and lifestyle. I prefer a tri-fold for towels, which make them look neat when hanging on the rod but also allows them to evenly dry between uses. However you like to display your towel, use the same fold when you store them so that you are not re-folding when you put out new linens.

  • Hand Towels
  • Bath Towels
  • Wash cloth’s
  • Floor mat’s
  • Beach Towels

PS…I didn’t mention Ironing…did you notice? Bah, I don’t love to iron and tend to go for fabric’s that don’t require it, or I steam, or I store up ironing and do it all at once while watching a movie! How about you? Do you like to iron, love to do laundry, hate to fold? What’s your least or most favorite part of taking care of your linens?

Love or Loath Laundry? Quick Laundry tips

March 13, 2018 by Heather Filed Under: Closets, Home, Kids & Family Organizing, Organize, Organizing Projects, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources 1 Comment

Do you love or loath laundry? I don’t mind it but I know for so many people Laundry is not about love, at all! That’s why I work with my clients to create a laundry schedule, including what I to keep on top of weekly laundry tasks.

Loving or Loathing Laundry

In creating a laundry schedule I ask a few questions to help determine what the best household action plan for doing laundry…here are some questions you can use to create your own laundry schedule.

  • How many household members? How many loads of laundry per person per week do you generate?
  • How many “able bodied” people do you have do delegate laundry to? Kids age 10+ should start learning to help with laundry, including having a laundry basket in their room, helping to bring laundry to the washer/dryer, helping to sort, fold and put laundry away.
  • Do you have a cleaning person that helps with laundry? If so, what day do they come and what laundry tasks do they do or could you delegate to them (sheets and towels or more)?
  • Do you and your kids do sports activities or work that generates extra dirty (stinky:() laundry? If so, how soon after these activities do you need to wash things (to re-use or prevent smells)?
  • Do you take a lot of things to the dry cleaner? If so, do you have a pick up drop off service or is this something your drycleaner offers?
  • Do you have a lot of ironing, do you like to iron?

With all this info in your back pocket, calculate how many loads need to be done per week and who will do them. Then, take a look at your weekly schedule and assign laundry tasks by the date to yourself or other household help (kids, spouse, cleaning helpers etc).

I change and wash whites, or linens (towels, sheets and the oddball other white items) on Wednesdays and thus the term Wednesday Whitewash! Maybe doing a couple loads mid weeks and more on the weekends makes sense to you and with your schedule or maybe your weekends are busy with family activities and your better off tackling one load per evening through the week.

Keep Laundry Contained

In my observation, many people do not have laundry baskets, have them where they need them (in the bedroom, bathroom or closet) or seem to use them at all! I find laundry in piles on the floor, draped over furniture, hanging form hooks, light fixtures and everywhere else you can imagine. If you don’t know what’s clean and what’s dirty, you will constantly be re-washing items or at least giving your nose a workout with the sniff test. Keep dirty laundry contained in a basket or bag and use this to take laundry to your laundry area and then sort (or buy bins with sorting compartments if you have room). There are tons of great laundry basket options, like these available…so measure your space and determine what/how many you need and invest!

Minimize Maintenance

When you buy new clothes, think about their laundry requirements.

Sort laundry by color and by weight. I don’t like to wash my husbands heavy duty work pants with my delicate tops or undergarments (which should be in a bag). Sort weekly loads by dark/light/white and weight. This helps keep clothes looking newer longer.

Do you love linen but hate ironing? Maybe these things should be kept for less frequent use or sent to the dry cleaner?

Keep it Green Clean

Do you dislike using dry cleaners because of the chemicals? If so, look for a green cleaner in your area. While we are talking about green options, look for cleaning products that are phosphate free and use minimal scents and chemicals (though there seem to be more an more products on the market to mask odor-that doesn’t mean it’s really clean!). This might seem obvious but wash things only when needed. If you’ve only worn something for a couple hours, didn’t sweat or spill on it, then wear it again before laundering. This is not only going to save you time, it will keep your clothes looking new longer and will save resources (water power etc).

Consider hanging delicate, knits and lightweight items to dry (like the French do!). I use a collapsible laundry rack to dry about 1/3 to 1/2 of every laundry load, it takes a bit more time to dry but it keeps my clothes fro wearing out as quickly and saves energy. When it comes to stains, do pre-treat as soon as possible and if your really stain prone, check out these stain specific products (not all stains are alike!) by Carbona.

Any way you schedule it, whether you love or loath laundry, having this household task in perpetual motion will keep you from melting or collapsing under this task mountain!

The Benefits of Personality Testing

February 23, 2018 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Inspiration & Education, Organize, Organizing Projects, Photography, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources, Uncategorized, Wellness & Mindset 1 Comment

We are all born unique and with different personalities. Are you curious to know more about your personality and how it can affect your day-to-day life? If so, the benefits of Personality testing include giving insight into how we think, handle stress, how we process information and make decisions.

Personality tests are very popular, with many employers requesting a candidate take a personality assessment during the job application process. If you were to Google ‘Personality Test’ you would be flooded with many claiming to be the best. I will showcase a few here that I believe are the most accurate and helpful when we want to learn more about ourselves.  No personality test is the same, just as no person is the same.

Myers Briggs

The most popular and well-known Personality Test is Myers Briggs. It gives you insight into many different personality traits and identifies the 16 most distinctive personality types. It is a 15-20 minute assessment that asks you about the way that you Benefits of Personality Testingthink, how you process information, how you make decisions, how extroverted (or introverted) you are, and how you perceive information.

Once you have taken the assessment and receive your result you will also be given information on your personality type and how understandings your type can benefit you in your daily life. You can further research your personality type to help you connect you with like-minded individuals or understand those with strikingly different personalities.

Predictive Index – PI Learning Indicator

The Predictive Index, better known as the PI Learning Indicator is the go-to personality test for employers. It gives a fairly accurate insight into your personality and working style focusing on four main elements; dominance, extraversion, patience, and formality.

The PI takes anywhere from 5-25 minutes depending on how thorough you are with the test. The results might look a bit confusing at first but there are always professionals for you to speak with and a detailed breakdown on their website.

While the PI is very accurate, it is also important to take it every 6 months to a year, depending on the personal changes you are experiencing in your life. Everyone’s personality changes throughout their lifetime and it is good to recognize these changes and adapt to them.

Kolbe

Kolbe offers a variety of different tests for their users including a youth test, finance test, and a relationship test. Kolbe is also unique as they don’t measure your intelligence or your personality but more how you naturally do things in your life.

Kolbe focuses more on your motive, goals and what drives you to achieve these goals. It is a great test to help you recognize what motivates you, and how to achieve your goals.

This test is also very beneficial for business owner’s outer managers who have lost motivation, direction or are looking for ways to keep their success going. The test dives into your creative instincts and showcases how best to utilize your personality.

These tests take 20 minutes and it gives you an in-depth look at your personality and driving factors to your success. Kolbe offers a lot of information and a clear breakdown of their methods and results on their website.

Different Personalities

There are often misconceptions among people that take personality tests. On the surface, it may seem that if we don’t have the correct personality for a job, relationship or friendship that it will never work. On the contrary, personality tests can be taken to learn more about yourself, your strengths and challenges and how to better relate to others in work and personal life. They should never be considered negative. After all, it’s better to know best to have these helpful insights into future challenges before you begin new relationships or ventures!

There are many criteria that personality tests don’t measure specifically including; work ethic, kindness, interests, and ability to learning style (more on this soon!).

I recommend that everyone take at least one personality test in their lifetime. The Benefits of Personality Testing include not only knowing more about your personality but to learning how you can use it to create success in your life. It takes so little time, less time than a favorite TV show, yet can supply both new and reinforced information about yourself. Please share what personality tests you have tried over in our Facebook group.

Amazing Storage Hacks from A to Z

October 13, 2017 by Heather Filed Under: Organize, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources Leave a Comment

When I look for storage solutions for various organizing projects I love to look around my clients home and see what we can re-use or DIY to make the best of their belongings. Storage is not just about the container, it is really about knowing what you need to store before you start to create a storage solution. So storage is not the first step in the process of getting organized, it’s the next to last step (followed by maintenance).

With a little planning and gathering you can fun, stylish, inexpensive storage with supplies you have or can purchase inexpensively.

Here are some Amazing Storage Hacks from A to Z, found on Pinterest.

Use hooks and other hanging hacks for so much more than you imagined, including your pants, kitchen utensils, sports gear, shoes and more!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/417779302924931797/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/93238654768372833/

Magazine Holders and Magnets are a marvelous thing! Use magazine holders for food, water bottles, gift wrap, office supplies and so much more!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/43347215135092470/

Attach magnets to millions of small things to keep them conveniently in place!

Finally Zip ties are your friend! Get to know the zillion things you can use them for!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AQKYCbE-JMgLUvTG1_2sRzXoSOBo5r0sE9Z5_EeXC4jNdkm19ZODny0/

To see more storage ideas I’ve collected (and am constantly adding to) go check out my Pinterest Storage board and follow along. If you love creative reuse for storage, check out this past post on clever DIY Storage solutions.

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • …
  • 23
  • Next Page »

Search this site…artists, tips, posts & more!

Fresh Posts

Navigating Appraisals and Auctions

Curb Kitchen Chaos

Curb Kitchen Chaos

Unraveling Courage

Unraveling Courage

How to Reflect, Review, and Reboot for the New Year

What to do Post-Disaster

How to Organize & Store Your Holiday Decor

Search blog by Popular Category

info@hkpowerstudio.com
[office] 240-778-2804 *area code must be dialed/no text

Search Blog by Popular Catetories

Seach Blog by date

Copyright © 2025 · Swank WordPress Theme By, PDCD