GETTING ORGANIZED A place for everything

By REBECCA SLOAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
"With the holidays right around the corner, lots of people want to get their closets in order so that holiday guests will have plenty of space to store their things," said Rick Fitch of Mr. Closet in Youngstown.
Fitch has been organizing closets, pantries, garages, basements and every other type of household cranny and cubbyhole for the past 11 years.
"One thing I have learned over the years is that most of the people who will call a professional closet organizer are people who are already pretty organized. They just need some help making better use of their space. I go into their home, listen to what they want, give them an estimate and proceed from there," Fitch said.
Fitch said the cost of home organization varies greatly from job to job.
"Depending on what the client wants, the price could be anywhere from $100 to thousands," he said.
Ron Donofrio of Organized Space, also in Youngstown, gave a similar estimate.
"A ballpark figure would be anywhere from $300 to $800 depending on what parts of the home need to be organized and how big the closets are," Donofrio said.
BATHROOMS AND CLOSETS
One of the latest trends in home organization is the walk-in closet attached to the bathroom.
"These days, many people want to step out of the shower and step into their closets. Then they want to get dressed in there from top to bottom, and they want all the clothes in one space," Fitch said.
In this situation, Fitch installs a bench to sit on, shelves or drawers for folded clothes, tie racks, belt racks, shoe racks, lingerie trays, sliding shelves, rods for hanging clothes on and much more.
"I do this type of work primarily in homes that are new construction -- homes that have been designed with closets and bathrooms that are connected," Fitch said.
Donofrio said large closets like these work well in homes where both husband and wife work but start their workday at different times.
"If one person has to get up for work a lot earlier than the other person, they can step into the closet and not disturb the person who is asleep in the bedroom," Donofrio explained.
THE ALTERNATIVES
So what if your home doesn't have a big closet that connects to the bathroom?
Both Fitch and Donofrio said there's plenty that can be done with a regular closet.
"I've been in this business about 12 years, and when I step into an older home, I always see the trends of that era. Depending on the age of the house, there's often a standard-sized closet with one shelf and a rod at 60 inches," Donofrio said. "These closets can be remodeled into something that works much better with today's lifestyle."
Donofrio said additional shelving, additional rods, belt racks, ties racks, shoe racks and numerous other items can be installed in a regular closet to make it more practical for today's needs.
"People have more clothes today than they used to, and they want to be able to glance in the closet and see everything at once so they can get dressed in a hurry," Donofrio said.
Both Fitch and Donofrio said that during a consultation, they usually assess the amount of space and the amount of clothing a person has and proceed from there.
Fitch also builds closets for homes that don't have any closets at all.
BATHROOM STORAGE
Although people might not want their clothes in the bathroom, they do want storage space there for towels and hygiene products.
Fitch recommends installing shelves or a cabinet with doors in the area above the toilet.
"The area above the toilet is an area of wasted space. It works well to install shelves there that will hold towels or health and beauty products," he said.
Such shelves should be shallow, Fitch said.
"If the shelving is too deep, the products will get shoved to the back, and you won't be able to find them," he said.
PANTRIES
Fitch said the second most common out-of-order area in the home is the pantry.
"Most pantries are a nightmare," he said. "The reason is because most pantries have fixed shelves, and fixed shelves do not work for items of many different sizes."
The solution, Fitch said, is to take out the shelves and install new, adjustable shelving, drawers, pull-out trays for canned goods and baskets for garlic, onions and potatoes," he said.
Once the canned goods are in place, Fitch recommends organizing them in color order.
GARAGES
Besides closets and pantries, Fitch and Donofrio said the garage is the next most popular place people want to have organized.
"The way a garage is organized depends on what kinds of things people are interested in," Fitch said.
For example, sports enthusiasts might require handy gadgets that are designed to hang tennis rackets or inline skates, and they'll most certainly want a "sports basket."
"A sports basket is typically mounted on the wall. It is made of wire and will hold everything from soccer balls and hockey sticks to baseballs," Fitch said.
Die-hard fishermen will want brackets for holding poles and lures, and gardeners will want brackets for hanging rakes, diggers and shovels, not to mention the ever-popular hose rack.
BASEMENTS
Most basements are in dire need of shelving, Fitch said.
"Occasionally I'll build a closet for a basement, but most of the time, people need shelves. If a person has a finished basement, I often build bookcases or improve the shelving in the home entertainment center," Fitch said.
A popular trend is to arrange videocassettes, DVDs, CDs, cassettes and books in a shelving unit that also holds the TV, stereo and VCR.
"There is a trend where people want every item that is related to be in close proximity," Fitch said.
DOING IT YOURSELF
Home superstores sell all kinds of ingenious gadgets for organizing everything from basements to broom closets.
"There are all kinds of gadgets out there for someone who doesn't have a lot of money," Donofrio said.
Of course, cleaning your own closet can often be overwhelming.
Donofrio offered this advice to those who want to tackle home organization on their own: "Just remember that organization is separation -- it's that simple. To organize anything, you have to separate the stuff into different groups. That drawer where you can never find anything -- the stuff just has to be divided up, and everything needs to be put in its own space."