REFINE STUDIOS DESIGN PILLAR: BELONGINGS
Week by week we’ve been taking you all through the design pillars here at Refine Studios.
YOUR ENVIRONMENT MATTERS: BELONGINGS
Week by week we’ve been taking you all through the design pillars here at Refine Studios. We use these pillars as the basis for curating our client’s designs to fit their needs for their space! No two clients are the same and everything from the people, flow, sound, lighting, and much more impact a space. Using these ten pillars as the guidelines really ensures that we are transforming a house into a home for our clients so that they’ll be excited to walk in the door. Today we’re sharing all about our belongings design pillar.
Your belongings have a bigger impact on your life than you realize. In today’s society, it’s very common to spend your weekends organizing the garage, or cleaning out your closet. Trying to manage all of our “things” can easily start to control our lives. Because of this, we lean more towards a minimalist approach when it comes to belongings, but ultimately it depends on your capability of managing your items. Some people have several belongings and they are able to keep their house organized and tidy just fine. Others on the other hand, like myself, have a very hard time keeping up with an abundance of things. When your belongings are difficult for you to keep picked up and put away, that’s when they are no longer benefiting you. There’s no set rule on what’s an acceptable amount of items you should have because each person is different. If you need 36 different Tupperware containers, we won’t stop you. Our job is just to make sure all 36 containers have a home. We encourage our clients to take inventory of their belongings so that we can design their homes to fit their specific storage needs.
TIPS FROM OUR TEAM TO MANAGE YOUR BELONGINGS
Charity Scott | Owner + Designer:
When having a child, I was not prepared for the amount of time I would spend sorting through clothes. After a few seasons of this I quickly learned that I did not enjoy spending several hours every few months cleaning out my son’s closet. I came up with a system to make this a little less time consuming. I pre-labeled plastic tubs by size because we are saving all of these clothes for the next child so as I realize that he has outgrown something I can easily throw it into the designated tub. In addition to this method, I started shopping smarter thanks to some advice from Casey. For each season I choose a color palette for his clothes so that any items can be mixed and matched. Not only does this cut way back on how much he needs but it gives him the freedom to pick out his own clothes, which makes our morning routine much smoother.
Casey | Project Manager:
We certainly aren’t minimalists but we prefer having less in our house. That goes for every category, from clothes to toys, all the way to our pantry items. Having less means we get a good amount of use out of what we own and I don’t have to spend endless hours picking up each day. With five people living in our house, the clutter can add up quickly and overwhelm me. I prefer to clean up each night before bed and start our day fresh. Having less allows for a quick routine that the kids can help with so we can spend more time playing and doing things we love!
Jada | Interior Detailer:
We are a household of two in an apartment so we have to be smart about the amount of belongings we have if we want our place to look tidy. However, we both have a lot of different hobbies, so we prioritize these kinds of belongings to take up most of our storage space. For each hobby, we have designated areas and solutions for its items. This helps us quickly tidy up knowing everything has its place, and this keeps us from filling up our space with things that we don’t care about as much or that don’t fit. When buying something new, we first think about “where is this going to go and will it fit”. I also somewhat go by a “one in – one out” system with some items. If I get a new shirt, I’ll pass on an old shirt I don’t wear anymore. If we get a new book, but the shelf is full, we’ll give one we’ve finished to someone else. I have always loved organizing and decluttering, so a few times a year I’ll organize and go though and declutter my space. Whether it’s a lot like boxes of clothes and shoes to give away, or just a few items like expired makeup or filled notepads. The more I know what’s in our space, the less overwhelmed I feel keeping it organized.
Kaitlynn | Design Assistant:
As much as I wish I was, I am not a less is more person. For me, organization is key to keeping all my ducks in a row. This means having pretty and functional ways to keep my stuff organized. To do this, I like to display my items that get used daily and frequently, the rest I like to store in baskets and bins that can be used both decoratively and for storage purposes.
