Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at Closets By Design!

Contact Closets by Design at 703-330-8382 to learn more about custom closets (closet organizers), garage cabinets, home offices, laundries, pantries and other storage solutions for DC, VA and MD homes. We offer a wide selection of finishes, accessories, and hardware. 

Our Synergy Line option is fashionable and chic.   

• Synergy Belt Racks
• Synergy Tie Racks          
• Synergy Shelf Fence
• Synergy Valet Rod
• Synergy Pant Rack

Available in: Polished Chrome, Matte Chrome, Polished Brass, Matte Brass, Satin Nickle or Oil Rubbed Bronze

At Closets by Design, we design, build, and install custom closets (closet organizers), garage cabinets, home offices, laundries, pantries and other storage solutions for DC, VA and MD homes. We offer a wide selection of finishes, accessories, and hardware. Call 703-330-8382 to schedule a time to talk about the Synergy line of finishes!

With the holidays around the corner, it's important to remember to stay organized! At Closets by Design, we can't stress the importance of closet organization, garage organization, and custom storage solutions enough!

Check out this article from The House Plan Shop about organizing your holiday decorations.

Call Closets by Design 703-330-8382 with questions about custom closets (closet organizers), garage cabinets, home offices, laundries, pantries and other storage solutions for Washington DC, VA and MD homes.

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While many of us enjoy decorating for the holidays, almost all of us can agree it is not as near as much fun taking it all down, packing it up and putting everything away. The following tips come from various organizational experts and are sure to help you clean up and store your holiday decorations so they are easy to find and display next year. 

1. Purge what you have. Before you pack everything up, go through what you have. It’s OK to get rid of things you really don’t like or items that no longer match your decorating theme. Get rid of things that are broken, strands of lights that are burnt out and things you don’t use anymore. Be sure to recycle what you can and donate usable items to charity. Consider decorations of sentimental value. You might not be able to part with a particular item no matter what, but if something is in pretty bad shape but you continue to keep it because it reminds you of something special, maybe snapping a photo will be enough to preserve that special memory. 

2. Gather and take inventory. Before you can organize and store your holiday decorations you have to know what you are going to keep. Collect all holiday decorations and related items in one place. Group similar items. Take inventory. How many boxes of ornaments do you have? How many wreaths? Does each child have his or her own stocking? Count everything you have and be aware of sizes, especially anything oversized or oddly shaped. 

3. Keep track of what you have. It is not a bad idea to keep track of new holiday items you buy throughout the year whether you find a deal on wrapping paper at a clearance sale or find something special at a craft show you attend in July. One way to do this is to keep a small notebook in an easy-to-find place such as in a drawer in the office or on the top shelf of a kitchen cabinet. Record anything you buy that will be part of the coming year’s décor and holiday festivities. Furthermore, you could do this with other Christmas and holiday related items such as keeping a record of gifts you’ve already purchased, recipes that friends have shared with you, or the dates when your cousins plan to be in town to celebrate the holidays with you. 

4. Select a storage space – Look around your home. Select a storage space that is big enough to hold ALL of your holiday decorations and other Christmas related items safely without being in the way all year long. (ALL means everything from gift wrap and cookie cutters to lights and the artificial tree.) This could be a space in the attic, a storage closet, a corner of the basement, etc. Measure the storage space and purchase containers that will fit in the given space. If you have a limited storage space, this may help determine what items you purge in Step 1. 

5. Label everything – Make an effort to label every box and storage container with the exact contents inside. The labels don’t have to be fancy. Simply write on the outside of the box or tape an index card to each box listing what is inside. You can even color code them if you choose. Labeling will make decorating a lot easier next year. 

6. Store it together – Move all boxes, storage containers, etc. into the storage space you selected. Safely arrange the boxes so they will not fall. Whenever possible, stack your storage containers with their labels facing forward or up so you can quickly identify what is inside each box next year. Keep everything together in one place whenever possible. This makes it easier to get your decorations out next year. There is an exception here. Make note of special items such as highly breakable pieces, linens or antiques. These may need to be stored in a temperature-controlled environment within the main living areas of the home. Keep track of these types of items in your notebook from Step 3 since you won’t be storing them with everything else. 

Though cleaning and packing up after the holidays is not much fun, and sometimes a lengthy process, these home storage tips for your holiday décor will help cut down the amount of time you spend putting things away and make decorating a little easier next year.

Closets By Design posted this article from HellaWella on the corporate Facebook page, and we thought it would be great information for us in the DC/MD/VA area!

Call us at 800-293-3744 for ideas on custom closet and garage solutions.

Tips on making your home fall-ready

It’s almost that time of year again, when the hot, humid days of summer become an almost distant memory and cooler weather swiftly approaches. And while we can always seem to find where we stored our scarves, hats and gloves to keep our bodies toasty come October, it’s important to remember that our homes require the same care and preparation.

Whether you’re looking to save energy, improve insulation or keep your dwelling warm, we’ve got the top tips to get your home fall-ready:

• Make sure your heating system, including filters, pilot lights and burners, is in working order — and best to hire a qualified professional for this one.

• Save energy by insulating your home. This includes weather-stripping and caulking exterior joints around windows and doors. Bonus: Insulating can help keep out insects and rodents.

• Clean dust from vents, baseboard heaters and cold-air returns. Dust buildup in ducts causes indoor pollutants, putting you at risk for cold-weather illnesses.

• Prepare storm windows for installation. These windows can save energy in the cold and are less expensive than new double- or triple-glazed windows.

• Insulate pipes and allow faucets to drip a little during cold weather to avoid freezing.

• Learn how to shut off water valves in case a pipe bursts.

• Now’s as good a time as ever to check your smoke detectors, which should be inspected two times a year.

• Bring outdoor furniture inside.

Click here for more tips from weather.com and comment below with some advice of your own.

Jeff Speedy of the Louisville, Kentucky Closets By Design recently went on live television to discuss tips on cleaning your garage.

Click here to see the video of Jeff on WHAS11!

Call your local Closets By Design at 800-293-3744 for information on custom garages.

For the National Association of Professional Organizers, residential clients are their top group of clients. In addition to that, the closet is the number 3 area in a home where organizing services are most often requested  (Statistics: NAPO).

Many people’s clients get messy on occasion, but it's always good to organize!

Here are some tips from HGTV on organizing your closet space.

• Keep things visible.
  Everything in your closet needs to be visible, accessible and labeled , if possible. Hang
  as much as you can on wooden hangers because they preserve clothing 's shape . Try to
  keep as much room as possible between items to prevent wrinkling . If you have boxes,
  clearly label them with what's inside.
• Have proper lighting.
  This tip goes hand in hand with the first one. If you can't see what you've got, you won't wear it, so make sure your closet light reaches into all corners. If not you might consider, mounting an additional light fixture.
• Use brackets as shelf dividers.
  Hang wooden brackets upside down to serve as shelf dividers for things like folded
  sweaters from your scarves. They are a more attractive alternative to wire or plastic
  dividers.
  
  
• Color coordinate.
  Putting your clothes in order of color from lightest to darkest can help you select an item to wear.
• Stack up your stuff.
  Use stackable cubes and boxes with pull-out drawers to take advantage of vertical
  space in your closet. Clear boxes are preferable so you can easily see what's inside.

For more information about closet organization and customizing a closet for your home, call Closets by Design toll-free at 800-293-3744. We also specialize in garage cabinets, home offices, laundries, pantries and other storage solutions for DC, VA and MD homes. We offer a wide selection of finishes, accessories, and hardware. 

In our last blog post, we discussed renovating your garage space to improve space in your home and provide additional room.

At Closets by Design, we have experience in improving these spaces. Check out the photos of what we can do, and contact us to learn more about your own garage space!

If you are looking for other ideas to improve the space in your home and de-clutter, think about renovating your garage space!

Wire or wood shelves and new cabinets will help provide extra space for sports equipment and those Sams Club bulk purchases. This will be extra beneficial come fall and winter, when kids' sports are getting busier and storing for a cold winter begins.

Plus, a more organized garage gives you more room to store that cool car!

Call Closets by Design toll-free at 800-293-3744 or click here to receive more information about renovating your garage space in Washington, DC, Virginia or Maryland.

No one likes having clutter in their life, and at Closets by Design, we love helping home owners create their own perfect solution cluttering. A popular trend we've noticed in our industry is pantry renovation.

Here are some ways to improve pantry space:

• Spice racks
• Lazy Susans
• Pull-out trays with deeper shelves
• Custom wall shelving

By improving your pantry space, you can make room for more items while eliminating clutter in your home. Call us toll-free at 800-293-3744 to receive more information about improving your pantry in Washington, DC, Virginia or Maryland.

At Closets by Design, no job is too big or too small. We had the opportunity to create a new custom bedroom set, and are very happy that our customers love their new set! Read on..

"We are just thrilled with our new bedroom. We consider ourselves very lucky to have had you come over for what we had thought would merely be a talk-through of our needs. We're very glad that we went ahead and ordered immediately. You seemed to zero-in immediately on exactly what we needed and wanted for the bedroom.
We had a 46-year-old American of Martinsville set of furniture, and we were reluctant to give it up even though the tops were in very bad shape. We figured we would never be able to duplicate the "craftsmanship" of such a set. However, we are certain that we made the right move. We love the clean lines of our new set and the way the furniture fits in perfectly on the designated wall. You figured the television area just right, so that now we have the perfectly designed wall unit with a television in the middle.
Also, we're very happy with the size of the two nightstands. You designed them to be narrow enough so that we can now add a chair to that area for television-viewing in comfort. You knew we wanted more space in the room and a cleaner look to things. That is just what we now have. We're glad that you spent the time with us to work out the sizes of things, because we now have lovely new furniture, with LOTS of drawer space and cabinet space in the unit itself. We also have, we're happy to say, an uncluttered, "new" bedroom."