Organizing My Enclosed Porch

by Milly
(Chicago, IL)

I don't have large closets, therefore I tend use my enclosed porch in the back of my apartment to store out of season clothes, sheets, unused shoes, bikes, and a lot of other miscellaneous clutter. I would rather have my porch more organized mainly so I can have space for organizing laundry, etc. Please give me some tips on how to reorganize my messy porch.

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Organizing My Enclosed Porch

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Oct 27, 2008
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Tips to Organize an Enclosed Porch
by: Tracy

What a great question!

I love enclosed porches. They are such a great way to let sunshine into your home and they can make your home feel larger by giving the impression of added square footage.

Their only downfall is that they can become glorified closets...filled with all kinds of things that don't have another designated home. If your enclosed porch has become overwhelming for you feel that you could be making much better use of the space, here is what I would recommend:

First, clear everything out of the porch and give it a thorough cleaning so you can start with a clean, blank slate.

Second, decide how you want to use that space. If you want to use it for sorting and folding laundry, make that your first priority. While the room is empty, set up your folding table, decide where you will keep your laundry baskets, etc.

Third, if there are any other ways that you want to use your porch, set up those areas as well. For instance, you might want to add a bench and a rubber mat to create a place for your family to come in, sit down and take off their shoes without making a mess on the floor, even if it is raining or snowing outside.

Fourth, When you have finished creating the spaces for all of the ways that you ***want*** to use that porch, you will have a better idea of how much space is left for the things you ***have*** to use it for, like storage.

Of course, I always recommend decluttering anything that is kept in storage, to be sure that you really use it enough to warrant keeping it. If you must keep it, it must have a designated home.

If you have enough space left on your porch for some plastic storage totes, you can store some of your items that way. Be sure to label the totes so you know exactly what is in each one.

If you decide to add a shoe bench to your porch, get one that you can fit bins underneath. Label a bin for each member of your family. The bins can be used to store all of the shoes that are currently cluttering up your porch.

Add some hooks to the wall above the bench to use for hanging coats and purses. Add a shelf above the hooks and get a basket for each family member. The basket can be used for hats, gloves, mittens, scarves, etc.

If you have things to be stored that will no longer fit on your porch you will either have to find a new home for them, or get rid of them, whichever makes more sense.

There are a couple of alternatives for out of season clothes....You can either purge each family member's closet so that all of their clothes will fit in the closet at the same time, or you can make use of the space under each bed to store out of season clothing in flat plastic storage bins, made for this purpose.

If you feel that your home is lacking in storage space, you might be interested in my article entitled Are You a Space Waster?...

http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-You-a-Space-Waster?&id=425281

It will show you how to find storage space where you never thought to look.

Aug 02, 2011
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Thank you!
by: AmBa

I live in England where the enclosed porch is often added on and are not very big. They can get cluttered, as has mine! I love the organizing tips, it's made me focus on what I want from my space....all out of season coats and shoes are going away tomorrow! Thank you so much.

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