Even when we’ve landed upon the perfect wall color, found an enviable drapery option and finally installed the wood flooring of our dreams, we still need to consistently freshen up our homes. Freshening up our homes ensures that the entire house looks clean and updated. After all, don’t we all want our homes to be in mint condition or better?

Lately I’ve been reminded that even designers are guilty of letting certain things fall by the wayside. After living in a home for a couple of years, it’s easy to get comfortable and forget to do some spot checks on ourselves. But no worries, I have compiled a list of areas that we need to pay attention to before our realtor, in-laws or that really honest friend reminds us of it.

Today, I’m only going to address the interior of your home. We’ll post something in the future about freshening up the exterior of your home because that’s just as important! Ready?

Tip #1: White out those wall marks!

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has passed by a mark on the wall and thought, “I really need to touch that up.” We all think it, but how often do we get around to it?

Pick a weekend to become a weekend warrior and get your mini paint roller out. Get your kids or friends involved by having them put blue paint tape anywhere they see black marks on the wall. Then go around with your trusty roller and touch each of those areas up! In fact, every 4 to 5 years, you should have the whole house spackled (if need be) and repainted (even if it’s the same color) just so that the house has that brand new look. Disclaimer: If you have anything but flat paint on your walls, have a professional painter come and do the touch ups. It will not turn out well if you just roll over the marks because it will end up looking streaky.

Tip #2: Tackle your trim and molding!

There’s no way to get around dinging up the wall trim and molding in our homes. If you have children or pets, it’s even harder to keep white trim clean. Every couple of weeks, hit those dark spots with some Magic Eraser. That thing is really like magic! If the spot is too stubborn to get out with the magic one, consider having a professional painter come in and paint over the spots for you. Again, any paint with a gloss is going to require a professional in order to look seamless.

Tip #3: Revive those flattened throw pillows!

Throw pillows look so full and plump when you first buy them but after crashing on them for an extended period of time, they tend to lose their vitality. In order to revive a throw pillow, you have to purchase pillows where the insert is separate from the lining. Then purchase new inserts every time you notice they’ve become deflated. If your pillows are 20″ x 20″ inch pillows, invest in an insert that is 22″ x 22″. It will make the pillows look even more robust!

Tip #4: Fix that crackling caulking!

This one is probably going to be a bit more of a challenge, but if you’re somewhat handy you can handle it. If not, hire a handyman to remove your current caulking and replace it with some new clear or white caulking. Which color you choose depends on what was there before and the color of your counters or bath surrounds. This will instantly give your counters a clean and refreshed look.

Tip #5: Clean those ceiling fans!

I am personally not a fan of ceiling fans (yes, pun intended) because I prefer chandeliers. However, I know that there are great benefits to using them – keeping the air moving, reducing the costs of cooling a home, etc. One drawback of ceiling fans is that they are huge collectors of dust and so it is super important to keep up with them. Every couple of weeks, take the time to get on a ladder and clean off the blades. This is especially true when the ceiling fan is very close to areas that house food like a kitchen or dining room.

The post 5 Ways to Freshen Up the Inside of Your Home appeared first on Superior Interiors by Karina Jones.

This lovely kitchen boasts a substantial amount of storage. Using that storage space efficiently is key to making it work.

Time is something none us of us seem to have enough of. Wouldn’t it make it easier to work in a kitchen that is efficiently organized for your lifestyle? If so, then keep reading!

When I get ready to cook a meal, I want to be in and out of the kitchen as quickly as possible. So when I was initially faced with the task of filling up my new kitchen cabinets, I thought long and hard about how to make the kitchen flow for our personal needs. As a busy small business owner, mom, and wife, I don’t have a lot of time to waste. Hopefully, my “kitchen flow” tips will help you save some desperately needed time in your own life.

Tip #1: Store all your cooking essentials based on your dominant hand.

All of my seasonings are stored to the right of my stove.

Are you right-handed or left-handed? Why does that matter? We naturally use our dominant hand when we cook. We use it to grab seasonings, to reach up to get a mixing bowl, or to cut our vegetables.

Since I am right-handed, all of my cooking preparation happens to the right of my stove. I keep anything that I use religiously to prepare food in my right-hand upper cabinet such as my condiments, my mixing bowls, and my veggie cutter (which I love so very much!).  In my right-hand drawers, I also keep my cutting boards, my measuring cups, and my cooking utensils.

Tip #2: Store all of your pots and pans in your lower cabinets.

These pots and pans get the most use in my kitchen, as evidenced by the missing handle on my colander.

I store all of the pots and pans that I use on a daily basis in the lower cabinet directly to the right of my stove. When I get ready to put items on the stove, I can easily access them. Pots or pans that don’t get as much use, such as my pasta pot, I keep in the lower cabinet to the left of my stove. However, if you make pasta several times a week and are right-handed like me, then I would put that pot in your lower right cabinet. It just makes life easier.

Sheer weight is another good reason to keep pots and pans in your lower cabinets. Just think of how heavy some cookware is, like Dutch ovens or cast iron pans. Those become easier to handle if they are lower than rather than higher.

Tip #3: Store all of your dishes in relationship to your non-dominant hand.

The cabinet to the left of my stove houses all of my dishes. I can easily access them when I have finished preparing a meal.

All of my dishes are in the upper cabinet to the left of the stove. Once I am done cooking, I can easily move over to the left of the stove to serve dinner. In the drawer directly below this upper cabinet, I keep all of our cutlery. This way, I can get our plates and eating utensils all in the same area.

Tip #4: Keep your cups and mugs near the refrigerator.

In my kitchen, glasses and mugs are placed directly to the left of the refrigerator.

It might seem natural to keep your plates in the same cabinet that your cups are in, but I actually keep our cups in the cabinet to the left of my refrigerator. This is especially useful since our refrigerator makes ice and serves water externally. By keeping the cups next to the refrigerator, my family can just grab a cup, open the fridge, get a beverage, pour it, and (hopefully) place it right back in the fridge.

Tip #5: Keep your less frequently used items further away from your central cooking area.

The cabinet right above my double oven stores pots and pans that I use the least.

There are some items in my kitchen that I only use once in a blue or specifically around Thanksgiving time. I keep those items in the upper cabinet furthest away from my stove. In my case, it houses things like my crockpot or my deeper pans.

How your kitchen flows is dependent on your personal needs. If you are left-handed, don’t cook often, or are more of a baker, your kitchen is going to be organized much differently than mine is. The whole point of making your kitchen flow is to make your life easier and to save time in the process. That way, you can spend more time actually enjoying your dinner than making it.

Do you have some creative ways of organizing your kitchen? Please share them with us in the comments section!

Happy kitchen organizing!

Written by Karina Jones

– Superior Interiors by Karina Jones

The post Does Your Kitchen Flow Efficiently? appeared first on Superior Interiors by Karina Jones.

Since I was tired of the playroom looking like this, I decided it was time to do something about it.

I am not sure when or how it happened, but in just 4 short years my son has accumulated quite a healthy toy collection. I remember the days when I longed for a playroom so that the toys could stay contained. Nowadays, I almost want to get rid of all of the toys and convert that room into a bedroom oasis that is completely free of toys. But I digress.

Nevertheless, children need at least some toys to develop their motor skills, their creativity, and to exercise their imagination. So instead of wallowing in my frustration, I am taking a page out of my book as a former elementary school teacher. I am establishing an organizational system! I figure that if it worked for 25 bubbling kindergarteners, it can work for one rambunctious and energetic 4-year-old boy!

In the past, I have tried to manage our kid zone by using Ziploc bags filled with small toys and depositing them inside of a large chest that we purchased from a Pottery Barn Outlet store.

I have Ziploc bags in multiple sizes to keep toys together.

Clearly that didn’t work, mostly because 4-year-olds don’t care about putting puzzle pieces back into a Ziploc bag! And it really disturbs me when puzzle pieces go missing. (Am I the only one?) In addition, we now have more toys than can comfortably fit in the chest.

When we lived in New York City and had very little storage, this chest was a lifesaver. Now we have the space to make our son’s toys more accessible to him.

My second attempt at controlling the toys was to purchase bins specifically for the toys that my son uses the most likes Legos, Magnatiles and musical instruments.

These labeled bins from Target were supposed to house things like Legos, musical instruments and hard blocks.

That attempt was unsuccessful as well because my son would end up putting all kinds of toys inside of the bins. Note to self: Written labels are ineffective if your intended audience hasn’t learned to read yet.

This is now my third attempt at managing the kid zone. Before I could get started on my system, I needed to do the following:

1. Get rid of toys that are broken or missing pieces.

This pile includes toys that are broken or torn. It was time to get rid of them.

2. Donate or put away toys that are no longer developmentally appropriate or engaging for a 4-year-old.

These nesting and musical toys were fantastic when my son was 18 months old, but now they can’t hold his attention. We store them in our attic.

3. Begin the process of sorting the toys so that they would be easy to re-sort. I really love the fact that this organizational system reinforces the important skill of sorting. Since my son is only 4, I am keeping the sorting nice and simple. Legos go with Legos, hard blocks go with hard blocks, and foam toys go with foam toys. You get the drift. As your child gets older and can handle more complex commands, you may want to double up a bin – for instance to hold both puzzles and books in order to maximize space.

Sorting these toys into bins keeps the toys manageable. For kids, it reinforces the skill of sorting.

Since I wanted to make it easy for my son to put the toys away by himself, I did need to make somewhat of a financial investment. Retail stores like Pottery Barn Kids and Land of Nod have amazing storage systems that can quickly and efficiently tame the madness.

This storage system by Pottery Barn Kids gives young children easy access to their toys.

I personally don’t want to invest too much on our storage system because I know that my son is going to beat up any furniture we buy over the next few years. I needed a cost effective version that met the following standards:

1. It had to be low enough for my son to easily reach each of the bins.
2. The bins had to fit snugly inside of the furniture unit.
3. It needed to have labels.

So for our family’s needs, I decided on a Kallax storage system from IKEA. When you turn the unit on its side, it meets the criteria of being low enough for a 4-year-old.

This Kallax shelving unit by IKEA provides a cost effective alternative to the more expensive storage systems around.

Coupled with the plastic white bins that I picked up from Target for like $7 each, I was ready to move forward with my cost-effective version (I went with white bins because I plan on doing a black, yellow and white railroad theme in the playroom). While some of the more expensive bins come with label holders, I made my own labels by using self-stick label holders from Lakeshore Learning. (This store, which is popular with teachers, is an amazing resource for educational toys and products.)

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C919%2C258&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1468840054928

The next step was to make it relatively easy for my son to understand the new system. As I often did when I was in the classroom, I used pictures from online (or you can also take actual pictures) to represent each of the items inside of the bins. I then inserted the pictures inside of the self-adhesive labels. This way even if a child cannot read the words on a label, he or she can easily identify the contents through pictures. I used life-like pictures as opposed to cartoon-like or drawn pictures because as educators we were always trained to present children with real life images. Using real life objects helps to improve a child’s understanding of a real life situation. The actual term for this is realia.

The next thing I did was purely for safety reasons. As parents, of course we want to take every precaution to ensure that our children are safe. This is why I strategically placed the lightweight toys like stuffed animals and foam toys in the upper row bins and the heavier toys like Legos, trains and Magnatiles in the bottom row bins. (Hey a momma’s got to think ahead.)

Lightweight toys like foam blocks go on the top row, while heavier toys like Legos go on the bottom row.

Nevertheless, organizational ideas are only ideas until they have been battle tested. This weekend I had the good fortune of being able to test my system when I hosted a few neighbors and their young children. The children happily played in the playroom and when everyone left, I asked my son to clean up the room. He was able to put each of the toys back within about 10 minutes. I felt like a total organizational queen!

This is how our organizational system turned out. I think it looks pretty good.

Do you have some kid zone organizational ideas of your own? If you do, I would love to hear them! Please share them with us on the comments section of the blog!

Written by Karina Jones

– Superior Interiors by Karina Jones

The post Taming the Kid Zone appeared first on Superior Interiors by Karina Jones.

Getting organized is critical to maintaining a beautiful home. Binders help me keep my paperwork accessible and in order.

When I was 19 years old, I took my first job at an organization retail store called “Hold Everything” (think modern day “Container Store”). This now defunct store – which was a division of the uber-successful Williams Sonoma Brand – was not only my first job, it was also my first foray into the interior design/organization world. The whole premise of this store was that they had everything to hold everything else. Cute, right?

Little did I know at 19 years old, how vital these organizational goods would become in my career. Before you can enjoy beautiful design, you must eliminate the clutter that is preventing your treasured furniture pieces or charming architecture from shining through. Organization and interior design have a symbiotic relationship; we cannot truly enjoy interior design if there is chaos and disorder in our homes.

Initially, getting organized is both a financial and laborious investment, but in time it pays for itself in gained time, a clutter-free environment, and peace of mind. Following are my tried and true strategies for de-cluttering and getting organized in four different areas of your home:

1. Downsize Your Linen Collection!

One thing my husband and I learned from living in a small home in New York City is that you really don’t need much to survive. I mean do we really need 19 different sheet sets? I like to keep 3 or 4 on hand per bedroom – 1 physically on the bed, 1 for the laundry day switch, and 1 in case I was too busy to do the laundry. I also make sure the sheet sets are complementary to the color scheme in the room. Sidebar: If your sheets have holes or permanent stains, it really is time to toss them. Same thing goes for stained or torn towels.

To ensure that you don’t waste time looking for missing pillowcases, keep corresponding fitted sheets, flat sheets and pillowcases inside of one of the corresponding pillowcases. Buy quality towels to avoid getting rips and tears. My personal favorites are from Lands’ End http://www.landsend.com/products/supima-bath-towels/id_225485?sku_0=::598.

2. Get Your Paperwork Under Control!

I am guilty of struggling with this one. Since I am betting a lot of us struggle with this area, I am providing a two-part tip here.

A. Nowadays, many stores like Pier 1 Imports and Staples are willing to send you electronic receipts instead of printing them out. Even banks and credit card companies are doing this. Take them up on it. Once they send you the documents, check your email, download the files and create folders on your desktop to organize the information. This has saved me countless hours of time when invoicing day comes around, not to mention that I don’t have to fret about misplaced receipts.

B. For actual snail mail, I have two large baskets that I use to collect mail. (Of course if the correspondence requires immediate attention, I exclude it from these baskets). I keep these baskets under a cabinet. However, if you are lacking storage space, purchase a lidded basket instead so that it hides the mail while being decorative at the same time.

Lidded baskets are great for storing anything in a decorative way, from mail to toilet tissue paper. This one is from Crate and Barrel.

Every few days, I sit down and go through the baskets ripping up things that I really don’t need. (I get this weird “ripping up papers” habit from my meticulous dad). For most of the population, a shredder will suffice. Once you have sorted out what’s important and what’s not, develop a filing system that works for you. For me I like binders, sheet protectors and extra wide dividers, but file folders work just as well.

3. Consolidate Your Closet!

Unless you’re that fashionista friend in the circle who doesn’t own one bad piece of clothing, we are all guilty of making questionable fashion decisions. We have all looked at a shirt or a pair of pants in our closet and wondered what possessed us to buy it in the first place. Go through your closet and get rid of these things by donating them or giving them to a friend. After all, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. And if you have to lose more than 25 pounds for it to fit again, it is probably time to let that outfit go.

I got rid of these mustard colored boots this weekend. Not only are these boots out of season, they are completely out of style.

Once you have gotten rid of your unwanted clothing and put away your seasonal items, it is time to re-organize your closet and drawers. Keep items that you wear frequently towards the front of the closet. Cocktail dresses or suits that you only wear once in a while can be kept in the rear of the closet. Group similar items together – pants, shirts, ties, workout clothing, etc. You can even purchase closet rod dividers that help you to easily maintain this system http://www.containerstore.com/s/blank-closet-rod-divider/d?productId=10018112&q=closet%20labels.  This makes it easier to find what you are looking for instead of rummaging through your entire closet for your favorite pair of jeans.

For drawers, put your foldable clothes in the order in which you get dressed. In the first two or three drawers, place underclothes, socks, and tank tops and then move on to shirts and pants (think jogging pants, leggings and yoga pants in the bottom drawer). Next time you’re running out to the gym, you will save time by simply knowing that all you have to do to get dressed is start at the top drawer.

4. Manage Your Food Inventory!

When my husband and I first got married, we would food shop at bulk item stores like Costco and BJ’s Wholesale, thinking we would save money by doing so. Then one month before those 24 cans of beans were about to expire, we would be scrambling to figure out how to make different bean recipes or we would start giving some cans away (which defeated the whole point of saving money).

Now I am much more realistic about my food inventory needs. I mean if you know you don’t get to cook very often, why stock the pantry or cupboard like you’re on a Bobby Flay cooking show or something?

Nowadays I only buy what we need and I organize my food items by category so that I can quickly find them when I am cooking.

Buy what you use often. I tend to make a lot of Latin dishes, so I like to have things like tomato sauce or rice readily available. But honestly, I would rather run to the store a little more often, than to have to throw 30 cans of anything out because they are all expired. After all, we have it pretty easy in America when it comes to this. In other countries, people are expected to food shop on a daily basis for that evening’s meal.

Once you’ve taken the time to manage that persistent paperwork, downsized some of your collections and donated what you really don’t need, you can get on to the business of designing. And that’s where the real fun begins.

Written by Karina Jones

– Superior Interiors by Karina Jones

The post Declutter First, Design Second appeared first on Superior Interiors by Karina Jones.