Home, office organizing: Ikea Philippines’ interior designers share hacks
MANILA, Philippines — Is there also a typhoon inside your home?
According to the Life at Home Report by Swedish home furnishing brand Ikea in 2022, only 33% of Filipinos find that they are in control of the way they tidy up their home. Also according to the study, Filipinos’ perceptions of mess are tied to household tensions almost 50% of the time among familial and shared spaces. To simply put it: Clutters can spark quarrels!
Recognizing the connection between well-organized spaces and a better way of living, Ikea Philippines recently introduced its line of innovative storage solutions to maximize space. From bookshelves, chest of drawers, and trolleys to boxes and binders, these seamless space-savers are key to a peaceful yet meaningful life at home.
Here are some tips from Ikea Philippines’ resident interior designers on how to keep one’s home and office organized:
Get a hanging organizer instead of a side table
Especially for a kids room, where kids play and run around, a side table could always topple.
“Instead of a side table, you can also make use of the space by hanging (a multi-pocket organizer),” interior designer Judith Magno advised.
Skadis pegboards, added interior designer CJ Lanting, is a versatile pegboard that you can rearrange endless times. Add containers, shelves, letter holders, and elastics and keep your things organized and tidily gathered where you can always find them. It can be hung in walls of the kitchen, hallway, study or bathroom to keep things handy.
Use a multi-compartment organizer
For easier access to your things especially when you’re busy, Magno suggested getting a multi-compartment organizer from the Skubb wardrobe storage series, and arrange your folded clothes – underwear, socks, etc. – inside the organizers. The organizers are stackable inside shelves, cabinets and wardrobes.
Go for storage boxes in different colors, sizes
Apart from labeling storage boxes, Magno suggested using color-coded and size-appropriate boxes such as those from the Trofast toy storage line.
For example, small toys should go to small boxes, while big ones go to the big boxes, and they should not be mixed to easily locate them. Likewise, tapes could be stored in a green box, for instance, while glue can go in a blue box.
Use organizers that perfectly fit inside cabinets
Make sure to get containers and boxes that are the right size for your cabinets so they do not protrude or eventually fall over, Lanting and Magno reminded.
Store shoes inside clear containers
This, according to Lanting, is to prevent footwear from gathering dust and for easier access to every pair in the shoe rack, so you won’t spend extra time looking for other shoe.
The brand also has metal shoe racks with gaps or spaces for shoes with heels, said Lanting.
Pick the right hangers
The Boomerang hanger, said Magno, has special slots that enable clothes to stay in place and prevent them from crumpling.
Instead of folding, use hang bars
If you’re always on the run and have no time to tidy up your bed in the morning, Lanting recommended installing a hang bar by a wall, to save you time in folding your blankets and linens.
The hang bar can also be used to temporarily hold your wet towel and/or clothes you want to reuse, so you can easily see them.
Ikea also has a hanging cloth organizer with compartments that can be hung into the bar, added Lanting.
Go green
Sales Associate Ricky Conahap vouched for the brand’s boxes made of sustainable and recyclable materials like paper cartons. These, said Lanting, can be used to store trinkets, clothes and collectibles, among others.
According to the interior designers, there is no right or wrong in organizing — there are just more efficient ways to do it.
