Even after thorough cleaning, a home can feel cluttered. If your apartment is small, and when you open closets you see mountains of clothes, or kitchen cabinets are stacked with dishes, the feeling of lack of storage space often arises. However, the features of the Japanese approach can change this perception.
In Japanese homes, items are placed in such a way that, despite the large number of objects, the space looks open and clean. The principle of the Japanese style is not just about minimizing things, but about effectively using every available space, whether large or small. Simple methods are used, such as vertical clothing storage, storing groceries upright in the freezer, and using walls to mount items. These techniques allow more things to fit into a limited space while maintaining order in the house.
Tips for Japanese-Style Space Organization:
The first popular method of Japanese organization is folding clothes vertically instead of stacking them. This approach is known as the KonMari method. T-shirts, jeans, towels, and children's clothes are folded into small rectangular shapes and placed vertically in drawers. The advantage of this method is that when you open the drawer, all the clothes are immediately visible, and you do not need to lift the top layers to get to the bottom clothes.
An important part of Japanese organization is dividing one large drawer into several sections instead of just filling it with items. Small containers are used for this purpose. One section can store socks, another can store scarves, a third can store belts, and the fourth can store small accessories. This principle can also be applied in the kitchen for storing spoons, scissors, and other small utensils, ensuring that every item has its place and simplifying the process of putting things back after use.
Instead of installing large and wide wardrobes that take up a lot of floor space, tall and narrow pull-out cabinets are preferred in Japanese residences. They have many small drawers of different heights where towels, clothes, stationery, and other small items can be placed. Such cabinets can be placed between the wall and the wardrobe, next to the washing machine, or in a small corner of the kitchen.
To avoid having to unpack the entire food supply when opening the freezer, it is recommended to store frozen products standing vertically, like files, rather than stacked on top of each other. Small plastic containers or baskets can be used for this. Separate zones can be designated for vegetables, meat, seafood, and frozen snacks, which guarantees easy visibility of every package and reduces the chance of forgetting something in the freezer.
File organizers, usually used in offices for paper, can also be used in the kitchen. They can be used to vertically store cutting boards, baking trays, and pot lids. This eliminates the need to stack heavy cookware and removes the inconvenience of retrieving items from the bottom. Thus, a regular office organizer becomes a simple solution to the kitchen storage problem.
Often, there is a lot of empty space at the top of kitchen cabinets that is difficult to utilize. This space can be effectively utilized with a shelf riser. Placing a small structure on the shelf creates an additional level. Large plates can be placed on the lower level, and small cups on the upper level. Similarly, cups, small containers, or other kitchen utensils can be organized, increasing the usable area without buying new cabinets.
In deep cabinets, items often end up in the back and become hard to reach. Pull-out trays are very useful for solving this problem. By pulling out the tray, items located at the back come to the user. In such trays, cooking oil, cleaning agents, dishes, or other daily necessities can be stored, allowing even the farthest corners of the cabinet to be used.
If the countertop needs to be cleared in the kitchen, the walls should be used. In the Japanese style, this involves using vertical space above the work surface. With magnetic spice containers, narrow shelves, or hanging organizers, salt, spices, oil, and other items can be moved from the countertop. This expands the kitchen workspace and facilitates the cleaning process.
If there is not enough room for clothes in the closet, multi-level hangers can be used to hang several pairs of trousers on one hook.