A New Order

ClosetMaid/Schulte

January is National Get Organized Month, and if your New Year’s resolution is to become more organized, you’ll find plenty of options in today’s home storage solutions.

Experts tell us that in addition to improving your own organization, aiming dollars toward storage solutions will be money well spent if you’re trying to sell your home.

“This is one of the best home improvements you can undertake in terms of getting a return on investment,” says Denise Butchko, owner and closet design consultant of Butchko and Co. in Chicago. Surveys by Better Homes & Gardens and GfK Roper Consulting back her up: Storage space ranks second—behind kitchen renovations—in what buyers want to see.

Having a place for everything and putting everything in its place might sound cliché, but it doesn’t have to be boring. Manufacturers seem determined to raise the bar when it comes to blending utility and decor.

TOUCH IT UP. A 2008 survey by Closets magazine, a trade journal, reports that consumers are buying more master-bedroom closet systems, followed by systems for garages and home offices. And there’s been increasing focus on the aesthetic appeal of storage solutions to fit those locations.  

Housing-market woes pushed storage-solution manufacturers that typically sell to homebuilders into the consumer market, says Mike Carson, past president of trade group Association of Closet and Storage Professionals (ACSP).

The result is that many furniture-style touches, such as darker wood-grain laminate shelving and cabinet units, glass- and decorative-paneled doors and freestanding islands (much like islands found in some  kitchens) have filtered into do-it-yourself and off-the-shelf home storage and organization systems. In modular systems, expect now to find the influence of European styling, with classically clean lines. These might have the look of custom wood products, which typically cost $1,000 to $5,000 installed, but such treatments can be found at all prices in off-the-shelf and do-it-yourself products, typically for $200 to $600.

Even wire systems, the most economical option, have blossomed, moving beyond utilitarian white, notes Michaelle Bradford, managing editor of Closets magazine. For about the same cost as white wire, you can install a system that  has a more chic appearance. elfa’s Décor system features platinum-color wire; Rubbermaid added a satin nickel finish to its wire storage systems; and ClosetMaid offers a dark-gray “hammertone” finish on its Maxload garage line.

AMEN TO AMENITIES. But it’s not as if utility isn’t still the key for home storage solutions, says Carson, who also is president of Closet Works, a Chicago-based closet-system retailer. According to a 2007 survey by ClosetMaid, consumers’ storage needs parallel their focus on fashion trends—58 percent of respondents said that they were buying more folded clothes and accessories and needed solutions to accommodate those items. Correspondingly, there has been an industrywide push in home storage solutions that provide more accessories, Carson says.

Accessories—storage solutions that hold specific items, which include jewelry inserts, telescoping tie and belt hooks, shoe cubbies and hampers—aren’t new, but now there are more choices than ever. Accessories typically range from just under $10 to about $80 per item.

One new accessory is actually an idea taken from a bygone era—a fold-out ironing board. However, these range from $100 to $500, meaning that a corner to put your old fold-up board remains a far more economical choice. Another option from older times that is widely available again—a wall safe—can range between $30 for a key-lock safe suitable for papers or small items to $650 for larger, fire-resistant models that feature combination or push-button locks and can handle firearms or bulkier valuables.