If you sometimes feel that your home is not serving you properly then you might need a destination station, or two. Homes that are disorganized can feel dysfunctional because too much time is spent tidying up spaces in order to fulfill some useful, short-term use. The old adage “A place for everything and everything in its place” may seem too restrictive for your household, but what about creating a ‘Destination Station’ for regular activities?
A Destination Station is a where you routinely put down and store all the ‘stuff’ you need for a particular purpose. For example, converting a coat cupboard into a ‘mud room’ where outdoor and wet weather gear is stored. It’s the ‘destination station’ for everything associated with this activity. So here are some more great ideas.
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Destination Station Admin: A mini ‘home office’ where you keep bills, medical and tax information, payment schedules, forms, statements and file papers alphabetically or by supplier.
Image courtesy of Valerie MacCaskill Dickman
Image courtesy of Leslie Goodwin Photography
Image courtesy of MAKE Design Studio
Destination Station Communication: Use a large, magnetic whiteboard or other surface where you can attach household information, notices, invitations, messages and mail in an organized way; not ‘stick on the fridge’ type way.
Image courtesy of Mina Brinkey
Image courtesy of Insight Design Group
Image courtesy of Dijeau Poage Construction
Destination Station Creation: Useful for keeping all the things you need to keep kids occupied on a rainy day – paper, paint, brushes, crayons, coloured pencils, scissors, glue, glitter packs, play dough, art smocks, etc.
Image courtesy of Connors
Image courtesy of Wentworth Inc.
Destination Station Donation: Create an area where household members can place items they’d like to donate to charity. This could be a box in the garage, but it’s a designated place for such items.
Destination Station Education: A well-organised drawer or wicker boxes on some shelving could serve as an area for keeping tools to help kids with their homework. This could be a desk drawer next to a computer with good lighting, spare paper, highlighter pens, a dictionary and a thesaurus. Education could also be sport, so create an area where all sports gear is stored, cleaned and aired.
Image courtesy of Kimberley Saunders Design
Destination Station Gifts: This could be construed as a bit of a luxury, but on a small or large level create an area for wrapping gifts. Include different wrapping and tissue paper, tape, ribbons, beautiful cards, back-up gifts, gift boxes, wine bags and bubble wrap.
Image courtesy of Chip Cordelli
Image courtesy of Twin Cities Closet Co.
Being organised helps to keep a happy flow in the home, and gives you more time to do other things, like read a book. A destination station will help you keep a focus for individual and everyday activities, which helps keep your home less cluttered.
Image courtesy of Sawhill Kitchens
Image courtesy of Kirsten Havnaer
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You’ll find IKEA, Howard’s Storage World and Kikki.K have excellent storage options. For more great ideas around being organised, you’ll enjoy ready Art for Arts Sake to help you hang and display art, cleaning with bi-carb, glass maintenance and cleaning, and organizational tips for a modern family.
Do you have any great ideas for keeping your family organized? We’d love to hear about them.
