The Art of Storage Utility Rack Review & Guest-Hosting Tips
Sunday, January 02, 2011 Posted by BusyWorkingMama
For millions of Americans, the holidays mean more guests, more foot traffic and less space in your home. Recognizing that most of us have little time (and money) to prepare for the potentially overwhelming blitz of family and friends, The Art of Storage offers several useful tips to ready your home for overnight guests and make them comfortable without making yourself crazy.* It’s not just the guests, it’s the germs. Give overnight guests different color towels for their stay. This will help prevent the spread of germs and avoid guests reaching for new towels each time they shower.
* Ask guests to keep shoes in the mudroom, front hall or even the garage. No shoes in your house means less mud, dirt and slush tracking onto your floors. But because it is easy for a pile of shoes to end up at the door, use a simple shelving unit like the Art of Storage Quick Rack ($21 at Target) where guests can organize their shoes.
* Have you collected a drawer full of mini-toiletries from recent hotel stays? Now is the perfect time to pull them out and put them to use.
* Are you short on closet space for guests’ clothes and jackets? Get a free-standing utility rack like the Art of Storage Utility Rack ($59 at Target) where guests can hang coats, purses and cloths. And when the gusts are gone, you can move it to the laundry room for the seemingly endless loads of holiday linens.
* If you need more beds, consider an air mattress. You can store it under the bed with the linens on. And when the company leaves, you can deflate it and pack it away.
* Living out of a suitcase can be tricky. Ensure there is enough shelving in the guest room so guests have areas to put their cell phones, laptops, reading materials and more. If you need a quick solution try the Art of Storage Gravity Rack ($38 at Target); it simply leans against the wall and can hold up to 100 pounds per shelf.
* Give your guests a bag to separate and store their dirty laundry. It keeps the rooms organized and suggests to guests you prefer not to do their laundry.
Art of Storage products, including the Quick Rack, Utility Rack and Gravity Rack, are available at your local Target or online at http://www.theartofstorage.com/.
Headquartered in Boston, The Art of Storage is a leading product design company and manufacturer that helps people, whether in their office or at their home, get organized. The Art of Storage collection includes home shelving and organization products, coat hooks and racks and bike and sports storage racks that are very affordable, attractive and easy to use. Lead by Philip J Karl, the award-winning design team is forever turning interesting ideas into products that make being organized a bit simpler and life just a bit easier.
MY THOUGHTS
I received a Utility Rack from The Art of Storage to review. My husband, overwhelmed with his own projects, washed his hands of my new shelving project so I tackled it on my own. I laid out the pieces and got to work.
The instructions were easy to follow and within about 10 minutes my utility rack was set up. We have two large walk-in closets on our third floor with no shelving or hooks. I thought the utility rack would work very well in one of the closets both for storing extra bedding and towels and for visitors who may need to hang up their dress shirt or fancier outfit. The utility rack is very sturdy and allows for a variety of configurations with its mobile hooks and hanging arms. The feet are coated with rubber to keep your floor scratch-free...a non-issue in my carpeted closet, but I could see how I might worry about wooden or tiled floors. Overall, I am very pleased with this shelf. The biggest pros? The ability to tailor the arms/extensions to suit your purpose. The biggest con? It's a somewhat heavy - guess that's the price you pay for a sturdy shelf!
Disclosure: I received a complimentary The Art of Storage Utility Rack in order to complete my review. My opinions are my own and yours may differ. Please refer to my disclosure.
January 02, 2011
Some wonderful tips there Aleksandra! I love the one about the towels - never thought of colour coding them! We totally need more shelves in our house and this is on my list of things to organise this year. Happy New Year to you x