To keep your home organized and looking good, you don’t have to break your budget or source items from high-end minimalist furniture shops. As Remodelista editors Julie Carlson and Margot Guralnick make clear in their guidebook Remodelista: The Organized Home, streamlining your home is as simple as making a trip to the local hardware store—as long as you have the right advice on the products to look for. Here, they’ve rounded up their top 10 hardware store essentials to make the task of stylishly organizing your home easier—and more affordable—than ever.
These simple wire designs double the space in your kitchen cabinets. They also work on storage shelves of all sorts, from the pantry to the linen closet.
Another tried-and-true basic, wooden hangers support your clothes (so, for instance, shoulders are preserved and heavy woolens don't bag out). We always opt for natural materials when possible and like an orderly closet hung with a uniform collection of hangers.
Glass Storage Jars by Anchor Hocking (Blain's Farm & Fleet; $5.99 for 1 gallon size; also available at the Container Store, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and more retailers)
These are made in Ohio by one of the country's oldest glass manufacturers. Their cracker jar design doesn't look like it's changed since the days of the general store. We like storing flour, sugar, and other dry goods in them as an alternative to plastic.
Clothespins are, of course, handy for drying clothes, but also for closing bags, corralling cords, displaying photos, and more. We zero in on the made-in-the-U.S. and made-to-last versions.
We found a surprise use for this hanging bag: clip to the side of the sofa and use as a place to stow the TV remotes. For a finished look, do as we did and cover with a throw blanket.
Peg Rack (Home Depot; $12.17 for 7-peg size in white)
Taking a lesson from Shaker design, we've begun lining the inside of closet doors, walls, and whole rooms in wooden peg rails. They provide tidy storage where you need it: see the cover of our book, for instance.
In addition to serving as instant curtain rods, we discovered tension rods can be put to use in myriad ways in the kitchen. For example, hung inside a cabinet, they work extremely well as a dowel for a roll of paper towels (so they're on hand but out of sight). And suspended inside a pot drawer, a tension rod can be used to neatly sort pot lids.
Danish design company Muuto's Dots consists of a group of wooden knobs in varying sizes that can be used as cabinet knobs or as wall hooks. They've become instant design classics, and we've noted that hardware stores sell similar wooden knobs in a range of sizes that can be used in the same way as these.
Air drying laundry saves energy and is better for your clothes. These racks made of wooden dowels fit in small spaces and are collapsible for easy storage.