Design Happens

We all know that old cliche: new year, new you!

Every time January 1 rolls around, I’m inspired to rethink my ways. Sometimes that might just be to eat healthier (and give away that stockpile of holiday sweets asap) or get a snazzy new haircut. Other years, it’s a total overhaul of my home space. Usually, I clean out my closet (and donate or giveaway the unwanted stuff), refresh my slipcovers, change the bedding, bring out different dishes, and maybe throw some new paint on a wall or two. Nothing like an update to your surrounds to punctuate that fresh-start feeling.

We at HGTV are lucky enough to have a long holiday weekend, and I plan to take advantage of the time to do a little housecleaning and New Year rethinking. To get prepped — and inspired — I’ve been looking around for ideas and tips from a few of my usual home and design sources. But first, I realized, I’ve got to get control of the clutter, which only doubles after the holidays (thanks to new gifts and just general rearranging for the seasonal decorations).

Here are a few good sources I’ve found:

Clear the Clutter, Live Stress Free
The first, best step for sprucing up is to ditch the clutter. After all, you don’t see any of those fab makeover rooms on HGTV overrun with trinkets, old magazines or, well, much of anything that doesn’t serve an immediate design or practical use. This article has a few quick — and eco-friendly — first steps to take.

Clever Organizers
I’m a sucker for creative reuse — so when I saw this HGTV gallery spotlighting a few simple ways to transform aluminum cans into simple (and often decorative) organizers, I was thrilled. The kitchen utensil holders are delightful.

Declutter Your Life
The eco-pros over at Natural Home Magazine also have this lengthier piece, filled with tips for how to reuses your existing space creatively (because, really, who has the money for a total remodel these days?). There are suggestions for rethinking furniture positioning and understanding how your rooms relate together in a holistic (and whole-istic) way.

Mission Organization
And maybe I won’t be going whole hog like the folks on this show, but I still love to watch the video clips just to see how others have tackled their biggest problem spots (e.g. overrun countertops, managing multipurpose rooms). You can see the next episode on HGTV on January 5 at 9am ET.

For more visual inspiration, check out this gallery of stylishly organized spaces.

What’s on your home resolution list for 2009?