With King’s Day just around the corner, this is a great time to organize the attic, cupboards and junk room. Take a critical look at all those things that are hidden there. With everything that can go, we’re just going to make someone else happy. free market, here we come!
Exactly fit
Yes, a cupboard also fits in that awkward corner in the attic. With a custom-made cabinet you make optimal use of the available space and you can choose how it will look like.
CLEAR HOUSE, CLEAR HEAD
An American study of 60 households shows that a house full of clutter triggers stress hormones. The participants with a messy house were also more likely to suffer from a bad mood. Women in particular suffered from junk. The men did register the clutter in the house, but their cortisol levels were often unimpressed.
Struggling to throw away memories such as cards, crafts and drawings? Then take pictures of it to keep in a (digital) photo album.
Marie Kondo seems to be right: tidying up makes happiness. Her secret to a really good cleaning session? It’s all about whether the item makes you feel happy. If not, throw it away or give it a second life with someone who does make it happy.
Do you want to keep it? Then keep it where it belongs. So you always have three choices: clean up, throw away or give away.
- Cleaning out the attic is one of those jobs that keeps getting pushed back. Because: it’s already a mess. Time to make short shrift of these excuses. That’s how you work.
- Start by sorting out and throwing things away. When all superfluous things are gone, it immediately looks more spacious. So just start. Divide all items into three categories: ‘away’, ‘second life’ and ‘keep’. Be critical, does it really make you happy?
- Sort all the things you want to keep in boxes or plastic storage bins and give them a permanent place. Behind knee bulkheads you can store items that you only need once a year, such as ice skates or camping gear. You give other items a place that you can easily reach, for example in a custom closet.
- Also sort the items that deserve a second life in boxes and store them elsewhere for sale or take them straight to the thrift store. If you leave the boxes in the attic, there is a good chance that they will still be there on King’s Day 2023.
- After clearing out the attic, it’s nice to give it a nice clean. Open the windows and doors and let the musty attic blow through. Vacuum in every nook and cranny, mop the floor and scrub all surfaces thoroughly with fresh soapy water.
- Now that the attic is spic and span and the floor is visible again, you can start redesigning the attic. Because in exchange for a tidy attic, you get extra space in return.
MODULAR
A custom cupboard wall is not always necessary, you can also work well in an attic room with modular cupboards or standard cupboards. For an angled section, partially saw off an existing cabinet and place skirting boards around it for a customized effect. You put together a modular cabinet yourself, so you can play with the parts and sizes. You can find beautiful cabinets at tylko.com, nonoo.nl and Lundia, among others.
Stage fright
You can of course use a wall shelf for your books or to display a collection, but with a little imagination you can also give it another, practical function. For example, is the washing machine in the attic? Then you can make a car wash with the help of the planks. Dirty laundry can then be deposited in laundry baskets under the shelves and on the shelves you can store the folded laundry and the iron. And how about a home workplace? Then go for a wide plank, then you can slide an office chair under it.
In a room with sloping walls, a low bed is more practical than a high one. Besides the fact that you can place a low bed against a sloping wall, it also provides a more spacious feeling. With a low bed against a sloping wall, you don’t have to worry about bumping your head. Is the wall just too sloping? Then place a low cupboard or low side table at the head of the bed.
SMALL WASHES, BIG WASHES
The stairwell in the attic is a great place to dry the laundry. Warm air rises upwards, so that your laundry dries faster. And it is usually empty space, which you can do nothing with. You can make such a drying rack yourself from the Sniglar bedstead from Ikea. You can read how to proceed on Mirjam Hart’s blog (eengoedhistorie.nu).
In a cupboard under the sloping roof, under a dormer window or behind the knee bulkheads, you can store things that you do not need often. Plastic bins with Christmas items, clothes, books, you name it. Choose a cabinet with sliding doors and shelf divisions so that you can store your belongings in an organized manner and you can easily open the cabinet.
MORE SPACE, MORE LIGHT
Are you going to make a big splash in the attic? And could you use some extra space? With a dormer window or window, more light and space is created. A simple dormer window costs around € 4000. And you get a lot in return: a sea of light, ventilation, extra (standing) space and a view. A lot is possible, from a simple ready-made model to a custom dormer. There are also many options and price ranges for window frames: from a simple pivot window to a super-deluxe balcony window and roof terrace window. The contractor knows whether you need a permit for a job. Or look at milieuloket.nl.
wall shelves
Wall shelves are an affordable and beautiful solution for a niche with a pitched roof that you would otherwise not use. Calculate the bevel on both sides and use a miter saw so that the wall shelf fits perfectly. Complicated? With the right sizes at hand, they often want to do it for you in the hardware store.
Cabinet layout
To use the storage space in the cupboard as effectively as possible, it is useful to think carefully beforehand about what you want to store in it. You can also adjust the layout of the cabinet accordingly.
In the box bed
You can sleep under a sloping roof in an old-fashioned box bed, which is handy and cozy. If you make the bed a bit higher, you can also lose a cupboard or drawers. And have you slept in and is everything aired? Then you close the doors and the room suddenly looks a lot more spacious and quieter.
If you are going to use the attic to work or sleep, you should also consider the insulation. A home usually loses most of its heat through the roof. By properly insulating the attic room, the cold and heat in the summer remain outside and you avoid high heating costs. And it is also better for the environment. Even if there is already a thin insulation layer in it. But how do you handle it? What does it cost, what does it yield and where can you find a reliable company? Visit milieucentraal.nl for more information and tips.
Light in
A bedroom or office with a sloping roof can sometimes feel small because of the sloping walls that are approaching you, as it were. In such a case, use a light color palette, especially on the sloping walls. This way you keep the space open and airy. The incidence of light is also important. Certainly if there is no skylight in the sloping wall, it is better to embrace all the light that does enter. Do not disturb the light by placing high cabinets or filling the windowsill with accessories.
Styling: ABACO collaborative design studio, Marlies Does, Mirjam Hart/a good story.nu, Moniek Visser, Studio Slow, Opmaatzagen.nl / Heleen’s project | Photography: BCDF Studio, Bart Brussee, Sjoerd Eickmans, IKEA, Peggy Janssen, Anna de Leeuw, Sunna and Marc van Praag.