We like to blame the mess in our homes on the people that live there. And yes, sometimes its true. But in my experience, usually it’s not our kids fault or our husband’s fault, and of course its not our fault – but rather the set-up of the room or the basic layout of the home is what’s at fault. I’ll give you a few examples.
I’ve worked in stunning homes in ganei geulah- completely designed with the latest styles and trends, and light fixtures and obviously designed to impress guests and visitors. The first problem I noticed was that there were coats all over the floor by the front entrance. Why? Because the designer didn’t want to clutter up the front hall with a coat closet , she wanted the front hall to be large and beautiful , highlighting the stunning chandelier that was hanging there. And the coat closet was in the back of the apartment by the bedrooms. Can you blame those children for dumping their coats on the floor or the husband for his hat jacket and tallis bag permanently living on the dining room table? No! It’s not their fault. It’s a dysfunctional design. And it’s a shame because you can do both! Make an elegant front hall closet and also make the front hall beautiful. In our active growing busy families we always need to put function at the forefront of our designs
I’ll give you another example of an apartment in sanhedria murchevet I worked in. The designer gave the space for the laundry room to the husband’s study and put a small laundry closet in the narrow hallway leading to it. In theory it was a great utilization of space, however this designer never looked into my client’s laundry system. She was sorting all over that narrow hallway and had piles everywhere – to the point that the husband couldn’t even get into his office to learn anything. So from this dysfunctional design- he didn’t have an office and she didn’t have a laundry room.
Another example of this I saw in ezras torah- the designer made the hallways so narrow- to maximize the bedroom space, that only one person could walk down the hallway at a time! Although the bedrooms were bigger , this caused so many traffic issues in the house, nothing flowed, no-one bothered to put things away because it was too complicated to get there, furniture couldnt fit down the hallway, laundry baskets couldnt get down the hallway- it was a big mess.
And there are hundreds more examples just like that. What is yours?
So it’s true – it’s not your fault that your home isn’t flowing the way it should, but it’s not your family’s fault either. To get your home running the way it should you most often need to change something about the set-up about the layout. You can do this by rearranging furniture, by designing furniture to fit your space and your needs precisely, or if you have the opportunity -by creating floor plans which promote a functional home.
