Home Improvement : It’s Time to Organize Your Cluttered Abode

If you are one of those persons who not only preach but practice the maxim “a place for everything and everything in its place,” skip this column and read something else on this page.

The rest of you, listen up! I’m including myself in this category. I’m always threatening to clean up the various desks I use, along with the computer table, the garage, the workshop, the darkroom, the utility shed, etc., etc.

In fact, I’ve just come across a copy of a paperback book that came out last year, “30 Days to Getting Organized” by Gary Holland (Bantam Books Inc., $2.95). It was buried under a pile of miscellaneous rubbish and gave me several ideas, including this column.

Rather than summarize Holland’s sprightly written 64-page book, my suggestion is to find it, read it and follow his advice. Don’t allow it to be buried for a year under the clutter of your workroom, as I did!

During the more than five years that this column has been in existence, I’ve written about dozens of products and projects that help bring a semblance of order from the domestic chaos that seems to be the norm.

Take ironing boards, for instance. Everyone needs them--even in this age of permanent press clothes--but they always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They also take up a lot of space, even when they’re folded.

In Sweden, home of the Pelly Pop-Out ironing board, smaller homes are a fact of life. That’s why this ironing-board-in-a-drawer makes so much sense in today’s down-sized houses, condominiums and apartments.

For just under $200 retail, the Pelly ironing board takes no floor or storage space when installed in a kitchen or other drawer. Distributed in this country by Water Inc., P.O. Box 3658, Manhattan Beach 90266, the Pelly--manufactured by Pelly Industri AB, Hillerstorp, Sweden--can be seen at California Kitchens, 2305 W. Alameda Ave., Burbank.

The price doesn’t include installation, according to Lou Gans at California Kitchens, but he said that it can be installed by any reasonably handy person. Or you can hire a handyman or handywoman to do it for you.

Ganahl Lumber has a handy guide to fall classes at its school of woodworking and home building, 1220 E. Ball Road, Anaheim. Included in this fall’s offerings are furniture and cabinetmaking, home building, home improvement and wood carving, including three classes in the art of marquetry.

To obtain a copy of this catalogue, write Ganahl Lumber Co., 1220 E. Ball Road, P.O. Box 31, Anaheim, Calif. 92805.