I've been house sitting all summer. All the homes have been beautiful, spacious, kid-filled spaces, but some of them felt more… well, welcoming than others. These were the homes it was easy to come into. It was easy to find everything I needed. There were no unused spaces or dust bunnies gathering in the corner. You're probably thinking to yourself: that's a no brainer when the house is big, there's tons of closets, just a few pieces of amazeballs furniture and a weekly cleaning service. Sorry to burst your bubble, but no. It was because they were well thought out.
Here's the thing with a well laid out and organized home: it has nothing to do with matching Martha Stewart containers and everything to do with discarding what you don't use, keeping what you do use (and maintaining and replacing it when it gets used up) and putting what you keep in a place where it makes sense. Let's see if I can break it down.
Keep It Real: The houses that worked best kept an eye on their function. Dogs had their stuff incorporated into the home's design (even if that just meant a giant garbage can filled with dry food in a color that matched the kitchen); there were hampers for dirty clothes and a place to put down groceries when you walked in the door. Before you buy one more thing for your home, just observe, for a week, how your home works. If you have a dog, do you have a place by the door to keep the leash? If you have school age kids, do they have a place to do homework? If you like to come home after work and veg out in front of the tv, is your couch comfy, with a throw, nice soft pillows and a place to put down a glass? Do you have cupboards jammed with glasses that only get used the two or three times a year that company comes over? Your house should be for you and how you live.
Pretty isn't the same as organized: Things can look pretty, but if they don't function well, chances are they won't stay that way for long. Easy is key. Is it easy to use? Which brings me to my next bullet point…
Big categories over small: When you're finished using something, it should be easy to put away. Make it complicated and chances are you'll procrastinate with putting it back. For example, unless make up is your jam, you don't need to divide your stash into eyeshadows, lipsticks and eyeliners, etc — you just need one container to store day makeup and one to store night makeup. This is especially true for kids, who can't be bothered with dividing things up into too many categories.
Where do you use it? Toilet paper, for example, should be stored in the bathroom. It's no use if it's stored under the bed. I had a roommate who did this. She also had a tendency to leave a roll with just a few lone squares hanging off it. I know this is an extreme example, but if you can see where I'm going with this, you get the idea. Other people may laugh but hey, it's your house. So, store toilet paper in the bathroom and sheets in the bedroom. Keep gloves and sunglasses and lip balm by the front door and running back in for them won't be a mad scramble that leaves the house a mess.
Test your containers: The easiest containers are opaque bins that can slide out of a shelf. Also good: big jars with easy lift-off lids that somehow make a jumble of stuff read ready for its close-up.
Have enough but not too many: You have one bed and you do your laundry weekly — do you need 15 sets of threadbare sheets? Same goes for towels, glasses, mugs, even shampoo. Yes, it's good to be green, but when you're just starting out with changing things around, a lot of stuff will go in the garbage or the giveaway pile. If you feel bad about throwing out all those dregs of shampoo, empty them into one container and use the soapy result to clean with. Tear up those old sheets into Swiffer sized squares for your mop.
Buy the best you can afford: If you buy stuff that you love and that makes you happy every time you use it, chances are you'll be happier taking care of it. Plus, if your cupboards aren't stuffed you'll be able to see what you have and you won't find yourself buying doubles and triples of things.
(Image: Lindsay Tella from Sarah & Matt's Expertly Styled Home)
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I invented a test to see if my kitchen is well-organized; I call it "the apple pie test". When making an apple pie, I use everything in my kitchen: fruits on the counter, flour and sugar from the pantry, butter from the fridge, several small kitchen thingies (knife, pealer and such), kitchen sink; I put on my apron, I use the oven, and for a fancy pie, I even use pots and pans. When we were redesigning our kitchen, I drew circles around where I needed to go to bake the pie; if the path was too complicated, I tried and changed the kitchen plan. In the end, I hope we got the best combination possible, considering the odd space we had to work with. It's common sense, but I found that test very helpful.
As for the rest, I totally agree: storing items close to the place you use them. But how about my 3 square meter entryway ? I have to store my few coats upstairs in the bedroom, but it's either that or the kitchen, where I cook a lot (so grease and such)... I guess the best organized houses are also the ones where space isn't at such a premium.
Another use for those old sheets and towels - your local animal shelter.
amazeballs?
I hate to think of the house sitters I've hired being so critical of my home. Jeeze.
We live in a 2-story house. Getting out the door is our biggest battle in the morning with our 3 yr old twins! I keep all their shoes and socks in baskets downstairs by the door so I don't have to run up and down the stairs to their room hunting for favorites (but you simply loved hello kitty and thomas the train yesterday!)
Personality also plays a big role in finding the best approach to organize all of our stuff. My son is the type who needs to see everything before he makes his choice. He literally flings things over his shoulder as he is looking through a box or a drawer. He does better with open shelves, flat display boxes, shallow storage, pens in a tray vs pens in a cup so that he doesn't have to make a gigantic mess on the floor just to see what his choices are. He wants to see it all, which means limiting how much he has!
My daughter doesn't need to see everything (thank you!). She knows and remembers what she has. She just needs things where she can get it herself with one or two easy choices. Drawers, boxes, layered storage. She actually gets overwhelmed if she has too many choices in front of her. "Mom, I have too many dresses, I can't pick". For her, limiting choice and what is on display is better.
Amazeballs - (adjective) causing amazement and often inspiring lust.
Example: that couch is amazeballs.
"Pretty isn't the same as organized:" HEAR, HEAR! :)
Another use for those half empty bottles of shampoo you don't really like, and the half used nail polish, lotions, samples, etc- freecycle them! You'd be suprised what people will take off your hands. I've cleared out my collection of "stuff I'll never use again" by sticking it all in a bag and freecycling it to one person. It's an easy and green way to get rid of stuff you didn't like but someone else will love! Same goes for other random things- I combined all my kids' DVDs into a DVD folder and freecycled all of the plastic cases- the guy who picked them up was thrilled w/ his 'find.'
As someone who did a lot of housesitting in grad school, I can relate to this poster. You tend to notice what works when you are living in a house where you have no input as to where things go.
The hook for the dog leash right by the door, keeping the toaster next to the bread box on the counter, a well-laid out kitchen vs. one that requires you to walk all around it to get a bowl of cereal--you just notice the good design and the not-so-good. It's not making judgements about the owners, but appreciating what you can learn from how other people live.
You don't have to be housesitting to notice this type of thing. My cousin made a first-floor diaper changing station on top of her washer and dryer; it's the perfect height. My brother rigged a dish drainer above his sink in a tiny kitchen with no counter space. My best friend keeps the cereal boxes in a cabinet that holds all her pots and pans--because it is right next to the fridge for the milk and under the cabinet that holds the bowls and the drawer that holds the spoons. Her kids can assemble breakfast without taking a step.
It's not arrogant; it's observation.
Agree overall but...
I like having extra sheets, dishes, etc. for the few times per year that company comes... I put how our family lives first, but one of my greatest joys of having a home is being able to share it, and it's worth some storage space.
I don't have to buy "the best I can afford" to buy what I love... in fact I love the challenge of finding things I love that are inexpensive, so I don't have to go nuts taking care of them... I like letting the family and pets on virtually everything.
As for storing things where they belong... ideally yes, but if space is at a premium, you stuff certain things where you can. (But yes, you need to un-hide them for company.)
Arrogant? Yeesh. You could call the feedback arrogant, and then you could go pay a professional organizer 100's of bucks per hour for the professional consultation.
I've owned my condo for 3 years and I still re-organize...until I get it right. What I don't have is a junk drawer. I know where everything is and what it's used for.
This is what a friend did for all her son's clothes that didn't fit anymore. She put an ad on CraigsList something like this:
Bag of 2T size boys clothes for $10.00. You know that post didn't stay up long.
Reason people keep more sheets and towels than they need for their "weekly" laundry: stuff happens...and some of us like variety. I have many sets of sheets, for instance. Sometimes the dogs jump on the bed with muddy feet. Sometimes someone gets ill. Sometimes I like to change the look of the bed coverings just because I like to. I change the sheets and towels every third day in any case. And nothing I keep is "threadbare", thank you.
This post reminds me of an old documentary I saw ages ago, about a small and mostly poor town in Sicily. A cleaning woman was showing the interviewer around the home or apartment she was cleaning. She was saying the owner had too much of this and that (food items), and she was taking things for herself, telling herself and the filmmaker that there is no way the homeowner can use all that stff.
And yes, I mean that the way it sounds. I think this is not a very nice blog post.
I don't find this an arrogant or "not a very nice" post at all. Surely this isn't criticism, but advice and tips gleaned from the experience of living in (and clearly admiring) someone else's well put together home.
As someone about to move into my own first owned home and out of rental flats, thank you for the timely advice and tips that I will try and keep in mind when unpacking my boxes.
I will be keeping the extra sheets and glasses for company, but I will think carefully about where they are store and what I prioritise in the handiest cupboards and draws.
Agree, agree, agree. Nice quick read and glad she said the bit about organized and functional over pretty. As someone who opens my home to guests a few times a month, all of these tips are really important.
Also, as someone who doesn't own a home, I find it "arrogant" of the posters who've disregarded the housesitter's observations because of her position - a functional home can be appreciated by everyone, regardless of income or ownership.
Folks here are critical of a house-sitter thinking about a space they're inhabiting???
Goodness, I do this in EVERY house I visit. Homes of friends, family, strangers, you name it. I'm mentally decorating, rearranging furniture or admiring great storage solutions all over the place. Mostly I keep my thoughts to myself and take notes for future projects, but sometimes I offer a suggestion if I feel the person will be receptive.
Am I the only one who does this? Are we AT readers not interested in interior spaces and how their beauty and functionality affect our lives?
It seems to me that this house-sitter was only making observations. Who of us hasn't been in a space that felt peculiarly unwelcoming? If that was the case wouldn't all decorators, designers, space planners, and organizers be out of work?
I'm especially offended by the assumption (JDBUENGER) that a house-sitter must not also be a home-owner. Like home-owners are some elite class that wouldn't dream of stooping so low to care for another home? Are you kidding?
My jaw is on the floor with the arrogance I'm reading here in the comments. I had no idea this was the type of 'community' AT fostered.
Love the storage!
Loora - I love the apple pie test for the kitchen set up.
Opaque containers are the easiest? Don't you mean translucent or clear ones, so that you can see what's in them?
Well said, Spacesha. I agree.
How is this post arrogant or rude? It is not like the poster named the people or homes. I am in the design profession myself and I always notice details such as these in houses I visit. Some work, some don't. Some people have horrible taste, IMHO. Now, I would never tell these people this to their face (unless specifically asked to do so by them), but I would feel comfortable writing an article and saying that I have been in houses that are disorganized, or badly designed. People get so defensive, and they assume everything is about them.
well said spacesha.
there is something great about being in another home and intuitively finding things vs haphazardly. it can be stressful even if at a subconscious level.
i love to be organized: a place for everything and everything in it's place. i also really like to limit the number of duplicate things in my house because I don't want to have to store it all... only one thing can be used at a time! i also don't have the extra money to splurge on "extra" stuff; i.e. sheets are expensive, i can't have 5 extra sets on hand. i simply can't afford it! i also don't want to over consume and accumulate stuff that becomes junk.
this is a good post. i need to show it to my boyfriend that tends to accumulate tons of everything from t-shirts, to towels, to beer glasses, to supplements! it drives me crazy!
we live in a small house. storage is minimal, belongings need to be minimal. imo.
I think there's a big difference between taking advantage of access to other people's belongings (taking food from another's house) and the very mild itch of annoyance you feel when stepping into another person's shower and having an avalanche of almost-empty shampoo bottles rain down on your feet. The poster is simply reflecting on why some of the homes he or she stayed in recently seemed more functional - by its very definition meaning "uses less energy to serve a specific purpose" - than others.
Some people have temperamental hair and like to have six different shampoos within reach in the shower. Others need only one shampoo at a time, value ledge space, and appreciate ease in getting in and out of the shower, so prefer not to trip over extra bottles. In another person's house, you realize your personal preferences more because you can't change your (temporary) environment to suit your lifestyle intuitively, so you end up dwelling on how it could be more convenient. It's certainly not judgmental.
I like the poster's reasoning for bigger organizational categories - especially for kids! And I don't have fifteen sets of sheets, but I have a few that come in to use often enough to keep around.
Good advice. Come stay at my home any time. I'd love the constructive suggestions. Promise not to get my shorts all in bunch about your critiques either.
Good post. It's a lot easier to see the logic--or lack thereof--of how things are arranged when you're not blinded by habit, or by tplopping things down the day you move in, & watching them grow roots. I like to keep stuff moving around until I find the perfect spot--easiest to use, put away, clean under, whatever.
Re the somewhat defensive-sounding posts about numbers of things needed--the poster does imply that that's subjective, "if makeup is your jam". If you enjoy swapping out linens, go for it. Before i had animals, one set was enough. Now I keep a clean set in the drawer for fast bed-remaking if someone throws up in the middle of my sleep.
Thanks so much for this post. As a professional organizer I use a bunch of these tips while organizing my client's homes. In the end, it is about giving them a lasting system that works for them and their family..not just "pretty boxes."
I live in a tiny apartment - maybe 60 metres square but about 15 of that is made up of unsheltered balconies - so my storage space is limited. The first lesson I learned, I learned from Oprah - every object has a home. Once I've worked out the best practical place for something it's easy and quick to clean up. The other lesson I'm 'teaching' myself at the moment is that as much as I love my records, CDs, DVDs and books, if I'm not going to use them again, they have to go. It's been heartbreaking. I'm giving a lot of things away to friends and my sister is very kindly letting me store a couple of thousand CDs in the garage of her much larger house. Going through it has been cathartic, but in the long run, it's better for the apartment and it's better for me.
Wow, I didn't read this as arrogant at all. I don't think the writer is at all saying everyone has too much stuff. In fact, she was pretty open ended about it. "have enough but not too many" as a far cry from "one set of sheets per bed" and leaves plenty of room for seasons (you can pry my flannel sheets from my cold dead hands), pets, kids, and house guests.
And of course it's normal to think about the space you are in, whether house sitting or otherwise. I'm constantly borrowing organizational tips from my grandmother's space and re-designing my mother's loft in my head (because her style is SO different then mine). It doesn't mean her space is "wrong" it's a space she loves.
I was in awe of a friend's condo I was checking in on last summer. I stopped in to check on the place and discovered the smoke alarm was beeping because it needed a new battery, so I started looking for a battery. They live in a relatively small space (family of four in a 2 bedroom condo) and I had always assumed the various pieces of furniture were stuff to the brim with, well, stuff. The number of completely empty or mostly empty drawers amazed me. She really had, what was necessary down to a science. It decidedly made me thing about my own space.
#rural and rueful and others -- you missed the point of the whole post. I feel sorry for people who are SO negative all the time! Just relax a bit...
I can't believe people are actually getting defensive! "MY sheets aren't threadbare, thank you very much!" I think this post was helpful and not the least bit arrogant. It amazes me what causes drama.
right on with the makeup tip! I used to sort by product categories. And that didn't work for me; it took me forever to dig through stuff that I never used to access products I need on the regular.
So now I sort into three categories in closed, labeled containers. (The first corresponds to Abby's "day" category; the other two correspond to her "night makeup," but for me it makes sense to split):
QUOTIDIAN - Stuff I use daily or weekly, or to be casually photographed. Mascara, tinted moisturizer, brow filler.
GLAMOUR - Party or nightclub stuff, accessed weekly or monthly. Wild bright eyeshadows, pots of gel eyeliner.
COSTUME - Stuff that I only pull out for Halloween, New Years, costume parties. False eyelashes, stick-on rhinestones, goth-white foundation.
Then, skincare stuff I touch everyday (cleanser, moisturizer, toner) is displayed on a pretty tray.
"..just observe, for a week, how your home works"
Best advice right there. Been thinking a lot about that lately. My kids just started Montessori school. The crux of the Montessori philosophy is to observe. Watch without interference. Works for so many areas in life.
Watching is active.
It's not passive slobbering on the couch zombie watching! A Montessori school room tends to be very uncluttered with kid selected projects displayed on trays. The stuff kids ignore is removed. There is constant feedback as the environment is determined in large part by their interests.
Thank you for the "Where do you use it?" tip. I sat smuggly knowing that I keep the toilet paper in each bathroom. I was "blown away" by the sheets in each bedroom tip. Right now they are on a top shelf of a pantry by the kitchen and it's a pain to get to. I'm going to get the sheets moved to their respective rooms tonight!!!
I read a book by Julie Morgenstern, professional organizer, and the tip that has stuck with me for years is: put things where you use them, if you can. This echoes the "where do you use it?" section above. This one principle has helped me get and stay organized in every place I've lived.
For instance, at home I do 90% of my magazine reading in one particular chair next to the living room window. So I have a small occasional table that has a nice section for storing magazines positioned right there, with a lamp and a coaster on top. Voila--I can reach the magazines, turn on the light, and have a cup of tea at hand without even standing up!
I never end up with magazines all over the place, since I'm not "putting them away" in some other spot across the room, or apartment, from where I read them.
It sounds simple, but it can be an incredibly useful organizing concept!
The worst experience I ever had housesitting was in a house that while very nice-looking, was completely and totally infested with spiders. They were *everywhere* from the beds to in kitchen pots to couch cushions.
I'm horribly, embarrassingly and irrationally terrified of spiders and spent the three weeks sleeping in a plastic lawn chair in the living room with a can of Raid - I needed to have a clear perimeter around me to scan for approaching spiders. I liken it to an acrophobic being forced to stand on the edge of an unsecured 12th story balcony looking down for days on end.
I never determined if the homeowners were just completely happy sharing their home with spiders or if it was an actual pest problem, and I certainly didn't judge them because of it. But, I do know that for me? That house did NOT work.
Come on Apartment Therapy people - this is about sharing ideas and information - not telling people what's right or wrong. I think the post is great. The author floats good ideas and thoughts and we can choose whether that works for us. I was working with a client the other day on decluttering her home, which ended up being decluttering her heart too. Sentimental items. I gave her lots of tools and tips - we discussed the reason why she had so many of some things and on that day she took one wee little baby step forward.
The next day I had a client who just filled a bin with her stuff without a blink of an eye. I celebrate the difference in everyone.
I have one daughter who is OCD, one who keeps everything and another who is indifferent. I don't have alot of linen but do love nice glasses. I look at the world that we are all grown up and hearing how others approach their lives is enriching for all of us. I don't take this post as criticism, I take it as enlightenment. Thank you.
I think this is great. What I take away from is it to try to act like a housesitter in your own home. In other words, look at things anew and without the emotional attachment you have to them. And if you are keeping things for purely emotional/sentimental reasons, acknowledge it and find a place for them where they will be safe but not impeding the way you live with thing on a day to day basis. You want to be able to get at your daily-use plates without wedding china getting in the way, etc.
Not gonna lie-- I think it's pretty hilarious that on a blog where people make snap judgments about room makeovers, redesigns and color schemes, people are all up in a tizzy about whether or not the writer is arrogant for judging the functionality of a stranger's home.
Sometimes, it is simply easier to see how things function outside of your own space. As a writer, I find this is true; it is easier to critique the work of others than your own.
I, for one, thought there were some useful tips, and the post was to-the-point.
You gave me an organizing epiphany - if things pile up or don't get changed (like the toilet paper), it's because it's not as simple as it should be. My kids' coloring pages from daycare tend to be the biggest offender. I thought I solved the problem by taking on a big organizing project using these clear containers from http://www.justplasticboxes.com to store all of our favorites (and I even put some colorful scrapbook paper on the inside of each kids identified "art box" to make them a bit more fun and stylish). So why do papers still pile up on the counter? The storage containers great for long term storage but they're not stopping that messy paper pile. I think I'm going to try some sort of drop box location or wall file organizer for these to hanging out in the meantime before they get sorted for the keepsake boxes. Thanks for inspiring a little more function in our home!