Organizing

One of the our biggest emotional blocks against reducing clutter is nostalgia! We want to keep remembering the great things that happened to us while wearing that sweater or the time in our lives when we loved those plates, so we hang on to stuff that we no longer need. But guess what? You don’t need the actual items to keep those great memories at the front of your mind. Try these ideas.

I had the most transforming (literally) moment not too long ago when I took a bench out of my bedroom. While I had styled it lovingly with a comforting and cozy vignette and it technically fit in the spot it was in, it made my room feel cramped. Or at least, I didn’t realize it felt cramped until I moved it to another room in my home and breathed in the fresh air of a roomier, more wonderful bedroom!

Like most people’s, or at least most avid cooks’, my kitchen never seems to have enough storage. I’ve mentioned my issues with kitchen storage and organization before, and it’s an ongoing struggle, but one of my cupboards has recently gone from hot mess to holy moly, that’s tidy!, all thanks to two cheap, simple products.

I have tried to hide it, because I have a professional interest in pretending to have one of those homes that always looks inexplicably perfect, but here’s the truth: I am lazy. I hate picking up. I hate cleaning. Of course I love it when my house is not a complete wreck — who doesn’t? — but I hate the effort it takes to get there.

Decluttering maven Marie Kondo has inspired us all to live, not only with less, but with only the things that spark joy. Her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing is full of inspiration and instructions about how to make your home the streamlined, joy machine it can be and, notably, warns against one specific thing (that we do all the time!). We wouldn’t have thought of this one but it’s so true.

Lots of small space strategies are about so much more than just making it work in an itty bitty box; they’re smart ideas that everyone can use in any space. Try these on for size. Roll your eyes all you want, but remember, clutter can take over and make you crazy. Although we often hear this advice in reference to small spaces where every inch counts, no one in a home of any size should be hanging on to too many things they don’t need.

Shopping for just the right thing for your home can be a bit of a rush. You’ve searched for so long, and now, at long last, you’ve found it. Your skin is tingly. You hear the faint sound of angel choirs. But wait! Before you buy anything (be it online, at the flea market, at a garage sale, or at a just plain old store), ask yourself these five questions. Will it fit? In shopping, as in relationships, we sometimes like to think that love is all you need.

For most of us, it’s just not practical to stash everything away in a drawer or closet. Bins and baskets are a great way to keep things handy, but also contained. Whether you’re looking for an attractive way to store some toys in the living room, a place to stash your knitting project or your favorite magazines, here are fifteen stylish options that will look good in any room: Gridlock Baskets, CB2, $59.95-69.95 Nate Berkus™ Soft Woven Fringe Basket, Target, $39.

My dad recently gave me this tool tote and, organizing fanatic that I am, I immediately started looking beyond its intended use and wondering what unexpected uses I could come up with. This little thing is handier than you might think, so read on for four uses, as well as some suggestions for similar totes, in case the red and black look isn’t your thing… Kids’ Tote: Keep the things that keep your child entertained handy.

Adapt these common household items to use throughout the house.

A broom closet of varying depths and without any built-ins was collecting Carla’s random stuff. She decided it might serve better as a place for paperwork and projects, and we love how she made this strange small space fit her needs: From Carla: My husband uses the downstairs as an office, which I didn’t think I needed for my business.

For better or worse, one thing the digital revolution has done is enable us to have fewer things. Of course, our phones alone have eclipsed the need for many other electronic tools (cameras, CD players, etc.). It’s amazing! But what about the things in our world that persist in physical form, things that don’t give us joy in our space and can easily a growing mass of clutter if we’re not meticulously organized?

Chances are, you’ve heard of Marie Kondo by now. Her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, seems to be everywhere these days. If you haven’t heard of Kondo’s philosophy, in a nutshell, it promotes cleansing your life of all the things that don’t give you joy. In the spirit of spring cleaning, my friends and I recently had a Marie Kondo party to collectively motivate ourselves to clean out, tidy up, and share some joy.

Sam spotted this dollhouse on the street, and even though she had no homeless dolls, she decided to rescue the shelter and turn it into storage. From Sam: I didn’t really want a house-shaped storage cabinet, so after a lot of hammering from my (lack of) arm muscles, my project was starting to take shape. Next step was to give this baby a good coating of white paint. It’s crazy how big of a difference a bit of paint can make! Next step: pizzazz.

After three years of living in this “builder basic” house, the homeowners hired Krista to help personalize it. On the agenda was adding some style to this blank 2-story wall. Now that fireplace is really a focal point: From Krista: The homeowners decided when buying their custom home to hold back on upgrades until they lived in the space which allowed them to truly understand how they lived in it and what they would need.

Dealing with a tiny bedroom can be a bit overwhelming — how are you supposed to sleep in there and fit all your stuff in there, too? Try out one of these 11 solutions. Above: Baskets under the bed are a great place to stash extra stuff — and unlike the traditional under bed boxes, they’re nice enough to look at all the time. Photo from Foster House.

Making a little extra space in your closet doesn't have to involve a lot of hand-wringing and soul-searching.

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” Albert Einstein once famously asked. Conventional wisdom holds that it’s easier to work, and to create, in a space that’s neat and tidy — but what if the opposite were true? A recent study by psychologist Kathleen Vohs, at the University of Minnesota, tested the effects of different kinds of working environments on human behavior.

If you want to know about rhinestones and country music, ask Dolly Parton. For insight into small spaces and storage, go straight to boat owners and people who live year-round on houseboats. They’ve got tons of solutions to suit even the tiniest spaces, and we could all stand to pick their brains for a minute or two. Here are seven products you regularly find on boats that even land lovers can put to good use at home.

How you spend your days, as the saying goes, is how you spend your life. And because work takes up such a huge chunk of many of our lives, it’s worth examining the other chunks — the small moments in the evenings after work — to see how one might improve that time so you’re not just living for the weekends.

It’s happened to all of us — that powerful urge to run to Target and buy all the storage containers to corral all that mess. But there’s something you MUST do — every single time, before you buy any storage container, ever. One of the biggest mistakes we make when we try to bring order into our environments is spending time organizing things we don’t actually need — and, quite frankly, don’t even want!

We can all use a little organizing reminder every now and again; I know I do. I always start out with the best intentions, and then they fall by the wayside shortly thereafter. I’ve gathered 10 tips used by professional organizers— just to scan over — whenever I need a little help getting back on track: 1. Get Ready The Night Before.

What’s the difference between collecting and clutter? I ask myself that question often as I’m guilty of buying multiples of (too) many things. You can avoid clutter status by putting your beautiful collections on display. Here are 16 examples of great collections—including my own tea cup collection!

Wow, we’re nearly 75% of the way through the Cure (yay, you!). I’m guessing that it feels good to have a cleaner, more organized home and I know you want to is keep it that way with as little fuss as possible. Well, today’s assignment is a small thing that helps to set you up for long term success; a little time spent this evening will make the rest of your year easier. Sound good? Here’s how to do it….

You know the table in the room where you just put ‘stuff’? Or that collection of ‘things’ you love, but don’t really have much in common with each other? Or all the essentials in your kitchen or bathroom that you want at an arm’s reach that clutter up the counter? An easy solution to controlling that clutter without really having to change your habits is to start organizing with trays. A tray takes a bunch of stuff and turns it into one element.

All of my adult life I’ve been waging a sort of small-scale war: a war against The Encroachment of the Stuff. I think, though, that when I look back on the history of this conflict I will see 2014 as the year that marked the turning of the tide. 2014 is the year that finally made me a minimalist. In 2014 I lived in four different places: one in Paris, two in Houston, and one in New York.

Sure, you give your bath a surface clean every once in a while, but admit it—there are things lurking in your bathroom that you probably haven’t seen for years. Time to change all that, my friends. Time to tackle the bath — and deal with these five things right now.

We can all agree — too many closets is a good problem to have. Tanya decided to trade the closed storage for more square footage in her home office. See how she transformed it after the jump: From Tanya: In my current home and the one before that, I’ve been lucky enough to have a spare bedroom to use as a home office. In both spaces, I’ve needed less closed storage space and more square footage, so I’ve turned the closets into nooks, simply by removing the closet doors.

Christmas is often a time of accumulation, while New Year’s is often a time for starting fresh. Often, this means getting rid of things, taking stock, and cleaning up one’s house and life. But before you dive into the “gotta get rid of it” mode, make sure you’re approaching the process from a positive mindset.

It’s human nature to want to take advantage of the fresh start that a new year brings and really feel some forward momentum. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of things that need to be done to get things in order but strong lists can help make even the most ambitious New Year’s goals do-able, bit by bit.

Do you want 2015 to be your best year yet? We believe that when your home is under control, fresh, clean and organized, good things happen throughout your life. If you are ready to really get your place back in shape (and reap the rewards for the whole rest of year) the very best way is one manageable step at a time, during our once-a-year-only January Cure. By the end of the month, you’ll be sitting pretty in a clean, fresh, organized home. We can do this – together!

What do you do with a perfectly good, sturdy piece of furniture that has potential but is a bit heavy visually on the eyes? If you’re Kim, you give it a fresh paint job and add some design details that make this piece one-of-a-kind! From Kim: I’ve long since coveted a sleek mid-century modern media credenza.

A huge, ginormous walk-in closet — complete with loveseat and island — may not be an option for you, but a well-organized and functional storage space is completely possible and do-able. These ten easy DIY projects will help wrangle all your myriad accessories in an orderly fashion, and make everything easy to find when you get dressed in the morning. TOP ROW An simple and pretty Anthropologie-inspired scarf hanger, from Poppytalk.

It’s one thing to get rid of items that have a lot of sentimental value. It’s easier to ditch stuff that you don’t care about, have duplicates of, or just don’t really need. If you are starting a long-overdue purging process, start with this list. Trust me: you won’t miss a thing once they are gone. Coffee Mugs: Many people mindlessly collect mugs, much like business cards or matchbooks.

The Style Cure is all about making one room in your home more beautiful, organized and healthy. The outbox concept is a bit of a magic bullet – in one fell swoop, it will help with all three missions. Even though it’s a powerful tool, it will just take you a few minutes to get one in place, so let’s do it today… We’ll be prompting you to use the outbox throughout the Cure to help you get things decluttered and organized.

A friend of mine was recently burglarized. Their place was completely ransacked in the process and several valuables were stolen. Fortunately, a few of the most precious items were left unscathed because they were hidden away in a small storage safe disguised as a book, hidden in a pile of other hardbound copies.

This week marks the start of a new chapter for my mom and dad. After four pleasant years spent in Northern Virginia they’re loading up the car and, along with the dogs, hitting the road for their new home in Atlanta. This isn’t the first, or even the fifth home they’ll be moving into during their thirty-one year marriage, and they’ve become quite adept at quickly and efficiently organizing a new space.

As every parent of school-age children knows, they come home with a lot of paper!! Whether it’s the tenuous-but-determined pencil scratches of the letter M or the (very detailed) drop-off and pick-up instructions, these papers will pile up — and very fast — without a plan for managing them. Here’s how I try to stay on top of all the papers that follow my preschooler and my kindergartener home. Anything you know you don’t want to keep, recycle right away.

Is your bathroom clutter getting out of control?

Organizing words of wisdom from a pro.

What do you do when a wood sideboard — covered in deep scratches and other marks — needs a makeover but you’re not looking to brighten it with a coat of white? You could go with a color, or you could skip straight to something dramatic and do what Suzanne did. From Suzanne: This vintage sideboard was in need of a makeover. It had many deep scratches along the top and other marks and scratches.

Mallory from Classy Clutter had been itching to make over her coat closet since she the day she moved in. She found that no one in her house, including herself, wanted to hang up their coats when they had to untangle hangers and fiddle for a spot to hang their coat. She decided it was time to remove the hangers and closet bar, and replace them with hooks and bins.

From Samantha: I chose to paint it grey. But when we put the sideboard inside, hubby looked at it and said “its too boring, too serious.” So I decided to do something different! We just love how you personalized this piece you found for free to fit into your home with your personality! Thank you Samantha!

I read a remarkable statistic the other day: When Benjamin Franklin died, he had over 70,000 pages of documents in his home. Today, you and I can easily carry around that much data on our smartphones. Admittedly, our data probably isn’t anywhere near as brilliant, but the ease of storing this information means we accumulate far more digital clutter than we need. If you’ve got five minutes and would like to reduce the amount of digital clutter in your life, try these quick tricks: 1.

Recently, for the first time in my life, I moved to a space with a basement. After spending so many years without one, I’ll admit that at first I was hard-pressed to figure out what should go there. Thanks to having more tools, holiday decorations, and some extra kitchen supplies, I now have that covered, but it definitely got me thinking about what I did before I had all the extra storage space.

Thinking of turning a spare closet or nook into an office or craft room? Check out these 10 examples for inspiration. TOP ROW: 1. Studio Renovation from Cardboard Sea 2. Home Office from Natalme 3. Closet Turned Home Office from A Cup of Mai 4. Tiny Closet Office from Design Addict Mom 5. Jason’s Closet Office from Apartment Therapy BOTTOM ROW: 6. Melissa’s “Cloffice” on a Budget from Shoestring Magazine via Apartment Therapy 7.

Small space dwellers have a whole set of issues that folks who live in more spacious homes could never understand. Take this one, for instance: in a perfect world, your (incredibly spacious) closet is conveniently attached to the bedroom or even the bathroom. But what do you do when your closet is in a weird place? Or you have a tiny closet? Or no closet at all? Well, you start getting creative.

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of looking up at the completion of a project and realizing that a once perfectly tidy room has been destroyed by some sort of crafting whirlwind. I am usually that whirlwind. I think a lot of us are usually that whirlwind. I’ve put together a few tips to help us all stay clean and organized during future projects. It certainly makes crafting more fun when it doesn’t involve massive cleanup at the end! Start with a clean surface.

For years I’ve coveted pantries, and now that I have one… it’s kind of a mess. Keeping a well-stocked pantry user-friendly is definitely a challenge, but the wisest minds online are here to help… From across the web, here are some of the best ideas for keeping your pantry organized. You’ll never spend 15 minutes digging around for the sugar ever again. Open + Industrial Perhaps the best way to keep your pantry looking its best? Make it public.

This past Christmas I gave a magnetic key holder (#3 above) to my husband which was really a gift to our home, so it was really a gift half to me. Instead of our key dish which had at some point become overrun with spare keys to my sister’s, my neighbor’s, and several sets of “mystery keys”, we now each hang up our keys when we arrive home and it saves us the aggravation of fishing through a bunch of keys as we’re dashing out the door.

As many of us are probably feeling at the close of the January cure, there’s something so refreshing about an empty, cleaned out space. Keeping clutter from multiplying and knowing what to do when it starts to grow are essential for maintaining a peaceful living space. Here are five ways to get and keep that clutter out: 1) Work clockwise. When faced with a space you want to declutter, staying focused is key.

Raise your hand if you’re like me and your downloaded photo files are a huge, unorganized, hot mess. Yeah, I thought so. Although the digital age has made it so convenient to capture all the moments in life that you want to remember, this also means that there are way more photos to organize and keep track of.

Day 16: Thursday, January 23 Assignment: Declutter your book, magazine, movie & music collections Take a deep breath. If you are like me, this assignment is a biggie. I fully admit that this is something that I’m terrible about: hanging on to books and magazines forever.

Day 15: Wednesday, January 22 Assignment: Clean and declutter your bathroom & medicine cabinets Get this done today and I guarantee you’ll be a happier camper tomorrow morning. Why spend precious moments each morning searching through an overcrowded jumble in the bathroom when they could be used to be blissfully snoozing…or sipping coffee…or how about about catching up with the posts on your favorite blog?

Day 14: Tuesday, January 21 Assignment: Clean up the cord clutter Today we have one of those surprisingly “worth it” Cure assignments that is straightforward and simple, yet makes an unexpectedly substantial difference in how your home looks and feels. Let’s face it, no matter how well organized an area is otherwise, if there is a visible mess of wires and cords, things look unfinished and visually chaotic.

Meet Jeni Aron: an organized person. Since how truly organized minds work are still a mystery to many of us, I set out to ask our top video organizers: what are the top 10 habits that you actually use to keep your own life organized? First up, Jeni! 1. Know what you like and stick to it. I know I only like Aveda shampoo and Kiehl’s face wash. This seemingly shallow information actually creates less confusion and clutter in my shower.

Day 12: Friday, January 17….and the weekend of January 18 & 19 Assignments: Bring home your weekly flowers, clean your bedroom, organize your clothes closet and dresser Get ready for a well deserved good nights sleep. We’re on the slippery slope to the end of the Cure and this weekend, while busy as usual, is focused again on a single room – the bedroom.

There’s something about the new year that puts me into declutter mode. So, it’s not surprising that Thursday morning, the New Year’s Eve hangover now thankfully a memory, there I was, donation box in hand, tossing, tossing, tossing, starting with my favorite gotta-goes, the multiple multiples.

Ready to organize those stuffed animal collections for the new year? Some parents recommend purging until you don’t need a storage solution, but some kids love their stuffies so much that they’d love to keep them all. If you agree to house a bunch of these toys, you might want an aesthetically pleasing way to store and display them. We’ve rounded up some simple and clever ideas for keeping plush toys corralled and displayed so that, hopefully, everyone is happy. 1.

The talented ladies at my local public library created a few charming book trees out of a seldom-used set of reference books, a string of lights, and an old, unreadable book. Perhaps you have similar supplies around the house? Your collection of Babysitters’ Club book would make a perky, pastel tree, while the complete works of James Patterson would create a huge and darkly dramatic tree, full of ominous titles such as 1st To Die and Cross Fire.

Renting almost guarantees you’ll be living and working around compromises, and perhaps nowhere more so than when it comes to planning a home entertainment setup. Awkward layouts can prove a challenge, especially when you can’t move or tear down walls like a home owner.

Does the sight above look familiar? With the array of mobile devices found in the average household, it’s increasingly common to keep many or all of these portable devices within arm’s reach.

My bi-fold pantry door is an eyesore. It has a fake woodgrain and blocks the left side of the shelves when it’s opened. But it’s an unusual size, so finding an off-the-shelf or salvage replacement has been impossible. I thought about converting it à la Jason’s closet-door hack, but then I stumbled upon Ashley’s attractive solution. While she didn’t have a bi-fold to begin with, her door replacement would work for just about any ugly door, including mine.

TOP ROW: 1. Stylish Wall Storage from Mamamekko 2. Doortop Stash from Make 3. Beck Marks the Spot for Secret Storage 4. Secret Storage Sofa from Ana White 5. Hidden Jewelry Box from Design Sponge BOTTOM ROW: 6. Hollow Stash Book from Vivid Please 7. Hidden Bookcase from Imgur 8. Floating Secret Drawer from Stashvault 9. DIY Hide-a-Key from Zakka Life And, if all else fails, just go buy this and stick it in your fridge: 10. Iceberg Lettuce Safe Do you have a secret hiding spot?

Who hasn’t opened their pantry or cabinets to a mess and thought — there’s not even any “real food” for dinner? Kimberly’s pantry needed a clean out and some order. If this ‘before’ photo looks familiar to you, check out what some labels and dollar bins did for her: From Kimberly: I decided I’d just take one shelf at a time one night a week and organize everything. That idea lasted until I finished the first shelf.

I love before and after projects that involve a good afternoon of organization — no paintbrush, no tools… just some motivation, a vision, and some hard work.I recently came across this mudroom makeover and thought it was a great example of how a before and after doesn’t have to be a super-expensive or super-involved affair. It’s encouraging to see how little changes can have a big impact!

When Michelle found these old tool chests at a fairground in Norman, Oklahoma, she immediately envisioned a way to restore them to their former glory and put them to good use. With a great deal of work and some serious elbow grease, they became what she calls her “keeper of treasures.”For some interiors the rustic industrial look might have worked, but the edges were sharp, the piece was covered in grime, and rust had overtaken the original finish.

Emily of Namely Original is a crafty college student who’s never short on clever DIY’s and always excited to share them. This time she’s taken some boxes headed for the landfill and turned them into organizational bins cute enough to put on display.This is certainly one of those crafts that begs the question “Why didn’t I think of this?

When you’re short on space, shoes and bags are some of the hardest items to give a proper home. It seems like they’re always hanging around in the wrong rooms, getting crushed together in a too-small bin, getting tangled together on a top shelf, or gathering dust at the back of a closet. Here are some lovely and clever ways to put those shoes and bags in their proper place.Top row (shoes):1. Bookshelves with glass doors make for a great display option and dust-free storage.

I know what you’re thinking. Oh man, aren’t there enough things in this world to clean? Now we have to tidy up our Pinterest boards? I’ll leave it up to you to decide if it’s worth your time, but I spent an hour doing some work on mine the other day, and it felt kind of good. I use Pinterest A LOT these days, so the pins build up quickly. The more current and relevant the boards are, and easy to navigate, the more useful it is as a tool.

People always think of the new year as the perfect time to clean out closets, but professional organizer and declutterer Nicole Anzia of Washington DC-based Neatnik prefers to do it after Labor Day. “I always think of fall as a new beginning. Summer is over, kids are back at school and everyone else resumes a “normal” schedule in September. Plus, the weather is about to turn crisp, so what better time to clean out your closets?

A newly reorganized closet is a sight to behold. You’ve cleared the clutter, your belongings look great, and you can check another chore off the list. If you’re like me, however, this feeling lasts a shockingly short time before the clutter creeps back. I just re-cleaned a closet I organized only a few months ago, and I’m determined to keep it nice with this list of easy tips.