I met with a potential client for a consultation and she said she would LOVE to see a peek inside of the closets and cabinets in my home. I have shared a few projects over the years but not too many simply because I think it would be a bit boring. I’m in the organizing business because I love it and I definitely practice what I preach at home. I spend a little bit of time every day curbing the clutter and I am always conscious of putting things back where they live. My husband isn’t as neat as me but I guess that is a good thing, he gives me piles to pick up from time to time, ha!
We live in a pretty large home for just the two of us, close to 2,500 square feet. It is at least 1,000 square feet larger than any home that we have lived in over the last 6-7 years so it was really important for me to carefully plan a home for all of our items instead of just putting things in cabinets here and there just because we have the space. Today I am going to share some snapshots of the systems that I have put in place over the last 2 years that we have lived here.
This house has a huge kitchen with tons of storage. One of my favorite features are the dish drawers. It is so nice to see my dishes at a glance and they drawers are next to the dishwasher for easy unloading. This is one of the drawers storing my yellow fiestaware. I put blue and white contact paper down to jazz it up a bit and I keep all of the like items together. This drawer as more of the everyday things that we use, i.e. plates and bowls. The bottom drawer has more serving pieces, things I use less frequently. I also have a more formal set of white dishes in a hutch in the living room.
I love having a huge utensil drawer next to the stove. I used large utensil trays to divide the items, larger bulky items are on the top, measuring cups and spoons are on the top right corner, wine stoppers and my favorite onion goggles on the bottom right.
I have a junk drawer in my kitchen where I keep a few office supplies, electronic cords, and a notepad or two. I love having it in the kitchen because it is the center of our house. I am always grabbing for things out of this drawer. I lined the drawer with shelf paper and used white plastic bins from the hardware store to divide the items and velcro to keep everything in place.
This is my pantry, I share lots of pictures and organizing details in this previous post…
My laundry room has a simple set up. The washer and dryer are in a closet in great half bath near our living room. It is accessible to the garage so it is convenient to bring messy things in and not track it through the rest of the house, I love it on days when I come home covered with cat hair and cobwebs. There is a shelf about the appliances where I have a little bin for rags and all of my cleaning supplies are lined up based on purpose.
Our guest bathroom has great storage too, there are several drawers that are empty for guests to store their items while they stay. I do have a few drawers filled with sample products for them to use, I used little glass bowls to divide the items and it works out great. I want my house to feel like a little hotel and I think this helps!
The master bathroom has two sinks with lots of storage under each one. Chris has one side to put all of his junk and I have the other. I used command hooks to store my hairdryer and favorite brush because I use them all of the time, this idea really utilized extra extra storage space and I love that I don’t have to ruffle through a bin or a drawer to find them.
I use the floral bins for my travel stuff, feminine products, and extra things like razors and soap. They work great because they stack and are an inexpensive way to utilize the space. They are from Home and Garden and I love the print! I have more white bins from the hardware store to divide the rest of the beauty stuff. There are two drawers above that house all of my makeup if you are wondering where that is.
I don’t have a lot of jewelry, especially now that the jerks that robbed our house last year stole most of it! I use an egg tray for my earrings and fun rings inside of my closet, to see more click here. If you want a closer look at how I organize the rest of my closet check out this post.
There is a nice size coat closet right inside the front door. I have two white bins on the top shelf for scarves and bags. Next to the hanging coats there is a long shoe rack that we keep the sneakers that we wear most often, the rest of our shoes are stored in our master closets. I have command hooks on the back of the door to hang Chris’ hats and some of my favorite bags. The bin on the closet floor has flip flops in it and Chris’ work bag typically lives on the floor in the empty spot on the left. It works for us and there is plenty of room for guests to hang their things too.
Our dining room has a pretty yellow hutch where I store all of our cocktail glasses, there is nothing I love more than pretty glasses lined up nicely!
Last I will leave you with my paperwork. I don’t have clunky file cabinets, instead I use these portable file boxes from the Container Store. I have one for our home and one for our business. To read more about my paperwork system and check out this previous post with great organizing tips.
I hope you enjoyed a peek inside of some of the organized spaces in my home. Let me know if you have any questions about products that I used or need advice about a space within your home.
Kathy says
You are an inspiration! Thank you for sharing your dream home with us! You make it look so easy. When you worked with me in my home you were quick to help me decide what to keep and not keep. At the end of each day you took away unwanted items… for resale or charity. Thank you!
Stephanie from Somewhat Simple says
Love this post! I am featuring it today, here is the link: http://www.somewhatsimple.com/5-creative-organization-ideas/ Thanks for linking it to my link party!
xoxo,
Stephanie
Claudia says
Nice to meet a fellow SiliValley blogger! You have a beautiful home!