Ever since the birth of my first son Leo I’ve been very into organization. I always liked being organized, but it wasn’t until I was faced with the fact that we’d have to fit a child and all of his toys and gear in our tiny rancher that it became extremely beneficial. Now with our second son Beau’s arrival, it’s an absolutely vital necessity. I’ve found successful solutions over the four years that we’ve lived in the house and 2 1/2 years that we’ve had Leo. I’ve combined ideas found in books, online, and some I’ve come up with. One thing I’ve found is really important for me is not only that the system I establish works, but also that it is attractive.
While I respect the advice of organization greats like Marie Kondo, I realized that solutions like organizing things in shoe boxes has one major flaw – a shelf full of mismatched shoe boxes is not pretty, even if they do perfectly hold and sort your socks. It did not spark joy, at least for me.
One of the reasons this shelving unit looks so pretty? Matching magazine holders and a specific color palette. Granted my closet will never look like one out of a Martha Stewart magazine because I can’t discipline myself to only buy clothes in three different colors (that’s why magazine closets look SO good – notice they only use a few colors!)
The great part of of Marie Kondo’s method of using shoe boxes is that shoe boxes are free (excepting the shoes). Pretty matching containers alas, are not. So 2018 means that while I have a lot of our home organized successfully, I’ll now have to find a budget friendly way to make my organizing tools “pretty.” If anyone has any great resources for me to check out – I’d appreciate it!
All images via Britt & Co
