Bookworm Cottage Style

I am always looking for ways to streamline my life and remove friction points from my day-to-day routine. When executed thoughtfully, a well-organized home can provide not only visual tranquility, but also fewer frustrations and more efficient daily living. 

There is much to be said for shopping for less (no buying something just because it is on sale or if you don’t truly love it), stopping the pipeline of junk into your home (saying no to goodie bags and free merch), and frequently donating/selling what’s no longer serving you (if it is broken, stained, doesn’t fit, etc… let it go). But the approach I want to talk about today has less to do with what I’m bringing into my home, and more to do with where I keep things.

Frequently used items should be in prime, easy-to-reach locations. If there is a kitchen tool or outfit or gadget in a convenient drawer that you haven’t used in many months, it’s time to reconsider where you keep it. Otherwise, it’s just getting in your way. Our routines are always changing, so it makes sense that our physical spaces should reflect these changes. Just because socks have always gone in your top left drawer, doesn’t mean that you have to keep them there forever or that it’s the best spot for them today. 

As you embark on your spring cleaning, I encourage you to view your home through this lens, evaluating your convenient storage spots against your current life needs. Here are some examples of how I’ve put this into practice recently:

• Swimsuits took up an entire drawer in my dresser, despite the fact that I can count on one hand the number of times per year I go to the beach or pool. Instead, I moved swimsuits to a slightly less convenient spot in my closet, and filled my dresser drawer with winter base layers (merino wool leggings and Numi undershirts) – items that get daily use for 6+ months out of the year but that didn’t really have a dedicated “home” in my room until now.
• My T-shirt drawer contained a jumbled combination of nicer striped knits and worn, sentimental T-shirts that I wouldn’t necessarily leave the house in but will wear to sleep or do house chores. To make it easier to put together presentable yet comfortable outfits that stay true to my style, I moved the casual T-shirts to a drawer in my closet and kept my nicer knits neatly folded in my primary dresser. Now when I open my drawer (top picture) I see exactly the style of top I’m looking for, and don’t have to look past anything that distracts me from my purpose.
• I moved decorative serving spoons (that we only use when hosting) from our primary utensil drawer to a spot in the pantry and put baby spoons (which we now use multiple times daily) in our utensil drawer instead.
• We are not drinking much wine these days, so I moved the stemless wine glasses from our cup cupboard to a cabinet in our pantry with other serveware, and moved baby cups into the cup cupboard with the rest of our daily glassware. Now all of our day-to-day drinking vessels are in one place together.
• We have an over-the-door organizer in the nursery and I am frequently revisiting the pocket contents to make sure they make sense for our day-to-day life. Most recently, I removed pockets for backstock diapers and wipes (putting those in his closet) and instead created new pockets for short sleeve tee shirts and long sleeve tee shirts, so that I have all of the ingredients I need in one place to quickly put together his outfits (pictured above).
• Crampons were taking up valuable real estate in our coat closet and snow shoes were hidden away in the basement. Now they live together in a much more logical location, on a new shelving unit in our garage, near other winter outdoor gear.

All of this probably sounds incredibly obvious. But until you actually start opening drawers and cabinets with a critical eye, it is easy to let this little exercise fall through the cracks. 

What home organization projects are on your to-do list this spring?