When we organize, we almost always focus on what’s most visible – eliminating the clutter on the table, filing papers out of sight. But sometimes, making what’s behind closed doors and inside closed drawers look nice can be just as important.
Now, before you panic or accuse me of suggesting that you make everything in your home -- visible, or invisible -- into a showplace, let me reassure you that is not what I mean at all. What I’m saying is that tidy spaces, wherever they may be, can offer a sense of peace and even whimsy as well as a sense of organization.
As is often the case in organizational tasks, how much the state of what’s behind closed doors matters depends on your styles. For those with a cram and jam or drop and run organizational style, for example, just knowing what you need is in the drawer somewhere is sufficient. Mission accomplished. Anything else just feels like extra work.
If, on the other hand, you have an I need to see it or I love to be busy personal style, those tidy interior spaces with each item in its designated drawer organizer or decorative container can evoke not just tidiness but peace of mind as well. Being able to quickly pluck an item out of a drawer without digging for it or knowing at a glance which box contains the item we seek is not only a time saver, but a stress reducer as well.
Okay, I can almost hear the eye rolls (or maybe that was my husband from the other room). Don’t labels work just as well?
Yes, they do. It’s all a matter of personal choice. And I often choose both.
When I began overhauling the storage spaces in my office months ago, my I need to see it personal style overruled my drop and run organizational style, nudging me to house my belongings in pretty containers. For some reason, it was important to me that the storage containers I chose for inside the cupboards be not just functional, but attractive as well. I still don’t know why this was so important – maybe it was changing out the old shelf paper in the kitchen cabinets – but it was a non-negotiable requirement.
I’m sad to report that this organizing project has gone on for an inordinately long time. The main reason for this is that my office is the place where clutter gets “stored” when it’s littering a vertical surface in a public space, meaning that cleared spaces become cluttered spaces when I need to re-home piles in a pinch. In other words, I clear away one pile only to replace it with another when I need to stash some stuff out of the way.
So, last weekend, disgusted once again by a growing pile of homeless items and determined to make some headway, I ventured into the office to work for half an hour reducing the piles. I made a bit of headway before opening the cabinet doors to assess the available space. An hour later, I found myself at the dining room table, wielding my glue gun and adding some cheetah-print ribbon to a plain brown box.
In the end, the counter looked only marginally better, but the carefully curated selection of purchased boxes and upgraded and repurposed containers behind the cabinet doors was a triumph. Not only did they provide workable storage, but the end result also made me smile every time I opened the doors. I even showed off the finished space to my husband, who was appropriately appreciative.
Setting aside the fact that I got distracted by pretty containers, the day felt like a win. The best part was actually the repurposing, which not only tapped into my creative side, but also reduced the “good box” collection in my basement and yielded a new use for a container otherwise destined for the recycling bin. (Or gathering dust in the basement).
Organizing can be serious business. It’s important to create spaces that bring us peace and to create systems that enable us to find what we want when we want it. But just because the purpose is serious, that doesn’t mean the process can’t be fun. And if that means hauling out the glue gun and animal prints from time to time, so much the better.
