Organizing Big in Small Spaces

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This fall, I'll get to put all of my organizing by STYLE ideas to work in a new realm: my daughter's dorm room. Actually, she'll get to put this all to work -- I'll merely be the consultant -- both because this is her space, and because our styles are different.

Or, are they?

When she was little, my daughter was the embodiment of the I love stuff personal style. A collector of such proportions that she'd bring mulch from the playground inside in her coat pockets, she had difficulty parting with anything. Over time, she's become much more discriminating -- so much so, that I no longer think that I love stuff is a style that fits her -- which is wonderful because in a little more than a month, she'll be entering an environment where that style will be a challenge, to say the least.

At home, in shared spaces, my daughter shares my drop and run organizational style, exacerbated by her dad's I know I put it somewhere need to pick up that things she leaves in her wake and put them, well, somewhere. This style is in evidence in her room as well, but she tolerates it for much less time there. At least once a week, she reaches the point where the telltale trail of the drop and run organizer begins to get to her and she turns on her music and whips her room into shape.

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All of this will need to be taken into account as she furnishes her dorm room. Her drop and run predisposition will mean that she needs easy access containers, preferably those that make it as easy to put things away as it is to simply put them down.

Finding the intersection of cheap, cute, portable and functional will be tricky, but it can also be fun. which containers work best for each style will make shopping easier, especially since there's a good chance that she'll be rooming with someone whose styles are different. Merging styles and preferences, along with personal taste can lead to wonderful brainstorming and intermingling of success stories and strategies.
Keeping in mind

Are you getting ready to furnish a small space? More tomorrow on three keys to consider as you tackle the fun of preparing a brand new space.