I’ve always been super organized, but after thumbing through The Home Edit’s book and turning a corner in my energy and motivation levels at six months postpartum (back in mid-January), my organization game is ON POINT.
Clea and Joanna, of The Home Edit, take organization to a whole new level. They combine form and function (and a little champagne and candy!) and turn spaces into works of art. I’d been following them on Instagram for awhile, and even used their photo of one of the Kardashian’s pantries to be the inspiration for a pantry re-do almost exactly a year ago. Their creations tend to be either incredibly colorful (ROYGBIV, to be exact) or very neutral. They put everything in bins with beautiful labels and manage to elevate humble under-sink cabinets to the level of masterpieces.
While all the spaces in our house started out organized and beautiful, entropy happened and each one slowly devolved into utter chaos. One would think that during ‘nesting’ before baby I would have taken care of these problem areas, but no. I was too busy preparing her room, gardening and painting baseboard in the hopes of bringing labor on… (Spoiler alert: I didn’t, and you can read about our induction Maelle’s birth story here.)
Anyway, these spots were really starting to get under my skin and I knew I had to take matters into my own hands. (At $395/hr, there is no way I could hire Clea and Joanna.) I also took this time to change up some of the products we’re using in an effort to be kinder to the environment and avoid coming into contact with chemicals that are considered endocrine disruptors and/or skin irritants.
I tackled the cleaning cabinet near our basement stairs first. It used to be relatively organized and held cleaning supplies, extra toilet paper, paper towels and tissues, as well as pet food (bottom shelf). At the time of this photo, I can confidently say that the cabinet was at an all-time low in terms of cleanliness and functionality.
After freshening the space with white paint, purging old and unnecessary cleaning products (carpet cleaner, pet stain removers), relocating miscellaneous items (I’m looking at you, old fish-tank-in-a-bottle.), and stocking up on individually-wrapped paper products from Who Gives a Crap, here is the AFTER:
I know, right?! I can’t believe it’s the same space. Because the cabinet isn’t completely sealed off from whatever is behind it (original exterior of the house, access to the basement) it was important to me that the toilet paper and paper towels were individually-wrapped. Plus, it looks SO MUCH BETTER this way. At the time I did this, we had literally JUST received our toilet paper from Amazon, but we needed tissues…so I just went ahead and ordered it all from WGAC so I could make the cabinet look pretty. We may not have to buy more toilet paper and paper towels until 2021…
I relocated the cleaning supplies to another place to keep them out of Maelle’s reach. This cabinet will be gated off anyway, and the only thing left there is the natural floor cleaner, which I may still move. Dusting cloths and an extra hand towel for the half-bath are in the clear bin, and I added a shiny new mop bucket and dustpan for good measure.
On the heels of finishing the cleaning cabinet, I turned my attention to under the skin. It had also fallen into disarray over the years and I suddenly realized just how bad it had gotten.
Here’s the before:
And the AFTER:
Gotta maximize that vertical space! I’m so happy with how it turned out. I used these chrome sliding drawers from Amazon. Again, I used this as an opportunity to purge anything I wasn’t using and replace my dishwashing pods and dish soap with more ‘natural’ products. I even made my own all-purpose cleaner! (I do still have bleach, regular dish soap and antibacterial hand soap for emergencies.) So far, I have no complaints about the grab green dishwashing pods, and the price is about the same as I was paying for Cascade.
More areas to come, including the upstairs linen closet, my bathroom medicine cabinet/drawer area and my downstairs desk. I’m on a roll!
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