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With so much happening around us daily, it may be difficult to know where to begin when it comes to organizing and maintaining your home. Each episode of Get Organized With The Home Edit features and teaches methods on organizing different areas of the home.
Reese Witherspoon, a kitchen pantry, and Eva Longoria and her small child, featured on the Netflix series, The Home Edit.
The promised benefit of improvement in accessibility, the look of your home, and the feeling of tranquility are part of the inspirational self-help process that these organizational gurus want to empower you with. While The Home Edit series gives you the tools to be smart, sustainable, and beautiful in and within your space, the series emphasis is specifically on “form and function.” The edits and/or categorization should be adaptable and accessible by a process of assessing your goal(s) for the space, categorization, containment of your items, and maintaining what your goals were for the home, thus the transformation.
Categorization
Categorization is and can be a trial and error process, yet assessment should occur to ensure proper planning takes place or to envelop the transformation. For example, with a closet space, a good way to begin is to ask three questions: Does the edit need it, use it, or love it? In terms of shoes, clothing, and accessories (with limited space in our closet areas), we next decide to relocate, store, and/or archive other pieces.
Dividing it into sections will be the logical next step, with obvious visual reminders of the categorization.
“ We love a category that makes you happy, we’re going to highlight it.”
((“The Home Edit.” Netflix.com, 2020. ))
Personalization or/in categorization allows for easier transition in a daily life “grab-and-go” type of feel or system many busy Americans face every day, all the time. You can also have more fun with this process if you have not already! After you have established your sections, for example, you can establish zones; it’s really not too complicated. For one client in particular, Reese Witherspoon, the section was previously archived clothing; one zone from her work in movies and another from her work on TV.
Efficiency
The Home Edit has a main office located in Nashville, TN. However, they fly out all over the country to organize for some of their celebrity clientele. When The Home Edit organized Rachel Zoe’s closet space they were lucky enough to organize it as such: 1. Sequin Section 2. Leather Section 3. Vintage Channel Section. Other ways could have been seasonal, practical, or anything else for visual effect, etc. Zones in closets are key because they are the marriage of “form meeting function” to effectively store everything. Also, take inspiration from the things surrounding you.
If you walk into a retail clothing store, everything is neat and perfectly organized. An easy-to-maintain system for organizing your closet at home is by hanging the items in order of weight of the garment, and/or style, preferably on velvet hangers. What is really fun is hanging everything in order of ROY G BIV (like a rainbow) or color coordination in sections of your choice! Don’t forget to hang your clothing in the same direction, all facing one way with the hooks pointing away. That way is preferably facing the client, or you, as one enters the closet.
A ROY G BIV example The Home Edit put together in a refrigerator.
Another popular way or arranging and prompting a peaceful home setting is the use of feng shui (Chinese: 風水), also known as Chinese geomancy, which is a pseudoscientific traditional practice originating from ancient China, which claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment (( “Wikipedia.” Wikipedia.org, 2020. )). While the show does not directly reference feng shui, it is obvious there are correlations. For example, a major element of feng shui is to keep your home free of clutter, another is to balance the five elements, and lastly, one other is to also maximize natural light (( “MYDOMAINE.” MYDOMAINE.com, 2020. )) .
A rainbow color-code is also a smart technique and system that can act as a set of labels in children’s rooms when they put their toys away themselves. Such a structured arrangement can be truly soothing.
TIP: Handle precious things with care. Print out some labels at home on clear sticky paper, and, for special occasion outfits, you can even label with the occasion, and/or date you wore the outfit on the hanger!
Containment
One thing you will notice a lot in The Home Edit series is that form and function methods are used to organize some of the smaller things, like accessories. Clear plastic containers are used with shelving and labels so they can easily and promptly access what they’re looking for. Sorting bins allow for individual allotments for each item, or several items in drawers, and sorting bins can make your home feel more streamlined.
We watched another popular Netflix series as Marie Kondo, a Japanese organizing consultant and creator of the KonMari method, visited families to help them organize and tidy their homes. Many of us were indeed sparked with joy after watching Tidying Up With Marie Kondo. Marie would organize and tidy but with everyday objects around the house. She would take older or recyclable items to store and properly contain things in client’s drawers and kitchen cabinets.
TIP: Zones for your daily rituals should have easy accessibility. The efficiency and order-solutions via containment can really capture and create effective structure for the finishing touches of your organized home.
Maintaining
To stay well organized, well presented, and well structured, maintaining your organization in the long term is key. It is also very important to be systematic and strategic, yet at the same time, adaptable with your system. Work the space around into your daily routine for an easy to maintain system. Labeling different parts of your space on the bins, or as suggested above, or on hangers, can readily allow for the flow of the management of your closet, garage, kitchen, office, or bedroom! Tidiness can allow you to feel rejuvenated, composed, and light.
“Make sure as new items come and go, it remains really functional.”
((“The Home Edit.” Netflix.com ,2020. ))
TIP: When dry cleaners leave plastic wrap over clothing, remove it. It can cause moisture, mold, moths, and bugs to become trapped inside. Therefore, also consider bringing your own cloth garment bag to the dry cleaners. While practicing some of the tips and techniques as stated previously, they should allow you, or a client, to be able to maintain and manage this system easily.
The Transformation
The transformation of your home is such an important one regarding the energies we feel surrounding us on a daily basis. We do not necessarily have to fully transform the structure of our homes to find harmony; we can have our homes evolve with us. With some feng shui noted re-arrangements, a few good reads, or Instagram inspiration, a small tweak can have a major impact on our daily lives. A clear strategy to starting with any part of your home that we take away from the Netflix series is to begin your organization by trying to assess your goals for the space you intend to transform, with a list.
For your closet, are specific pieces of sentimental or seasonal value? The prices for the company’s organizational services with clients ranging all the way from New York, to Los Angeles range from $185-$250+. You can also grab some inspiration by watching the oh-so-fun series and also via picking up one of The Home Edits‘ book, The Home Edit: A Guide To Organizing And Realizing Your House Goals.