I think some of the kitchen organizing posts from last weeks Organization Blog Fest have received more comments than Ali and I put together the entire time we’ve been blogging! It shows me how great it is to have some guest voices on the blog!

As a follow up for those of you with tight kitchen spaces, I thought I’d share one of my many flickr favorites. I love the way that this pegboard and the pots and pans on it have become a graphic element in the kitchen. It’s got function and form and is a work of assemblage art in itself! The assemblage can even give us hints at what the owner is whipping up in the kitchen when we see pieces missing. Nice.

photo by flickr member merskine

And so we have come to the end. By now I would assume your 500 piece pencil collection is in order, your socks are filed away by color then size and your canned foods are arranged alphabetically. I can imagine you sitting by your bookcase, impressed with the outcome of your recent arrangement but also bored because decluttering and arranging your things was such a thrill and now that it is all in order you don’t know what to do with your time.

Ok, I’m almost spot on, right?

Probably not, but if you need more inspiration or organizing guidance I would highly suggest Read the rest of this entry »

The closet is perhaps one of the most painful things to organize, even (or especially) when you don’t have one. In moving to our loft space we were left closetless. Where do you put your stuff when you don’t have a closet or dresser? Well, this is what we lived like for nearly two months:

Disgusting. What do you do when you can’t live like this any longer? Read the rest of this entry »

Paper Cloud was started in 2006 by husband and wife team Matt & Ariana Broerman. They design and produce handmade pillows, lighting, apparel, and journals in their home studio in Cincinnati, Ohio.

When I was small – 4 or 5 – my family visited my grandparents in Florida and I found a shoebox in which I neatly organized all the things I thought were important. I now have lots more to organize, but the same desire to keep things tidy has stayed with me.

STUDIO & WORKSPACE
When we set up our home studio, we realized that we needed storage that could double as workspace. We bought filing cabinets and big metal drawers at an overstock liquidation outlet. Then Matt bought plywood which he finished and screwed onto the metal pieces to create long work benches. The solution was cheaper than Read the rest of this entry »

If I were to show you a photo of my bedroom you just might question my ability to work for Design Public. I have one of the smallest bedrooms known to man…a room we now refer to as a shoebox rather than bedroom…and in our shoebox one misplaced item creates a bona fide tornado scene. I have grand visions with how I want to Read the rest of this entry »

Jeri Dansky is a professional organizer helping people tackle the clutter that drives them crazy. She works in-person with people throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and also provides long-distance telephone coaching. She writes a free monthly newsletter and has a blog full of organizing insights and products.

Question: Each year I resolve to get organized, and each year I don’t stick with it. What can I do differently this year?

Answer: Try these suggestions to make things easier on yourself this year.

1. Set a reasonable goal for yourself. Being organized should allow you to find Read the rest of this entry »

Erin Rooney Doland is Editor-in-Chief of the home and office organizing blog Unclutterer.com.

I live in a mid-century modern home designed by the architect Charles M. Goodman. It is a quirky house with two perpendicular walls made of glass, and the other two walls made of concrete. My friends lovingly refer to it as “1960’s vision of the future.”

Twenty years after the house was built, the then-current homeowner decided to do away with the beautiful metal cabinetry in the kitchen and replace it with plywood and laminate cupboards. To add insult to injury, the redesign included Read the rest of this entry »

Jed is the Creative Director at Hepper, a Modern Pet Furnishings company in Burlington, Vermont. He gets to design the products he wants for his pets, and has a house full of cats to test all the new concepts.

As much as we love the critters in our house, they do bring a lot of challenges with their companionship. The fur-everywhere, midnight-puking, couch-scratching, litter-spreading lifestyle that our cats have is well worth the friendship, fun, and joy they bring to our lives, but there are some things that you can do to reduce the bad and increase the good.

Our 3 cats go through a lot of food and they are not the cleanest eaters. There’s always a halo of food crumbs and water dribbles in their food area. Chances of teaching them to clean up after themselves is slim, but I have found a simple food area organization solution that works well. Super simple really, not a product, but Read the rest of this entry »

Cubicle land? Open office with no privacy or personal space? Home office action up the wazoo? Surrounded by filing cabinets? Drawerless? Whatever your situation I’m sure your office space could use a little annual cleaning (beyond wiping off your desktop).

My Design Public desk is drawerless which is a blessing because it forces me to be super strict with what papers and knick knacks I collect. At home though, it is a different story. I have a Steelcase desk (seen above) with drawers large enough for me to Read the rest of this entry »

Dawbis is a self-taught artist with an obsession with paper. She currently resides in Texas with her husband and kitty and is working toward a degree in environmental science so that she can one day help to save the world! While she struggles to continue making art due to her studies, she manages to get creative with decorating her new home and growing flowers in her garden. You can find her work and thoughts online at lovelypaper.blogspot.com.

Trying to organize paper is like trying to organize your life. There is just no easy way to go about it. Typically there’s more of it than you have room for and attempting to square away all the patterns, textures, and colors of paper can be frustrating as hell, to say the least. Seriously, if you’re not careful you may Read the rest of this entry »