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I stumbled onto The Home Edit’s Instagram page a couple of years ago and instantly fell in love. The color-coded organizational system had me mesmerized. I love feeling organized, and spring cleaning is one of my favorite yearly activities. Anyone living with a toddler knows keeping an organized home is a constant battle. And being a full-time working mom doesn’t always leave a ton of time for housework. I manage what I can, but looking at the perfectly organized living spaces by The Home Edit team inspired me to take some action around my own home.
First step… I bought the book. It was written by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin — moms who are passionate about organization. The book begins with some basic rules for the whole process and how to embrace their signature “low bar lifestyle.” Included are tons of tips and examples for organizing any part of your living space, from your closet to the bathroom to even your junk drawer. Though I was feeling ambitious, I was overwhelmed by some of the options for the larger organization projects presented. I decided to start very small — and “operation entryway revamp” commenced.
Like most entryways, this is the place where we dump our work bags, shoes, and jackets. It has been very easy for us to just pile stuff up here. Aesthetically speaking, there was nothing special about this corner of our home. I hated our shoe rack. An avalanche of shoes tumbled off frequently, and there were even times when the entire structure would collapse as we took the shoe rack to its limit. The last thing you want to do after a long day at work is to put your shoe rack back together when one of your shoes causes its fall.
My goal was to spruce up our entryway so it not only looked aesthetically pleasing but was functional. The Home Edit book gave examples from Clea Shearer’s own home as well as from one of their celebrity clients, Molly Simms. With that inspiration, the hunt was on to find the right pieces to transform our junky entryway. I opted for a cubby hole shoe rack, which eliminated our tendency to over stack our shoes. It’s also much sturdier, so we won’t have to play 52-shoe pickup upon arriving home from our busy days.
Through this process I also noticed we didn’t have a place to put our mail, sunglasses, keys, etc. Those items ended up on our kitchen counter. It was inevitable that at least one morning during the week would include a massive search for our car keys. After scouring the Internet, I found a table perfect for our entryway. It’s tall enough that the shoe rack can fit under without the space looking cluttered, and it has drawers so our mail doesn’t end up in the kitchen. We can now call off the search party for missing keys and reroute that energy to remembering to grab our lunches and computers before dashing out the door. Also, our entryway now looks so much better than the forgotten little corner we had before.
Overall, I feel successful. The Home Edit tips are simple and easy to follow. Having photo examples really helped me imagine how our entryway could transform. Starting off with a small project was perfect for my attention span and interest, and it didn’t push me to the point of overwhelm. As the title promises, The Home Edit definitely helped me realize my entryway goals. I feel more confident to attempt other small projects around the house, like organizing some of our drawers or the space under the sink. As for the fridge and kitchen cabinets… that’s another story for a different day.
