The Ultimate List of Room Organization Ideas For Your Home
As of late, the epicenter of our lives has been centered around home. And truth be told, we over here at Elegant Simplicity, have some pretty strong beliefs when it comes to defining what a home should be. Just to name a few — home should be the perfect cocktail of timeless style, functional systems + your family story all intertwined.
Creating homes where the people you love most can comfortably be themselves… this my friend, is what the good stuff is made of.
It’s what gives us goosebumps + makes me giddy inside because when it comes to creating a cozy + inviting home, I whole-heardedly subscribe to the fact that it needs to serve + contribute to our lives.
A home, it needs to function in a way that makes life easier while sprinkling pleasurable moments into our everyday routines. But don’t get it twisted, our home also needs to function as a reminder of what is important to us.
And lucky for you, we’ve put together a quick roundup of room organization ideas for nearly every room of your home. From entryways, living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms to playrooms, closet spaces, and home offices — we’ve got your back sis!
So, let’s dive in.
ENTRYWAY
Let’s begin with the entry spaces in your home. Whether it’s something as simple as a front door that opens into an entryway or a garage door that transitions into a mudroom, typically this is the first thing, inside your home, people lay eyes on. So, not only do we want to make a great first impression by being intentional about how we design this space but we really want to consider all the things needed by you or your guests when you are entering or leaving your home. In other words, we want the function of the space to be decided by what’s needed when we’re in it.
For everyday use in a mudroom or entryway, ask yourself, do we need a command center or a specific place to drop our keys, wallet or purse? Maybe you need a place to hang backpacks + jackets? Or a place to sit down + take your shoes off.
A handful of great room organization ideas to consider for entryways and mudrooms:
Do you need wall hooks?
What about open or closed storage?
Does the space have enough room for cabinetry or a bench to sit down?
How might baskets or a tray help to corral loose items?
LIVING ROOM
Living rooms are another very active + communal space in our homes. And while it’s an area intended to promote comfort and conversation, we don’t want to overwhelm it with clutter. But when it comes to organizing your living room it’s important to consider exactly how people relax + spend their time here.
Are you unwinding in with a good book, kicking up your feet to watch a football game or entertaining a room full of guests? While the age of streaming is fully upon us + more and people are cutting the cord –– have you noticed how the devices we use continue to get smaller? Fortunately a media console is still a great place to store things like candles, blankets, remote controls + lets not forget about board games (as well as to hide those devices we don’t want to see!)
Whatever the case may be, when it comes to living room organization we absolutely love the idea that “Outer order leads to inner calm.” So without further ado, here's a few room organization ideas for your living spaces:
Do you need a coffee table with storage to hide away remotes and extra blankets?
Would a small media console with open storage be a good solution for your family?
What about built-in cabinets or bookcases for decorative accents?
How might tabletops (like end tables or accent tables) without storage work or not work?
KITCHEN
Can you remember the last time you went to a drawer in your kitchen, opened a cabinet or the door to your pantry + felt excited? What about a time when you felt like, “f-i-i-i-n-n-ally” a functional kitchen has a place to live in my kitchen.
There are limitless ways to get your kitchen organized.
From drawer inserts + drawer dividers that can be customized to fit every utensil you have to clear food storage containers in your pantry + tiered shelves so you never lose sight of what you have.
Oh + lets not forget about organizing those shelves + drawers in your refrigerator. When it comes to maximizing storage in your refrigerator doors we’re all about fridge organization that makes your heart go pitter-patter.
Without question, I feel safe in telling you that the kitchen is one of, if not the, hardest working space in your home.
Which means, in order to get that monster kitchen of yours organized, you’re going to need to first declutter + decide what you no longer need to keep. But to keep that beautify mind of yours thinking outside of the box, here are a couple room organization ideas (and questions) we ask our clients while organizing their kitchen.
For instance:
Would it make sense to consider creating specific zones for everything that lives in your kitchen... where will the food storage containers, pots and pans, utensils live?
When it comes to dishware, is it possible to store your dishes differently (or in another location) in order to better maximize the cabinet space you currently have?
And for those of you who, like myself, love to cook, how you organize your spaces will be incredibly important. But rest assured, there’s a lot of options. Spice drawer? Spice rack? Or tiered shelving in your kitchen cabinet to name a few.
Once you’ve decided how to organize your pantry — do you have space in your pantry for a kids shelf so they can help themselves to a snack?
BATHROOM
When it comes to organizing your bathroom it’s all about making these spaces of our homes safe, clean, hygienic + tidy. Which means, we want to not only remove the excess of stuff (you know what I’m talking about girl –– the hair ties, the bobby pins, the face creams, the leftover lotions, the half empty hair products we shamelessly stockpile like we’re trying to revive the 80’s –– but when it come to organizing bathrooms we also want to maximize the storage we have by creating functional drawers, shelves + vanity cabinets.
And to be fair, regardless of the size of your bathroom one can always use more storage.
So, what are some room organization ideas for the bathroom that will help eliminate the slight sense of anxiety, overwhelm or frustration we get when we’re getting ready each day but also help you maximize every square inch of your bathroom?
Built-in cabinetry customized to fit all the things you need in the bathroom is one sure fire way to eliminate clutter but the good news is it’s not the only way.
If you have a large bathroom, another excellent way to organize your space is to add a display cabinet where your extra towels and toiletries can live.
Short on space? Not to worry, consider adding shelves above the toilet or in a small alcove which can hide among other things the overflow of bathroom supplies.
Really short on space? A small accent table or even a tiered stool might be an excellent way to add a bit of storage to house small baskets or canisters of the most important things you or your guests need.
BEDROOM
Storage in your bedroom is all about creating functional zones balanced with aesthetic bliss because your bedroom isn’t just where you wake up in the morning or where you go to lay that gorgeous head of yours at the end of the day.
Your bedroom is where you get dressed for work, where you store your jewelry, your comfy clothes + it’s where intimate conversations with your loved ones unfold. Embarrassingly, it’s also the place in our home where clothes pile up on the chair or a bench + where the nightstand gets filled with so much stuff, there’s no place to set your phone.
Typically when things reach the point when they can no longer be ignored, it’s usually because you either don’t have enough space for everything to put stuff away (in this case bedroom storage) or you don’t have a handle on your organizing systems. A couple of great room organization ideas are:
Naturally, we’re not fans of storing things in places that are difficult to reach, because it’s easy to fall victim to “out of sight out of mind” syndrome. But if you’re intentional about what you put where –– and you’re serious about maximizing bedroom storage space –– under your bed is a great place to store a rotation of handbags or seasonal clothes that you won’t forget about but also don’t need to access daily.
For most, the nightstand is an extra storage space but the real question is what kind of storage solution is right for you? Does open shelving or closed drawer space make sense for you? To answer this question, think about the items you grab on a regular basis.
Declutter that closet babe. Making your bedroom closet functional is paramount but in order to know what you need more of you also need to know if you have too much of something else.
BEDROOM CLOSET + LINEN CLOSET
To be completely fair, closets in general are not exactly the most glamorous spaces in a home. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t be beautiful + functional. In fact, closets are one of my favorite things to organize. At the end of the day, closets are where we keep/shove/toss/pile some of our coziest belongings like sweaters, shoes, sheets, towels, blankets etc.
And over the years, I’ve helped a ton of clients organize their custom closet space in a way that completely transforms an otherwise utilitarian storage shelf into an intuitive and gorgeous area of home that functions in stride with their day to day lives.
Does all of this sound too good to be true? Really? How can a closet be so life-changing? Well my love, I’m here to tell you that you can go from having a pile of clothes or linens lining the shelves of a closet with no rhyme or reason to a perfectly well-thought out + logical space. I’ve seen it happen time + time again and it can be momentous!.
So, let's dive into a couple of closet organization ideas.
When it comes to your shoes, where will you store them –– better yet, how? Will they hang in a pocket organizer, in individual shoe storage containers on a shelf or neatly lined a shoe rack? Whatever the case may be, you’ll want to identify if all your shoes will live in a single closet or do some live in the garage as well.
When it comes to organizing your linen closet — consider designating a shelf for everyday use that’s organized by room: bedroom, bathroom, dining, etc. This way, you can easily place any extra bedding that you would use every day on the bedroom shelf, the extra towels on the bathroom shelf + so forth.
When it comes to organizing your clothes closet, consider investing in quality hangers (especially if you plan to hang everything) And I can not stress enough, the importance of customizing your closet in a way that completely maximizes hanging space. Unless, maybe yoga pants are your new go-to threads in which case, you’ll be prioritizing drawer space.
HOME OFFICE
There’s no way to sugar coat this one...Office organization takes time. Which is why prioritizing that it gets done is essential because it’s one of the easiest spaces in our home that we can shut the door to + not think twice. Thankfully, there are a ton of benefits to organizing your home office. Which is why we wrote an earlier blog post on it.
From more clarity + focus to better energy + less stress, eliminating clutter and the cable chaos in your office can pay big dividends on your productivity. To help nudge you in the right direction, here are a few room organizing ideas:
Showcase the things you love but don’t go over board. Considering how much of your space will be needed for actual work + how much room you can dedicate to decorative accents from travel, family photos or inspiration you love.
Do you need a desk to work at? An office chair or an arm chair? Are those bookcases for actual storage in which case you’d prefer to have things less visible or are they for accessories? These are important questions to ask yourself because organizing your home office (+ any room in your home) is all about making it conform to you.
Where will your files live + how will you label them? Short on space, maybe a digital filing cabinet is worth the time investment?
KIDS PLAYROOM
I can personally attest that being a mom is h-a-r-d work… like, really hard!
And when it comes to organizing the overflowing playroom, the messy closets + all of the kid-sized furniture it is down right daunting because as luck would have it, just when you find your groove, favorite your kiddo(s) swoop in + flip your beautifully organized masterpiece on its head. One lego, block + stuffed animal at a time.
On one hand, watching them play is adorable + it’s nice to see how much they love spending time in their playroom but on the other hand “are you....flipping... kidding me?”
Certainly, there’s a learning curve (and its steep) so when it comes to getting organized + managing all the stuff that comes along with having kids, be kind to yourself. Remember, figuring it out + learning what to do with it all it is part of the journey!
The good news is here are a couple of room organization ideas for your playrooms:
Set-up a homework + art station to be created. This gives your kiddo an exact space to go when they want to be creative or need to be productive. It also allows you the perfect place to put everything they’ll need: paper, pencils, crayons, coloring books, and other craft supplies.
Create activity zones and categorize kids toys based upon how they use them. This is an important part of realizing that kids play with toys that as adults we don’t necessarily think go together. And it’s important to allow them room to use that developing imagination + also know exactly where to put things back when they’re done.
To the best of your ability when containerizing with kids consider whether a clear bin can be used. This affords kids the opportunity of seeing what’s in the bin before taking everything out.
Decluttering + Organizing your home is a marathon, especially if you want things done right. Sure it takes time, energy + sometimes even a bit of elbow grease but I promise you, that when you finally cross that finish line not only will you have an amazing sense of pride + accomplishment but the overwhelming confidence you’ll have because you’ve got organizing systems that work + gurl, your home actually serves –– YOU!
It’s such an incredibly rewarding process, when you’re able to finally enjoy your home soooo much more.
Lucky for you boo, if you’re in need of help decluttering, getting organized + containerizing everything under the moon we’ve got your back :) In fact, our 1hr strategy + (in-home or virtual) organizing sessions are the perfect way to get started.
— Sherri