At JE Design Group we have a saying “where style and life meet”. We believe your space should be a reflection of you, but the best you! Sometimes identifying that your organizing style inhibits your design style is something that needs to be addressed.
This comes in to play in your kitchen, home office, closet design, garage, unfinished storage… literally every corner of your home. Identify your organizing style and then we can address your design needs so that we don’t forfeit design.
There are four classifications for organizing characteristics… are you a ladybug, butterfly, cricket, or bee?
Ladybugs like their organization hidden. They need drawers, baskets, labeled bins, and doors on cabinets. This is a realistic place to be when it comes to organizing… I like to think being a ladybug is attainable. Even if you have a lot of stuff, you can have a well-managed system for that stuff being able to pull what you need quickly when you need it. The hard part is putting it back when you are finished. We all lead busy lives, and it is easy just to sit it down or throw it close to where it should be and leave it. But then that starts to pile up and while everything may look great on the surface, it is a trainwreck behind that closed door!
I personally think I am a “ladybug”; I am guilty of letting 3 loads of towels pile up on the guest bedroom bed behind a closed door before I fold and put everything away! I relate to the saying: Laundry takes 1-2 business days to complete but 5-7 business days to put away.”
Butterflies have an out-of-sight-out-of-mind characteristic when it comes to organizing and need everything out in plain sight. This often leads to a visual organized mess also known as a constant state of clutter. Shelves, clear bins and labels can go a long way to detach you from that butterfly status.
Crickets are your top tier organizers and like everything behind closed doors. When organizing they have subcategories… so their sock drawer will be divided into ankle socks and long socks, but within that they will be divided by color! While we all wish we could be a cricket, most of us don’t have the time to be that detailed! Give yourself some grace and even if it is not perfect, you are still more organized than most and you know exactly where to find everything!
Bees are visual organizers and have a hard time letting things go, so they often have a lot of stuff. They need to see items they use often and will leave a project out until they are finished contributing to a consistent cluttered look that can be a challenge in any space. “I may need it some day?” That is fine, but you need to identify trash from treasure or hard to find when needed. Put those items into a labeled bin on the shelf… If you know you have it and you know you are a visual person you can find it in a clearly labeled box or bin on a shelf and free up your everyday space a little to see the things, you actually need!
*ALL PHOTOS ARE FROM PINTEREST. NOT OWNED BY JE DESIGN GROUP