Housekeeping | domino https://www.domino.com/category/housekeeping/ The ultimate guide for a stylish life and home—discover your personal style and create a space you love. Tue, 26 Mar 2024 05:00:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 I Treat the IKEA Malm Storage Bed Like the Linen Closet I Never Had https://www.domino.com/design-by-room/malm-storage-bed-review/ Tue, 26 Mar 2024 05:00:00 +0000 https://www.domino.com/?p=331780

Underneath the mattress, I played Tetris with three types of bins.

The post I Treat the IKEA Malm Storage Bed Like the Linen Closet I Never Had appeared first on domino.

]]>

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

I just doubled my storage, and no, I didn’t move apartments. I got a new bed frame. 

Upgrading my classic IKEA Malm bed to the lift-up storage model gave my towels, bedding, books, winter coats, and tote bags a proper home. While I’ve always kept those items under my bed (usually crammed inside a random suitcase), to get to anything in the center, I’d have to manually lift my mattress and balance it on my back while crouching over and pulling up the wood slats. It wasn’t a pretty picture, and may or may not have led to some chronic back pain. 

The classic and storage Malm beds are almost identical, but while the classic comes in four colorways and four sizes, the storage version comes in just two colorways and two sizes. Luckily, the size and color I wanted, full and white, came in both. The prices also differ quite a bit; for the full size, the upgrade takes you from $329 up to $659. My favorite difference: Rather than open-air sides, the storage version is completely closed. That one seemingly simple difference is what ultimately inspired me to make the swap. I knew this tiny upgrade would make my entire apartment feel so much cleaner—all of my stuff would be out of sight and, more important, it wouldn’t be such a pain (literally) to access stuff. 

Storage Ideas photo
Malm Storage Bed, IKEA ($659)
Shop

The Assembly

The bed was delivered the next day (yes, you read that right) for $39. Delivery didn’t include assembly, so I hired a TaskRabbit. After watching the skilled professional with a 5-star rating take a full two hours to build the bed, I knew I had made the right choice. Paying him $150 saved me what would have been an entire weekend of frustration.

Now I simply pull a strap at the foot of the bed and—voilà!—my mattress opens to a 45-degree angle. 

The Organization

I have what I like to think of as a brand-new closet (it’s just one that lays flat on the floor!). Rather than reverting to my old ways and keeping my belongings in old suitcases, I went back to IKEA and tricked it out with interior storage compartments. Because there are so many options, I asked the interior design leader for IKEA U.S., Abbey Stark, for some pointers. She recommended a combination of Skubb and Parkla, both of which are soft zippered containers, as well as Kugis, a lidded plastic box. Full closure keeps dust at bay, and handles make them easy to pull out.

Before I put my order in, I got out a ruler and graph paper and drew the bed and containers to scale so I could play around with different orientations. After landing on the below layout, there were no surprises once my order arrived.

So what goes where? I started intuitively, putting anything that was soft and flexible (table linens, bedding, pillow inserts) in the fabric containers, and any hard objects, like books and extra taper holders, in the structured Parkla boxes. Because the Skubb boxes are the largest (they’re 36.5-by-21.75-by-7.5 inches), I saved them for bigger items like towels, and relegated smaller collections like tote bags to the Parkla containers. The nice thing about the soft containers is that they’re both sheer, so I don’t need to waste brain space remembering what is where. 

The post I Treat the IKEA Malm Storage Bed Like the Linen Closet I Never Had appeared first on domino.

]]>
This Organizer Was Meant for Crafts—Here’s How I Use It for Gym Gear Instead https://www.domino.com/housekeeping/the-container-store-elfa-door-rack-review/ Thu, 21 Mar 2024 05:02:00 +0000 https://www.domino.com/?p=331374

Turns out, a yoga mat fits in the gift-wrap holder.

The post This Organizer Was Meant for Crafts—Here’s How I Use It for Gym Gear Instead appeared first on domino.

]]>

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

Over the course of the pandemic, the second bedroom in our Brooklyn apartment morphed from a place where someone might sleep every night to our home office, a library, and where my husband plays music. Since then, one corner has been designated the home gym, which, until recently, has housed a supremely unorganized pile of resistance bands, recovery tools, and foam rollers. Another stash of stuff like gels and electrolyte powder resided in the closet that’s partially blocked by our Peloton, not a total impediment but always another step.  

A few months ago, I was at the brink: I couldn’t take another morning of rooting around for the proper gear to get me out the door on a run, or trying to magician an uncluttered look when out-of-town friends come to stay. I started searching for a solution—whether that was to be bins, floating shelves, or something else entirely—and landed on the Container Store’s website, as this dilemma often compels someone to do. Scrolling around, I caught a glimpse of an over-the-door product styled with gym equipment. Funny enough, once the page loaded, it showed wrapping paper, ribbons, and all manner of gifting supplies stuffed in baskets and hanging on the utility board. That didn’t deter me: I could see yoga mats fitting where those rolls were. I clicked the “add to cart” button. 

Elfa Classic Mesh Gift Wrap Door & Wall Rack

All of the components arrived swiftly within a week. Packaged well without too much plastic, the epoxy-bonded steel racks and pegboard as well as the wire-mesh baskets felt solid yet totally lightweight upon first hold. Installation requires little more than a Phillips screwdriver and an Allen wrench, and you don’t have to drill any holes—a win for renters who want their security deposit back. 

Installation, in four steps, took all of 15 minutes: Position the brackets in the center of the door, fit the rack into the bracket so that it will tighten without being too tall, and then screw it in. Attach the different components onto the rack (mine came with a gift-wrap holder, pegboard-style utility board, boxes, hooks, and two medium baskets). The pegboard can be finicky, so make sure it’s properly secured. That’s it. That’s all she wrote. Our interior doors aren’t painted, so we see a small sliver of the brackets on the other side, but if you have white doors, I bet you’d forget they’re there. 

Price-wise, there are certainly other organizers from Rubbermaid or Amazon off-brands that are cheaper. But what I love about the Container Store’s version is threefold. It’s part of the larger Elfa system, which means it’s compatible with all kinds of different baskets and bins made for the line, so you can tweak it over time as your needs change. It’s not terribly unattractive, as far as visible organizers go. Lastly, the durable steel construction means it won’t buckle under heavier loads, and very few plastic parts makes it more sustainable. 

Elfa Utility Mesh Over the Door Rack, Container Store.

A true testament to its versatility? I liked the rack so much that I picked up another version for our teeny entry closet. It fits right between a few existing hooks we still use, and where there was once a top shelf loaded with cleaning supplies and toilet paper, there is now room for other things we’d like to hide away, too. How’s that for creating something out of nothing? 

The post This Organizer Was Meant for Crafts—Here’s How I Use It for Gym Gear Instead appeared first on domino.

]]>
Courteney Cox Just Brought Back the Homecourt Scent That Sold Out Last Summer https://www.domino.com/housekeeping/courteney-cox-homecourt-mandarin-basil/ Wed, 20 Mar 2024 17:38:43 +0000 https://www.domino.com/?p=331396
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for CELINE.

It’s like walking through an herb garden.

The post Courteney Cox Just Brought Back the Homecourt Scent That Sold Out Last Summer appeared first on domino.

]]>
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for CELINE.

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

Last summer, Courteney Cox’s home-care brand, Homecourt, sold out of its Mandarin Basile scent in just one month. It’s no wonder people snapped it up: The citrus-inspired fragrance—which initially launched in the hand wash, dish soap, candle, and surface cleaner—was concocted to “recall a crisp morning walk through an herb garden.” Who wouldn’t want to feel surrounded by that 24-7?

The speed in which the limited-edition scent flew off the virtual shelves is not lost on Cox. She’s giving us something extra-special to look forward to this spring by reintroducing Mandarin Basile—and its comforting notes of mandarin peel, Nigerian ginger, Egyptian basil, and fig leaves—to the Homecourt line. Right now, the popular aroma is available for preorder, but don’t fear a long lead time: The products are expected to begin shipping in early April (and if you bundle them with in-stock items in your cart now, they could arrive at your door even earlier than that). 

Mandarin Basile Collection

Like the rest of the Homecourt line, the hand wash, dish soap, and surface cleaner come in post-consumer recycled bottles with a reusable pump. The candle is hand-poured into a kiln-fired ceramic vessel and delivers 60 hours of burn time.

If you want to take the refreshing feeling a step further, let the combination of mandarin and basil inspire your next party. Last summer, Cox hosted a cocktail-making contest around the beloved combo.

Shop the Collection

The post Courteney Cox Just Brought Back the Homecourt Scent That Sold Out Last Summer appeared first on domino.

]]>
It’s Official: This Is America’s Most-Hated Cleaning Task https://www.domino.com/housekeeping/how-to-clean-tile-and-grout/ Fri, 15 Mar 2024 17:06:57 +0000 https://www.domino.com/?p=331106

Here’s how a pro makes it less of a hassle.

The post It’s Official: This Is America’s Most-Hated Cleaning Task appeared first on domino.

]]>

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

Everyone has that one chore you avoid at all possible costs. Scheduling a doctor’s appointment? That’s more fun than laundry. Submitting expenses? We’ll take that over doing the dishes any day. You may meet a few other people throughout life who share the same hatred for the chore you dodge the most. But if that thing you really despise happens to be cleaning tile and grout, then you definitely will.

Yelp released a report on the 10 chores Americans leave to the pros every spring. The task at the top of the list? Tile and grout cleaning. (Personally, my partner and I have taken on the duty in our bathroom—after that experience, I want to outsource it, too.) Most people will attack dirt and grime by scrubbing the space down with a general cleanser and a scrubbing tool, but there are ways to optimize your efforts that don’t require going straight for the bleach. To help make it less of a burden, I spoke with Becky Rapinchuk of Clean Mama to get her tips and tricks.

Her Favorite Cleaning Solution

Rapinchuk prefers to keep it simple—and relatively hands-off. “I like to put a sprayer on hydrogen peroxide and spray the grout (this will disinfect and whiten),” she says. Let that sit for a bit before giving it a gentle scrub. 

As for what not to use, the list is longer: “I never recommend using bleach for cleaning and I avoid products with ingredients that I can’t pronounce or that have warning labels.” And if you do end up using something a bit harsher, you’re potentially adding more work to your plate. She recommends resealing the grout after scrubbing if the grout hasn’t been sealed within one to two years.

Her Go-To Tool

Hit Amazon or Target and you’ll be bombarded with cleaning tools promising big results. It can be a lot to dig through. To keep it easy, Rapinchuk has two recommendations: Spin scrubbers like this are great, and this detail brush works wonders in crevices, too. They’re also ideal for kitchen cleaning, but Rapinchuk does not recommend using the same set you use for the bathroom. 

cleaning tool
Leebein Electric Spin Scrubber, Amazon ($45)
Shop

Her Best Technique 

So how do you avoid falling into the habit of never cleaning your tile and grout? “Staying on top of it and clean weekly,” says Rapinchuk. It makes sense: Setting up bite-size cleaning sessions will help keep big messes away. One final tip? “I also like a daily shower spray,” she says. The pro even has a simple recipe you can use daily to keep soap scum and mildew out of the picture.

The post It’s Official: This Is America’s Most-Hated Cleaning Task appeared first on domino.

]]>
This $21 Amazon Find Adds Closet Shelves Where There Aren’t Any https://www.domino.com/content/small-closet-organization-products/ Sat, 13 Nov 2021 06:07:00 +0000 https://www.domino.com/content/?p=189833

Plus a shoe organizer that saves square footage.

The post This $21 Amazon Find Adds Closet Shelves Where There Aren’t Any appeared first on domino.

]]>

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

Even though our closets hold some of our most important possessions, we inevitably end up neglecting them. So we’re asking clever homeowners and renters to share their time-tested organizing methods that really (really!) work in our new series, Reclaim Your Closet.

Having three closets in New York City is a big deal—no argument there. But that doesn’t mean organizing them will be a breeze. Take it from Hallie Gould, editor in chief and GM at Byrdie and Brides, who has two closets in the bedroom and one in the hallway of her Greenpoint, Brooklyn, apartment. The issue? They’re all equally tall, deep, and narrow. “The city is known for a lot of magical things, but unfortunately an abundance of space isn’t one of them,” says Gould. Storing her many shoes and jeans was a huge pain point. “I wanted everything to feel accessible,” she adds. What her bedroom closets, in particular, needed was optimizing. Cue the expert. 

The closet, before. Courtesy of Hallie Gould
The closet shelf, before. Courtesy of Hallie Gould
The shoe rack, before. Courtesy of Hallie Gould

Gould recruited New York City–based professional organizer Jeni Aron after using Yelp’s Request a Quote feature, which helps connect anyone looking to achieve a task with the right professional in their area (and it makes budgeting and scheduling supereasy to do at one time). “I don’t think she had a real understanding of the inventory up there,” says Aron, noting how Gould’s sweaters on the upper shelves were way out of reach. So they got a step stool, cleared out everything in her two closets, made a plan, and got to work.

Phone a Friend (Preferably With a Car)  

First, Aron took stock of what Gould wanted to keep and cut things that were not in great shape anymore, items she had too many of, and pieces she just never wore. Aron donated as much from the toss pile as she could to Housing Works and a local Brooklyn secondhand shop called GranruMarket. “Most of my clients in the city get tripped up in getting rid of stuff when they don’t have a car to haul three or four garbage bags,” notes Aron. Taking the extra step to coordinate transportation will get you to a tidier space faster. 

Gather Your Stats

Aron’s first rule of business: Measure everything very, very carefully. This is especially important when closet space is tight, because you want to maximize every inch. “Everyone’s closet is a funky size unless you’re in a cookie-cutter high-rise,” says Aron. Likewise, don’t purchase any products until you see what you are working with or else you’ll end up buying 200 hangers when you only have 100 clothing items. “It seems obvious, but I think people get lured in by the Container Store and some of these really beautiful products, and if you don’t have a place for them, the products then just become more clutter,” adds the pro. 

Divide and Conquer

Previously Gould stored her dresses in one closet and separates in the other, but it never seemed to make getting dressed any simpler. Aron helped her split her stuff into two categories: everyday and dressy/whimsy. “She helped me realize I shop for occasions—weddings, vacations, theme parties—and wear the same few pieces on a regular basis,” says Gould. “That realization is crucial to keep in mind as I shop.”

Raise the Roof…

The black holes that used to be the top shelf of the closets are now usable thanks to the ClosetMaid risers Aron sourced (and the 24-inch-wide organizers cost only $17!). With the help of the basic shelves, every sweater and pair of sneakers is completely visible from the ground. 

white amazon shelves
ClosetMaid Stackable 24-Inch-Wide Horizontal Organizer, Amazon ($21)
Shop

…Then Lower the Bar

In the right-hand-side closet that now houses all of Gould’s jeans, Aron hung a renter-friendly rod that’s got a low bar, thereby creating a tiered hanging system. The under-$15 chrome rod takes advantage of vertical space (no tools required), so Gould could say goodbye to messy pants piles for good. 

metal bar
Whitmor Double Closet Rod, Amazon ($12)
Shop

These Heels Were Made for Hanging

Gould had an over-the-door shoe rack before Aron stepped on the scene, but the problem was she couldn’t close the door with it hanging there. So they opted for a streamlined-looking option (with pockets!) that’s slimmer and more aesthetically pleasing than the generic version. Psst: That doesn’t mean it’s more expensive (it was $12 on Amazon). 

The pairs Gould wears the most often are on the door for easy access, while the ones that are for special occasions are out of the way on the highest shelves. “I can still easily access them with a step ladder, but it makes putting things away more of a reality,” says Gould. 

shoe organizer
Gorilla Grip Large 24 Pocket Shoe Organizer, Amazon ($12)
Shop

The best part about having a professional organizer come into your space and revamp one corner is that the effects are long-lasting. Immediately after Aron left, Gould got to work on reorganizing her jewelry, makeup, and hall closet. “It felt incredible, like I was giving my stuff to a grown-up home,” says Gould. 

The post This $21 Amazon Find Adds Closet Shelves Where There Aren’t Any appeared first on domino.

]]>
The Container Store Upgraded Its Garage Organizers to Work Even Harder https://www.domino.com/housekeeping/the-container-store-elfa-garage-plus/ Thu, 15 Feb 2024 20:00:00 +0000 https://www.domino.com/?p=328726

A hook to hold pesky scooters is just a DIY away.

The post The Container Store Upgraded Its Garage Organizers to Work Even Harder appeared first on domino.

]]>

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

Courtesy of the Container Store

It’s not unusual anymore to walk into someone’s garage and find shoe shelves, a Peloton bike, or even a pull-out couch for guests. Everyone seems to be tapping into the space’s hidden potential, especially those of us who don’t actually need to park a car inside. But what if your garage still needs to be its hardworking self—the place where you stow camping gear, holiday decorations, and rakes of all shapes and sizes? The Container Store sees you. 

The company will be launching a number of updates to its Elfa garage storage system this spring, bringing us the Garage+ collection. The new additions will include fully enclosed cabinets with optional casters, magnetic LED lighting, a heavy-duty workbench, full-extension soft-close drawers, and shelves that can handle 100 pounds per linear foot. The products are essentially souped-up versions of the Container Store’s regular garage organization components, and now you can more easily mount spare tires on the wall, elevate heavy golf bags off the ground, and stash awkwardly shaped tools inside steel cabinets. 

Courtesy of the Container Store
Courtesy of the Container Store

According to professional organizer Samantha Pregenzer, who specializes in tidying up garages (she’s transformed hundreds of them), there are five types of products she always looks for when decluttering a space: clear bins, wall-mounted shelves, utility hooks, a pegboard system, and overhead racks. Once you’ve got the basics down (aka the cabinet kits and shelf brackets), here are a few genius accessories to shop that’ll actually help you keep things neat.

The post The Container Store Upgraded Its Garage Organizers to Work Even Harder appeared first on domino.

]]>
For $36 Total, My Roommates and I Built a Custom IKEA Closet in Our Hallway https://www.domino.com/content/ikea-mulig-closet-review/ Thu, 27 Sep 2018 05:53:38 +0000 https://www.domino.com/content/ikea-mulig-closet-review

Cher Horowitz needs this game-changer rack.

The post For $36 Total, My Roommates and I Built a Custom IKEA Closet in Our Hallway appeared first on domino.

]]>

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

Even though our closets hold some of our most important possessions, we inevitably end up neglecting them. So we’re asking clever homeowners and renters to share their time-tested organizing methods that really (really!) work in our new series, Reclaim Your Closet.

In New York City, there’s no such thing as the perfect apartment. Maybe you’re in your dream neighborhood, but the floors are so slanted that your table wobbles. Or perhaps you have a terrace with enough space for a vegetable garden, but the nearest train is a 15-minute walk. Or maybe you’re like me, and the location and space were everything you’ve ever hoped for—plus a 6-foot-tall window in the shower—but there’s wasn’t a single closet to be found. 

When my two roommates and I first toured our former Williamsburg, Brooklyn, apartment, it was love at first sight. The bright morning light flooding through, the sky-high ceilings; it seemed to have it all. We were already picturing our lives there before realizing there weren’t any closets. You may be wondering: Is that even legal? And the answer is: I’m not sure. Just when we thought we had discovered at least a utility closet, we opened the door to find nothing more than the water heater. 

The thing about the three of us is that we love clothes. Both of my apartment-mates have worked in fashion, and we could open a store with our shared shoe collection alone. We knew that the only way this space would work was if we built something out. And like most 20-somethings, we wanted to keep it cheap. 

So we transformed the hallway adjacent to the entry area into what we affectionately called our “walk-in closet.” After drawing out some plans and juggling our options—we bounced around the idea of three Pax wardrobes, inspired by Jordan Ferney—we went with IKEA’s Mulig clothes bars. They were $5.99 each, and we only needed six (two for each roommate), meaning the whole project cost us $36. 

The best part about the Mulig racks is that they expand from 23 inches to 35 inches. We made the top racks a few inches longer than the bottom racks, which created a space for long dresses and winter coats to hang to the floor. To keep the racks secure in the wall, we used toggle anchors. We each had our own section, but sharing was allowed, too. 

To add even more storage, we later installed wood shelving above the racks, using the same system as our bookshelves, to hold extra shoes. Our T-shirts, loungewear, and other foldable pieces lived in our respective dressers, leaving this area for blouses, dresses, coats, and—on some days—epic impromptu fashion shows. Which really did make it the perfect apartment.

Closet Organization photo
MULIG Clothes Bar, Ikea ($7)
Shop

The post For $36 Total, My Roommates and I Built a Custom IKEA Closet in Our Hallway appeared first on domino.

]]>
With No Entryway Closet to Speak Of, I Asked Pro Organizers to Fix My Coat Clutter https://www.domino.com/housekeeping/how-to-organize-winter-coats/ Sat, 17 Feb 2024 06:28:00 +0000 https://www.domino.com/?p=328779

One even gave me a free solution.

The post With No Entryway Closet to Speak Of, I Asked Pro Organizers to Fix My Coat Clutter appeared first on domino.

]]>

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

Even though our closets hold some of our most important possessions, we inevitably end up neglecting them. So we’re asking clever homeowners and renters to share their time-tested organizing methods that really (really!) work in our new series, Reclaim Your Closet.

My Brooklyn apartment came with sky-high ceilings, original picture frame molding, and a gorgeously renovated kitchen—but closets, not so much. Between my husband and I, we have two 3-by-3, single-door spaces for our clothes. All of them. In the summer, our winter jackets can go in our suitcases under the bed, but when the temperatures dip, it’s pure coat chaos in our household.

Before calling in the experts, my coats and bags hung on a door in our home office. Photography by Julie Vadnal.
Before, purses and hair accessories were on the back of my bedroom door. Photography by Julie Vadnal.

On any given day, there’s a fleece hanging off the back of a dining room chair, a long coat draped over the door to our bedroom, and a parka on the over-the-door rack in our home office. Without a dedicated spot for them to go, they just go anywhere—and that’s usually dependent on how hungry, busy, or tired we are when we get home.

Before, my biggest jacket would hang on the inside of my closet door, smushing up against the clothes when the door was closed. Photography by Julie Vadnal.

By this January, we needed to call in reinforcements. I shot off emails to a few experts, and a couple days later, I was FaceTiming with professional organizer Rachel Rosenthal of Rachel and Co., whom I walked through our space, apologizing for the clutter as I showed her all of our various drop zones for coats. I did the same with Shira Gill, author of Organized Living, who was kind but clearly shocked by our lack of organization. Thankfully, both gave me great advice on how to get our winter coats under control, even without an entryway closet. 

Make an Edit

Both Rosenthal and Gill agreed: I needed to cut back on the amount of jackets I own. “There’s only seven days in a week, and you’re probably repeating coats often,” Rosenthal says. She suggests I grab all my jackets from their current resting places and throw them into one big pile on the bed. This way, I can take inventory. Turns out, I own two fleeces that I hardly ever wear and a puffer that looks more Silicon Valley than Carroll Gardens. Those three went on my Poshmark immediately. Knowing that whatever I kept would have to be stored out in the open, Gill also mentions: “There’s no way to make a million coats look attractive.” She’s not wrong.

Find a Central Zone

With my current (dis)arrangement, the majority of my coats hang on the back of our office door—meaning I have to walk through the entire apartment before I can disrobe. Instead, Rosenthal suggests I move the purses and hair accessories from the back of my bedroom door and put coats there instead—cutting my travel time from the front door in half. Those bags and headbands, which get less everyday use, could then go on the back of the now-empty office door. Genius. 

Get Hooked

Gill is a huge fan of hooks—”Hooks solve everything,” she proclaims—and she emailed me an extensive list of her favorites right after our call. (Check out some of them below.) If you do two rows, all you need, she says, is 2 to 3 feet of horizontal space. We tried adding them to the sliver of wall when you walk into our apartment, but we kept knocking into our bulky outerwear. Now we hang keys and slim bags there, making it our official “drop zone” when we walk in the door.

Instead, my coats are corralled to the back of my bedroom door via over-the-door hooks—I’m partial to this option. To keep the system going when spring and summer roll around, Rosenthal suggests keeping lighter jackets there, too. One more reason I can’t wait for spring.

The Best Hooks for Organizing Coats

The post With No Entryway Closet to Speak Of, I Asked Pro Organizers to Fix My Coat Clutter appeared first on domino.

]]>
Emily Henderson’s Styling Trick Makes Your Home Look Instantly Neater https://www.domino.com/housekeeping/emily-henderson-organization-ideas/ Wed, 07 Feb 2024 19:00:00 +0000 https://www.domino.com/?p=327746
Designed and styled by Emily Henderson; Architecture by Arciform; Photography by Kaitlin Green.

Plus, the best closet update she's made in the past year.

The post Emily Henderson’s Styling Trick Makes Your Home Look Instantly Neater appeared first on domino.

]]>
Designed and styled by Emily Henderson; Architecture by Arciform; Photography by Kaitlin Green.

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

Here’s something you probably didn’t know about Emily Henderson: She’s messy. “I make a mess all day, and I clean it up all night,” says the seasoned designer, stylist, and partner of The Samsung Art Store. It’s the nature of her job. Her Portland, Oregon, home is also her HQ. It’s where she meets with coworkers, tests out new products, and shoots content for her blog. Now feeling settled in the farmhouse she and her family bought in 2022, Henderson has spent the past year coming up with different strategies for keeping the place organized. “A reader once told me that without systems, there is chaos, and it’s my favorite quote,” she shares. Ahead, we asked Henderson to tell us, in her own words, what decluttering methods she’s tried out lately, including the ones that didn’t work out as she expected.  

The Storage Staples You Won’t Find in Her Mudroom

Photography by Kaitlin Green; Designed and Styled by Emily Henderson; Architecture by Arciform

A lot of what I see online sometimes requires too many steps, like putting your coats on hangers instead of hooks. My kids won’t put things on hangers. They also won’t put their shoes in those cute little drawers on a day-to-day basis. For us it’s “Here’s the sports basket” and “Here’s the shoe basket,” and that’s it. It’s very simple and actually manageable. 

The Key to Automatically Making a Space Look Neater

Photography by Kaitlin Green; Designed and Styled by Emily Henderson; Architecture by Arciform | Digital Art from Samsung Art Store, displayed on The Frame.
Photography by Kaitlin Green; Designed and Styled by Emily Henderson; Architecture by Arciform | Digital Art from Samsung Art Store, displayed on The Frame.

Things need to be in collections together. I’ve been buying seascapes for forever, and I decided our family room is where I’m going to put them all over the walls. This included a Samsung Frame TV with a seascape on it from the Art Store. It looks like a very intentional art selection versus just years of hoarding. Some of my favorite pieces to put on the screen are Miya Ando’s Unkai and Bunryo No Ame, Petro Koublis’s Aurore and Mejila, and Cody Cobb’s Evergreen.

The Pantry Organization Trick She (Sort of) Gave Up On

Photography by Kaitlin Green; Designed and Styled by Emily Henderson; Architecture by Arciform

At first I decanted everything in my pantry into pretty jars and it looked awesome. Ultimately, I can keep up with all the baking goods, all the beans, but anything that’s snack oriented…it just doesn’t make sense anymore to put the pretzels in the pretzel jar every day. [We realized] we’re going through pretzels way too fast! Don’t overcomplicate it, and give yourself permission to make that shift.

The Designer-Approved Tip That’s Not All That Practical

Photography by Kaitlin Green; Designed and Styled by Emily Henderson; Architecture by Arciform

This is unpopular with designers and stylists, but see-through baskets and see-through bins work better than a pretty wood or woven basket. If you don’t see it, you will forget that you have it. [It’s the same with] my prop closet where I keep all my inventory: I have a whole room dedicated to open shelving.

The Update She Made to Her Closet a Year After Building It

Photography by Kaitlin Green; Designed and Styled by Emily Henderson; Architecture by Arciform

The biggest thing I learned is that I need to have a label maker that tells me what to do. I was like, socks will go here for sure—then I just put everything everywhere. Redoing it with labels [on the edges of the drawers and cabinet frames] helps me stick to it, like: No, wait, socks go here. 

The post Emily Henderson’s Styling Trick Makes Your Home Look Instantly Neater appeared first on domino.

]]>
This $20 Office Organizer Is a Game Changer for Stacking Jeans https://www.domino.com/content/pants-organization-trick-tik-tok/ Thu, 10 Feb 2022 06:05:00 +0000 https://www.domino.com/content/?p=202215
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BELLE MORIZIO; STYLING BY NAOMI DEMANANA.

Pull the right pair out every time.

The post This $20 Office Organizer Is a Game Changer for Stacking Jeans appeared first on domino.

]]>
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BELLE MORIZIO; STYLING BY NAOMI DEMANANA.

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.

Even though our closets hold some of our most important possessions, we inevitably end up neglecting them. So we’re asking clever homeowners and renters to share their time-tested organizing methods that really (really!) work in our new series, Reclaim Your Closet.

We all know that cashmere sweaters should be folded and blazers should be hung, but it seems like no one can agree on pants. Some follow the draped-over-velvet-hangers methods; others roll them into a dresser’s bottom drawer. Those strategies have their flaws—you still have to pull out each pair to see its defining characteristics (hem, size, style), which inevitably creates a mess when you’re in a rush. All the best ideas are found on TikTok these days, and a solution to avoid piling your clothes on that one chair is no exception. The user Crayon Connoisseur has a thought: Use a desktop organizer to house all your favorite pairs.

paper file drawers
Desk Organizer with 5 Sliding Trays, Mind Reader ($20)
Shop

The Mind Reader, found on Amazon, is intended for office memos and homework. Yet the five-drawer, perforated metal system also happens to fit a pair of chinos (or denim) perfectly in each tray—just fold them into thirds, notes Crayon Connoisseur. The rack can easily be placed on a closet shelf, and the drawers can be removed completely if you need to make space for thicker styles (like snow pants) or dust under the frame. 

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BELLE MORIZIO; STYLING BY NAOMI DEMANANA

The winning feature? The drawers slide out. So you can decide what you want to wear without unrolling every pair of black jeans you own looking for the one with the knee rips. It does need to be assembled when it arrives, but did we mention that it’s only $20?

The post This $20 Office Organizer Is a Game Changer for Stacking Jeans appeared first on domino.

]]>